They hung out in the saloons of Whiskey Hill and were tolerated by though not especially beloved of the regulars, who were mill hands with little patience for extreme forms of belief, unless it was Anarchism, of course.
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"Whiskey Hill"
From the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History at Case.edu:
"After the CIVIL WAR, cheap housing made the Haymarket attractive to impoverished immigrants. Though Italians and Slavs predominated in 1870, later contemporary observers counted 40 nationalities and 14 languages. For some, the Haymarket was a stopping place; for others, enmeshed in the cycle of poverty, its deteriorating housing provided permanent residence. The area and nearby Whiskey Hill became an overcrowded refuge for the unemployed, derelicts, transients, and criminals who preyed on the other hapless residents. Nearby factories and passing trains polluted the area with dirty smoke."
So once again, the idea of a population who embrace Anarchism are really just a population who have been failed by America and are desperate for change. Perhaps these mill hands and the other residents stricken by poverty tolerated these Æther enthusiasts primarily because they and their theories dealt with change and the search for a better way. Maybe not a tactile better way that can feed people's families. But a change for a better model of light and light transmission, at least. Perhaps it was this optimism for finding truth that made them tolerable to the regulars.
Anarchism
As we've seen, the tent of Anarchism houses many different people but the label is used to indict anybody embracing it as violent and destructive. Which, I suppose, they are. When something changes (even if it's for the better), those who accepted the thing for what it was can only see the thing as having been broken or destroyed. So when those America steps on want to destroy the status quo and lift up the masses, they're seen as destructive and violent.
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