The sinister mystery of the strange strength in "the folded arm," shows the power of a patient people to work silently but effectively against wrong doing in high places. A governor who idolizes his daughter, seemingly has few other virtues. She, however, is the very apple of his eye, and is betrothed to the lieutenant-governor. It comes about that the governor will veto a bill to prohibit Child Labor, which greatly disturbs his daughter. She pleads with him tearfully and prayerfully. "Dissolves" show happy children at school, and then in contrast, the poor, ragged, wretched, exhausted factory children, dragging their way to and from work. The governor is deeply moved and intimates he will sign the bill. Then he is visited by the political boss, who warns him, "Veto that bill, or I'll reveal you to your daughter as a taker of bribes." The last move is a telling one. The malignant boss triumphs over the lovely daughter. The governor vetoes the bill. The newspapers denounce him as a traitor, and the people demand his resignation. The daughter then asks her fiancé, "If my father resigns, you will succeed him. Will you sign the bill?" He declares that he will. She then makes it a point to secure her father's resignation. He receives a photograph, showing the picture of a folded arm with a snake bracelet entwining it, with the warning, "Resign tonight, or suffer this." He tears the picture up in fury, and the next morning he faces the force of the menace. Every man he meets folds his arms. Even when he starts to embrace his daughter, she folds her arms, and he sees the snake bracelet on her arm. Appalled, he cries, "Then you, my own daughter, are the leader of this movement?" She admits it. Crushed with grief and shame, he starts to write his resignation, and completes the act just as the mob assembles in front of the mansion, calling for such action. She has found the way; her husband-to-be will sign the bill. She wraps her arms about her broken father in angelic devotion.
—Moving Picture World synopsis