a euphemism for P's poorest prose: warm excrement flowing from a pathetic puppet's mouth

[Michael Bailey]

> everything vibe says in his speech was said sincerely by some robber
> baron or right-wing ideologue

let me try again on that -
my stance is that alice may have taken a deeply denigratory stance for
her own reasons, but i feel like the passage is just fine...

my reasons, well...
a) historically not all the mine owners were as intransigent as JD
Rockefeller and (from a fictional point of view) it's satisfying to
think they did need to be propped up and pumped up by that day's
version of motivational speakers

b) again, from my "feel for fiction" lobe, it's interesting to see
Vibe making inflammatory statements that go beyond what's necessary
and what most of the mine owners probably believe --- this, for me, is
the hegelian opposite of Webb's attitude in the book (and of Big Bill
Haywood's - UMW bigwig who shot off his mouth in a counterproductive
way back then...helped found the IWW...later jumped bail that his
friends had put up and fled to Moscow where he drank himself to death)
- an attitude much more radical than the more legitimate and likeable
citizens of his class -- an attitude suitable for stirring up
like-minded crowds, who will then disavow his more extreme statements
but proceed in the general direction he's pointed to

c) okay, just one link -- maybe more later -- this episode (Vibe's
speech, and of course its objective correlative) is memorable and
thought-provoking and it seems to merit more attention

http://books.google.com/books?id=oGoWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA557&dq=rockefeller+statement+on+miner+strike&hl=en&sa=X&ei=R6qUUJDPHoTe8wTnvIGADw&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=rockefeller%20statement%20on%20miner%20strike&f=false

so, there was a whole periodical devoted to railway conductors - who
presumably found it worthwhile to subscribe - and that news of
Rockefeller's testimony found its way into those pages.

(Google Books has a bunch of treasures like this, periodicals of
different professions dating back to that time)