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“...cabinet-makers, pianomakers, bak-
ers, etc., etc., that made up the C- L. F. De Leons fertile
mind invented and added thereto the pretzel varnishers and
the horse-tail scrubbers and, while these had no real exist-
ence, they nevertheless were instrumental in causing a near-
assault upon him at one of the later meetings of the New
Yorker Volkszeitung Publishing Association, after the fight
was in full swing and the temperature had risen rather high.
An irate progressive, deficient in sense of humor, shook
his first in De Leons face, was shoved back none too gently by
him and, rushing back at him again with evil intent, had to
be tapped on the nose by an innocent bystander.
No one can understand the situation then prevailing, un-
less aware of the existence and understanding the significance
of these three factors and then adds to them a fourth, the
New Yorker Volkszeitung, a daily newspaper professedly
Socialist, and serving as the bond that connected the factors
two and three. For the sake...”
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“...130 DANIEL DE LEONOUR COMRADE,
calls De Leon the most abusive fellow he ever met, just be-
cause he had been completely disarmed by De Leons quick
wit and kindly, razor-edged humor.
At a meeting in one of the middle western cities, after a
lecture, the usual crop of questions on the difference was being
fired at him, when a very irate little man came running up to-
ward the platform and in a strong German accent cried out:
You are a Pope, you are a Pope. Come, now, said De Leon
with a smile, You cant even spell Pope.* Yes, I can,
shouted the angry man, B O B E, and with that the audience
was in convulsions.
To illustrate the fun we used to extract out of this foolish
abuse and vituperation, and how the rest of us became imbued
with his own good humor in regards to it, I quote a stanza
from one of the birthday effusions which we sang at him on
his sixtieth birthday:
His adventures have been numerous, terror to poor Kan-
garoo,
Speared the elephant, kicked the donkey, kept old Sammy
on the...”
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“...disqualify delegates that were not wanted by setting up the
claim that the locals which they represented were in bad
standing, and seat all those who were wanted. How many of
the delegates who were seated represented mixed locals ex-
isting merely on paper, only those in possession of the books
could know, namely, the general officers, Trautmann and St.
John. They guarded that secret well.
Chas. Trainor and I visited De Leon in his hotel before
his return to New York. De Leon was in as good a humor
as I ever saw him, the action of the packed convention not-
withstanding. His faith in the working class and its awaken-
ing was unshaken. What he predicted then, subsequent events
have proved, that the manufactured majority and the element
it represented would seek to drag down the name of the I. W.
W. into the gutter of slummism and make it synonymous
with Anarchy....”
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“... for their
pleasure as he was for their loyalty. He did not like long
faces. His own hope was large and he had great buoyancy
of spirit. He was never long despondent under adversity and
always took the brighter view. He liked to hear the laugh go
down the battle front, for it showed that the army was not
despondent. Those of us who remember the owl-like solem-
nity with which the routine business of the party was con-
ducted in the early days, and with what frowns even inno-
cent attempts at humor were met, can give thanks to De Leon
that he enlarged our views and improved our spirits by dig-
ging Artemus Ward from the dusty shelves of memory and
furnishing the best proof that our hope was unshaken, our
spirit undaunted and strength unbroken.
I remember well the first intimate conversation I had
with him, when I came to New York in 1900. After I had
paid my respects to the party officers and the staff of the
Daily People, De Leon with a serious face requested a pri-
vate talk. Taking me...”
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“...DANIEL DE LEONAN OKAION. IM
Corregan, you have been plaeed in a very ticklish position.
As candidate for governor of the state of New York you
have been given the acid test of loyalty, and I want to warn
you of your danger. You see in tne the only survivor of that
test, all the others have deserted the party. Now that yon
know the worst, what do you think? Taking in the humor
of the thing, I assured him that I did not believe it would be
long before I enjoyed the unique distinction on which he
prided himself, for it was not beyond the range of possibility
the way things were going, with old comrades deserting, to
see De Leon himself become an anti-De Lconitc. That re-
ply placed me upon a friendly footing with him which in all
my personal dealings with him I think I never lost. I believe
the acid test with De Leon was that a man could still keep
his spirit amid difficulties and smile in the face of the foe.
It was because De Leon never fully understood the work-
ing class and its limitations...”
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“...campaign
of 1890, 8-10; candidate for governor of New York, 10; suc-
ceeds Sanial as editor of The People, 10-11; Flashlights of
the Amsterdam Congress by, 11, 105; popularity of, in
1892, 13; attitude toward label agitation farce, 25-27; at-
tempt of, to cleanse Knights of Labor, 28-29; credit due,
for founding of Socialist Trade and Labor Alliance, 30-31;
sword of logic effectively wielded by, at S. L. P. conven-
tion of 1896, 34-35; meeting addressed by, in "Troy (1896),
40-42; saving sense of humor possessed by, 44-45; and Die
Liedertafel, 50; big vote for, in 16th Assembly District in
1897, 55-56; freak visitors to, 56-57; 16th Assembly District
vote for, in 1898, and shameless slandering of, 59-62; vul-
gar language story, 61-62; becomes storm center of opposi-
tion to S. L. P., 64-65; decreased vote for, for Assembly-
man, in 1900, 84; jealousy of, a uniting element among as-
sailants of S. L. P., 94; translations and other educational
work of, 98-99; James Connolly and, 100-101; lead...”
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