As to democracy, fellow citizens, <br />Are you not prepared to admit <br />That I, who inherited riches and was to the manor born, <br />Was second to none in Spoon River <br />In my devotion to the cause of Liberty? <br />While my contemporary, Anthony Findlay, <br />Born in a shanty and beginning life <br />As a water carrier to the section hands, <br />Then becoming a section hand when he was grown, <br />Afterwards foreman of the gang, until he rose <br />To the superintendency of the railroad, <br />Living in Chicago, <br />Was a veritable slave driver, <br />Grinding the faces of labor, <br />And a bitter enemy of democracy. <br />And I say to you, Spoon River, <br />And to you, O republic, <br />Beware of the man who rises to power <br />From one suspender.<br /><br />Edgar Lee Masters<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/john-hancock-otis/
