"Comrade 'Gene,"

Lover of All Mankind and
Apostle of the World's Emancipation,

I dedicate
THIS BOOK

FOREWORD

This book is the result of an attempt to carry the monopolistic principle to its logical conclusion. For many years I have entertained the idea that if a monopoly be right in oil, coal, beef, steel or what not, it would also be right in larger ways involving, for example, the use of the ocean and the air itself. I believe that, had capitalists been able to bring the seas and the atmosphere under physical control, they would long ago have monopolized them. Capitalism has not refrained from laying its hand on these things through any sense of decency, but merely because the task has hitherto proved impossible.

Granting, then, the premise that some process might be discovered whereby the air-supply of the world could be controlled, the Air Trust logically follows. I have endeavored to show how such a Trust would inevitably lead to the utter enslavement of the human race, unless overthrown by the only means then possible, i.e., violence. This book is not a brief for "direct action." Doubtless the capitalist press (if it indeed notice the work at all) will denounce it as a plea for "bomb-throwing" and apply the epithet of "Anarchist" to me; but at this the judicious and the intelligent will only smile; and as for our friends the enemy, we esteem their opinion at its precise real value, zero.

Given the conditions supposed in this book, I repeat—a complete monopoly of the air, with an absolute suppression of all political rights—no other outcomes are possible than slavery or violent, physical revolution. As I have made Gabriel Armstrong say: "The masters would have it so. Academic discussion becomes absurd, in the face of plutocratic savagery. And in a case of self-defense, no measures are unjustifiable."

I believe in political action. I hope for a peaceful and bloodless revolution. But if that be impossible, then by all means let us have revolution in its other sense. And with the hope that this book may perhaps revive some fainting spirit or renew the vision of emancipation in some soul where it has dimmed, I give "The Air Trust" to the workers of America and of the world.

GEORGE ALLAN ENGLAND.

Boston, Mass., November 1, 1915.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD

THE AIR TRUST

CHAPTER I.—THE BIRTH OF AN IDEA

CHAPTER II.—THE PARTNERS

CHAPTER III.—THE BAITING OF HERZOG

CHAPTER IV.—AN INTERLOPER

CHAPTER V.—IN THE LABORATORY

CHAPTER VI.—OXYGEN, KING OF INTOXICATORS

CHAPTER VII.—A FREAK OF FATE

CHAPTER VIII.—ONE UNBIDDEN, SHARES GREAT SECRETS

CHAPTER IX.—DISCHARGED

CHAPTER X.—A GLIMPSE OF THE PARASITES

CHAPTER XI.—THE END OF TWO GAMES

CHAPTER XII.—ON THE GREAT HIGHWAY

CHAPTER XIII.—CATASTROPHE

CHAPTER XIV.—THE RESCUE

CHAPTER XV.—AN HOUR AND A PARTING

CHAPTER XVI.—TIGER WALDRON "COMES BACK"

CHAPTER XVII.—THOUGHTS

CHAPTER XVIII.—FLINT AND WALDRON PLAN

CHAPTER XIX.—CATHERINE'S DEFIANCE

CHAPTER XX.—THE BILLIONAIRE'S PLOT

CHAPTER XXI.—GABRIEL, GOOD SAMARITAN

CHAPTER XXII.—THE TRAP IS SPRUNG

CHAPTER XXIII.—THE BEAST GLOATS

CHAPTER XXIV.—CATHERINE'S SUPREME DECISION

CHAPTER XXV.—THROUGH STEEL BARS

CHAPTER XXVI.—"GUILTY"

CHAPTER XXVII.—BACK IN THE SUNLIGHT

CHAPTER XXVIII.—IN THE REFUGE

CHAPTER XXIX.—"APRÈS NOUS LE DÉLUGE!"

CHAPTER XXX.—TRAPPED!

CHAPTER XXXI.—ESCAPE!

CHAPTER XXXII.—OMINOUS DEVELOPMENTS

CHAPTER XXXIII.—"NOW COMES THE HOUR SUPREME"

CHAPTER XXXIV.—THE ATTACK

CHAPTER XXXV.—TERROR AND RETREAT

CHAPTER XXXVI.—THE STORMING OF THE WORKS

CHAPTER XXXVII.—DEATH IN THE PIT OF STEEL

CHAPTER XXXVIII.—VISIONS