Bernick: I gave you no reason to think so. You ought to have
pushed on as fast as possible with the work on the American ship
also; but you have not.
Aune: Her bottom is completely rotten, Mr. Bernick; the more we
patch it, the worse it gets.
Bernick: That is not the reason. Krap has told me the whole
truth. You do not understand how to work the new machines I have
provided--or rather, you will not try to work them.
Aune: Mr. Bernick, I am well on in the fifties; and ever since I
was a boy I have been accustomed to the old way of working--
Bernick: We cannot work that way now-a-days. You must not
imagine, Aune, that it is for the sake of making profit; I do not
need that, fortunately; but I owe consideration to the community
I live in, and to the business I am at the head of. I must take
the lead in progress, or there would never be any.
Aune: I welcome progress too, Mr. Bernick.
Bernick: Yes, for your own limited circle--for the working class.
Oh, I know what a busy agitator you are; you make speeches, you
stir people up; but when some concrete instance of progress
presents itself--as now, in the case of our machines--you do not
want to have anything to do with it; you are afraid.
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