Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/337

 but to the business and political interests that actually are to blame.

Everybody worked. The women sewed the folders; two-thirds of the houses in Milwaukee were thus engaged that winter (1893–94); they prepared 50,000 folders in English and 18,000 in German; and the alliances and labour unions saw that the voters got and read them. The effect was such that when the politicians pleaded ignorance of the initiative and referendum, U'Ren could answer: "The people know about them." And that was true. After the election, these same workers, men and women, circulated a petition which, with 14,000 signatures, was presented to the Legislature.

Now, that is as far as a reform movement usually goes. U'Ren went further. Knowing that the representatives elected by the people are organized in the Legislature to represent somebody else, U'Ren went to Salem as a lobbyist, a lobbyist for the people, and he talked to every member of that Legislature. He saw the chicanery, fraud, and the politics of it all, but he wrung from a clear majority promises to keep their pledge.

"And we lost," he told me quietly. "We lost by one vote in the House and in the Senate also—by one vote."

"Fooled?" I asked.