"I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes. I told him if he had stolen a railroad he would be a United States Senator"

Mary Harris Jones alludes to the gross disparities in how justice is meted out to the rich and powerful versus the poor and vulnerable. Her anecdote about the imprisoned man who stole a pair of shoes draws attention to the harsh penalties levied against the impoverished for minor infractions. The simplicity of the crime, a pair of shoes, suggests deprivation, desperation, or basic survival, yet the punishment is severe: incarceration.

The rhetorical juxtaposition comes in her next statement, likening the theft of a small commodity by the poor to the theft of a railroad, a powerful symbol of vast corporate wealth, influence, and industrial might, by the presumably elite. By invoking the image of a railroad thief rising to the status of a United States Senator, she exposes the hypocrisy embedded in societal and legal structures. Those who commit minor crimes out of necessity are condemned, while those who manipulate, exploit, or even "steal" on a grand scale are often lauded, rewarded, or even elevated to positions of political power.

Her choice of a railroad is apt; during the time Mary Harris Jones was active, railroads were not just a means of transport, but emblems of corporate monopoly, labor strife, and corruption. Robber barons who amassed fortunes through questionable dealings wielded enormous influence in politics and often evaded the law, enjoying respectability and privilege.

Jones’s words cut to the core of class injustice, addressing the way legal systems reinforce the hierarchy of power. It is a critique not merely of individual acts but of systemic inequity, where "justice" becomes malleable to wealth and status. The narrative serves as a call for awareness and change: to question who benefits from the law, whose crimes are punished, and whose are excused or rewarded. In magnifying this disparity, Jones aligns herself with the struggles of the working class, demanding recognition of their humanity and a more just distribution of accountability.