governments, and who, in the spring, were not permitted to take
possession of the captured offices. The incumbents refused to retire,
and the courts were in the hands of the Oligarchy. But this is too far
in advance of events. I have yet to tell of the stirring times of the
winter of 1912.

The hard times at home had caused an immense decrease in consumption.
Labor, out of work, had no wages with which to buy. The result was that
the Plutocracy found a greater surplus than ever on its hands. This
surplus it was compelled to dispose of abroad, and, what of its colossal
plans, it needed money. Because of its strenuous efforts to dispose of
the surplus in the world market, the Plutocracy clashed with Germany.
Economic clashes were usually succeeded by wars, and this particular
clash was no exception. The great German war-lord prepared, and so did
the United States prepare.

The war-cloud hovered dark and ominous. The stage was set for a
world-catastrophe, for in all the world were hard times, labor troubles,
perishing middle classes, armies of unemployed, clashes of economic
interests in the world-market, and mutterings and rumblings of the
socialist revolution.*

* For a long time these mutterings and rumblings had been
heard. As far back as 1906 A.D., Lord Avebury, an
Englishman, uttered the following in the House of Lords:
"The unrest in Europe, the spread of socialism, and the
ominous rise of Anarchism, are warnings to the governments
and the ruling classes that the condition of the working
classes in Europe is becoming intolerable, and that if a
revolution is to be avoided some steps must be taken to