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Discount in our Courts, and the long delays which can be secured by money usually result in defeat for those who have no means. The great railroad strike of 1877 secured us the public ear. True, the press and pulpit, with but few exceptions, declared that it was the work of Communistic agitators. But there were others who viewed it was an alarming evidence of the concentration of wealth and the rapid changes of our economic life. That fall the party nominated a full county ticket, with a Frank A. Stauber as County Treasurer and Albert R. Parsons as County Clerk, and polled 8,000 votes. In the spring of '78 we elected Frank A. Stauber as the Alderman of the Fourteenth Ward, being the first public officer elected by the Socialist party. (A. R. Parsons was defeated in this election as Aldermanic candidate of the Fifteenth Ward by a small majority, and it was the general belief that he was counted out.) This gave us a prestige, and everything was on the upward boom. In the fall of 1878 we elected four members to the State Legislature. Our members were everywhere active in trades unions, and it seemed for awhile as if the steady progress and final triumph of the Socialistic party was soon to be realized. This same fall we established the Socialist, an English weekly edited by Frank Hirth and A. R. Parsons.
In the spring of 1879 we nominated a full city ticket, with Dr. Schmidt for Mayor, and succeeded in polling 12,000 votes, electing three additional Aldermen, which gave the party four representatives in the Common Council of Chicago.
One of the most notable incidents showing the rapid growth of the party was the celebration of the Paris Commune during this same spring. The committee of arrangements secured the Exposition building, with a capacity of 40,000, but so great was the jam that it was impossible to carry out the program of singing, dancing, and drilling. It was estimated that at least 60,000 people visited the Exposition building that night, while thousands, after waiting on the outside for hours, unable to gain admission, returned home.
The community was startled at the boldness of our propositions in demanding collective (Governmental) control of land, means of transportation, communication, and production, and the dash which
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