Have they brought in more men? (HARVEY ANDERSON: They're arranging to.) I do not see, friends, what you hope to gain By leaving Foreston and wandering off In search of work. In the first place I know, As you perhaps do not, that Egerton Has given orders to the neighboring plants To take on no more men until this strike Is settled, till it's won. And, as you know, For forty miles around the mills are his, The camps are his. And where his power ends, Others begin that work in harmony With Egerton and Company. They are one, And have an understanding in some things Far more than you suspect. (Patten and Maury rise and walk aside and whisper together) And they all know Whatever be the outcome of this strike The effect of it will reach them all at last. If you men win, mill-workers everywhere Will take new heart and stand for better things. But if the Company wins, others will say-- And with no little weight--'We cannot pay The present scale of wages and compete With Egerton and Company.' So it will go Until the farthest mill in all this land Puts in its hand and takes a ten per cent Out of the wages of its workingmen. And there's no power on earth that can prevent it. (Willie Maury rises and joins his father and Patten) But even were this not true, were places open, The same conditions would confront you there As now confront you here. At any time Those who employ you have you in their power And can reduce your wages when they choose, Lay on you what conditions they see fit, And you must either yield or be turned forth To wander on again. I do not know Whether you men have families or not, But others have, and their cause is your own. You cannot wander on for evermore, Picking up here and there a chance day's work And hoping that to-morrow things will change, For changes do not come except through men. (The men return to the fire) And so I do not see just what it is You hope to gain by leaving Foreston. You cannot spend your lives on highways, friends. Where will you go? Have you some place in mind?

Harry Egerton Monologue from The Americans

Rehearse Harry Egerton's monologue