n when the soldiers come
home.

FERSEN (nodding). Sure thing!

HILLMAN. It's this way, doctor. We notice Mr. Pindar comin' in here to
see you every day or so,--like the rest of Foxon Falls. And we thought
you could make him see this thing straight, if any man could.

DR. JONATHAN. So the shops will be idle.

RENCH. Not a shaft'll turn over till he recognizes the union.

HILLMAN. We don't want to do nothin' to obstruct the war, but we've got
to have our rights.

DR. JONATHAN. Can you get your rights now, without obstructing the war?

RENCH (aggressively). I get what you're driving at, doctor. You're
going to say that we've just reached quantity production on these here
machines, and if labour gets from under now, the Huns win. But tell me
this,--where'll labour be if America wins and our Junkers (he pronounces
the J) come out on top?--as they callate to.

DR. JONATHAN (smiling). When a building with dry rot catches fire,
Rench, can you put limit to how much of it will burn?

RENCH (after a pause). Maybe not. I get you--but--

DR. JONATHAN. No nation, no set of men in any nation can quench that
fire or make the world that is coming out of this war. They may think
they can, but they can't.

HILLMAN. That's so!

DR. JONATHAN. Germany will be beaten, because it is the temper of the
nation, the temper of the times--your temper. You don't want Germany to
win, Rench?

RENCH. No, I guess not.

DR. JONATHAN. And if you don't work here, you'll go off to work
somewhere else.

RENCH. Where they recognize the union.

DR. JONATHAN. A good many of your friends have enlisted, haven't they?
(RENCH nods.) And what do you suppose they are fighting for?

RENCH. For the same thing as we want, a square deal.

DR. JONATHAN. And what do you think George Pindar is fighting for?

RENCH. I ain't got nothing to say against him.

DR. JONATHAN. If you close down the Pindar Shops, won't it mean that a
few more of your friends will lose their lives? These men are fighting
for something they don't yet understand, but when they come back they'll
know more about it. Why not wait until George Pindar comes back?

RENCH. He mayn't never come back.

DR. JONATHAN. Give him the opportunity.

RENCH. I like George,--he's always been friendly--what we call a
common man up here in New England--naturally democratic. But at bottom
employers is all alike. What makes you think he won't take his ideas
about labour from the old man?

DR. J