Cheating the Public

John Dowling, a greedy factory owner, cuts his employees' pay while raising their food prices at the company store. The employees strike but to no avail. Mary Garvin visits Dowling to plead the laborers' cause, but because her mother had once refused his marriage proposal, he attacks Mary out of revenge. In the struggle, Dowling is shot, and Mary is tried and convicted of murder. Before the execution, foreman "Bull" Thompson boasts that his bullet killed Dowling during Mary and the factory owner's struggle, and Dowling's son Chester, who has attempted to introduce reforms into the factory, races to the governor's train to secure a pardon for Mary. After Mary's release, she and Chester are married.

Directed by Richard Stanton, Cheating the Public leans on a strong ensemble — Enid Markey, Ralph Lewis, Wanda Hawley — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about drama titles of 1918.