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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5dc839f --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #65853 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65853) diff --git a/old/65853-0.txt b/old/65853-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8d44135..0000000 --- a/old/65853-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8625 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Driver, by Garet Garrett - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - - -Title: The Driver - - -Author: Garet Garrett - - - -Release Date: July 17, 2021 [eBook #65853] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DRIVER*** - - -E-text prepared by Tim Lindell, Martin Pettit, and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images digitized by the -Google Books Library Project (http://books.google.com) and generously made -available by Internet Archive (https://archive.org/) - - - -Note: Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/driver00garrgoog - - - - - -THE DRIVER - -by - -GARET GARRETT - -Author of “The Blue Wound,” etc. - - -[Illustration: Logo] - - - - - - -New York -E. P. Dutton & Company -681 Fifth Avenue - -Copyright, 1922 -By E. P. Dutton & Company - -All Rights Reserved - -First printing, September, 1922 -Second printing, October, 1922 - -Printed in the United -States of America - - - - -CONTENTS - -CHAPTER PAGE - I. PHANTASMA 1 - - II. THE FUNK IDOL 32 - - III. GALT 63 - - IV. AN ECONOMIC NIGHTMARE 86 - - V. VERA 99 - - VI. A GIANT IN BABY SWEAT 115 - - VII. DARING THE DARK 131 - -VIII. LOW WATER 136 - - IX. FORTH HE GOES 139 - - X. HEYDAY 162 - - XI. HEARTH NOTES 180 - - XII. A BROKEN SYMBOL 198 - -XIII. SUCCESS 213 - - XIV. THE COMBAT 226 - - XV. THE HEIGHTS 257 - - XVI. GATE OF ENIGMA 285 - -XVII. NATALIE 293 - - - - -THE DRIVER - - - - -CHAPTER I - -PHANTASMA - - -i - -It is Easter Sunday in the village of Massillon, Stark County, Ohio, -fifty miles south by east from Cleveland. Fourth year of the soft Money -Plague; 1894. - -Time, about 10 o’clock. - -The sky is low and brooding, with an untimely thought of snow. Church -bells are ringing. They sound remote and disapproving. Almost nobody is -mindful of their call. The soul may miss its feast; the eye of wonder -shall not be cheated. The Comic God has published a decree. Here once -more the sad biped, solemn, ludicrous and romantic, shall mount the -gilded ass. It is a spectacle that will not wait. For weeks in all the -newspapers of the country the fact has been advertised in a spirit of -waggery. At this hour and from this place the Army of the Commonweal -of Christ will set forth on foot in quest of the Economic Millennium. - -The village is agog with people congregating to witness the fantasied -event. In the main street natives and strangers mingle their feet -gregariously. There are spasmodic sounds of laughter, retort, argument -and ribaldry; and continually the shrill cries of youth in a frenzy of -expectation. Buggies, two-wheelers, open carts and spring wagons line -both sides of the street. The horses are blanketed. A damp, chill wind -is blowing. Vendors from Chicago, lewd-looking men, working a hundred -feet apart, are yelling: “Git a Christ army button here fer a nickel!” -There is a composite smell of ham sandwiches, peanuts, oranges and -cigars. - -A shout rises at the far end of the street. The crowd that has been -so thick there, filling the whole space, bursts open. A band begins -playing “Onward Christian Soldiers,” and the spectacle is present. - -First comes a negro bearing the American flag. - -Next, on a white horse, is a thick, close-bearded, self-regarding man -with powerful, darting eyes and an air of fantastic vanity. He wears a -buckskin coat with fringed sleeves; the breast is covered with gaudy -medals. On his head is a large white sombrero. Around his neck swings a -string of amber beads. He is cheered and rallied as he passes and bows -continually. - -Behind him walks a trumpeter, saluted as Windy Oliver. After the -trumpeter walks the Astrologer, bearing the wand of his mysterious -office. Then a band of seven pieces, very willing and enterprising. - -And now, by the timbre and volume of the cheering, you recognize the -Commander. He rides. Sitting so still and distant beside a negro -driver in a buggy drawn by two mares he is disappointing to the eye. -There is nothing obviously heroic about him. He wears spectacles. -Above a thin, down-growing mustache the face is that of a man of ideas -and action; the lower features, especially the mouth, denote a shy, -secretive, sentimental, credulous man of mystical preoccupations. None -of these qualities is more than commonplace. The type is well known -to inland communities--the man who believes in perpetual motion, in -the perfectibility of human nature, in miraculous interventions of -deity, and makes a small living shrewdly. He might be the inventor of -a washing machine. He is in fact the owner of a sandstone quarry and a -breeder of horses. - -But mark you, the ego may achieve grandeur in any habitat. It is -not in the least particular. This inconsiderable man, ludicrously -setting forth on Easter Sunday in command of a modern crusade, has one -startling obsession. He believes that with the bandit-looking person on -the white horse he _shares the reincarnation of Christ_. - -In a buggy following, with what thoughts we shall never know, rides the -wife of this half of Christ reincarnated. - -Next comes another negro bearing the banner of the Commonweal of -Christ. In the center of it is a painted Christ head. The lettering, -divided above and below the head, reads: - - - PEACE ON EARTH: GOOD WILL TO MEN - - B U T - - DEATH TO INTEREST BEARING BONDS - - -Then comes the Army of the Commonwealers. They are counted derisively. -The Commander said there would be an hundred thousand, or at least ten -thousand, or, at the start, not fewer than one thousand. Well, the -number is one hundred scant. They are a weird lot--a grim, one-eyed -miner from Ottumwa; a jockey from Lexington, a fanatical preacher of -the raw gospel from Detroit, a heavy steel mill worker from Youngstown, -a sinewy young farmer from near Sandusky, a Swede laborer from -everywhere, one doctor, one lawyer, clerks, actors, paper hangers, -blind ends, what-nots and tramps. There is not a fat man among them, -nor one above forty. They march in order, looking straight ahead. A -man in a blue overcoat and white trousers, riding a horse with a red -saddle, moves up and down the line eyeing it importantly. - -At the end of this strange procession are two wagons. One is called the -commissariat wagon; it is loaded with a circus tent, some bales of hay -for the horses and a few bags of provisions--hardly enough for one day. -The other is a covered wagon painted blue. The sides are decorated -with geometrical figures of incomprehensible meaning. This vehicle of -mystery belongs to the precious being on the white horse ahead. He -created it; inside are sliding panoramas which he has painted. - -As these wagons pass, people on foot and in buggies and wagons to -the number of more than a thousand fall into line and follow. Their -curiosity is not yet sated. They cannot abandon the spectacle. - -Among these followers are forty-three correspondents, representing -newspapers from New York to San Francisco; four Western Union telegraph -operators, and two linemen. The route to Jerusalem is uncertain. -Something may happen on the open road, miles from a telegraph office. -Hence the linemen, anywhere to climb a pole and tap the wires, and -special operators to dispatch the news emergently! The reporters are to -whoop the story up and be in on the crucifixion. - -Could anything less seeming of reality be invented by the imagination? -It has the pattern of a dream. Yet it is history. - -This is how two fatuous spirits, charlatans maybe, visionaries -certainly,--Carl Browne on the white horse and Jacob S. Coxey in the -buggy,--led the Army of the Commonweal of Christ (Coxey’s Army for -short), out of Massillon, past the blacksmith shop, past the sandstone -quarry, past the little house where the woman was who waved her apron -with one hand and wiped her eyes with the other, out upon the easting -highway, toward Washington, with the Easter chimes behind them. - -And for what purpose? Merely this: to demand from Congress a law by -which unlimited prosperity and human happiness might be established on -earth. - - -ii - -I, who am telling it, was one of the forty-three correspondents. - -The road was ankle deep with that unguent kind of mud which lies on -top of frost. Snow began to fall. Curiosity waned in the rear. The -followers began to slough off, shouting words of encouragement as they -turned back. Browne on his white horse, Coxey in his buggy and the -man in the red saddle were immersed in vanity. But the marchers were -extremely miserable. None of them was properly shod or dressed for -it. They were untrained, unused to distance walking, and after a few -miles a number of them began to limp on wet, blistered feet. The band -played a great deal and the men sang, sometimes all together, sometimes -in separate groups. The going was such that no sort of marching order -could be maintained. - -At one o’clock there was a stop for coffee and dry bread, served out of -the commissariat wagon. - -It was understood that the Army would live on the country as it went -along, trusting to charity and providence; but the shrewdness of -the Commander had foreseen that the art of begging would have to be -learned, and that in any case it could not begin successfully on the -first few miles out. - -The Commonwealers watched us curiously as we tapped the telegraph wires -by the roadside to send off flash bulletins of progress. Both Browne -and Coxey exhorted their followers to courage, challenged the weaklings -to drop out, and the march was resumed with only two desertions. These -were made good by accessions further on. - -At four o’clock a halt was called near a village, the inhabitants of -which made friendly gestures and brought forth bacons and hams which -were gratefully added to the boiled potatoes and bread served out of -the wagon. The tent was raised. Browne, astride his bespattered white -horse, made a speech. - -He was the more aggressive half of the reincarnation. Indeed, it came -presently to be the opinion of the correspondents that he was the -activating principle of the whole infatuation, and held the other in a -spell. He was full of sound and rhetoric and moved himself to ecstacy -with sonorous sayings. His talk was a wild compound of Scripture, -Theosophy and Populism. - -The Kingdom of Heaven on earth was at hand, he said. The conditions -foretold in Revelations were fulfilled. The seven heads of the beast -were the seven conspiracies against the money of the people. The -ten horns of the beast were the ten monopolies nourished in Wall -Street--the Sugar Trust, the Oil Trust, and so on. - -“We are fast undermining the structure of monopoly in the hearts of the -people,” he declaimed, reaching his peroration. “Like Cyrus of old we -are fast tunnelling under the boodlers’ Euphrates and will soon be able -to march under the walls of the second Babylon, and its mysteries, too. -The infernal, blood-sucking bank system will be overthrown, for the -handwriting is on the wall.” - -The listeners, though they growled at the mention of Wall Street and -cheered the fall of Babylon, received his interpretation of their -rôle and errand with an uneasy, bothered air. Voices asked for Coxey. -He spoke to them in a gentle manner, praised them for their courage -and fortitude, emphasized the hardships yet to be endured, proposed a -hymn to be sung, and then dismissed them to rest with some practical -suggestions touching their physical comfort. Rest and comfort, under -the circumstances, were terms full of irony, but nobody seemed to think -of that. They cheered him heartily. - - -iii - -In the village railroad station was a telegraph office, where our -special operators cut in their instruments and received our copy. Among -us we filed more than 40,000 words of narrative, incident, pathos and -ridicule. - -News is stranger than fiction not in what it tells but in how it -happens. In a room twenty feet square, lighted by one kerosene lamp, we -wrote our copy on our knees, against the wall, on each other’s backs, -standing up and lying down, matching notes and exchanging information -as we went along. - -“What’s the name of this town?” - -“Louisville.” - -“Kentucky?” - -“Kentucky, no. Hear him!--Ohio.” - -“Didn’t know there was a Louisville, Ohio.” - -“Write it anyway. It isn’t the first time you’ve written what you don’t -know.” - -Then silence, save for the clicking of the telegraph instruments and -the cracking of copy paper. - -“Who was the man in the red saddle?” - -No answer. - -Again: “Who was the guy in the red saddle?” - -No answer. - -Another voice, in the same difficulty, roaring: “Who in hell was the -man in the red saddle?” - -Now everybody for a minute stops writing. Nobody knows. - -Voice: “Call him Smith: the man of mystery: the great unknown.” - -We did. The man in the red saddle was Smith the Great Unknown to the -end of his silly part. - -There was a small hotel in the place, with only two bedrooms available, -and these had been selfishly seized by three magazine writers who had -no telegraph stuff to file. They had retired. The rest of us took -possession of a fairly large lounging room and settled ourselves for -the night on cots, pallets and chairs. - -The lean-minded man from Cleveland, reclining on the hotel desk with -his feet on the cigar case, started an untimely discussion. - -“We’ve sent off a lot of guff about this thing,” he said, “and not a -word of what it means. Not a man here has tried to tell what it means.” - -“Leave that to the editorial writers and go to sleep,” said St. Louis -from under his hat. He had made his bed in the swivel chair. - -“It means something ... it means something,” said Cleveland. - -“Well, what?” asked a petulant voice. - -“It’s a joke,” said St. Louis, not moving. “People have to laugh,” he -added. “Go to sleep or be still.” - -Another voice: “What does it mean, you Cleveland? I saw you reading -Plutarch. What does it mean?” - -“These people are asking questions to which there is no answer,” said -the Cleveland man, lifting on his elbow. “Why is anybody hungry in a -land of surplus food? Why are able bodied men out of work while we have -such roads as the one we traveled to-day? I don’t know. I’m asking.” - -A man whom we had hardly noticed before, anæmic, shrill and hairy, sat -up on his mattress and thrust a naked bent arm out of his blanket. - -“I’ll tell you what it means,” he shouted. “Wall Street has sucked the -country dry. People may perish, but Wall Street will have its profit -and interest. Labor may starve, but the banking power will keep money -sound. Money in itself is nothing,--merely a convenience, a token by -means of which useful things are exchanged. Is that so? Not at all. -Money no longer exists for the use of people. We exist for the sake of -money. There is plenty everywhere, but people cannot buy because they -are unemployed and have no money. Coxey says, ‘Create the money. Make -it abundant. Then people may work and be prosperous.’ Well, why not? -Wall Street says if you make money abundant you will ruin the country. -Hell! The country is already ruined. We laugh. Yet what we have seen -to-day is the beginning of revolution. As people have freed themselves -from other tyrannies, so they will free themselves from this money -tyranny.” - -He stopped, out of breath and choking, and a singular hubbub arose. -Everyone awake had been listening attentively, and now, just as they -lay, not an arm or a leg stirring, all those huddled, inert forms -became vocal, shouting: - -“Populist! Right-o! Put him out! Douse him!” - -Accents of weariness, irritation and raillery were inseparably mingled. -Yet the overtone was not unfriendly. We could be light and cruel with -the Army of the Commonweal of Christ, because its whole figure was -ludicrous, but there was no love among us for Wall Street or the money -power. Those names stood for ideas of things which were commonly feared -and hated and blamed for all the economic distress of the time. - -Above, the plutocratic magazine writers were pounding on the floor. The -hairy agitator, breathing heavily, melted back into his mattress, heavy -in his conscience, no doubt, for having written a very sarcastic piece -about that Easter Day event. We saw it afterward in his Chicago paper. -The fat reporter from Cincinnati began to snore. - -For a long time I lay awake, thinking. - -What were we doing here? Reporting the news. News of what? One -hundred inconsequent men dreaming in the mud,--was that news? No, not -intrinsically. As a manifestation of the frustrate human spirit it -might serve as material for the reflective fictionist, or text for some -Olympian humorist, but why was it news to be written hot and dispatched -by telegraph? - -In their acts of faith, folly, wisdom and curiosity men are moved by -ideas. Perhaps, therefore, the discrepancy between the unimportance -of this incongruous Easter Day spectacle itself and the interest we -bestowed upon it was explained by what it signified--that is, by the -motivating idea. This thought I examined carefully. - -Two years before this, Jacob S. Coxey, horse breeder, quarry owner, -crank, whom no one had heard of until then, proposed to cure the -economic disease then afflicting the country by the simple expedient of -hiring all the unemployed on public works. Congress should raise half -a billion dollars from non-interest bearing bonds and spend the money -on national roads. This plan received some publicity as a freak idea; -nobody had been really serious about it. What then happens? - -One Carl Browne, theosophist, demagogue and noise-breaker, seeks out -this money crank at Massillon and together they incubate the thought of -calling upon the people to take the plan in the form of a petition and -walk with it to Congress. The thing is Russian,--“a petition in boots,” -a prayer to the government carried great distances by peasants on foot. -The newspapers print it as a piece of light news. Then everybody begins -to talk about it, and the response is amazing. People laugh openly and -are secretly serious. - -A day is set for the march to begin, a form of organization is -announced and Coxey Army contingents begin to appear spontaneously all -over the country. This also is news, to be treated in the same light -spirit, and no doubt it is much exaggerated for sportive reasons. As -the day approaches little groups of men, calling themselves units of -the Christ Army of the Commonweal, set out from Missouri, Illinois, -Pennsylvania, Kansas, Michigan, from anywhere east of the Missouri -River, footing it to Massillon to merge their numbers. Then it rains. -For three weeks there is nothing but rain, and the flesh fails. That is -why there is but a scant one hundred to make the start. Coxey believes -the bemired and tardy units will survive and catch up. He still hopes -to have tens of thousands with him when he reaches Washington. - -But all of this vibration is unmistakably emotional. That is a fact -to be accounted for. When did it become possible to emotionalize the -human animal with a financial idea?--specifically, a plan to convert -non-interest bearing bonds into an unlimited amount of legal tender -money? Never. The money theory is merely the ostensible aspect, the -outwardness of the matter. Something else is signified. What is it? - -I come back to what the Cleveland man said. Why are people hungry in a -land of surplus food? Why is labor idle? Labor applied to materials is -the source of all wealth. There is no lack of materials. The desire for -wealth is without limit. Why are men unemployed instead of acting on -their unfinished environment to improve it? - -And now, though I had thought my way around a circle, I began to -glimpse some understanding of what was taking place in a manner -nominally so preposterous. People had tormented themselves with -these questions until they were weary, callous and bitterly ironic. -The country was in the toils of an invisible monster that devoured -its heart and wasted its substance. The name of this monster was -Hard Times. The problem of unemployment was chronic, desperate and -apparently hopeless. The cause of it was unknown. People were sick of -thinking and talking about something for which there was no help. They -had either to despair or laugh. Then came Coxey, fanatic, mountebank -or rare comedian,--so solemn in his egregious pretensions that no one -knew which,--and they laughed. It might become serious. Mass psychology -was in a highly inflammable condition. There was always that thought -in reserve to tinge the laughter with foreboding. But if there came -a conflagration, then perhaps the questions would be unexpectedly -answered; nobody cared much what else happened. - -Cincinnati turned over with a frightful snort and was suddenly quiet. I -prayed that he might be dead and went to sleep. - -The next morning the New York Herald man took me aside. - -“I’ve been recalled from this assignment to go to Europe,” he said. -“I’m waiting for a man to relieve me. He will pick us up some time -to-day.” - -I said I was sorry; and I was, for we were made to each other’s liking. - -“I don’t care for the man who is relieving me,” he continued. “Besides, -he isn’t competent to do what I’m about to ask you to undertake in my -place.” - -“Anything I can,” I said. - -“You are from the west,” he continued, “and therefore you’re not likely -to know how jumpy the Wall Street people are about what’s going on. -They are afraid of this Coxey movement,--of what it may lead to. They -want to know a lot about it,--more than they can get from the newspaper -stories. I’ve been sending a confidential letter on it daily to -Valentine ... you know, ... John J., president of the Great Midwestern -Railroad. He wants the tale unvarnished, and what you think of it, -and what others think of it. He particularly wants to know in the -fullest way how the Coxeyites are received along the way, for therein -is disclosed the state of public feeling. Well, I wish you to take -this commission off my hands. It pays fifty a week for the life of the -circus. I’ll see him in New York, tell him who you are and why I left -it for you to do. Then when the thing is over you can run up to New -York from Washington and get your money.” - -I hesitated. - -“It’s Wall Street money,” I said. - -“It’s railroad money,” he replied. “That may be all the same thing. -But there’s no difficulty, really. It’s quite all right for anyone to -do this. What’s wanted is the truth. Put in your own opinions of Wall -Street if you like. Indeed, do that. Wall Street people are not as you -think they are. Valentine is a particularly good sort and honest in his -point of view. I vouch for the whole thing.” - -So I took it; and thereafter posted to John J. Valentine, 130 Broadway, -room 607, _personal_, a daily confidential report on the march of the -Commonwealers. - -I would not say that the fact of having a retainer in railroad money -changed my point of view. It did somewhat affect my sense of values and -my curiosity was extended. - -For the purpose of the Valentine reports I made an intensive personal -study of the Commonwealers. I asked them why they were doing it. Some -took it as a sporting adventure, with no thought of the consequences, -and enjoyed the mob spirit. Some were tramps who for the first time in -their lives found begging respectable. But a great majority of them -were earnest, wistful men, fairly aching with convictions, without -being able to say what it was they had a conviction of, or what was -wrong with the world. Their notions were incoherent. Nobody seemed -very sanguine about the Coxey plan; nobody understood it, in fact; yet -something would have to be done; people couldn’t live without work. - -Unemployment was the basic grievance. I took a group of twenty, all -skilled workmen, sixteen of them married, and found that for each of -them the average number of wage earning days in a year had been twelve. -They blamed the money power in Wall Street. When they were asked how -the money power could profit by their unemployment, what motive it -could have in creating hard times, they took refuge in meaningless -phrases. Most of them believed in peaceable measures. Only three or -four harbored destructive thoughts. - -The manner of the Army’s reception by farmers, villagers and -townspeople was variable and hard at first to understand. Generally -there was plenty of plain food. Sometimes it was provided in a -generous, sympathetic spirit; then again it would be forthcoming as -a bid for immunity, the givers at heart being fearful and hostile. -The Army was much maligned by rumor as a body of tramps obtaining -sustenance by blackmail. It wasn’t true. There was no theft, very -little disorder, no taking without leave, even when the stomach gnawed. - -One learned to anticipate the character of reception by the look of -the place. In poor, dilapidated communities there was always a hearty -welcome with what food the people could spare, cheerfully bestowed; -the better and more prosperous the community the worse for the -Commonwealers. - -I spoke of this to some of the more thoughtful men. They had noted the -fact and made nothing of it. Then I spoke of it to one of the tramps, -who knew the technique of begging; he said: - -“Sure. Anybody’d know that. D’jew ever get anything at a big house? The -poor give. We ought to stick to the poor towns.” - -In those industrial communities where class distinctions had -arisen,--that is to say, where poverty and affluence were separately -self-conscious, the police invariably were disagreeable and the poor -were enthusiastic over the Commonwealers. At Allegheny, where the steel -mill workers had long suffered from unemployment, the Army received a -large white silk banner, lettered: - -“Laws for Americans. More money. Less misery.” - -Here there were several collisions between, on one side, the -Commonwealers and their welcomers, and, on the other, the police. At -some towns the Army was not permitted to stop at all. At others it was -officially received with music, speeches and rejoicings. - -As these incidents became repetitious they ceased to be news, yet they -were more important, merely by reason of recurring, than the bizarre -happenings within the Army which as newspaper correspondents we were -obliged competitively to emphasize, as, for example, the quarrel -between Browne and the bandmaster, the mutiny led by Smith the Great -Unknown, the development of the reincarnation myth and the increasing -distaste for it among the disciples. - -The size of the Army fluctuated with the state of the weather. Crossing -the Blue Mountains by the icy Cumberland road in a snow storm was an -act of fortitude almost heroic. Confidence in the leaders declined. -Browne came to be treated with mild contempt. The line,--“Christ -and Coxey,”--which had been painted on the commissariat wagon was -almost too much. There was grumbling in the ranks. Everybody was -discouraged when the expectation of great numbers had finally to be -abandoned. Never did the roll exceed five hundred men, not even after -the memorable junction in Maryland with Christopher Columbus Jones, -forty-eight men and a bull dog, from Philadelphia. - -Yet there was a cohesive principle somewhere. Nearly all of those who -started from Massillon stuck to the very end. What held them together? -Possibly, a vague, herd sense of moving against something and a dogged -reaction to ridicule. This feeling of againstness is sometimes stronger -to unite men, especially unhappy men, than a feeling of forness. The -thing they were against was formless in their minds. It could not be -visualized or perceived by the imagination, like the figure of the -horrible Turk in possession of the Holy Sepulchre. Therefore it was a -foredoomed crusade. - -The climax was pitiably futile. - -Two self-mongering reincarnations of Christ, both fresh and clean, -having nighted in decent hotels, led four hundred draggle-tail men into -Washington and up Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol grounds, enormous -humiliated crowds looking on. Browne dismounted and leaped over the -low stone wall. Coxey tried to make a speech. Both were good-naturedly -arrested for trespassing on the public grass and violating a police -ordinance. The leaderless men wandered back to a camp site that had -been mercifully loaned. For a time they dully subsisted upon charity, -ceased altogether to be news, and gradually vanished away. - - -iv - -Though the Army of the Commonweal of Christ was dead, and Coxey himself -was now a pusillanimous figure, Coxeyism survived in a formidable -manner. The term was current in newspaper language; and the country -seemed to be full of those forms of social insubordination which it -was meant to signify. In the west rudely organized bands, some of them -armed, and strong enough to overwhelm the police of the cities through -which they passed, were running amuck. They bore no petition in boots; -they were impatient and headlong. One of their pastimes was train -stealing. They would seize a railroad train, overpower the crew and -oblige themselves to outlaw transportation; and the railroad people, -fearful of accidents, would clear the way to let them through. It was -very exciting for men who had nothing else to do, and rather terrifying -to the forces of law and order. - -Public opinion was distracted and outraged. - -Some said, “Put down Coxeyism. Put it down with a strong hand. To treat -it tenderly is to encourage lawlessness.” - -Others said, “You may be able to put down Coxeyism by force, but you -will sometime have to answer the questions it has raised. Better now -than later.” - -There was a great swell of radical thought in the country. The Populist -party, representing a blind sense of revolt, had elected four men to -the Senate and eleven to the House of Representatives. Many newspapers -and magazines were aligned with the agitators, all asking the same -questions: - -Why hunger in a land of plenty? - -Why unemployment? - -Why was the economic machine making this frightful noise? - -The Federal and state governments were afraid to act effectively -against Coxeyism because too many people sympathized with it, secretly -or openly. It was partly a state of nerves. Writers in the popular -periodicals and in some of the solemn reviews laid it on red. In -Coxey’s march they saw an historic parallel. In almost the same -way five hundred volunteers, knowing how to die, had marched from -Marseilles to Paris with questions that could not be answered, and gave -the French Revolution a hymn that shook the world. Human distress was -first page news. The New York World gave away a million loaves of bread -and whooped up its circulation. The New York Herald solicited donations -of clothing which it distributed in large quantities to the ragged. - -On the train from Washington to New York I found men continually -wrangling in fierce heat about money, tariff and Coxeyism. I was -surprised to hear Wall Street attacked by well dressed, apparently -prosperous men, in the very phrases with which the Coxeyites had -filled my ears. Nobody by any chance ever stood in defense of Wall -Street, but there were those who denounced the Coxeyites and Populists -intemperately. Everybody denounced something; nobody was _for_ -anything. National morale was in a very low state. - -In the smoking compartment two men, behaving as old acquaintances, -quarreled interminably and with so much dialectical skill that an -audience gathered to listen in respectful silence. One was a neat, -clerical-looking person whose anxieties were unrelieved by any glimpse -of humor or fancy. The other was carelessly dressed, spilt cigar ashes -over his clothes unawares, and had a way of putting out his tongue and -laughing at himself dryly if the argument went momentarily against him -or when he had adroitly delivered himself from a tight place. He was -the elder of the two. He was saying: - -“Because men are out of work they do not lose their rights as citizens -to petition Congress in _any_ peaceable manner. Your low tariff is the -cause of unemployment. There is the evidence,--those cold smoke stacks.” - -He pointed to them. We were passing through Wilmington. - -“The importation of cheap foreign goods has shut our factories up. You -retort by calling the unemployed tramps.” - -“It was the high Republican tariff that made the people soft and -helpless,” said the other. “For years you taught them that good times -resulted not from industry and self-reliance but from laws,--that -prosperity was created by law. Now you reap the fruit. You put money -into the pockets of the manufacturers by high tariffs. The people know -this. Now they say, ‘Fill our pockets, too.’ It’s quite consistent. But -it’s Socialism. That’s what all this Coxeyism is,--a filthy eruption of -Socialism, and the Republican party is responsible.” - -“You forget to tell what has become of the jobs,” the other said. “All -they want is work to do. Where is the work?” - -“These Coxeyites,” the other retorted, “are a lot of strolling beggars. -They refuse work. They enjoy marching through the country in mobs, -living without work, doing in groups what as individuals they would -not dare to do for fear of police and dogs. And the Republican party -encourages them in this criminality because it needs a high tariff -argument.” - -At this point an impulse injected me into the discussion. - -“You are wrong about the Coxeyites,” I said. “At least as to those from -Massillon. I marched with them all the way. A few were tramps. There -were no criminals. A great majority of them were men willing to work -and honestly unemployed.” - -Both of them stared at me, and I went on for a long time, not knowing -how to stop and wishing I hadn’t begun. The younger man heard me -through with a bored air and turned away. But the other asked me some -questions and thanked me for my information. - -The episode closed suddenly. We were running into the Jersey City -railroad terminal, on the west bank of the Hudson River, and all -fellow-traveler contacts began to break up without ceremony in the -commotion of arrival. I saw no more of the disputants and forgot them -entirely in the thrill of approaching New York for the first time. - -It was early evening. Slowly I made headway up the platform against -the tide of New Jersey commuters returning from work. With a scuffling -roar of feet, and no vocal sound whatever, they came racing through the -terminal in one buffalo mass, then divided into hasty streams, flowed -along the platforms and boarded the westbound trains, strangely at ease -with extraordinary burdens, such as reels of hose, boxes of tomato -plants, rakes, scythes, hand cultivators, bags of bulbs, carpentering -tools and bits of lumber. - -Beating my way up the current, wondering how so many people came, by -what means they could be delivered in such numbers continuously, I came -presently into view of the cataract. Great double-decked ferryboats, -packed to the rails with self-loading and unloading cargoes, were -arriving two or three at a time and berthing in slips which lay side by -side in a long row, like horse stalls. - -We, the eastbound passengers from the Washington train, gathered at one -of the empty slips. Through the gates I saw a patch of water. Suddenly -a stealthy mass up-heaved, hesitated, then made up its mind and came -head on with terrific momentum. At the breathless moment the engines -were reversed, there was a gnashing of waters, and the boat came -fast with a soft bump. The gates burst open and the people decanted -themselves with a headlong rush. We stood tight against the wall to let -them pass. As the tail of the spill filed by we were sent aboard, the -gates banged to behind us, and the boat was off toward the other shore -for another load. This was before the unromantic convenience of Hudson -River tunnels. - -I stood on the bow to have my first look at New York. - -One’s inner sense does not perceive the thing in the moment of -experience, but films it, to be afterward developed in fluid -recollection. I see it now in memory as I only felt it then. - -A wide mile of opal water, pulsatile, thrilling to itself in a -languorous ancient way. And so indifferent! Indifference was -its immemorial character. I watched the things that walked upon -it--four-eyed, double-ended ferryboats with no fore or aft, like -those monsters of the myth that never turned around; tugs like mighty -Percherons, dragging sledges in a string; a loitering hyena, marked -dynamite, much to be avoided; behemoths of the deep, helpless in this -thoroughfare, led by hawsers from the nose; sore-footed scows with one -pole rigs, and dressy, high-heeled pleasure craft. The river was as -unregardful of all these tooting, hooting, hissing improvisations as -of the natural fish, the creaking gulls, or those swift and ceaseless -patterns woven of the light which seem to play upon its surface and are -not really there. - -Beyond was that to which all this hubbub appertained. The city!... -Sudden epic!... Man’s forethought of escape ... his refuge ... his -self-overwhelming integration. Anything may happen in a city. Career -is there, success is there, failure, anguish, horror, women, hell, and -heaven. One has the sense of moral fibres loosening. Lust of conquest -stirs. The spirit of adventure flames. A city is a tilting field. -Unknown, self-named, anyone may enter, cast his challenge where he -will, and take the consequences. The penalties are worse than fatal. -The rewards are what you will. - -“New York!” I said. - -It stood against the eastern sky, a pure illusion, a rhythmic mass -without weight or substance, in the haze of a May-day evening. The -shadows of twilight were rising like a mist. Everything of average -height already was submerged. Some of the very tall buildings still had -the light above, and their upper windows were a-gleam with reflections -of the sunset. - -Seething city!... So full of life transacting potently, and yet so -still! A thin gray shell, a fragile show, a profile raised in time and -space, a challenge to the elements. They take their time about it.... -Lovely city!... Ugly city!... Never was there one so big and young and -hopeful all at once. - -“New York!” I said again, out loud. - -A man who must have been standing close beside me for some time spoke -suddenly, without salutation or word of prelude. - -“You were with Coxey’s Army?” - -“Yes,” I said, turning to look at him. I recognized him as a man who -sat in one corner of the smoking compartment, listening in an attentive -though supercilious manner, and never spoke. - -“Wasn’t there plenty to eat?” he asked, in a truculent tone. - -“People were very generous along the way.” - -“Wasn’t there plenty to eat?” he asked, repeating the question -aggressively. - -“There was generally enough and sometimes plenty,” I replied. Then I -added rather sharply: “I have no case to prove for the Coxeyites, if -that’s what you think.” - -“I know you haven’t,” he said. “I have no case to make against them -either. They are out of work. That’s bad. But people who will ask need -not be hungry. You can cut that out. The unemployed eat. You’ve seen -it. Do the ravens feed them?” - -“What are you driving at?” I asked. - -“They all eat,” he repeated. “Ain’t that extraordinary?” - -“It doesn’t seem so to me,” I said. “They have to eat.” - -“Oh, do they?” he said. “You can eat merely because you have to, can -you? Suppose there wasn’t anything to eat?” - -He was turning away, with his feathers up, as if he had carried the -argument. But I detained him. - -“All right,” I said. “There is not enough work but plenty to eat. We’ll -suppose it. What does that prove?” - -Eyeing me intently, with some new interest, he hesitated, not as to -what he would say but as to whether he should bother to say it. - -“It proves,” he said, “that the country is rich. Nobody knows it. -Nobody will believe it. The country is so rich that people may actually -live without work.” - -“That’s an interesting point of view,” I said. “Who are you?” - -“Nobody,” he replied, with an oblique sneer. “A member of the Stock -Exchange.” - -“Oh!” I said, before I could catch it. And not to leave the -conversation in that lurch I asked: “Do you know who those two men were -who wrangled in the smoking compartment?” - -“Editors,” he replied, cynically. “The younger one was Godkin of -the Post. I’ve forgotten the other one’s name. Silly magpies! -Pol-i-t-i-c-s, _hell_!” - -At that instant the ferryboat bumped into her slip. The petulant man -screwed his head half round, jerked a come-along nod to a girl who had -been standing just behind us, and stalked off in a mild brain fit. - -I had not noticed the girl before. She passed me to overtake her -father,--I supposed it was her father,--and in passing she gave me a -look which made me both hot and cold at once. It left me astonished, -humiliated and angry. It was a full, open, estimating look, too -impervious to be returned as it deserved and much too impersonal to -be rude. It was worse than rude. I was an object and not a person. It -occurred to me that either or both of us might have been stark nude and -it would not have made the slightest difference. - -For a moment I thought I must have been mistaken,--that she was not a -girl but a man-hardened woman. I followed them for some distance. And -she was unmistakably a girl, probably under twenty, audaciously lithe -and flexible. She walked without touching her father,--if he were that. -He was a small man, wearing a soft hat a little down on one side, and -moved with a bantam, egregious stride. One hand he carried deep in his -trousers pocket, which gave him a slight list to the right, for his -arms were short. The skirts of his overcoat fluttered in the wind and -his left arm swung in an arc. - -Presently I lost them, and that was all of it; but this experience, -apparently so trivial, cost me all other sensations of first contact -with New York. I wandered about for several hours, complaining that all -cities are alike. I had dinner, and the food was like food anywhere -else. Then I found a hotel and went to bed. My last thought was: Why -did she look at me at all? - -Her eyes were dark carnelian. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE FUNK IDOL - - -i - -“Where is one-hundred-and-thirty Broadway?” I asked the hotel porter -the next morning. - -“One-hundred-and-thirty Broadway? That’s in Wall Street,” he said. -“Take the elevated down town and get off at Rector Street.” - -That was literal. Broadway is in Wall Street, as may be explained. - -Wall street proper,--street with a small _s_,--is a thoroughfare. -Wall Street in another way of speaking,--street with a big _S_,--is a -district, the money district, eight blocks deep by three blocks wide -by anything from five to thirty stories high. It is bounded on the -north by jewelry, on the northeast by leather, on the east by sugar -and coffee, on the south by cotton, on the southwest by shipping and -on the west by Greek lace, ship chandlery and Trinity churchyard. It -grew that way. The Wall Street station of the elevated railroad is at -Rector Street, and Rector Street is a hand-wide thoroughfare running -uphill to Broadway under the south wall of Trinity graveyard. When you -are half way up you begin to see over the top of the wall, rising to -it gradually, and the first two things you see are the tombstones of -Robert Fulton and Alexander Hamilton. A few steps more and you are in -Broadway. Rector Street ends there. - -Trinity church is on the west side of Broadway, thirty paces to your -left. Standing with your back to Trinity church door you look straight -down Wall street, with a little _s_. All of this is Wall Street with a -big _S_. You are in the midst of it. - -If it is nine-thirty or a quarter to ten you may see here and there -in the preoccupied throng groups of three bearing wealth,--in each -case two men with a box carried between them and a third walking close -behind with one hand resting lightly upon something in his outer -pocket. These are the trusted clerks of big banking and brokerage -houses. They go each morning to fetch the strong box from one of -the great Wall Street safety deposit vaults. At four o’clock they -take it back for the night. The third man walking behind is probably -unnecessary. If the box were not too heavy one man unarmed might bear -it safely to and fro. Banditry,--that is to say, taking by force,--is -here unknown. There is a legend to account for this fact. It is -that the police keep a dead line around the money district which -thieves dare not cross. Every crook in the world is supposed to know -and respect the sacred taboo. It may be so, more or less. One need -not believe it whole. A much more probable explanation is what any -highwayman knows. He might make off with a dozen of those strong boxes -and then be no richer than he was before. They contain no money at -all, but stocks and bonds, numbered and registered, which represent -wealth reduced to an impalpable, theft-proof form. A railroad may lie -in one of those boxes. But if you ran away with the box you would have -neither the railroad nor anything you could turn into cash. The lost -stock and bond certificates would be cancelled and new ones issued in -their place; and after that anyone who tried to sell one of the stolen -certificates would be instantly arrested. - -I walked a little way into Wall Street, somewhat in awe of it, almost -expecting to be noticed and challenged for trespassing. The atmosphere -was strange and inhospitable and the language unknown. Two men were -quarreling excitedly, one standing on the edge of the sidewalk, the -other down on the pavement. One seemed to be denouncing the government -for letting the country go bankrupt. - -“It is busted,” he shrieked. “The United States Treasury is busted.” - -The other at the same time spoke of the color, the shape, the bowels -and religion of men who were exporting gold to Europe. I could make -nothing of it whatever. Nobody else so much as glanced at them in -passing. Everybody seemed absent, oblivious and self-involved. When -two acquaintances met, or collided, there was a start of recognition -between them, as if they had first to recall themselves from afar. -Incessantly from within a great red brick building came a sound of -b-o-o-ing, cavernous and despairing. This place was the Stock Exchange -and the noise was that which brokers and speculators make when prices -are falling. - -A few steps further down the street a dray stood backed against the -curb, receiving over its tailboard some kind of very heavy freight. -“Ickelheimer & Company--Bullion and Foreign Exchange,” was the legend -on the window; and what the men were bringing forth and loading on -the dray was pure silver, in pigs so large that two strong men could -carry only one. The work went on unguarded. People passed as if they -didn’t see it. Precious money metal flung around like pig iron! The -sight depressed me. I walked slowly back to Broadway feeling dazed and -apprehensive. - -No. 130 Broadway was an office building. The executive offices of -the Great Midwestern Railroad occupied the entire sixth floor. Room -607, small and dim, without windows, was the general entrance where -people asked and waited. High-backed wooden benches stood against the -walls. The doors opening out of it were ground glass from the waist -up, lettered in black. The one to the left was lettered, “President,” -the one straight ahead, “Vice President-Secretary,” and the one to the -right, “Private.” In one corner of this room, at a very tiny desk, sat -a boy reading a book. He was just turning a page and couldn’t look up -until he had carried over; but he held out his hand with a pencil and -a small writing pad together, meaning that I should write my name, whom -I wished to see and why. I gave it back to him with my name and nothing -more. - -“Your business, please,” he said, holding it out to me again. - -I let it to him tactfully that my business was private. If necessary, -I could explain it to the president’s secretary. Might I see his -secretary first? - -The boy put down his book and eyed me steadily. - -“He left this morning.” - -“The president?” - -“His secretary.” - -“Suddenly, perhaps?” I said. - -He slowly nodded his head several times, still gazing at me. - -“How long have you been here?” I asked. - -“Two weeks.” - -“Do you care for it?” - -Instead of answering he got up, took the name I had written on the pad, -and disappeared through the door to the left. Almost at once he stood -holding it open and beckoned me to enter. - -First was a small ante-space, probably called his office by the private -secretary who had gone suddenly away. It was furnished with letter -filing cases, two chairs and a typewriter desk standing open and -littered with papers. - -The president’s room immediately beyond was large and lighted by -windows, but desolate. The rug was shabby. The walls were hung with -maps and railroad scenes in photograph, their frames askew. At one -side against the wall was a long oak table; on it were ink and writing -materials, also some books and periodicals. - -On the other side of the room a very large man sat writing at a small, -old-fashioned walnut desk with a green-covered floor that pulled out -and a solid curved top that opened up or closed down with a rotary -motion. That kind of furniture was even then out of style. It is now -extinct. It was too ugly to survive in the antique shops. - -He went on writing for a minute or two, then turned slowly, looked me -through and put out his hand. - -“I’m preparing a speech on your subject,” he said. - -“Coxeyism?” - -“Yes. Your reports were excellent,--very good, indeed.” - -As he said this he turned to search for something on his desk. - -It is an odd sensation to meet a notorious person at close range for -the first time, especially one who has been much caricatured in the -newspapers. There is an imaginary man to be got rid of surreptitiously -before the real one can be accepted. One feels somehow embarrassed -while this act is taking place, with an impulse to apologize for the -human fact of its being so much easier on hearsay to believe ill than -good of a fellow being whom you do not know. - -This John J. Valentine was a person of much figure in the country. -He was the head of a family two generations removed from the uncouth -progenitor who founded its fortune in commerce, real estate and -transportation; therefore, he was an aristocrat. For many years he had -been president of the Great Midwestern Railroad. After his name in -the Directory of Directors was a long list of banks, corporations and -insurance companies. He made a great many authoritative speeches, which -were read in the economics classes of the universities, printed at -length in the newspapers and commented upon editorially. What he said -was news because he said it. He represented an immovable point of view, -the chief importance of which lay in the mere fact of its existence. He -spoke courageously and believingly for the vested rights of property. - -However, he might have been all that he was and yet not a national -figure in the popular sense. For the essential element of contemporary -greatness he was indebted to the fact that his features gave themselves -remarkably to caricature. The newspaper cartoonists did the rest. -They had fixed him in the public mind’s eye as the symbol of railroad -capital. - -There was in him or about him an alarming contradiction. The -explanation was too obvious to be comprehended all at once. It was -this: that his ponderable characteristics were massive, overt and rude, -such as one would not associate with a notable gentleness of manner; -and yet his manner was gentle to the point of delicacy and he seemed -remarkably to possess the gift of natural politeness. Physically he -was enormous in all proportions. The head was tall and the forehead -overhanging gave the profile a concave form. He had a roaring, windy -voice, made husky by long restraint; it issued powerfully from a cave -partly concealed by a dense fibrous mustache. - -“Oh, here they are,” he said, producing my reports. - -Turning them sheet by sheet he questioned me at length, desiring me to -be most explicit in my recollections as to the reactions of people to -Coxeyism. His knowledge of the country through which we had passed was -surprising. When we were at the end I said: - -“I have talked with all sorts of people besides,--people in Washington, -on my way to New York, and here also. Nobody seems to know what is -wrong. Some say it’s the tariff. Others say it’s something that has -been done to money. Nearly everyone blames Wall Street more or less. -What is the matter? Why is labor unemployed?” - -He passed his hand over his face, then leaned forward in his chair and -spoke slowly: - -“Why are the seven-year locusts? Why do men have seasons of madness? -Who knows?” - -After a pause, his thoughts absorbing him, he continued in a tone of -soliloquy. - -The country was bewitched. The conglomerate American mind was -foolishly persuaded to a variety of wistful and unverified economic -notions,--that was to say, heresies, about such important matters as -money, capital, prices, debts. People were minding things they knew -nothing about and could never settle, and were neglecting meanwhile to -be industrious. This had happened before in the world. In the Middle -Ages Europe might have advanced, with consequences in this day not -easily to be imagined, but for the time and the energy of mind and body -which were utterly wasted in quest of holy grails and dialectical forms -of truth. So now in this magnificent New World, the resources of which -were unlimited, human progress had been arrested by silly Utopians who -distracted the mind with thoughts of unattainable things. - -Take the railroads. With already the cheapest railroad transportation -in the world, people were clamoring for it to be made cheaper. Crazy -Populists were telling the farmers it ought to be free, like the air. -Prejudice against railroads was amazing, irrational and suicidal. All -profit in railroading had been taxed and regulated away. Incentive to -build new roads had been destroyed. If by a special design of the Lord -a railroad did seem to prosper the politicians pounced upon it and -either mulcted it secretly or held it forth to the public as a monster -that must be chained up with restrictive laws. Sometimes they practised -both these arts at once. Result: the nation’s transportation arteries -were strangling. No extension of the arterial system for an increasing -population was possible under these conditions. What would the sequel -be? Rome for all her sins might have endured if only she had developed -means of communication, namely, roads, in an adequate manner. It was -obvious and nobody saw it. Well, now he was trying to save people from -a repetition of that blunder. He was trying to make them see in time -that unless they allowed the railroads to prosper the great American -experiment was doomed. - -I could not help thinking: people prophesy against Wall Street and Wall -Street prophesies against the people. - -I was surprised that he gave me so much time until it occurred to me -that he was thinking out loud, still working on his speech. - -He wished me to take my reports, which were merely field notes, and -pull them into form as an article on Coxeyism. He would procure -publication of it, in one of the monthly reviews perhaps, under his -name if I didn’t mind, and he could adopt it whole, or under my own. It -didn’t matter which. - -“An unhappy incident has just occurred in my office,” he said. “My -private secretary had to be sent away suddenly. You might work in his -room out there if it’s comfortable.” - -I sat down to the task at once, in the ante-room, at the vacant desk. -Half an hour later, passing out, he dropped me word of where he was -going and when he might be expected back, in case anyone should ask. -In a little while the boy did ask. Either he had not been at his place -when the president passed out, or else the president forgot to tell -him, his habit being to leave word at the desk where I sat. Also the -telephone rang several times and as there was no one else to do it I -answered. - -This ambiguous arrangement continued, the president coming and going, -leaving me always informed of his movements and asking me to be so good -as to say this or that to persons who should call up on the telephone. -It took two days to finish the article. He conceived a liking for my -style of writing and asked me to edit and touch up a manuscript that -had been giving him some trouble. Then it was to go over the proofs of -a monograph he had in the printer’s hands. - -On the fifth day, about 4 o’clock, I was at work on these proofs and -the president was in his office alone with the door closed when someone -came in from the waiting room unannounced. I did not look up. Whoever -it was stood looking at my back, then moved a little to one side to -get an angular view, and a voice I recognized but could not instantly -identify addressed me. - -“Hello, Coxey!” - -“Hello,” I said, looking round. It was the irritating man of the -ferryboat incident. He sat down and ogled me offensively. - -“Are you the new private secretary?” - -“I don’t know what I am,” I said. - -“But you’re working for Jeremiah,” he said, jerking a glance at the -proofs. “Oh, o-o-o! Toot-toot!” He was suddenly amused and shrewd. “You -must be the man who sent him those reports on the march of Coxey’s -Army. That’s it. Very fine reports they were. Most excellent nonsense. -My name is Galt--Henry M. Galt.” - -“I’m pleased to meet you again,” I said, giving him my name in return. - -“And old jobbernowl hasn’t hired you yet!” he said. “I’ll see about it.” - -With that he got up abruptly and bolted into the president’s office, -closing the door behind him. I hated him intensely, partly I suppose -because unconsciously I transferred to him the feeling of humiliation -and anger produced in me by that look from the girl who was with him on -the ferryboat. It all came over me again. - -Half an hour later, as he was going out, he said: “All right, Coxey. -You’ll be here for some time.” - -The last thing the president did that day was to have me in his office -for a long, earnest conversation. He required a private secretary. -Several candidates had failed. What he needed was not a stenographer or -a filing clerk. That kind of service could be had from the back office. -He needed someone who could assist in a larger way, especially someone -who could write, as I could. He had looked me up. The recommendations -were satisfactory. He knew the college from which I came and it was -sound. In short, would I take the job at $200 a month. - -“I must tell you,” he said, “there is no future in the railroad -business, no career for a young man. A third of the railway mileage of -the country is bankrupt. God only knows if even this railroad can stand -up. But you will get some valuable experience, and if at any time you -wish to go back to newspaper work I’ll undertake to get you a place in -New York no worse than the one you leave.” - -I protested that I knew almost nothing of economics and finance. - -“All the better,” he said. “You have nothing unsound to get rid of. -I’ll teach you by the short cuts. Two books, if you will read them -hard, will give you the whole groundwork.” - -I accepted. - - -ii - -The next morning Mr. Valentine presented me to the company secretary, -Jay C. Harbinger, and desired him to introduce me around the shop. - -“This way,” said Harbinger, taking me in hand with an air of deep, -impersonal courtesy. He stepped ahead at each door, opened it, held -it, and bowed me through. His attitude of deference was subtly yet -unmistakably exaggerated. He was a lean, tall, efficient man, full of -sudden gestures, who hated his work and did it well, and sublimated the -petty irritations of his position in the free expression of violent -private judgments. - -We stopped first in his office. It was a small room containing two very -old desks with swivel chairs, an extra wooden chair at the end of each -desk for visitors, a letter squeeze and hundreds of box letter files -in tiers to the ceiling, with a step ladder for reaching the top rows. -There was that smell of damp dust which lingers in a place after the -floor has been sprinkled and swept. - -“That’s the vice-president’s desk,” said Harbinger, indicating the -other as he sat down at his own, his hands beneath him, and began to -rock. “He’s never here,” he added, swinging once all around and facing -me again. He evidently couldn’t be still. The linoleum was worn through -under his restless feet. “What brings you into this business?” he asked. - -“Accident,” I said. - -“It gets you in but never out,” he said. “It got me in thirty years -ago.... Are you interested in mechanical things?” - -“Like what?” I asked. - -Jerking open a drawer he brought forth a small object which I -recognized as a dating device. He showed me how easily it could be -set to stamp any date up to the year 2000. This was the tenth model. -He had been working on it for years. It would be perfect now but for -the stupidity of the model-maker who had omitted an important detail. -The next problem was how to get it on the market. He was waiting for -estimates on the manufacture of the first 500. Perhaps it would be -adopted in the offices of the Great Midwestern. That would help. The -president had promised to consider it. As he talked he filled a sheet -of paper with dates. Then he handed it to me. I concealed the fact that -it did not impress me wonderfully as an invention; also the sympathetic -twinge I felt. For one could see that he was counting on this absurd -thing to _get him out_. It symbolized some secret weakness in his -character. At the same moment I began to feel depressed with my job. - -“Well,” he said, putting it back and slamming the drawer, “there’s -nothing more to see here. This way, please.” - -His official manner was resumed like a garment. - -In the next room were two motionless men with their backs to each -other, keeping a perfunctory, low-spirited tryst with an enormous iron -safe. - -“Our treasurer, John Harrier,” said Harbinger, introducing me to the -first one,--a slight, shy man, almost bald, with a thick, close-growing -mustache darker than his hair. He removed his glasses, wiped them, and -sat looking at us without a word. There was no business before him, no -sign of occupation whatever, and there seemed nothing to say. - -“A very hearty lunch,” I remarked, hysterically, calling attention to a -neat pile of pasteboard boxes on top of the desk. Each box was stamped -in big red letters: “Fresh eggs. 1 doz.” He went on wiping his glasses -in gloomy silence. - -“Mr. Harrier lives in New Jersey and keeps a few chickens,” said -Harbinger. “He lets us have eggs. If you keep house ... are you -married, though?” - -“No,” I said. - -The treasurer put on his glasses and was turning his shoulder to us -when I extended my hand. He shook it with unexpected friendliness. - -The other man was Fred Minus, the auditor, a very obese and sociable -person of the sensitive type, alert and naïve in his reactions. - -“Nice fellows, those, when you know them a bit,” said Harbinger as -we closed the door behind us and stood for a moment surveying a very -large room which might be called the innermost premises of a railroad’s -executive organization. There were perhaps twenty clerks standing or -sitting on stools at high desks, not counting the cashier and two -assistants in a wire cage, which contained also a safe. The bare -floor was worn in pathways. Everything had an air of hallowed age and -honorable use, even the people, all save one, a magnificent person who -rose and came to meet us. He was introduced as Ivy Handbow, the chief -clerk. He was under thirty-five, full of rosy health, with an unmarried -look, whose only vice, at a guess, was clothes. He wore them with -natural art, believing in them, and although he was conscious of their -effect one could not help liking him because he insisted upon it so -pleasantly. - -At the furthermost corner of the room was the transfer department. -That is the place where the company’s share certificates, after -having changed hands on the Stock Exchange, come to be transferred -from the names of the old to the names of the new owners. Five clerks -were working here at high pressure. To my remark that it seemed the -busiest spot,--I had almost said the only busy spot,--in the whole -organization, Harbinger replied: “Our stock has recently been very -active. With a large list of stockholders--we have more than ten -thousand--there is a constant come and go, old stockholders selling -out and new ones taking their places. Then all of a sudden, for why -nobody knows, the sellers become numerous and in their anxiety to find -buyers they unfortunately attract speculators who run in between seller -and buyer, create a great uproar, and take advantage of both. That is -what has been happening in the last few days. This is the result. Our -transfer office is swamped.” - -He began to show me the routine. We took at random a certificate for -one thousand shares that had just come in and followed it through -several hands to the clerk whose task was to cancel it and make out -another certificate in the new owner’s name. At this point Harbinger -saw something that caused him to stop, forget what he was saying and -utter a grunt of surprise. I could not help seeing that what had -caught his attention was the name that unwound itself from the transfer -clerk’s pen. Harbinger regarded it thoughtfully until it disappeared -from view, overlaid by others; and when he became again aware of me it -was to say: “Well, we’ve been to the end of the shop. There’s nothing -more to see.” - -The name that had arrested his attention was Henry M. Galt. - - -iii - -At lunch time Harbinger asked me to go out with him. On our way we -overtook the treasurer and auditor, who joined us without words. We -were a strange party of four,--tall discontent, bald gloom, lonely -obesity and middling innocence. Two and two we walked down Broadway to -the top of Wall Street, turned into it and almost immediately turned -out of it again into New Street, a narrow little thoroughfare which -serves the Stock Exchange as a back alley. The air was distressed -with that frightful, destructive b-oo-o-o-o-ing which attends falling -prices. It seemed to issue not only from the windows and doors of the -great red building but from all its crevices and through the pores of -the bricks. - -“They are whaling us in there to-day,” said Harbinger over his shoulder. - -“Nine,” said John Harrier. It was the first word I had heard him utter, -and it surprised me that the sound was definite and positive. - -“Are you talking about Great Midwestern Railroad stock?” I asked. - -“Yes,” said Harbinger, “John says it sold at nine this morning. That is -the lowest price in all the company’s history. Every few days there’s -a rumor on the Stock Exchange that we are busted, as so many other -railroads are, and then the speculators, as I told you, create so much -uproar and confusion that no legitimate buyer can find a legitimate -seller, but all must do business with the speculator, who plays -upon their emotions in the primitive manner by means of terrifying -sounds and horrible grimaces. Hear him! He has also a strange power -of simulation. He adds to the fears of the seller when the seller is -already fearful, and to the anxieties of the buyer when the buyer is -already impatient, making one to part with his stock for less than it’s -worth and the other to pay for it more than he should.” - -Eating was at Robins’. The advantage of being four was that we could -occupy either a whole table against the wall opposite the bar or one -of the stalls at the end. As there was neither stall nor table free we -leaned against the bar and waited. We appeared to be well known. Three -waiters called to Harbinger by name and signalled in pantomime over the -heads of the persons in possession how soon this place or that would be -surrendered. While we stood there many other customers passed us and -disappeared down three steps into a larger room beyond. “Nobody ever -goes down there,” said Harbinger, seeing that I noticed the drift of -traffic. “It’s gloomy and the food isn’t so good.” The food all came -from one kitchen, as you could see; but as for its being more cheerful -here than in the lower room that was obviously true because of the -brilliantly lighted bar. And cheerfulness was something our party could -stand a great deal of, I was thinking. Harbinger had left himself in -a temper and was now silent. The other two were lumpish. Presently we -got a stall and sat there in torpid seclusion. The enormous surrounding -clatter of chairs, feet, doors, chinaware and voices touched us not at -all. We were as remote as if we existed in another dimension. Lunch -was procured without one unnecessary vocal sound. Not only was there -no conversation among us; there was no feeling or intuition of thought -taking place. I was obliged to believe either that I was a dead weight -upon them or that it was their habit to make an odious rite of lunch. -In one case I couldn’t help it; in the other I shouldn’t have been -asked. In either case a little civility might have saved the taste of -the food. When there is no possibility of making matters worse than -they are one becomes reckless. - -“Who is Henry M. Galt?” I asked suddenly, addressing the question to -the three of them collectively. I expected it to produce some effect, -possibly a strange effect; yet I was surprised at their reactions to -the sound of the name. It was as if I had spilled a family taboo. -Unconsciously gestures of anxiety went around the table. For several -minutes no one spoke, apparently because no one could think just what -to say. - -“He’s a speculator,” said Harbinger. “Have you met him?--but of course -you have.” - -“The kind of speculator who comes between buyer and seller and harries -the market, as you were telling?” I asked. - -“He has several characters,” said Harbinger. “He is a member of -the Stock Exchange, professional speculator, floor trader, broker, -broker’s broker, private counsellor, tipster, gray bird of mystery. An -offensive, insulting man. He spends a good deal of time in our office.” - -“Why does he do that?” - -“He transacts the company’s business on the Stock Exchange, which isn’t -much. I believe he does something in that way also for the president -who, as you know, is a man of large affairs.” - -“He seems to have a good deal of influence with the president,” I said. -There was no answer. Harbinger looked uncomfortable. - -“But there’s one thing to be said for him,” I continued. “He believes -in the Great Midwestern Railroad. He is buying its shares.” - -Harbinger alone understood what I meant. “It’s true,” he said, speaking -to the other two. “Stock is being transferred to his name.” It was the -secretary’s business to know this. Harrier and Minus were at first -incredulous and then thoughtful. “But you cannot know for sure,” -Harbinger added. “That kind of man never does the same thing with both -hands at once. He may be buying the stock in his own name for purposes -of record and selling it anonymously at the same time.” - -While listening to Harbinger I had been watching John Harrier, and now -I addressed him pointedly. - -“What do you think of this Henry Galt?” - -His reply was prompt and unexpected, delivered with no trace of emotion. - -“He knows more about the G. M. railroad than its own president knows.” - -“John! I never heard you say that before,” said Harbinger. - -Harrier said it again, exactly as before. And there the subject stuck, -head on. - -We returned by the way we had come, passing the rear of the Stock -Exchange again. At the members’ entrance people to the number of thirty -or forty were standing in a hollow group with the air of meaning to be -entertained by something that was about to happen. We stopped. - -“What is it?” I asked. - -Harbinger pushed me through the rind to the hollow center of the -crowd and pointed downward at some blades of grass growing against -the curbstone. The sight caused nothing to click in my brain. For an -instant I thought it might be a personal hoax. It couldn’t be that, -however, with so many people participating. I was beginning to feel -silly when the crowd cheered respectfully and parted at one side to -admit a man with a sprinkling pot. He watered those blades of grass in -an absent, philosophical manner, apparently deaf to the ironic words of -praise and encouragement hurled at him by the spectators, and retired -with dignity. I watched him disappear through an opposite doorway. The -crowd instantly vanished. The four of us stood alone in the middle of -New Street. - -“Grass growing at the door of the New York Stock Exchange,” said -Harbinger, grinning warily as one does at a joke that is both bad and -irresistible. The origin of the grass was obvious. An untidy horse had -been fed at that spot from a nose bag and some of the oats that were -spilled had sprouted in a few ounces of silt gathered in a crevice at -the base of the curbstone. - -The incident gave me a morose turn of thought. As a jest it was -pitiable. What had happened to people to abase their faith in -themselves and in each other? Simple believing seemed everywhere -bankrupt. Nobody outside of it believed in Wall Street. That you might -understand. But here was Wall Street nurturing in fun a symbol of -its own decay, and by this sign not believing in itself. Harbinger -denounced the Stock Exchange speculators who depressed the price of -Great Midwestern shares and circulated rumors damaging the railroad’s -credit. But did Harbinger himself believe in Great Midwestern? No. -The Great Midwestern did not believe in itself. Its own president -did not believe in it. He was busily advertising his disbelief in the -whole railroad business. Why had he no faith in the railroad business? -Because people had power over railroads and he disbelieved in people. -Therefore, people disbelieved in him. - -I was saying to myself that I had yet to meet a man with downright -faith in anything when I thought of Galt. He believed in the country. I -remembered vividly what he said about it on the ferryboat. It was rich -and nobody would believe it. He believed also in Great Midwestern, for -he was buying the stock in the face of those ugly rumors. - -The fact of this one man’s solitary believing seemed very remarkable -to me at that instant. In the perspectives of times and achievement it -became colossal. - - -iv - -The president was in Chicago on two errands. One was to hold a solemn -quarterly conference with the operating officials on the ground. There -was supposed to be much merit in having it take place on the ground. -The first time I heard the locution it made me think of Indian chiefs -debating around a camp fire. The executive offices in New York were -more than a thousand miles from the Great Midwestern’s first rail’s -end. It does not matter so much where a railway’s brains are; but its -other organs must remain where they naturally belong, and that is -why all the operating departments were in Chicago. Four times a year -the brains were present in the physical sense. At all other times the -operating officials either brought their problems to New York, solved -them on the spot, or put them in a pigeon hole to await the next -conference. - -His other errand was to deliver a speech, entitled, “Lynching the -Railroads,” at a manufacturers’ banquet. On the plane of large ideas -the great Valentine mind was explicit; elsewhere it was vague and -liable. Although this was the first time I had been left alone with the -New York office for more than one day my instructions were very dim. At -the last moment the president said: “You will know what to do. Use your -own judgment. Open everything that comes in. Tell Mr. Harbinger to be -very careful about the earnings. They got out again last week.” - -He was referring to the private weekly statement of gross and net -revenues compiled jointly by the secretary and treasurer and delivered -by Harbinger’s own hand to the president. This exhibit was not for -publication like the monthly statement; it was a special sounding for -the information of the executive, or a kind of statistical cheese auger -by means of which the trained sense could sample the state of business. -The figures were supposed to be jealously guarded. On no account were -they to go out of the office, save by direct order of the president. -The crime of my predecessor had been to let them fall regularly into -the hands of certain Stock Exchange speculators. - -Knowing all this, everybody knowing it, I wondered at Harbinger when -late one evening he brought the statement to my desk, saying: “Here are -the weekly figures. You take them. It’s better to keep them all in one -place while the chief is away. I haven’t even a copy.” - -I was not surprised that he should be trying to rid himself of a -distasteful responsibility. But the act of avoidance was in itself -puerile. Suppose there was another leak. He could say that he had put -the statement out of his keeping into mine; he could say he had not -kept a copy; but could he expect anyone to believe he had erased them -from his mind? It irritated me. I kept thinking about it that night. I -concluded there was something I did not understand; and there was. - -As I was opening my desk the next morning Galt came in and without a -word or sign of salutation addressed me summarily. - -“Harbinger says you have the earnings.” - -“The weekly earnings?” I asked. - -“The weekly earnings,” he repeated after me, trying to mimic my voice -and manner. He would have been ridiculous except that he was angry, and -anger was an emotion that seemed curiously to enlarge him. So here was -the explanation of Harbinger’s behavior. He had expected Galt to ask -him for the figures and he meant to be able to say that he didn’t have -them. - -We regarded each other steadily. - -“Well?” I said. - -“You apparently don’t know that I get them,” he said, his anger -beginning to rise against me. - -“No, I don’t know it,” I said. “Does Mr. Harbinger know?” - -This reference to Harbinger, which he understood to be sarcastic, -completed his rage. - -“Do I get them?” he asked, bulging at me in a menacing manner. - -“Sorry,” I said. “There’s no hole for you in my instructions.” - -At that he began to pass in front of me, with long, stealthy steps, -his shoulders crouched, his hands in his pockets, his head low and -cocked right and then left as he turned and passed again, all the while -looking at me fixedly with a preposterous, maleficent glare. The effect -was so ludicrous that I laughed. And then for only so long as it takes -to see a flashing thing there was a look in his eyes that made me -shudder. Suddenly he went out, slamming the door so hard that I held my -breath for the sound of falling glass. - -As the pantomime reconstructed itself in reflection it assumed a comic -aspect. No, it couldn’t have been serious. I was almost persuaded -it had been a bit of undignified acting, an absurd though harmless -way of working off a fit of temper, when I recalled that look and -shuddered again. Once before I had seen that expression in the eyes of -a malevolent hunchback. It was the look of a giant tragically trapped -in a puny body. Galt was a small man, weighing less than one hundred -pounds, with a fretful, nagging body. - -Before lunch the president called me on the G. M.’s private telegraph -wire. He stood at the key in the Chicago office and I stood at the -key in the New York office, and we conversed through the operators -without written messages. Was everything all right? he asked me. Yes, -everything was all right. There was nothing urgent? he asked. No, there -was nothing urgent, I said. Then, as if he had but chanced to think of -it, he said: “I forgot to tell you. It’s all right for Mr. Galt to have -the earnings.” - -His anxiety to seem casual about it betrayed the fact that he had -called me expressly to say that Galt should have the earnings; and -there was no doubt in my thoughts that Galt since leaving me had been -in communication with my chief by telegraph. What an amazing to-do! - -If my deductions were true, then I might expect to be presently favored -with another visit. So I was. He came in about 2 o’clock and sat down -at the end of my desk without speaking. I did not speak either, but -handed him the statement of earnings. He crumpled the paper in his hand -and dropped it in the waste basket. I was sure he hadn’t looked at it. - -“Coxey,” he said, “promise never again to laugh at me like that.... -We’ve got a long way to go ... up and down grade ... but promise -whatever happens never to do that again.” - -Somehow I was not surprised. For a little time we sat looking at each -other. - -“All right,” I said, holding out my hand to him. It was an irrational -experience. We shook hands in the veiled, mysterious manner of boys -sealing a life-time compact for high adventure, no more words either -necessary or feasible. - -But with Harbinger some further conversation seemed appropriate. So -later I said to him. - -“Why are you so afraid of Galt?” - -“You do ask some very extraordinary questions?” - -“I have a right to ask this one,” I said, “seeing that you put it upon -me to refuse him the earnings. You were afraid to refuse him. Isn’t -that why you gave the figures to me?” - -“You will have to think what you like of my motives,” he said, with -rather fine dignity, though at the same time turning red. “I don’t see -why you shouldn’t learn yours as we’ve had to learn ours,” he added. - -“My what?” - -“That’s all,” he said, twirling about in his swivel chair and avoiding -my regard. - -“Why do you dislike him?” - -“It isn’t that I dislike him,” he retorted, beginning to lose his -temper a bit. “The thing of it is I don’t know how to treat him. He -has no authority here that one can understand, get hold of, or openly -respect. Yet there are times when you might think he owned the whole -lot of us.” - -“How did this come about?” - -“Gradually,” he said. “Or, ... at least ... it was only about a year -ago that he began to have the run of the place. Before that we knew him -merely as a broker who made a specialty of dealing in Great Midwestern -securities. From dealing so much in our securities he came to have a -personal curiosity about the property. That’s what he said. So he began -to pry into things, wanting information about this and that, some of it -very private, and when we asked the president about it he said, ‘Oh, -give him anything but the safe.’ Lately he’s been spending so much time -around here that I wonder how he makes a living. He knows too much -about the company. You heard John Harrier. He knows as much about our -mortgages, indentures, leases and records as I know, and that’s my end -of the business. He’s made me look up facts I never heard of before. -He’s been all over the road, looking at it with a microscope. I do -believe he knows generally more about the Great Midwestern than any -other person living. Why? Tell me why?” - -“He and the president are old friends, did you say?” - -He paused for effect and said: “Henry Galt has only one friend in the -world. That’s himself. Ask anybody who knows him in Wall Street. He’s -been around here twenty years.” - -“Maybe it’s his extensive knowledge of the property that gives him his -influence with the president,” I suggested. - -Harbinger came forward with a lurch, rested his elbows on his desk, -hung his chin over his double fist and stared at me close up. - -“Maybe!” he said. - -“Well, what do you think?” I asked. He was aching to tell me what all -of this had been leading up to, and yet the saying of it was inhibited. - -“I’m not a superstitious man,” he said, speaking with effort. “There’s -a natural reason for everything if you know what it is.... It’s very -strange.” - -“What’s strange?” - -“He knows both what is and what isn’t.” - -“Galt does?” - -He nodded and at the same time implored me by gesture not to let my -voice rise. “May be anywhere around ... in the next room,” he said, -hardly above a whisper. “Yes. He knows things that haven’t happened. If -there’s such a gift as pre-vision he has it.” - -“If that were true,” I objected, “he would have all the money in the -world.” - -“Just the same it’s true,” said Harbinger, rising and reaching for his -coat. He looked at me a little askance, doubtless with misgivings as to -the propriety of having talked so much. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -GALT - - -i - -It was true of Galt, as Harbinger said, that he had no friends; it -was not therefore true that his world was full of enemies. He had -many acquaintances and no intimates. He was a solitary worker in the -money vineyards, keeping neither feud nor tryst with any clan. His -reputation in Wall Street was formless and cloudy. Everybody knew him, -or knew something about him; for twenty years he had been a pestiferous -gadfly on the Stock Exchange, lighting here and there, turning up -suddenly in situations where he had to be settled with or bought off, -swaggering, bluffing, baiting, playing the greatest of all games of -wit with skill and daring--and apparently getting nowhere in the end. -Once he had engaged in a lone-handed fight with a powerful banking -group over the reorganization of a railroad, demanding to be elected to -the directorate as the largest minority stockholder. The bankers were -indignant. The audacity of a stock market gambler wanting to sit on -a railroad board! What would anybody think? He took his case to the -courts and was beaten. - -Another time he unexpectedly appeared with actual control of a small -railroad, having bought it surreptitiously during many months in the -open market place; but as he held it mostly with credit borrowed from -the banks his position was vulnerable. It would not do for a gambler -like this to own a railroad, the bankers said; so his loans were called -away from him and he had to sell out at a heart-breaking loss. He was -beaten again. - -He took his defeats grimly and returned each time to the practice -of free lance speculation, with private brokerage on the side. The -unsuccess of these two adventures caused him to be thought of as a man -whose ambitions exceeded his powers. There were a great many facts -about him, facts of record and facts of hearsay, but when they were -brought together the man was lost. Though he talked a great deal to -any one who would listen he revealed nothing of himself. His office -was one dark little room, full of telephones; and he was never there. -He carried his business in his head. Nobody positively spoke ill of -him, or if one did it was on ground of free suspicion, with nothing -more specific to be alleged than that he turned a sharp corner. That is -nothing to say. To go wide around corners in Wall Street is a mark of -self-display. People neither liked nor disliked him. They simply had no -place in their minds to put him. So they said, “Oh, yes,--Harry Galt,” -and shook their heads. They might say he was unsafe and take it back, -remarking that he had never been insolvent. What they meant was that -he was visionary. Generally on the Stock Exchange there is a shrewd -consensus as to what a man is worth. Nobody had the remotest notion of -what Galt was worth. It was believed that his fortune went up and down -erratically. - -Between Galt and the president of the Great Midwestern there was a -strange relationship. Harbinger had said it was not one of friendship. -Perhaps not. Yet it would be difficult to find any other name for it. -Their association was constant. Galt did all of Valentine’s private -Stock Exchange business, as Harbinger said. What Harbinger did not know -was that they were engaged in joint speculations under Galt’s advice -and direction. All of this, of course, could be without personal liking -on either side. Galt was an excellent broker and an adroit speculator. -Valentine never spoke of him without a kind of awe and a certain unease -of manner. Galt’s references to Valentine were oblique, sometimes -irreverent to the verge of disrespect, but that was Galt. It did not -imply dislike. - -On the president’s return from Chicago I mentioned the fact of having -refused to give Galt the earnings. - -“Quite right,” he said. “I ought to have told you about Mr. Galt.” - -“Is it all right to give him anything he wants?” I asked, remembering -what Harbinger had said and wishing to test it for myself. He did not -answer at once, nor directly. After walking about for several minutes -he said: - -“Mr. Galt is becoming a large stockholder in the Great Midwestern -Railroad. Why, I don’t know. I cannot follow his process of thought. -Our stock is very low. I don’t know when if ever we shall be able to -pay dividends on it again. But I cannot keep him from buying it. He is -obstinate in his opinions.” - -“Is his judgment good in such matters?” I asked. - -“It isn’t judgment,” he said slowly. “It isn’t anything you can touch -by reason. I suppose it is intuition.” - -“Do his intuitions prove in the sequel?” - -He grew more restless and then stood for a long time gazing out of the -window. - -“It’s queer,” he said, speaking to himself. “He has extraordinary -foresight. I wish I could see with him now. If he is right then -everybody else is wrong. No, he cannot be right ... he cannot be. -Conditions are too plain.” - -“He doesn’t see conditions as they are?” I said. - -“As they are?” he repeated, starting, and then staring at me out of -focus with recollected astonishment. “He doesn’t see them at all. They -don’t exist. What he sees is ... is.... Well, well, no matter,” he -said, letting down suddenly and returning to his desk with a large -gesture of sweeping something behind him. - -It was difficult to be friends with Henry Galt. His power of irritation -was impish. None escaped its terrors, least of all those upon whom he -bestowed his liking. He knew all their tender spots and kept them sore. -No word of satire, derision or petulance was ever restrained, or missed -its mark. His aim was unerring; and if you were not the victim you -wickedly understood the strength of the temptation. He not only made -people feel little; he made them look little. What saved it or made it -utterly intolerable, according to the point of view, was that having -done this he was scornful of his own ego’s achievement, as to say: “I -may be greater than you but that’s no sign I am anything to speak of.” -There was a curious fact about his exhibitions of ungoverned feeling, -either ecstasies or tantrums. He had no sense of physical dignity, and -therefore no sensation ever of losing it. For that reason he could -bring off a most undignified scene in a manner to humiliate everyone -but himself. Having behaved incorrigibly he would suddenly stalk off in -majestic possession of himself and leave others in a ludicrous plight, -with a sense of having suffered an unanswerable indignity. It delighted -him to seize you up on some simple declaration of opinion, demand the -reason, then the grounds of the reason, and run you off your wits with -endless, nagging questions. - -On handing him the weekly earnings one afternoon I passed a word of -unconsidered comment. He impeached it with a question. I defended it -foolishly. He impeached the defense with another question. And this -went on until I said: - -“It was nothing in the beginning. I merely meant it to be civil, like -passing the time of day. I’m sorry I spoke at all.” - -“Sorry spoils it,” he said. “Otherwise very handsome.” And he passed -into the president’s office for the long conference which now was a -daily fixture. They went away together as usual. Presently Galt alone -returned and said in a very nice way: - -“Come and have dinner with me, Coxey.” - -When we were seated in the Sixth Avenue L train he resumed the -inquisitive manner, only now he flattered me by showing genuine -interest in my answers. Had I seen the board of directors in action? -How was I impressed? Who was the biggest man in the lot at a guess? -Why so? What did I think of Valentine, of this and that one? Why? He -not only made me recall my impressions, he obliged me to account for -them. And he listened attentively. When we descended at 50th Street he -seemed not to notice that it was drizzling rain. There was no umbrella. -We walked slowly south to 48th Street and turned east, talking all the -time. - -The Galt house was tall, brown and conventional, lying safe within the -fringe. It was near the middle of the block. Eastward toward Fifth -Avenue as the scale of wealth ascended there were several handsome -houses. Westward toward Sixth Avenue at the extreme end of the block -you might suspect high class board. But it is a long block; one end -does not know the other. About the entrance, especially at the front -door as Galt admitted us with a latch-key, there was an effect of -stinted upkeep. - -Inside we were putting off our things, with no sign of a servant, when -suddenly a black and white cyclone swept down the hall, imperilling -in its passage a number of things and threatening to overwhelm its -own object; but instead at the miraculous moment it became rigid, -gracefully executed a flying slide on the tiled floor, and came to a -perfect stop with Galt in its arms. - -“Safe!” I shouted, filled with excitement and admiration. - -“Natalie,” said Galt, introducing her. - -She shook hands in a free, roguish manner, smiling with me at herself, -without really for an instant taking her attention off Galt. - -“You’re wet,” she said severely. - -“No, I’m not.” - -“You’re soaking wet,” she insisted, feeling and pinching him at the -same time. “You’ve got to change.” - -“I’ve got to do nothing of the kind,” he said. “We want to talk. Let us -alone.” To me he said: “Come up to my room,” and made for the stairway. - -Natalie, getting ahead of him, barred the way. - -“You won’t have a minute to talk,” she said. “Dinner is ready. Go in -there.” - -“Oh, all right ... all right,” he growled, turning into the parlor. -Almost before he could sit down she was at him with a dry coat, holding -it. Grumbling and pretending to be churlish, yet secretly much pleased, -he changed garments, saying: “Will that do you?” - -“For now,” she said, smoothing the collar and giving him a little whack -to finish. - -Mrs. Galt appeared. Then Galt’s mother, introduced simply and sweetly -by her nursery name, Gram’ma Galt. There was an embarrassing pause. - -“Where is Vera?” Galt asked. - -Vera, I supposed, was the ferryboat girl. - -Nobody answered his question. Mrs. Galt by an effort of strong -intention moved us silently toward the dining room. The house seemed -bare,--no pictures to look at, a few pieces of fine old furniture mixed -with modern things, good rugs worn shabby and no artistry of design or -effect whatever except in the middle room between parlor and dining -room which contained a grand piano, some art objects and a thought of -color. Nothing in the house was positively ugly or in bad taste, nor in -the total impression was there any uncomfortable suggestion of genteel -poverty. What the environment seemed to express, all save that one -middle room, was indifference. - -“You will want to talk,” said Mrs. Galt, placing me at the left of -Galt, so that I faced Natalie, who sat at his right. This was the foot -of the table. Mrs. Galt sat at the head of it, with Gram’ma Galt at her -right and a vacant place at her left. - -“Where is Vera?” Galt asked again, beginning to develop symptoms. - -“She isn’t coming down,” said Mrs. Galt in a horizontal voice. - -“Why not?” asked Galt, beating the table. “Why not?” - -“T-e-e o-o-o doubleyou,” said Natalie, significantly, trying to catch -his eye. But he either didn’t hear or purposely ignored her, and went -on: - -“She does this to spite me. She does it every time I bring anybody -home. I won’t have it. She’s a monkey, she’s a snob. I’ll call her till -she comes. Hey, Ver-a-a-a!” - -Natalie had been shaking him by the arm, desperately trying to make him -look at a figure formed with the fingers of her right hand. Evidently -there was a code between them. She had already tried the cipher, T O -W, whatever that meant, and now this was the sign. If he would only -look! But of course he wouldn’t. Suddenly the girl threw herself around -him, and though he resisted she smothered him powerfully and whispered -in his ear. Instantly the scene dissolved. She returned to her place -slightly flushed with the exertion, he sat up to the table, and dinner -began to be served as if nothing unusual had taken place. - -Mrs. Galt addressed polite inquiries at me, spoke to the butler, -conversed with Natalie, not feverishly or in haste, but placidly, in a -calm level voice. She was a magnificent brunette woman, turning gray at -a time of life and in a manner to make her look even younger and more -striking than before. Her expression was trained, impersonal and weary, -as that of one who knows the part too well to be surprised or taken -unawares and had forgotten what it was like to be interested without -effort. There were lines suitable to every occasion. She knew them -all and spoke them well, omitting nothing, slurring nothing, adding -nothing. Her conversation, like her expression, was a guise. Back of -that there dwelt a woman. - -No one spoke to the old mother. I tried to talk to her. She became -instantly rigid and remained so until I turned away embarrassed. As I -did so Natalie was looking at me. - -“Don’t mind Gram’ma,” she said across the table. “When she wants to -talk she will let you know.” - -I happened to catch the angry look that the grandmother darted at the -girl for this polite impertinence. It betrayed an amazing energy of -spirit. That old stone house with its breaking lines, dissolving gray -textures, and no way in, was still the habitat of an ageless, sultry -sibyl. Trespass at your peril! But youth possessing itself is truly -impervious. The girl did not mind. She returned the look with a smile, -just a little too winsome, as everything about her seemed a little too -high in key or color, too extraordinary, too unexpected, or, like the -girl in the perfumer’s advertisement, a little too much to be true, -not in any sense of being unreal, but as an entity altogether and -unfortunately improbable. She had learned how to get what she wanted, -and her way of getting it, one could imagine, was all that made life -bearable in that household. - -Its sky was low and ominous, charged with a sense of psychic stress. I -felt two conditions of conflict, one chronic and one acute. The feeling -of there being something acute was suddenly deepened when the old -mother spoke for the first and only time. Her voice was clear, precise -and commanded undivided attention. The question she asked gave me a -queer start. - -“What is the price of Great Midwestern to-day?” - -“Eight,” said Galt, amid profound silence. - -That was all. Yet it was as if a spark had passed through inflammable -gas. The same feeling was deepened further by another incident. - -“Coxey,” said Galt, addressing me rhetorically, “what one thing has -impressed you most in Wall Street?” - -“The unbelief of people in themselves, in each other and in what they -are doing,” I replied. - -“What’s that? Say it again.” - -I said it again, whereat he burst forth with shrill, discordant, -exulting sounds, beating the china with a spoon and making for one -person an incredible uproar. At the same time he looked about him with -a high air, especially at his wife, whose expression was perfectly -blank. Natalie smiled grimly. The old mother was oblivious. - -“I don’t see anything in that,” I said, when the racket subsided. - -“There is, though,” he said. “You didn’t mean to do it but you hit ’em -in the eye that time,--square in the eye. Wow!” He was very agreeably -excited and got up from the table. - -“Come on,” he said, “we’ll talk in my room.” - -“I’ll send your coffee up,” Mrs. Galt called after us, as he bore me -off. - -“This is where I live and play,” he said, applying a latch-key to a -door at the top of the stairway. He went in first to get the light on, -saying: “I don’t let anybody in here but Natalie. She can dust it up -without touching anything.” - -The room was a workshop in that state of involved disorder, tools -all scattered about, which is sign and measure of the craftsman’s -engrossment. There was an enormous table piled high at both ends with -papers, briefs, maps, charts, blue prints, files, pamphlets and stuffed -envelopes. Books were everywhere,--on the table, on the chairs, on -the floor, many of them open, faces up and faces down, straddled one -upon another leap-frog fashion, arranged in series with weights to -hold them flat, books sprawling, leaning, prone. Poor’s Manual of -Railway Statistics, the Financial Chronicle, Statistical Abstract of -the United States, Economics of Railroad Construction, History of -the Erie Railroad, the Yardmaster’s Assistant,--such were the titles. -Against the right wall to a height of six feet were book shelves filled -with all the contemporary financial and commercial periodicals in -bound volumes, almanacs, endless books of statistical reference and -the annual reports of various railway corporations, running back for -many years. On top of the shelves was the only decorative thing in the -room,--a beautiful working model of a locomotive, perfect in every -intricate part, mounted in brass and set upon a nickel plated section -of railway. - -One could have guessed without seeing him that the occupant of this -room was restless, never at physical ease, and worked all over the -place, sitting here and there, lying down and walking about. On the -left side of the room was a couch and close beside it at one end a -morris chair, a reading light between them. Both the couch and chair -showed nervous wear and tear. And beyond the table in the clear space -the rug had been paced threadbare. - -Most of the available wall area was covered with maps and colored -charts. I walked about looking at them. Galt removed his shoes, put on -slippers, got into a ragged lounging jacket and threw himself on the -couch, where he lay for some time watching me with the air of one who -waits only to pop open at the slightest touch in the right place. - -“What is this?” I asked, staring at a large map which showed the Great -Midwestern in heavy red lines, as I fairly well knew it, but with such -ramified extensions in blue lines as to make it look like a gigantic -double-ended animal with its body lying across the continent and its -tentacles flung wide in the east and west. - -“That’s crystal gazing,” he said. - -“It’s what?” - -“What may be,” he said, coming off the couch with a spring. As he -passed the table he snatched up a ruler to point with. - -See! There was the Great Midwestern alone,--all there was of it, from -there to there. It was like a desert bridge from east to west, or, -better still, like a strait connecting two vast oceans of freight. It -was not so placed as to be able to originate traffic for itself, not -profitably, yet that is what it had always been trying to do instead of -attending exclusively to its own unique function. Its opportunity was -to become the Dardanelles of trans-continental traffic. To realize its -destiny it must control traffic at both ends. How? Why, by controlling -railroads east and west that developed and originated freight, as -a river gathers water, by a system of branches reaching up to the -springs. And those blue lines, see!--they were those other roads which -the Great Midwestern should control in its own interest. - -He turned to a chart ten feet long by four feet deep hung level with -the eyes on the opposite wall. The heavy black line erratically -rising and falling against a background of graduated horizontal -lines was an accurate profile of the Great Midwestern for the whole -of its length,--that is, a cross section of the earth showing the -configuration of its surface under the G. M. railroad’s ties and rails. -It was unique, he said. Never had such a thing been done on this scale -before. The purpose was to exhibit the grades in a graphic manner. -There were many bad grades, each one like a hole in the pocket. His -knowledge was minute. “Now from here to here,” he said, indicating 100 -miles of profile with low grades, “it costs half a cent to move a ton -of freight one mile, and that pays. But from here to here,” indicating -a sudden rise in the next fifty miles, “it costs three cents per ton -per mile and all the profit made in the preceding 100 miles is lost on -that one grade.” - -“What can be done about it?” I asked. - -“Cut that grade down from 150 to 50 feet in the mile,” he said, slicing -the peak of it through with his ruler, “and freight can be moved at a -profit.” - -“It would take a lot of labor and money, wouldn’t it?” - -“Well, what of all this unemployment belly-ache you and old Bubbly Jock -are writing pieces about?” he retorted. “You say there is more labor -than work. I’ll show you more work to be done on the railroads than you -can find labor in a generation for. All right, you say, but then it’s -the money. The Great Midwestern hasn’t got the money to spend on that -grade. True. Like all other roads with bad grades it’s hard up. But it -could borrow the money and earn big dividends on it. Track levelling -pays better than gold mining.” - -“You and Coxey ought to confer,” I said. “You are not so far apart. -He wants the government to create work by the simple expedient of -borrowing money to build good roads. And here you say the railroads, if -they would borrow money to reduce their grades, might employ all the -idle labor there is.” - -He gave me a queer look, as if undecided whether to answer in earnest. -“Coxey is technically crazy,” he said, “and I’m technically sane. That -may be the principal difference. Besides, it isn’t the government’s -business.” - -This diversion gave his thoughts a more general character. For three -hours he walked about talking railroads,--how they had got built so -badly in the first place, why so many were bankrupt, errors of policy, -capital cost, upkeep, the relative merits of different kinds of -equipment, new lines of development, problems of operation. For this -was the stuff of his dreams. He devoured it. The idea of a railroad -as a means to power filled the whole of his imagination. It was man’s -most dynamic tool. No one had yet imagined its possibilities. He became -romantic. His feeling for a locomotive was such as some men have for -horses. The locomotive, he said, suddenly breaking off another thought -to let that one through,--the locomotive was more wonderful than any -automotive thing God had placed on earth. According to the book of Job -God boasted of the horse. Well, look at it alongside of a locomotive! - -He never went back to finish what he was saying when the image of a -locomotive interrupted his thought. Instead he became absent and began -to look slowly about the room as if he had lost something. I understood -what had happened. He was seized with the premonition of an idea. He -felt it before he could see it; it had to be helped out of the fog. -I made gestures of going, which he accepted. As we shook hands he -became fully present for long enough to say: “I never talk like this to -anyone. Just keep that in mind.... Good night.” - - -ii - -He did not come down with me. He did not come even to the door of his -own room. As I closed it I saw his back. He was leaning over the table -in a humped posture, his head sideways in his left hand, writing or -ciphering rapidly on a sheet of yellow paper. Good for the rest of -the night, I thought, as I went down the dimly lighted stairs, got my -things and let myself into the vestibule. - -The inner door came to behind me with a bang because the outer door was -partly open and a strong draught swept through. At the same instant I -became aware of a woman’s figure in the darkness of the vestibule. She -was dry; therefore she could not be just coming in, for a cold rain -was falling. And if she had just come out, why hadn’t I seen her in -the hallway? But why was I obliged to account for her at all? It was -unimportant. Probably she had been hesitating to take the plunge into -the nasty night. I felt rather silly. First I had been startled and -then I had hesitated, and now it was impossible to speak in a natural -manner. My impulse was to bolt it in silence. Then to my surprise she -moved ahead of me, stood outside, and handed me her umbrella. I raised -it and held it over her; we descended the steps together. - -“I’m going toward Fifth Avenue,” I said. - -She turned with me in that direction, saying: “I was waiting for you.” - -“You are Vera?” - -“Yes.” - -“The ferryboat girl,” I added. - -“The what?” - -“Nothing. Go on. Why were you waiting for me?” - -She did not answer immediately. We walked in silence to the next light -where she turned and gave me a frankly inquisitive look. - -“Oh,” she said. - -“Oh, what?” said I. “You don’t remember me.” - -“Nothing,” she answered, giving me a second look, glancewise. “Two -nothings make it even,” she added. - -There was an awkward pause. “May I ask you something? You are with the -Great Midwestern, in Mr. Valentine’s office?” - -“Yes.” - -“I have no one else to ask,” she said. “You will be surprised. It is -this: do you think Great Midwestern stock a good investment?” - -I was angry and uncomfortable. Why was she asking me? But she wasn’t -really; she was coming at something else. - -“I haven’t any opinion,” I said, “and that isn’t what you mean.” - -We were now in Fifth Avenue and had stopped in the doorway of a lighted -shop to be out of the rain. She blushed at my answer and at the same -time gave me a look of scrutiny. I had to admire the way she held to -her purpose. - -“I am very anxious to know what Mr. Valentine’s opinion is,” she said. - -“That’s better,” I replied. “But why should you want even his opinion? -Your father knows more about Great Midwestern than its president, more -than any other one person. Why not get his opinion?” - -Until that moment she had perfectly disguised a state of anxiety -verging upon hysteria. Suddenly her powers of self-repression failed. -My reference to her father caused the strings to snap. Her expression -changed as if a mask had fallen. The grief muscles all at once -relaxed and the pretty frown they had been holding in the forehead -disappeared. Her eyes flamed. Her upper lip retracted on one side, -showing the canine tooth. Her giving way to strong emotion in this -manner was a kind of pagan revelation. It did not in the least distort -her beauty, but made it terrible. This, as I learned in time, was the -only one of her effects of which she was altogether unconscious. - -“We know his opinion,” she said. “We take it with our food. He is -putting everything we have into Great Midwestern stock,--his own money, -the family’s money, mother’s, Natalie’s, gram’ma’s and now mine.” - -“Without your consent? I don’t understand it,” I said. - -“The money in our family is divided. Each of us has a little. Most -of it is from mother’s side of the house. My father and gram’ma are -trustees of a sum that will come to me from my uncle’s estate when -I am twenty-one. It is enough to make me independent for life. They -are putting that into this stock! Is it a proper investment for trust -funds, I ask you?” - -I felt I ought not to be listening. Still, I had not encouraged these -intimate disclosures, she was old enough to know what she was doing, -and, most of all, the information was dramatically interesting. I was -obliged to say that by all the rules Great Midwestern stock would not -be considered a proper investment for trust funds. - -“I’ve protested,” she said. “I’ve threatened to take steps. Pooh! What -can I do? They pay no more attention to me than _that_! Neither father -nor gram’ma. Mother is neutral. Father says it will make me rich. I -don’t want to be rich. Besides he has said that before.” - -“It may turn out well,” I said. - -“It isn’t as if this were the first time,” she continued. “Twice he has -had us on the rocks. Twice he has lost all our money, all that he could -get his hands on, in the same way, putting it into a railroad that he -hoped to get control of or something, and going smash at the end. Once -when I was a little girl and again three years ago. To-day on the train -I heard two men talking about a receivership for the Great Midwestern -as if it were inevitable. What would that mean?” - -“It would be very disagreeable,” I said. - -“That’s almost the same as bankruptcy, isn’t it?” - -“It is bankruptcy,” I said; but I added that rumors just then were very -wild in Wall Street and so false in general that the worse they were -the less they were heeded, people reacting to them in a disbelieving, -contrary manner. - -She shook her head doubtfully. - -“Are you going to tell me what Mr. Valentine’s opinion is?” - -“He would not recommend anyone to buy the stock just now,” I said. “He -makes no secret of seeing darkly.” - -“The rocks again,” she said. “And no more legacies to save us. Nearly -all of our rich relatives are already dead.” - -The realism of youth! - -I could not resist the opportunity to ask one question. - -“I can understand your case,” I said, “but the others,--your mother and -grandmother,--they are not helpless. Why do they hand over their money -for these adventures in high finance? Or perhaps they believe in your -father’s star.” - -“No more than I believe in it,” she replied. “No. It isn’t that. -They can’t help it.” She looked at me from afar, through a haze of -recollections, and repeated the thought to herself, wondering: “They -cannot help it. We cannot say no. Even I cannot say it. What he wants -he gets.” - -She shivered. - -“Will you walk back with me, please.” - -It was still raining. We walked all the way back in silence. At the -step she reached for her umbrella, said thank you and stepped inside. -The door closed with a slam. That could have been the draught again, -provided the inner door stood open, which seemed very improbable. - -What left me furious, gave me once more that hot, humiliated feeling -which resulted from our first encounter on the ferryboat, was the -same thing again. She had spoken my name, she had solicited a favor, -she had employed blandishments, she had exposed the family’s closet -of horrors, and all the time I might have been a person in a play, a -non-existent giraffe or one of Cleopatra’s eunuchs. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -AN ECONOMIC NIGHTMARE - - -i - -You may define a mass delusion; you cannot explain it really. It is a -malady of the imagination, incurable by reason, that apparently must -run its course. If it does not lead people to self-destruction in a -wild dilemma between two symbols of faith it will yield at last to the -facts of experience. - -Once the peace of the world was shattered by this absurd question: Was -the male or the female faculty the first cause of the universe? There -was no answer, for man himself had invented the riddle; nevertheless -what one believed about it was more important than life, happiness or -civilization. Proponents of the male principle adopted the color white. -Worshippers of the female principle took for their sign and symbol -the color red, inclining to yellow. Under these two banners there -took place a religious warfare which involved all mankind, dispersed, -submerged and destroyed whole races of people and covered Asia, Africa -and Europe with tragic ruins. Then someone accidentally thought of -a third principle which reconciled those two and human sanity was -restored on earth. All this is now forgotten. - -Since then people have been mad together about a number of -things,--God, tulips, witches, definitions, alchemy and vanities -of precept. In 1894 they were mad about money,--not about the use, -possession and distribution of it, but as to the color of it, whether -it should be silver,--that is to say, white like the symbol of those -old worshippers of the masculine faculty, or gold,--that is, red -inclining to yellow, as was the symbol of those who in the dimness of -human history adored the feminine faculty. - -And as people divided on this question of silver or gold they became -utterly delirious. Either side was willing to see the government’s -credit ruined, as it very nearly was, for the vindication of a fetich. -They did not know it. They had not the remotest notion why or how they -were mad because they were unable to realize that they were mad at all. - -I have recently turned over the pages of the newspapers and periodicals -of that time to verify the recollection that events as they occurred -were treated with no awareness of their significance. And it was so. -Intelligence was in suspense. The faculty of judgment slept as in a -dream; the imagination ran loose, inventing fears and phantasies. That -the government stood on the verge of bankruptcy or that the United -States Treasury was about to shut up under a run of panic-stricken gold -hoarders was regarded not as a national emergency in which all were -concerned alike, but as proof that one theory was right and another -wrong, so that one side viewed the imminent disaster gloatingly and was -disappointed at its temporary postponement, while the other resorted to -sophistries and denied self-evident things. - -Nor does anyone know to this day why people were then mad. Economists -write about it as the struggle for sound money (gold), against unsound -money (silver), and that leaves it where it was. Money is not a thing -either true or untrue. It is merely a token of other things which are -useful and enjoyable. Both silver and gold are sound for that purpose. -Their use is of convenience, and the proportions and quantities in -which they shall circulate as currency is rationally a matter of -arithmetic. Yet here were millions of people emotionally crazed over -the question of which should be paramount, one side talking of the -crime of dethroning silver and the other of the gold infamy. - - -ii - -All other business having come to a stop while this matter was at an -impasse, a truce was effected in this wise by law: Gold should remain -paramount, nominally, but the Treasury should buy each month a great -quantity of silver bullion, turn it into white money, force the white -money into circulation and then keep it equal to gold in value. Now, -the amount of precious metal in a silver dollar was worth only half -as much as the amount of precious metal in a gold dollar. Yet Congress -decreed that gold and silver dollars should be interchangeable and -put upon the Treasury a mandate to keep them equal in value. How? By -what magic? Why, by the magic of a phrase. The phrase was: “It is the -established policy of the United States to maintain the two metals at a -parity with each other by law.” - -Naïve trust in the power of words to command reality is found in all -mass delusions. - -The Coxeyites were laughed at for thinking that prosperity could be -created by phrases written in the form of law. Congress thought the -same thing. It supposed that the economic distress in the country could -be cured by making fifty cents’ worth of silver equal to one hundred -cents’ worth of gold, and that this miracle of parity could be achieved -by decree. - -Anyone would know what to expect. The gold people ran with white -dollars to the Treasury and exchanged them for gold and either hoarded -the gold or sold it in Europe. In this way the government’s gold fund -was continually depleted, and this was disastrous because its credit, -the nation’s credit in the world at large, rested on that gold fund. -It sold bonds to buy more gold, but no matter how fast it got more -gold into the Treasury even faster came people with white money to -be redeemed in money the color of red inclining to yellow, and all -the time the Treasury was obliged by law to buy each month a great -quantity of silver bullion and turn it into white money, so that the -supply of white money to be exchanged for gold was inexhaustible. - -Wall Street was the stronghold of the gold people. It was to Wall -Street that the government came to sell bonds for the gold it required -to replenish its gold fund. The spectacle of the Secretary of the -Treasury standing there with his hat out, like a Turkish beggar, -was viewed exultingly by the gold people. “_Carlisle’s Bonds Won’t -Go_,” said the New York Sun in a front page headline, on one of these -occasions. Carlisle was the Secretary of the United States Treasury, -entreating the gold people to buy the government’s bonds with gold. -They did it each time, but no sooner was the gold in the Treasury than -they exchanged it out again with white money. - -This could not go on without wrecking the country’s financial system. -That would mean disaster for everyone, silver and gold people alike; -yet nobody knew how to stop. The silver people said the solution was to -dethrone the gold token and make white money paramount; the others said -the only way was to cast the white money fetich into the nearest ash -heap and worship exclusively money of the color red inclining to yellow. - - -iii - -Delusions are states of refuge. The mind, unable to comprehend -realities or to deal with them, finds its ease in superstitions, -beliefs and modes of irrational procedure. It is easier to believe than -to think. - -The realities of this period in our economic history, apart from the -madness, were extremely bewildering. For five or six years preceding -there had been an ecstasy of great profits. The prodigious manner in -which wealth multiplied had swindled men’s dreams. No one lay down at -night but he was richer than when he got up, nor without the certainty -of being richer still on the morrow. The golden age had come to pass. -Wishing was having. The government had become so rich from duties -collected on imported luxuries that the Treasury surplus became a -national problem. It could not be properly spent; therefore it was -wasted. And still it grew. This time for sure the tree of Mammon would -touch the Heavens and human happiness must endure forever. - -Then suddenly it had fallen. Speculation, greed and dishonesty had -invisibly devoured its heart. The trunk was hollow. Everything turned -hollow. People were astonished, horrified and wild with dismay. -They would not blame themselves. They wished to blame each other -without quite knowing how. The casual facts were hard to see in right -relations. Popular imagination had not been trained to grasp them. The -whole world was dealing with new forces, resulting from the application -of capital to machine production on a vast scale, and there had -just appeared for the first time in full magnitude that monstrous -contradiction which we name overproduction. This was a world-wide -phenomenon, but stranger here than in European countries because this -country was newly industrialized on the modern plan and knew not how to -manage the conditions it had created; could not understand them in fact. - -“Ve are a giant in zwaddling cloths,” exclaimed Mordecai, the Jewish -banker, who was one of the directors of the Great Midwestern. He said -it solemnly at every directors’ meeting. - -Just so. Still, it was incomprehensible to people generally, and as -the pain of loss, chagrin and disappointment unbearably increased the -conglomerate mind performed the weird self-saving act of going mad. -That is to say, people made a superstition of their economic sins and -cast the blame for all their ills upon two objects,--gold and silver -tokens. Thus what had been an economic crisis only, subject to repair, -became a fiasco of intelligence. - -The Europeans, all gold people, who had bought enormous quantities of -American stocks and bonds, said: “What now! These people are going -crazy. They may refuse ever to pay us back in gold.” Whereupon they -began hastily to sell American securities. - -“After all,” sighed the London Times, “the United States for all its -great resources is a poor country.” - -In the panic of 1893 confidence was destroyed. People disbelieved in -their own things, in themselves, in each other. - -Important banking institutions failed for scandalous reasons. Railroads -went headlong into bankruptcy, until more than a billion dollars’ worth -of bonds were in default, and in many cases the disclosures of inside -speculation were most disgraceful. - -United States Senators were discovered speculating in the stock of -corporations that were interested in tariff legislation, particularly -the Sugar Trust. - -The name of Wall Street became accursed, not that morality was lower -in Wall Street than anywhere else, but because the consequences of its -sins were conspicuous. - -All industry sickened. - -A scourge of unemployment fell upon the land and labor as such, with -no theory of its own about money, knowing only what it meant to be out -of work, assailed the befuddled intelligence of the country with that -embarrassing question: Why were men helplessly idle in this environment -of boundless opportunity? - -The Coxeyites thought it was for want of money. So many people thought. -They proposed that the government should raise money for extensive -public works, thereby creating jobs for the workless, but the United -States Treasury, which only a short time before contained a surplus -so large that Congress had to invent ways of spending it, was now in -desperate straits. The government’s income was not sufficient to pay -its daily bills. However, neither the curse of unemployment nor the -poverty of the United States Treasury was owing to a scarcity of money. -The banks were overflowing with money,--idle money, which they were -willing to lend at ½ of 1 per cent. just to get it out of their vaults. -In one instance a bank offered to lend a large amount of money without -interest. But nobody would borrow money. What should they do with it? -There was no profit in business. - -So there was unemployment of both labor and capital. - - -iv - -At the time of my arrival in Wall Street conditions were already -very bad. They grew worse. There was the shocking disclosure after -bankruptcy that one of the principal railroads had deliberately -falsified its figures over a period of years. European investors were -large holders of the shares and bonds of this property, and naturally -the incident caused all American securities to be disesteemed abroad. -Foreign selling now heavily increased for that reason, and as the -foreigners sold their American securities on the New York Stock -Exchange they demanded gold. - -The United States Treasury had survived two runs upon its gold fund, -but its condition was chronically perilous, and began at length to -be despaired of. Gold was leaving the country by every steamer. The -feud between the gold and silver people grew steadily more insane and -preoccupied Congress to such a degree that it neglected to consider -ways and means of keeping the government in current funds. Labor, which -had been clamorous and denunciatory, now became militant. Reports of -troops being used to quell riots of the unemployed were incessant -in the daily news. Wheat fell to a very low price and the farmers -embraced Populism, a hot-eyed political movement in which every form -of radicalism this side of anarchy was represented. Then came the -disastrous American Railway Union strike, bringing organized labor -into direct conflict with the authority of the Federal Government. The -nation was in a fit of jumps. Public opinion was hysterical. - -As I understood more and more the bearing of such events I marvelled -at Galt’s solitary serenity. He was still buying Great Midwestern -stock, as we all knew. Each time another lot of it passed into his name -word of it came up surreptitiously from the transfer office. Some of -the directors at the same time were selling out. This fact Harbinger -confided to me in a burst of gloom; he thought it very ominous, nothing -less than an augury of bankruptcy. I felt that Galt ought to know, yet -I hesitated a long time about telling him. My decision finally to do so -was sentimental. I had by this time conceived a deep liking for him, -and the thought that he was putting his money into Great Midwestern -stock,--his own, Gram’ma’s and Vera’s,--while the directors were -getting theirs out bothered me in my sleep. But when I told him he -grinned at me. - -“I know it, Coxey. They didn’t know enough to sell when the price was -high, and they don’t know any better now.” - -That was all he said. The ethical aspect of the matter, if there was -one, apparently did not interest him. - -Now befell a magnificent disaster. One of the furnace doors came -unfastened in the Heavens, and a scorching wind, a regular sirocco, -began to blow in the Missouri Valley. More than half the rich, -wealth-making American corn crop was ruined. This was a body-blow for -the Great Midwestern. It meant a slump in traffic which nothing could -repair. On the third day the news was complete. We received it in the -form of private telegraph reports from the Chicago office. They were -on my desk when Galt came in. I called his attention to them, but he -looked away, saying: - -“The Lord is ferninst us, Coxey. Maybe ... he ... is.” - - -v - -That night I went home with him to dinner. He was in one of his absent -moods and very tired. Natalie overwhelmed him as usual in the hallway, -and when he neither grumbled nor resisted she put off her boisterous -manner and began to look at him anxiously. At dinner everyone was -silent. He communicated his mood. Vera was there at her mother’s left. -Efforts to make conversation were listless, Galt participating in none -of them. There was a sense of something that was expected to happen; -that was Gram’ma’s remorseless evening question. - -“What is the price of Great Midwestern stock today?” she asked, -speaking very distinctly. - -“Five and a half,” said Galt, in a petulant voice. - -The announcement was received stoically, with not the slightest change -of countenance anywhere, though that was the lowest price at which the -stock had ever sold and represented a serious loss for the house of -Galt. However, the state of feeling made itself felt without words. It -became at last intolerable for Galt. He threw down his napkin, shouted -three times, “Wow! Wow! Wow!”, and each time brought his fist down -on the table with a force that made the china jump. With that he got -up and left us. We heard him unlock the door of his room and slam it -behind him. - -“What has happened?” asked Vera, looking at me. - -I told them of the disaster to the corn crop and how for that reason -there had been heavy selling of Great Midwestern shares. - -Vera shrugged her shoulders. Later in the evening when we were -alone she looked about her at the walls and ceiling, as one with a -premonition of farewell, and said bitterly: “A pretty shipwreck it -will be this time.” - -“Has your money gone into it, too?” I asked. - -She nodded, and said: “Now he wants to mortgage the house.” - - - - -CHAPTER V - -VERA - - -i - -By this time I had become a frequent visitor in the Galt household. A -summer had passed since my first appearance there. The second time I -came to dinner Vera presented herself, though tardily. As she entered -the dining room Galt rose and made her an exaggerated bow, which she -altogether disregarded. - -“All got up this evening!” he said, squinting at her when she was -seated. That she disregarded, too, looking cold and bored. She wore -a black party gown of some very filmy stuff, cut rather low, with an -effect of elaborate simplicity. A small solitary gem gleamed in her -blue-black hair and a point of light shone in each of her eyes. She was -forbiddingly resplendent, with an immemorial, jewel-like quality. She -derived entirely from her mother and in no particular resembled her -father. He tried another sally. - -“Isn’t it chilly over there by you, Vera child?” he asked, ironically -solicitous. - -Instantly she replied: “Yes, father dear. Won’t you bring me my scarf, -please.” - -After that he let her alone. When dinner was over he took me off to his -room again and we passed another evening with the railroads. - -No dinner passed without some glow of the feud between Galt and -Vera. They seldom saw each other at any other time. Her habits were -luxurious. She never came down to breakfast. He delighted to torment -her and always came off with the worst of it. Perhaps he secretly -enjoyed that, too. She was more than a match for him. Their methods -were very different. He taunted and teased, without finesse. She -retorted with cold, keen thrusts which left him sprawling and helpless. -In a pinch she turned upon him that astonishing trick she had of -looking at people without seeing them. The experience, as I knew, was -crushing. It never failed to make him fume. - -Gradually I perceived the nature of their antagonism. Natalie was -her father’s play-fellow, but Vera fascinated him. He admired her -tremendously and feared her not a little. She baffled, eluded and -ignored him. The only way he could get her attention was to bully her, -which he did simply for the reason that he could not let her alone. -But there was something on her side, too, for once I noticed that when -he had failed to open hostilities she subtly provoked him to do so. -Probably both enjoyed it unconsciously. - -Between the sisters there was a fiercely repressed antagonism. Natalie -was four years the younger and much less subtle, but in the gentle art -of scratching she was the other’s equal. Both were extremely dexterous -and played the game in good sportsmanship. - -“I saw Mr. Shaw at the matinée today,” Natalie announced one evening. -After a slight pause she added: “He seems miraculously recovered. I -never saw him looking so well.” - -I happened to catch a twinkle, where of all places but in the eyes of -Gram’ma! She looked for an instant quite human. But it was too late to -save me, for I had already asked: “What was he ill of?” - -“Something that’s never fatal, apparently,” said Natalie, demurely, -fetching a little sigh. Then I understood that what a person named -Shaw had miraculously recovered from was an infatuation for the elder -sister. And for my stupidity I got a disdainful glance from Vera. - -Another time Natalie said to Vera: “I shall see the handsome Professor -Atwood tomorrow. May I tell him you are mad about him?” - -“Yes, dear,” said Vera. “He will draw the right conclusion.” - -The barb of that retort was hidden, but it did its work. Natalie -blushed furiously and subsided. - -Mrs. Galt surveyed the field of these amenities with a neutral, -mind-weary air. She never took part, never interfered, would not -appear to be even listening, though in fact she missed nothing, and -never failed in the embarrassing after-moment to provide a lightning -conductor, a swift bridge or a rescue raft, as the need was. She seemed -to do this mechanically, with not the slightest effort. And although -her topics were commonplace that was not necessarily an indication -of what her mind was like. The want at those moments was for easy, -thoughtless conversation, and therefore trite subjects served best. -Her own interest in them was never sustained. Having cleared the air -she retired within herself again. One wondered what she did with her -mind the rest of the time. Lost it perhaps in wonder at life’s baroque, -uncontrollable projections. - - -ii - -One evening as dinner was finishing Vera looked at me across the table -and said: “Won’t you come sometime to tea when father can’t have you -all to himself? He hates tea.” - -I was startled and absurdly thrilled; but the curious feeling was that -I became in that instant an object of curiosity and solicitude mingled, -as one marked by fate for a certain experience. I got this particularly -from Natalie who glanced first at me with an anxious expression, and -then at her sister. - -“We are always at home Sunday afternoon,” said Mrs. Galt. - -I was the only caller the next Sunday. Galt did not appear. Tea was -served in that middle room, between the parlor and dining room, -which was a domain over which Vera exercised feudal rights. That -was why it was more attractive than any other part of the house. It -expressed something of her personality. Conversation was low-spirited -and artificial. Natalie was not her sparkling self. Mrs. Galt was in -her usual state of pre-occupation, though very gracious, and helpful -in warding off silences. I do not know how these things are managed. -Presently Vera and I were alone. I asked her to play. Her performance, -though finished and accurate, was so empty that I said without thought: -“Why don’t you let yourself go?” - -“Like this?” she said, turning back. And then, having no music in -front of her, she played a strange tumultuous Russian thing with -extraordinary power. I begged her to go on. Instead she left the piano -abruptly and stood for a minute far away at the window with her back -to me, breathing rapidly, not from the exertion of playing, I thought, -but from the emotional excitement of it. Then she called me to come -and look at a group of Sunday strollers passing in the street,--three -men and two women, strange, dark aliens full of hot slothful life. The -men around their middles wore striped sashes ending in fringe, and no -coats, like opera brigands; the women were draped in flaming shawls. -All of them wore earrings. - -“What are they?” she asked. - -Immigrants, I guessed, from some odd corner of Southern Europe, who -hadn’t been here long enough to get out of their native costume. - -“They will be drab soon enough,” she said, turning away. - -I wanted to talk of her playing, being now enthusiastic about it, -but she put the subject aside, saying, “Please don’t,” and we talked -instead of pictures. There was a special exhibition of old masters at -the Metropolitan Museum which she hadn’t seen. Wouldn’t I like to go? -It came out presently that she painted. I asked to see some of her -things and she got them out,--two or three landscapes and some studies -of the nude. She had just begun working in a life class, she said. - -“Very interesting,” I said, trying to get the right emphasis and -knowing instantly that it had failed. She gathered them up slowly and -put them away. - -“They are like your playing,” I added, “as you played at first.” - -“How do you mean?” - -“I mean you somehow hinder your self-expression.” - -“I do not let myself go? Is that what you mean?” - -“Precisely. What are you afraid of?” - -“Then you believe in letting oneself go?” she asked. - -“Well, why not?” - -“Suppose one isn’t sure of one’s stopping places?” - -We became involved in a discussion of the moralities, hitherto, present -and future, tending to become audacious. This is a pastime by means of -which, in first acquaintance, two persons of opposite sex may indulge -their curiosity with perfect security. The subject is abstract. The -tone is impersonal. Neither one knows how far the other will go. They -dare each other to follow, one step at a time, and are both surprised -at the ground they can make. There is at the same time an inaudible -exchange, which is even more thrilling, for that is personal. This -need never be acknowledged. If the abstract does not lead naturally to -the concrete, then the whole conversation remains impersonal and the -inaudible part may be treated as if it had never occurred. That is the -basic rule of the game. - -Her courage amazed me. I began to see what she meant by supposing that -one might not be sure of one’s stopping places. She had been reading -France, Stendhal, Zola, Shaw, Pater, Ibsen, Strindberg and Nietzsche. - -Mrs. Galt reappeared. “We are debating the sins of Babylon,” I said. -She smiled and asked me to dinner. - -That was the beginning. We went the next Sunday to the Metropolitan -Museum and one evening that same week to the theatre. What we set out -to see was an English play that everyone was talking about. At the last -minute she asked if the tickets might be changed. And when I asked her -where she would go instead she naïvely mentioned a musical comedy much -more talked about than the English play for very different reasons. -Afterwards when I asked her what part of the show she liked best she -said: “The way people laughed.” - -Life transacting thrilled her. Contact with people, especially in -free, noisy crowds, produced in her a kind of intoxication. We walked -a great deal in the pulsating streets, often till late at night, and -that she enjoyed more than the play, the opera or any other form of -entertainment. Her curiosity was insatiable. She was always for going a -little further, for prying still deeper into the secrets of humanity’s -gregarious business, afraid yet venturesome and insistent. She would -pick out of the throng whimsical, weird and dreadful personalities and -we would follow them for blocks. - -Once at a corner we came suddenly upon a woman importuning a man. She -was richly gowned and not in any way common. He was sinister, sated -and cruel. She had lost her head, her pride, her sense of everything -but wanting him. We were close enough to hear. He spoke in a low, -admonishing tone, imploring her not to make a scene. She grew louder -all the time, saying, “I don’t care, I don’t care,” and continued -alternately to assail him with revealing reproaches and to entreat him -caressingly, until they both seemed quite naked in the lighted street. -The man was contemptible; the woman was tragic. I took Vera by the arm -to move her away, but she was fixed between horror and attraction and -stood there regarding them in the fascinated way one looks at deadly -serpents through the glass at the Zoo. The man at last yielded with a -bored gesture, called a cab, whisked the woman into it, and the scene -vanished. Vera shuddered and we walked on. - -We explored the East Side at night, visiting the Chinese and Jewish -theatres, Hungarian coffee houses and dance halls. Nobody had ever done -this kind of thing with her before. It was a new experience and she -adored it. Of what she did with it in her mind I knew almost nothing. -Emotions in the abstract she would discuss with the utmost simplicity. -Her own she guarded jealously. - -One evening late, with a particularly interesting nocturnal adventure -behind us, we stood in the hallway saying good-night. We said it and -lingered; said it again and still lingered. She was more excited than -usual. Her lips were slightly parted. She almost never blushed, but on -rare occasions, such as now, there was a feeling of pink beneath the -deep brunette color of her skin. - -Her beauty seemed of a sudden to expand, to become greatly exaggerated, -not in quality but in dimensions, so that it excluded all else from -the sense of space. The sight of it unpoised me. And she knew. I could -feel that she knew. My impulse toward her grew stronger and stronger, -tending to become irresistible. This she knew also. Yet she lingered. -Then I seized and kissed her. At the first touch her whole weight fell -in my arms. Her eyes closed, her head dropped backward, face upturned. -She trembled violently and sighed as if every string of tension in her -being snapped. - -How little we can save of those enormous moments in which the old, old -body mind remembers all that ever happened! What was it that one knew -so vividly in that co-extensive, panoramic, timeless interval, and -cannot now recall? - -The first kiss goes a journey. The second stays on earth. The first one -is a meeting in the void. Then this world again. - -“Vera! Vera!” I whispered. - -Her eyes opened.... The look they gave me was so unexpected, so -unnatural in the circumstances, that I had a start of terror lest she -had gone out of herself. Then I recognized it. This was she whom I had -forgotten. These were those impervious, scornful carnelian eyes you -could not see into. The old hot and cold feeling came over me again. -And though she still lay in my arms, not having moved at all, it was -now as if I were not touching her, as if I never had. I released her. -Without a word she turned and walked slowly up the stairway out of -sight. - -The next whole day was one of utter, lonely wretchedness, supported -only by a feeling of resentment. I found myself humming “Coming Through -the Rye,” and wondering why, as it was a ditty I had not remembered -for years. Then it came to me why,--“If a body kiss a body need a body -cry?” What had I done that was so terrible after all? - -I went to the Galts’ for dinner uninvited, as now I often did. Vera did -not appear. She was reported to be indisposed. I passed the evening -with Galt in his study, and left early. Natalie was alone in the -parlor, reading. She came into the hall as I was putting on my coat and -laid a hand on my arm, consolingly. - -“You won’t stop coming, will you?” she asked. - -“What do you mean?” - -“They always do,” she said. “And some of them are so nice, like you.” - -“Natalie, what are you talking about?” - -“Father would miss you terribly,” she said. - -I promised whatever it was she wanted. She shook hands on it and -watched me down the steps. - -The next evening I called after dinner. Vera was out. I wrote her a -note of expostulation, then one in anger, and a third in terms that -were abject; and she answered none of them. - - -iii - -In this state of suspense an enormous time elapsed, three weeks at -least. For me Vera was non-existent in her father’s house. When I was -there for dinner she never came down. There was a pretense that her -absence was unnoticeable. Nobody spoke of it; nobody mentioned her -name. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, I could not rid -myself of the notion that I had become an object of sympathy in the -household. - -One afternoon I had been in to see Galt, who was ill, and as I let -myself out through the front door there was Vera at the bottom of the -steps in conversation with a huge blond animal of the golden series, -very dangerous for dark women. She saw me obliquely and turned her -attention more to him with a subtle excluding gesture. Evidently she -wished me to pass. Instead I waited, watching them, until he became -conscious of the situation and cast off with a large various manner -which comprehended me. As she came up the steps toward me, slowly, -but with unblurred, definite movements, hard to the ache of desire -yet soft and voluptuous to the forbidden sense of touch, with a kind -of bird-like beauty, I could not for a moment imagine that I had ever -kissed her, much less that she had responded to a ruffling caress. I -forgot what I was going to do, or by what right I meant to do anything. -I was cold and hopeless, with a sudden sense of fatigue, and might have -suffered her to pass me in silence as she wished to do but for the -look she gave me on reaching the top. That was her mistake. It was the -old impersonal, trampling look, to which anger was the one self-saving -reply. I took her by the arm and turned her face about. - -“We are going for a walk,” I said, moving her with me down the steps. - -I counted upon her horror of a scene to give me the brutal advantage, -and it did. She came unresistingly. Yet it was in no sense a victory. -She submitted to a situation she could not control, but contemptuously, -with no respect or fear for the force controlling it. We walked in -silence to a tea shop in Fifth Avenue; and when we were seated and the -waiter came her respect for appearances made her speak. - -“Just some tea, please,” she said, sweetly. And those were the only -words she uttered. - -Her defense was to stare at me as if I were reciting a tedious tale. -It bored her. Once I thought she repressed a yawn. That was when I -began to say the same things over again. She was without any vanity -of self-justification. Not for an instant did she avert her eyes. -She looked at me steadily, unblinkingly, with a kind of reptilian -indifference. She could see into me; I could not see into her. At the -end I became abusive. Then if at all there was a faint suspicion of -interest. - -“A fool there was who loved the basilisk,” I said. “He who plucks that -icy flame will be destroyed but not consumed.... Shall we go?” - -I like still to remember that she did not smile at this idiotic -apostrophe. Every man, I suppose, says a thing like that once,--if he -can. We rose at once. We walked all the way back in silence. I did not -go in, but handed her up the steps and left her without good-night. - -On the next day but one a note came. Would I meet her for tea at the -same place? - -She was prompt and purposeful. She waited until tea was served, then -put it aside, and spoke. - -“Why do all men, though by different ways, come to the same place?” - -“I know nothing about all men,” I said. “It’s enough to know about -myself. I’m not very sure of that.” - -“They all do,” she said, reflectively. - -“But I want to marry you,” I said, with emphasis on the personal -pronoun. - -“Yes; ... that, too,” she said, with a saturated air. - -“Oh, weary Olympia!” I said. “How stands the score? How many loves lie -beheaded in your chamber of horrors? Or do you bury them decently and -tend their graves?” - -“You try me,” she said, with no change of voice or color. “It is very -stupid.... Man takes without leave the smallest thing and presumes upon -that to erect preposterous claims. Take our case. I begin by liking -you. I invite you to a friendship. You are free to accept or decline. -You accept. Wherein so far have you acquired rights in me? We find this -relation agreeable and extend it. All of this is voluntary. Nothing -is surrendered under compulsion. We are both free. Then suddenly you -overwhelm me by a sensuous impulse. It is a wanton, ravishing act. I -resent it by the only peaceable means in my power. That is, I avoid -you. Immediately you assail me with violent reproaches, as by a right. -Is it the invader’s right of might? Is human relationship a state of -war?... Don’t interrupt me, please.... And now, when I have come to -say that under certain conditions I am prepared to make an exception -in your forgiveness,--for Heaven knows what reason!--you taunt me of -things you have no right to mention. They are mine alone.” - -There was a retort, but I withheld it. How shall man tell woman she -hath provoked him to it? If he tell her she will wither him. Yet if the -sight, smell and sound of her provoke him not, then is she mortally -offended. He shall see without looking and be damned if he looks -without seeing. It is so. But she divined my thoughts. - -“If a woman gives it is quite the same,” she went on. “Only worse, for -in that case he presumes upon what he has received by favor to become -lord of all that she has.” - -“I lie in the dust,” I said. - -“I know the pose,” she said, with a lighter touch. “Happily it is -absurd. If it were not that it would be contemptible.” - -“Well, pitiless woman, what would you have a man to be and do? Let us -suppose provisionally that I ask out of deep, religious curiosity. I -may not like the part. How should a man behave with you?” - -“I dislike you very much at this moment,” she replied. “By an effort I -remember that you have saving qualities. Did you hear me say that I was -prepared to make an exception?” - -“It may be too late,” I said. “What are the terms? You said under -certain conditions.” - -She frowned, hesitated and went on slowly. - -“It is my castle. You may dwell there, you may come and go, you may -make free of it in discretion, agreeably to our joint pleasure, -_provided_ you forego beforehand all rights accruing from use and -tenure.” - -We debated the contract in a high, ceremonious manner. It was agreed -that the bargain, if made, should terminate automatically at the -instant I should presume to make the slightest demand upon her. - -“As if for instance I should demand the key to the chamber of horrors,” -I said, whimsically. - -“Exactly,” she replied. - -I stipulated, not in earnest of course, that she should make no demands -upon me. - -“That was implied,” she said. “We make it explicit.” - -When at last I accepted unreservedly she put forth her hand in a full, -generous gesture; and the pact was sealed. - -We walked homeward on a perfectly restored basis of friendship, changed -our minds at the last minute, went instead to a restaurant, then to the -theatre, and passed a joyous evening together. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -A GIANT IN BABY SWEAT - - -i - -Steadily the American giant grew worse in his mind. There were yet -lower depths of insolvency. The passion to touch them was like the -impulse to collective suicide in the Dark Ages. Bankruptcy ceased to -be a disgrace, there was so much of it. Hope of profit was abandoned. -Optimism was believed to be an unsound mode of thought. All of this -was a state of feeling, a delusion purely. The country was rich. The -unemployed were fed on fine white bread and an unlaundered linen shirt -cost fifty cents. - -Every catastrophe was bound to happen. - -On a rainy Wall Street morning in late December, with no sign or -gesture of anguish, the Great Midwestern Railroad gave up its corporate -existence and died. - -It was a shapeless event. - -Ten men sat around the long table in the Board Room smoking, fidgeting, -irritably watching the time. These were the eminent directors. They -were men whose time nobody could afford to waste,--enterprisers in -credit, capital, oil, coal, metals and packing house products. They -wished the obsequies to begin promptly and be as brief as possible, for -they had many other things to mind. Yet the president, with nothing -else to do, had kept them waiting for nearly five minutes. This had -never happened before. However, when he came and silently took his -place at the head of the table he looked so dismal that they forgave -him, and the ceremony might have been brought off with some amiability -of spirit but for a disagreeable incident at the beginning. - -The disturber was Jonas Gates, a dry, mottled little man, indecorously -old and lewdly alert, with a shameless, impish sense of pleasantry. -He practiced usury on a large scale as a kind of Stock Exchange pawn -broker, lending money to people in difficulties at high rates of -interest until they had nothing more to pledge and then cutting them -off at the pockets. He knew some of everybody’s secrets and much more -than he knew he guessed by the magic formula that he was sure of -nothing worse of himself than was generally true of his neighbors. He -was hated for his tongue, feared for what he knew and respected for his -wealth, which was one of the largest private fortunes of that time. - -This Jonas Gates, cupping his hands to his mouth and making his voice -high and distant, as one calling to the echoes, inquired at large: - -“Are there any stockholders present?” - -Everyone was scandalized. Several were without pretense of concealing -it. He surveyed their faces with amused impudence. Then spreading his -hands at each side of his mouth and making his voice hoarse, like a boy -calling into an empty hogshead, he inquired again: - -“Are there any stockholders present?” - -It was a ghastly joke. There is no law forbidding a director to part -with his shares when the omens foretell disaster. It is commonly done -in fact in the anonymous mist of the stock market, only you never -mention it. The convention is that all stockholders have equal rights -of partnership. But as directors are the few who have been elected -by many to act as managing partners, and since it is necessary for -managing partners to have first access to all information, it follows -from the nature of circumstances that they are inside stockholders -and that the others are outside stockholders; and it follows no less -from the nature of mankind that the outsiders invariably suspect the -insiders of selling out in time to save themselves. - -“Iss id vor a meeting ov ze directors ve are here, Mr. Presidend?” -asked Mordecai. He was the eminent banker. He spoke sweetly and lisped -slightly as he always did when annoyed. - -“This is a directors’ meeting,” said the president, adding: “The -secretary will read the call.” - -“Please God!” exclaimed Gates, not yet ready to be extinguished. -“Put it on the record. I ask: Are there any stockholders present? No -answer. Again I ask: Are there any stockholders present? No answer. -Great embarrassment. What is to be done? Idea! This is a directors’ -meeting. Bravo! Proceed. On with the stockholders’ business. We are not -stockholders. Therefore we shall be able to transact their business -impartially.” - -There was a distraught silence. - -“Proceed,” said Gates. “I shan’t interrupt the services any more.” - -What followed was brief. A resolution was offered and passed to the -secretary to be read, setting out that owing to conditions which left -the directors helpless and blameless, to wit: the depression of trade, -the distrust of securities, the rapacity of the tax gatherer, the -harassment of carriers by government agencies, et cetera, the Great -Midwestern was unable to pay its current debts, wherefore counsel -should be instructed to carry out the formalities of putting the -property in the hands of the court. - -“Is there any discussion?” asked the president. - -Horace Potter, of oil, spoke for the first time. He was a sudden, -ferocious man with enormous gray eyebrows and inflammable blue eyes. - -“Have a glance at Providence,” he said. “We damn everything else. Say -the crops are a disgrace. That’s true and it’s nobody’s fault here -below.” - -“Yes, that should go in,” said the president. He took back the -resolution, wrote into it with a short lead pencil the phrase, “and the -failure of crops over a large part of the railroad’s territory,” and -offered it to be read again. Everybody nodded. He called for the vote. -The ayes were unanimous, and the aye of Jonas Gates was the loudest of -all. - -With that they rose. - -The Board Room had two doors. One was a service door opening into -Harbinger’s office; it was used only by the secretary and such other -subordinate officials as might be summoned to attend a board meeting -with records and data. The main door through which the directors came -and went was the other one opening into the president’s office. Their -way of normal exit therefore was through the president’s office, -through the anteroom where I worked, into the reception room beyond and -thence to the public corridor. - -As the president’s private secretary it was expected of me to see them -out. Directly behind me on this occasion came Mordecai, like a biblical -image, his arms stiff at his sides, the expression of his face remote -and sacrificial. This was his normal aspect; nevertheless it seemed -now particularly appropriate. A sacrifice had been performed upon the -mysterious altar of solvency and he alone had any solemnity about it. -The others followed, helping each other a little with their coats, -exchanging remarks, some laughing. - -So we came to the door that opened into the reception room. I had my -hand on the knob when Mordecai suddenly recoiled. - -“A-h-h-h-ch, don’d!” he exclaimed. “Zey are zare.” - -Evidently some rumor of the truth had got abroad in Wall Street. The -reception room was full of reporters waiting for news of the meeting, -and this was unexpected, since nobody save the officials and directors -were supposed to know that a meeting was taking place. Mordecai’s fear -of reporters was ludicrous, like some men’s fear of small reptiles. -He stood with his back to the door facing the other directors. Horace -Potter was for pushing through. - -“Hell,” he said. “Let’s tell them we’ve let her go and get out. I’m -overdue at another meeting three blocks from here.” - -He could move through a crowd of clamorous reporters with the safety of -an iceberg. - -“Ziz vay, all ze gentlemen, b-l-e-a-s-e,” said Mordecai, ignoring -Potter’s suggestion. He led them back to the president’s office; he -had remembered an unused, permanently bolted door that opened directly -from the president’s office upon the main corridor. His thought was -to go that way and circumvent the reporters. But they had sensed that -possibility. This point of exit also was besieged. - -“A-h-h-h-ch!” he said again. “Zey are eferyvare. How iss id zey get -ze news?” Saying this he looked at each of his fellow directors -severely. Potter frowned, not for being looked at by Mordecai, but from -impatience. - -“Id iss best zat ze presidend zhall brepare a brief vormal stadement,” -said Mordecai. “Ve can vait in ze Board Room. Zen he vill bring zem for -ze statement in here. Vhile he iss reading id to zem ve can ze ozer -vay ged out.” - -“I can’t wait,” said Potter. He bolted into the reception room alone -and banged the door behind him. The reporters instantly surrounded him, -and we heard him say: “A statement is coming.” - -The president turned to me and dictated as follows: - -“Certain creditors of the Great Midwestern Railroad Company being about -to apply to the court for a receiver to be appointed, the question -to be decided at today’s meeting of the directors was whether to -borrow a sum of money on the company’s unsecured notes at a high rate -of interest and thus temporize with its difficulties or confess its -inability to meet its obligations and allow the property to be placed -in the hands of the court. After due consideration the directors -unanimously resolved to adopt the latter course in order that the -assets may be conserved for the benefit of all parties concerned. -(Signed.) John J. Valentine, president.” - -Turning to the directors, who had been standing in a bored, formless -group, he asked: “Does that cover it?” - -All of them gave assent save Mordecai. He was gazing at the ceiling, -his hands held out, pressing the tips of his fingers together. - -“Id iss fery euvonious, Mr. Falentine,” he said. “Conzerved iss a fine -vord. A fery good vord. Id iss unvair to ze bankers, iss id not, to -zpeak of borrowing ad high rates of interest money? Iss id nod already -zat ze company hass borrowed more money vrom id’s bankers zan id can -pay?” - -“Read it please,” said the president to me. I read it aloud. - -“Strike out the phrase, ‘whether to borrow a sum of money on its -unsecured notes at a high rate of interest,’ and make it read, ‘the -question to be decided at today’s meeting of the directors was whether -to temporize with its difficulties, or,’--and so on.” - -Mordecai, still gazing at the ceiling, nodded with satisfaction. Then -he returned to the plane below and led them back to the Board Room, -waiting himself until they were all through and closing the door -carefully. - -The reporters were admitted. We took care to get all of them in at one -time, twenty or more, and held the doors open while the directors, -passing through Harbinger’s office, made their august escape. - - -ii - -When the reporters were gone a stillness seemed to rise about us like -an enveloping atmosphere. Receding events left phantom echoes in our -ears. Valentine, having gazed for some time fixedly at a non-existent -object, looked slowly about him, saying: - -“The corpse is gone.” - -Then he went and stood in one of the west windows. I stood at the -other. The rain had congealed. Snow was falling in that ominous, -isolating way which produces in blond people a sense of friendly -huddling, instinctive memory perhaps of a north time when contact meant -warmth and security. It blotted out everything of the view beyond -Trinity church and graveyard. There was a surrounding impression of -vertical gray planes in the windows of which lights were beginning to -appear, for it was suddenly dark. The Trinity chimes proclaimed in this -vortex the hour of noon. - -“What day of the month is it?” he asked, clearing his voice after -speaking. - -“The eighteenth.” - -“Twenty years, lacking two days, I have been president of the Great -Midwestern,” he said. “In that time--” He stopped.... Trinity chimes -struck the quarter past. “How it snows,” he said, turning from the -window. “Well, you see what the railroad business is like. Shall I ask -a place for you on one of the New York papers? I promised to do that, -you remember, if anything should happen.” - -“If you don’t mind,” I said, “I’ll stay on here to clear things up a -bit.” - -“I expected you to say that,” he said. “Still, don’t be sentimental -about it. Nobody can tell now what will happen. We shall be in the -hands of the court. Well, as you like. I have an appointment to keep -with counsel. I may not be back today.” - -He departed abruptly. - -It occurred to me to go about the offices to see what effect the news -was having. That would be something to do. Harbinger, leaning over his -desk on his elbows, his head clutched in his two hands, was looking at -three models of his stamping device. - -“How do they take it?” - -“Take what?” he asked, not looking up. - -“The news.” - -“Oh, that! I don’t know. Go ask them yourself.” - -John Harrier was sitting precisely as I saw him that first time, -perfectly still, staring at an empty desk. - -“Well, it appears we are busted,” I said. - -“We’ve been busted for about nine months,” he answered, without moving -his head. “But now two and two make four again. Thank God, I say. I -couldn’t make her look solvent any longer. Arithmetic wouldn’t stand -it, and it stands a lot.” - -In the large back office the clerks were gathered in small groups -discussing it. Work was suspended. - -“Hey!” shouted Handbow. “We’re going to celebrate to-night. A little -dinner, _with_, at the Café Boulevard. Will you come?” - -The reckless spirit of calamity was catching. I felt it. Even the -shabby old furniture took on an irresponsible, vagabond appearance. -Solvency, like a scolding, ailing, virtuous wife, was dead and buried. -Nobody could help it. Now anything might happen. The moment was full -of excitement. There was no boy in the reception room. I sat down -at my desk, got up, took a turn about the president’s office, and -was thinking I should lock up the place and go out to lunch when I -happened to notice that the Board Room door was ajar. In the act of -closing it I was startled by the sight of a solitary figure at the head -of the long directors’ table. Though his back was to me I recognized -him at once. It was Galt. He had slid far down in the chair and was -sitting on the end of his spine, legs crossed, hands in his pockets. He -might have been asleep. While I hesitated he suddenly got to his feet -and began to walk to and fro in a state of excitement. The character -of his thoughts appeared in his gestures. His phantasy was that of -imposing his will upon a group of men, not easily, but in a very -ruthless way. - -“Are you running the Great Midwestern?” I asked, pushing the door open. - -Starting, he looked at me vaguely, as one coming out of a dream, and -said: - -“Yes.” - -He asked if I had been present at the meeting and was then anxious to -know all that had taken place, even the most trivial detail. - -“And now,” I said, when I was unable to remember anything more, “please -tell me what will happen to the Great Midwestern?” - -“Nothing,” he said. “The court will appoint old rhinoceros receiver, -and--” - -“Mr. Valentine, you mean?” - -“That’s customary in friendly proceedings,” he said. “Anyhow, it will -be so in this case. The court takes charge of the property as trustee -with arbitrary powers. It can’t run the railroad. It must get somebody -to do that. So it looks around a bit and decides that the president is -the very man. He is hired for the job. The next day he comes back to -his old desk with the title of receiver. All essential employes are -retained and you go on as before, only without any directors’ meetings.” - -“How as before? I don’t understand.” - -“That’s the point, Coxey. You can’t shut up a busted railroad like a -delicatessen shop. Bankrupt or not it has to go on hauling freight and -passengers because it’s what we call a public utility. A railroad may -go bust but it can’t stop.” - -“Then what is a receivership for?” - -“That’s another point. You are getting now some practical economics, -not like the stuff old polly-woggle has been filling you up with. The -difference is this: When you are bankrupt you put yourself in the hands -of the court for self-protection. Then your creditors can’t worry you -any more. A railroad in receivership doesn’t have to pay what it owes, -but everybody who owes it money has got to pay up because the court -says so. It goes along that way for a few months or a year, paying -nothing and getting paid, until it shows a little new fat around its -bones and is fit to be reorganized.” - -“What happens then?” - -“Well, then it is purged of sin and gets born again with a new name. -The old Great Midwestern Railroad Company becomes the new Great -Midwestern Railway Company, issues some new securities on the -difference between r-o-a-d and w-a-y, and sets out on its own once -more. The receiver is discharged. The stockholders elect a president, -maybe the same one as before or maybe not, and the directors begin to -hold meetings again.” - - -iii - -The Stock Exchange received the news calmly. It was not unexpected. -The directors, as we knew, had been getting out. They read the signs -correctly. Under their selling the price of Great Midwestern stock had -fallen to a dollar-and-a-half a share. For a stock the par value of -which is one hundred dollars that is a quotation of despair. Nothing -much more could happen short of utter extinction. Many of the finest -railroads in the country were in the same defunct case. You could buy -them for less than the junk value of their rails and equipment. But if -you owned them you could not sell them for junk. You had to work them, -because, as Galt said, they were public utilities. And they worked at a -loss. - -It happened also on this day that everyone was thinking of something -else. That was nothing less than the imminent bankruptcy of the United -States Treasury. This delirious event now seemed inevitable. - -For several weeks uninterruptedly there had been a run on the -government’s gold fund. People were frantic to exchange white money for -gold. They waited in a writhing line that kept its insatiable head -inside the doors of the sub-Treasury. Its body flowed down the long -steps, lay along the north side of Wall Street and terminated in a -wriggling tail around the corner in William Street, five minutes’ walk -away. It moved steadily forward by successive movements of contraction -and elongation. Each day at 3 o’clock the sub-Treasury, slamming its -doors, cut off the monster’s head. Each morning at 10 o’clock there -was a new and hungrier head waiting to push its way in the instant the -doors opened. Its food was gold and nothing else, for it lived there -night and day. The particles might change; its total character was -always the same. Greed and fear were the integrating principles. Human -beings were the helpless cells. It grew. Steadily it ate its way deeper -into the nation’s gold reserve, and there was no controlling it, for -Congress had said that white money and gold were of equal value and -could not believe it was not so. The paying tellers worked very slowly -to gain time. - -The spectacle was weirdly fascinating. I had been going every day at -lunch time to see it. This day the spectators were more numerous than -usual, the street was congested with them, because the officers of the -sub-Treasury had just telegraphed to Washington saying they could hold -out only a few hours more. That meant the gold was nearly gone. It -meant that the United States Treasury might at any moment put up its -shutters and post a notice: “_C L O S E D. Payments suspended. No more -gold._” - -Never had the line been so excited, so terribly ophidian in its aspect. -Its writhings were sickening. The police handled it as the zoo keepers -handle a great serpent. That is, they kept it straight. If once it -should begin to coil the panic would be uncontrollable. - -Particles detached themselves from the tail and ran up and down the -body trying to buy places nearer the head. Those nearest the head -hotly disputed the right of substitution, as when someone came to take -a position he had been paying another to hold. In the tense babel of -voices there came sudden fissures of stillness, so that one heard one’s -own breathing or the far-off sounds of river traffic. At those moments -what was passing before the eyes had the phantastic reality of a dream. - -In the throng on the opposite side of the street I ran into Galt and -Jonas Gates together. Later it occurred to me that I had never before -seen Galt with any director of the Great Midwestern, and it surprised -me particularly, as an after thought, that he should know Gates. Just -then, however, there was no thinking of anything but the drama in view. -Everyone talked to everyone else under the levelling pressure of mass -excitement. - -“Have you heard?” I asked Galt. “The sub-Treasury has notified -Washington that it cannot hold out. It may suspend at any moment.” - -“I suppose then eighty million healthy people will have nothing to eat, -nothing to wear, no place to go, nothing to do with their idle hands. -We’ll all go to hell in a handbasket.” - -He spoke loudly. Many faces turned toward us. A very tall, lean man, -with a wild light in his eyes and a convulsive, turkey neck, laid a -hand on Galt’s arm. - -“Right you are, my friend, if I understand your remark. We are about -to witness the dawn of a new era. I have proved it. In this little -pamphlet, entitled, ‘The Crime of Money--thirty reasons why it should -be abolished on earth,’ I show--” - -“Don’t jingle your Adam’s apple at me,” said Galt, giving him a look of -droll contempt. - -The man was struck dumb. Feeling all eyes focused on the exaggerated -object thus caricatured in one astonishing stroke he began to gulp -uncontrollably. There were shouts of hysterical laughter. In the -confusion Galt disappeared, dragging Gates with him. - -The sub-Treasury held out until three o’clock and closed its doors -once more in a solvent manner, probably, for the last time. Everybody -believed it would capitulate to the ophidian thing the next day. There -was no escape. Events were in the lap of despair. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -DARING THE DARK - - -i - -At five o’clock that evening Galt called me on the telephone and asked -me to come to his office. I had never been there. It was at 15 Exchange -Place, up a long brass-mounted stairway, second floor front. The -building was one of a type that has vanished,--gas lighted, wise and -old, scornful of the repetitious human scene, full of phantom echoes. -On his door was the name, Henry M. Galt, and nothing else. Inside was -first a small, bare room in which the only light was the little that -came through the opaque glass of a partition door marked “Private.” I -hesitated and was about to knock on this inner door when Galt shouted: - -“Come in, Coxey.” - -He was alone, sitting with his hat on at a double desk between two -screened windows at the far side of the room. He did not look up at -once. “Sit down a minute,” he said, and went on reading some documents. - -The equipment of his establishment was mysteriously simple,--a stock -ticker at one of the windows, a row of ten telephones fastened to -the wall over a long shelf on which to write in a standing position, -a bookkeeper’s high desk and stool, several chairs, a water cooler in -disuse, a neglected newspaper file in the corner, a safe, and that was -all. - -“We are waiting for Gates,” he said, with divided attention, reading -still while talking. “I want you to witness ... gn-n-n-u-u, how do you -spell unsalable, _a l a_ or _a l e_?... Yes ... that’s what I made it -... witness our signatures.... We get superstitious down here ... in -this witches’ garden ... we do. There are things that grow best when -planted in the last phase of the moon, ... on a cloudy night ... dogs -barking.... There he is.” - -Jonas Gates walked straight in, sat down at the other side of the desk -without speaking, and reached for the papers, which Galt passed to him -one by one in a certain order. Having read them carefully he signed -them. Then Galt signed them, rose, beckoned me to sit in his place, -and put the documents before me separately, showing of each one only -the last page. There were six in all,--three originals which went back -to Gates and three duplicates which Galt retained. There was a seventh -which apparently required neither to be jointly signed nor witnessed. -It lay all the time face up on Gates’ side of the desk. I noted the -large printed title of that one. It was a mortgage deed. Gates put it -with the three others which were his, snapped a rubber band around them -and went out, leaving no word or sign behind him. - -“Crime enough for one day,” said Galt, going to the safe. “You are -coming up for dinner. Turn out that light there above you.” - -“Did you expect Great Midwestern to go bankrupt?” I asked as we walked -down the stairway. - -He did not answer me directly, nor at all for a long time. When we were -seated in the L train he said: “So you know that I was buying the stock -all the way down?” - -“Yes.” - -He did not speak again until we left the train at 50th Street. - -“No, I didn’t expect it,” he said. “It wasn’t inevitable until the Lord -burned up the corn crop. But I allowed for it, and what’s worse in -one way is better in another. We’re all right. In the reorganization -I’ll get the position I want. I’ll be one of ten men in a board room. -Everything else follows from that.” - - -ii - -As Natalie met us I observed her keenly, thinking she would betray -a feeling of anxiety. But she knew his moods at sight and met them -exactly. To my surprise she hailed him gaily and he responded. Then -they fell to wrangling over nothing at all and carried on a fierce -make-believe quarrel until dinner time. - -At the table he tried to force a general spirit of raillery and made -reckless sallies in all directions. They failed miserably until -Natalie joined him in a merciless attack upon Vera. It was entirely -gratuitous. When it had gone very far Mrs. Galt was on the point of -interfering, but checked the impulse, leaving Vera to take care of -herself. She held her own with the two of them. When the game lagged -Natalie would whisper to Galt. He would say, “No-o-o-o-o!” with -exaggerated incredulity, and they would begin again. Suddenly they -turned on me, Natalie beginning. - -“Don’t you think Coxey ought to get married?” Galt’s name for me had -long been current in the household. - -“Coxey, here? No. Nobody would marry him,” said Galt. - -“But he’s sometimes quite nice,” said Natalie. - -They discussed my character as if I were not there, the kind of wife I -should have and what would please Heaven to come of it. Natalie knew, -as Galt didn’t, that this was teasing Vera still. - -Dinner was nearly over when Gram’ma Galt asked her terrible question. -“What is the price of Great Midwestern stock today?” - -Galt answered quietly: “One-and-a-half.” - -There was no more conversation after that. - -Later when we were alone I asked Vera if the house had been pledged. - -“The mortgage was executed yesterday,” she said. “It’s roof and all -this time.” - -“He doesn’t seem at all depressed,” I said. - -“No,” she answered. “That is his way with disaster. We’ve seen it -before.” - -“Don’t you admire him for it, though?” - -“I hate him!” she cried passionately. The intensity of her emotion -astonished me. Her hands were clenched, her eyes were large and her -body quivered. We were sitting together on the sofa. I got up and -walked around. When I looked at her again she lay face downward in the -pillows, weeping convulsively. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -LOW WATER - - -i - -Well, the United States Treasury did not hang out the bankrupt’s -sign. What happened instead was that President Cleveland in his -solitary strength met a mad crisis in a great way. He engaged a group -of international bankers to import gold from Europe and paid them -for it in government bonds. The terms were hard, but the government, -owing to the fascinated stupidity of Congress, was in a helpless -plight. What Cleveland had the courage to face was the fact that -any terms were better than none. It was fundamentally a question of -psychology. The spell had somehow to be broken. The richest and most -resourceful country in the world was about to commit financial suicide -for a fetich. All that was necessary to save it was to restore the -notion,--merely the notion,--of gold solvency. People really did not -want gold to hoard or keep. They wanted only to think they could get it -if they did want it. - -The news of the President’s transaction with the bankers, appearing -in the morning papers, produced a profound sensation. The white money -people denounced him with a fury that was indecent. Many men of his -own political faith turned against him, thinking he had destroyed their -party. Congress was amazed. There was talk of impeachment proceedings. -Popular indignation was extreme and unreasoning. The White House had -sold out the country to Wall Street. Mankind was about to be crucified -upon a cross of gold. The principle of evil had at last prevailed. - -Thus people reacted emotionally to an event which marked the beginning -of a return of sanity. Upon the verities of the case the effect of -Cleveland’s act was positive. While the nation raved the malady itself -began to yield. That ophidian monster which was devouring the gold -reserve began to disintegrate from the tail upward. Presently only -the head was left and that disappeared with the arrival of the first -consignment of gold from Europe under the government’s contract with -the bankers. - -The full cure of course was not immediate. But never again were people -altogether mad. As the tide reverses its movement invisibly, with many -apparent self-contradictions in the surf line on the sand, so it is -with the course of events. Between the tail of the ebb and the first of -the flood there is a time of slack with no tendency at all. That also -is true in the rhythm of human activities. - - -ii - -Historically it is noted that a stake set in the wet sand on the -morning after the Great Midwestern’s confession of insolvency would -have indicated the extreme low water mark of that strange ebb tide in -the economic affairs of this country the unnatural extent and duration -of which was owing to the moon of a complex delusion. There was first a -time of slack before the flood began to run,--a time of mixed omens, of -alternating hope and doubt. Yet all the time unawares the country grew -richer because people worked hard, consumed less than they produced and -stored the surplus in the form of capital until the reservoirs were -ready to overflow. - -As for the Great Midwestern, everything came to pass as Galt predicted. -Valentine was appointed by the court to work the railroad as receiver. -In that rôle he returned to his desk. The word “president” was erased -from the glass door of his office; the word “receiver” was painted -there instead. That was the only visible sign of the changed status. We -paid our way with receiver’s certificates, issued under the direction -of the court. Dust settled in the Board Room, where formerly the -directors met. Trains continued to move as before. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -FORTH HE GOES - - -i - -Life in this financial limbo would have exactly suited the placid -temperament of our organization but for the distracting activities of -Galt. With Valentine’s permission he took that old vice-president’s -desk in Harbinger’s office and began to keep hours. Such hours! He -was always there when Harbinger arrived. At ten he went to the Stock -Exchange; at three he returned. He was still there when Harbinger went -home. The scrubwomen complained of him, that he kept them waiting until -late at night. Sometimes for that reason they left the room unswept. -Insatiably he called for records, data, unheard of compilations of -statistics. He wrangled with John Harrier, the treasurer, for hours on -end over the nature of assets and past accounting. Their voices might -often be heard in adjacent rooms, pitched in the key of a fish wives’ -quarrel. - -Harrier was an autocratic person whose ancient way of accounting -had never before been challenged nor very deeply analyzed. With so -much laxity at the top of the organization he had been able to do as -he pleased, and being a pessimist his tendency was to undervalue -potential assets, such as lands, undeveloped oil and mining rights -and deferred claims. Gradually he wrote them off, a little each year, -until in his financial statements they appeared as nominal items. His -judgments were arbitrary and passed without question. This had been -going on for many years. The result was that a great deal of tangible -property, immediately unproductive yet in fact very valuable, had -been almost lost sight of. The Great Midwestern, like the country, -was richer than anybody would believe. And nobody cared. Live working -assets were in general so unprofitable, especially in the case of -railroads, that dormant assets were treated with contempt. Galt valued -them. He knew how Harrier had sunk them in his figures and forced him -step by step to disclose them. - -“They are at it again,” Harbinger said, coming in one evening to sit -for a while in my room, bringing some papers with him. - -“Who?” - -“Galt and Harrier. I can’t think for their incessant caterwauling.” - -“How do you get along with him?” I asked. - -“With Galt? He makes me very uncomfortable. There’s no concealing -anything from him.” - -“Do you still dislike him?” - -“Oh, no. That wears off. I’ve been watching his mind work. It’s a -marvellous piece of mechanism.” He went on with his work. “I know at -last what he’s doing,” he said suddenly. - -“What?” - -“He’s developing a plan of reorganization.” - -That was true. I had known it for some time. He accumulated his data -by day in the office and worked it up by night in his room at home. He -showed it to me as it progressed. There was a good deal of writing in -it. The facts required interpretation. He was awkward at writing and I -helped him with it, phrasing his ideas. The financial exposition was -one part only. There was then the physical aspect of the property to be -dealt with. When it came to that he spent six weeks out on the road. -Three days after he set out on this errand we began to receive messages -by telegraph from our operating officials, traffic managers, agents and -division superintendents, to this effect: - -“Who is Henry M. Galt?” - -At Valentine’s direction I answered all of them, saying: “Treat Henry -M. Galt with every courtesy.” - -He went over every mile of the right of way, inspected every shop and -yard, talked with the agents and work masters and finally scandalized -the department of traffic by going through all the contracts in force -with large shippers. He studied traffic conditions throughout the -territory, had a look at competing lines and conferred with bankers, -merchants and chamber of commerce presidents about improving the Great -Midwestern’s service. - -He returned with a mass of material which we worked on every night -feverishly, for he was beginning to be very impatient. The physical -aspect of the property having been treated from an original point -of view, there followed an illuminating discussion of business -policy. Good will had been leaving the Great Midwestern, owing to the -unaccommodating nature of its service. This fact he emphasized brutally -and then outlined the means whereby the road’s former prestige might be -regained. - -Never had a railroad been so intelligently surveyed before. The work as -it lay finished one midnight on Galt’s table represented an incredible -amount of labor. More than that, it represented creative imagination in -three areas,--finance, physical development and business policy. The -financial thesis was that the Great Midwestern should be reorganized -without assessing the stockholders in the usual way. All that was -necessary was to sell them new securities on the basis of dormant -assets. This was a new idea. - -“Have you done all this in collaboration with the bankers?” I asked him. - -“No,” he said. “They have a plan of their own. My next job is to make -them accept this in place of theirs. That’s why I’ve been in such a -sweat to get it done.” - -“What inducement can you offer them?” - -“Mine is the better plan,” he said. “It stands on its merits.” - -“What will you get out of it?” I asked. - -He looked very wise. - -“That’s the crow in the pie, Coxey.” He got up, stretched, walked about -a bit, and stood in front of me, saying: “I’ll get a place on the board -of directors. I’ll be one of ten men in a Board Room. Everything else -follows from that.” - - -ii - -A railroad has its own bankers, just as you have your own dentist or -doctor. They sit on the board of directors as financial experts. They -carry out the company’s fiscal policies, they sell its securities to -the public for a commission, they lend it money while it is solvent, -and when it is insolvent they constitute themselves a protective -committee for the security holders and get all the stocks and bonds -deposited in their hands under a trust agreement. Then in due time they -announce a plan of reorganization. - -Mordecai & Co. were the Great Midwestern’s bankers. They would -naturally control the reorganization. In fact, they had already evolved -a plan and were waiting only for a propitious moment to bring it forth. -To offer them a new plan in place of their own,--for an outsider to -do this,--would be like selling a song to Solomon. I marvelled not so -much at Galt’s audacity as at his self-confidence. It seemed an utterly -impossible thing to do. - -He stopped the next morning at the Great Midwestern office to verify -three figures and to have me fasten the sheets neatly between stiff -cardboards. Then he marched off with it under his arm, his hat slammed -down in front, a slouching, pugnacious figure, blind to obstacles, -dreaming of empire. - -“Good luck!” I called after him. - -He did not hear me. - -The profession of dynamic man is arms. It has never been otherwise. -Only the rules and weapons change. He makes a tilting field of -business. The blood weapon is put away, killing is taboo, but the -struggle is there, if you look, essentially unchanged. Men are the same -as always. - -Wall Street is a modern jousting place. The gates stand open. Anyone -may compete. There is no caste. The prizes are unlimited; the -tournament is continuous. Capital is not essential. One may borrow -that, as the stranger knight of ancient time, bringing only his skill -and daring, might have borrowed lance, horse and armor for a trial of -prowess. - -To this field of combat you must bring courage, subtlety, nerve, -endurance of mind and swift imagination. Given these qualities, then to -gain more wealth and power than any feudal lord you need only one inch -more than the next longest lance of thought. You have only to outreach -the vision of the champions to unhorse them. There is no mercy for the -fallen, no more than ever. The new hero is acclaimed. He may build him -a castle on any hill and with his wealth command the labor of tens of -thousands. But he must still defend his own against all comers in the -market place. In time he will meet one greater than himself. He may -have the consolation of knowing, if it is a consolation, that defeat -is never fatal, or seldom ever. - -Now through these gates went Galt. He had a vision of the future longer -than the lance of any knight defending. He needed horse and armor. I -did not see him again that day. - - -iii - -In the evening I went to the house. Natalie met me. - -“He is in bed,” she said. - -“Is he ill?” - -“He looked very tired and ate no dinner. I was to tell you if you came -that he had to get a big sleep on account of something that will happen -tomorrow.” - -I was holding my hat. Natalie looked at it. - -“My beautiful sister is not at home,” she said. - -“Tell her I was desolate.” - -“And that you did not ask for her?” she suggested, slyly. - -“Now, Natalie, you are teasing me.” - -“Mamma is out. Gram’ma’s gone to bed. There’s nobody to entertain you,” -she said, shaking her head. - -“What a dreary state of things!” I said, laughing at her and putting -down my hat. - -She went ahead of me into the parlor, arranged a heap of pillows at one -end of the sofa, saying, “There!” and sat herself in a small, straight -chair some distance away. - -Going on eighteen is an age between maidenhood and womanhood. Innocence -and wisdom have the same naïve guise and change parts so fast that you -cannot be sure which one is acting. The girl herself is not sure. She -doesn’t stop to think. It is a charming masquerade of two mysterious -forces. The part of innocence is to protect and conceal her; the part -of wisdom is to betray and reveal her. - -“I wish I were a man,” she sighed. - -“Every girl says that once. Why do you wish it?” I asked. - -“But it’s so,” she said. “They know so much ... they can do so many -things.” - -“What does a man know that a woman doesn’t?” - -“If I were a man,” she said, “I’d be able to help father. I’d -understand figures and charts and all those things he works with. They -make my silly head ache. I’d study finance. What is it like?” - -“What is finance like?” - -“Yes. Do you think I might understand it a little?” - -For an hour or more we talked finance,--that is, I talked and she -listened, saying, “Yes,” and “Oh,” and bringing her chair closer. -She made a very pretty picture of attention. I’m sure she didn’t -understand a word of it. Then she began to ask me questions about -her father,--what his office was like, how he dealt with Wall Street -people, what he did on the Stock Exchange, and so on. - -“Must you?” she asked, when I rose to go. “I’m afraid you haven’t been -entertained at all. I love to listen.” - -“I just now remember I haven’t had any dinner,” I said. “I stopped late -at the office and came directly here. It’s past ten o’clock.” - -“Dear me! Why didn’t you tell me? I’ll get you something. You didn’t -know I could cook. Come on.” - -Without waiting for yes or no she scurried off in the direction of the -kitchen. I followed to call her back, but when I had reached the dining -room she was out of sight, the pantry door swinging behind her. I -returned to the parlor and waited, thinking she would report what there -was to eat. Then I could make my excuses and depart. - -She did not return. Presently I began to feel embarrassed, as much -for her as for myself; also a little nettled. However, I couldn’t -disappoint her now. It would be too late to stop whatever she was -doing. She had said, “Come on.” Therefore she was expecting me in the -kitchen and was probably by this time in a state of hysterical anxiety, -wondering if I would come, or if perhaps I had gone; and no way out of -the frolic she had started but to see it through. - -I found her beating eggs in a yellow bowl. She had put on an apron and -turned up her sleeves. Her face was flushed, her eyes were bright with -a spirit of fun, and wisps of wavy black hair had fallen a little -loose at her temples. I surrendered instantly. - -“You won’t mind eating in the kitchen, will you? It’s cozy,” she said, -almost too busy to give me a look. - -A small table was already spread for one; chairs were placed for two. - -“This is much more interesting than finance,” I said, watching her at -close range. - -“I can make a perfect omelette,” she said. “So light you don’t know you -are eating it. You only taste it.” - -“Not very filling,” I thought. - -“There may be something else, too,” she said. - -There was. She rifled the pantry. The imponderable omelette, -accompanied by bacon, was followed by cold chicken, ham, sausage, -asparagus, salad, cheese of two kinds, jams in fluttering uncertainty, -cake and coffee. - -When she was convinced at last that I couldn’t encompass another bite -and rested upon her achievement she began to giggle. - -“What’s that for?” - -“I’m thinking,” she said, “what my sister would say if she saw us now.” - -As I walked home I could not help contrasting her with Vera, who -never, even at Natalie’s age, would have thought of doing a thing like -that. Why? Yes, why? Well, because she had not that way with a man. -Natalie was born to get what she wanted through men. She fed them. -She fed their stomachs with food and their egoes with adoration. She -liked doing it for she liked men. She already knew more about their -simplicities than Vera would ever learn. She knew it all instinctively. -And how lovely she was in that apron! - - -iv - -Late the next afternoon he appeared at my desk, sat down, fixed me with -a stare and began to whistle Yankee Doodle out of tune. - -“Did they take your plan?” I asked him. - -He went on whistling. I couldn’t guess what had happened. His -expression was unreadable. - -“Did they?” I asked again. - -He stopped for breath. - -“Spit on your hands, Coxey,” he said, as if I were at a distance and -needed some encouragement. “We’ve got her by the tail,--by the tail, -_tail!_ _tail!_ We’ll tie a knot in the end of it and then we’re off.” - -He never told me how he did it. He had no vanity of reminiscence. Long -afterward I got it from a junior partner of the firm of Mordecai & Co. - -They hardly knew him by sight. He appeared in their office on that -hot Summer morning and said simply that he wished to talk Great -Midwestern. He would see nobody but Mordecai himself. At mid-day they -were still talking, and lunch was brought to Mordecai’s room. One by -one the junior members were called in until they were all present. -Galt amazed them with his knowledge of the property, its situation and -possibilities; even more with his acute understanding of its finances. -He gave them information on matters they had never heard of. He gave -them original ideas with such frankness and unreserve that at one point -Mordecai interrupted. - -“Ve cannod vorged vad you zay, Mr. Gald. Id iss zo impordand ve mighd -use id. Zare iss no bargain yed. Ve are nod here angels.” - -“I can’t help that,” said Galt. “To sell a tune you have to play it.” -And he went on. - -When Mordecai spoke again the case was lost. - -“Vor uss id iss nod,” he said. “Vor uss id iss nod. Ve are bankers. -To zese heights ov imagination ve cannod vollow, Mr. Gald. Id iss -beautiful. Ve are zorry.” - -In the doorway Galt turned and faced them. No one else had moved. - -“I’m tired,” he said. “I need some sleep. I’ll come tomorrow.” - -The scene was repeated the next day,--Galt talking, the bankers -listening, Mordecai lying back in his chair, gazing at the ceiling, -tapping the ends of his fingers together, blowing his breath through -his short gray beard. - -“Vad iss id vor yourself you vand, Mr. Gald?” he asked without moving. - -It was Galt’s way when he was winning to press his luck. He wanted a -place on the board of directors. But he demanded more. - -“I want to be chairman of the board,” he said. - -“Id vould be strange,” said Mordecai, pensively. “Nobody vould -understand id. Ooo iss zat Mr. Gald? Vy iss he made chairman? Zo ze -people vould talk. Ov ze old directors ooo vould fode vor zat Mr. Gald?” - -“Gates and Valentine will vote for me,” said Galt. - -“You haf asked zem?” - -“I have asked Gates,” said Galt. “I am sure of Valentine.” - -Another way of Galt’s was to stop at the peak of his argument, and -wait. When the other man in his mind is coming over to your side a -word too much will often stop him. Galt knew he was winning. There was -a long silence. They began to wonder if Mordecai was asleep. He was -a man of few but surprising contradictions. Conservative, cautious, -axiomatic, he had on the other side great courage of mind and a latent -capacity for daring. He distrusted intuition as a faculty, yet on rare -occasions he astonished his associates by arriving most unexpectedly at -an intuitive conclusion, knowing it to be such, and acting upon it with -fatalistic intensity. On those occasions he was never wrong. - -Now he sat up slowly and began to toy with a jeweled paper knife. - -“Nobody vill understand id, Mr. Gald.... Nobody vill understand id.... -Ve accepd your plan. Ve promise all our invluence to use zat you vill -be made chairman of ze board,--on one condition. You vill resign iv ve -ask id immediately.” - -Galt unhesitatingly accepted the condition. - -When he was gone Mordecai said to his partners: “Ve haf a gread man -discovered. Id iss only zat ve zhall a liddle manage him.” - - -v - -In September the plan was brought out. Though it caused a good deal -of dubious comment the verdict of general opinion was ultimately -favorable. The security holders liked it because they were not assessed -in the ordinary way. They received, instead, the “privilege” so-called -of buying new securities. - -When all arrangements were completed the assets of the old Great -Midwestern Railroad Company, meaning the railroad itself and all its -possessions and appurtenances, were put up at auction. Mordecai & Co., -acting as trustees, were the only bidders. - -They delivered the assets to the new Great Midwestern _Railway_ -Company, which had been previously incorporated under the laws of New -Jersey. Afterward there was a stockholders’ meeting in Jersey City, in -one of those corporation tenements where rooms are hired in rotation by -corporations that never live in them but come once a year for an hour -or two to transact some formal business and thereby satisfy the fiction -of legal residence. - -A stockholders’ meeting is itself a fiction. The stockholders are -present by proxy. Clerks bring the proxies in suit cases. They are -counted and voted in the name of the stockholders under previous -instructions. Thus directors are elected. Mordecai & Co. held six -tenths of the proxies. Horace Potter, representing himself and the oil -crowd whose investment in the old Great Midwestern had been very large, -held three tenths. There was no contest; Mordecai & Co. and the oil -crowd acted concertedly in all matters. They were allied interests. -With one exception the old board was re-elected. The exception was -Henry M. Galt, elected in place of a very old man who had been induced -by the bankers to withdraw. - -In the afternoon of the same day the directors met in the Board Room -for the first time since their inglorious exit through Harbinger’s -office eleven months before. Valentine was unanimously re-elected -president. There was a pause. - -“I bropose Mr. Gald vor chairman ov ze board,” lisped Mordecai. - -It had all been arranged beforehand. There was no doubt of the outcome. -Yet there was an air of constraint about taking the formal step. -Evidently in the background there had been a struggle of forces. - -Potter said: “Second the nomination.” - -The president called for the vote. Four were silent, including Galt. -Five voted aye. Valentine nodded his head and the result was recorded: -“Chairman of the Board, Henry M. Galt.” - -Meanwhile the traffic manager and his three assistants, who had been -summoned from Chicago for a conference, were waiting in Harbinger’s -office. Galt walked directly there from the Board Room, sat on -Harbinger’s desk with his feet in the chair, waived all introductions, -and said: - -“Now for business. Hereafter all contracts with shippers and all -agreements with the traffic managers of other roads will be sent to -this office for my approval and signature. They will not be valid -otherwise.” - -The traffic manager was a florid, contemptuous man who wore costly -Chicago clothes and carried a watch in each waistcoat pocket, very -far apart. He was one of a ring of traffic managers who waxed fat and -arrogant in the exercise of a power that nobody dared or knew how to -wrest from them. They sold favors to shippers. They sold railroad -stocks for a fall in Wall Street and then got up ruinous rate wars -among themselves to make stocks fall. Their ways were predatory, -scandalous and uncontrollable. If one railroad tried to discipline its -traffic manager the others practiced reprisals and the business of -that one railroad would slump; or if a railroad dismissed its traffic -manager his successor would be just as bad, or more greedy in fact, -having to begin at the beginning to get rich. - -At Galt’s speech the traffic manager crossed his legs with amazement, -dropped his arms, slid down in his chair, bowed his neck and assumed -the look of an incredulous bull, showing the white under his eyes. - -“And who the hell are you?” he asked. - -“Me?” said Galt. “I’m the driver.” - -“We’ll see,” said the traffic manager. He rose, overturning his chair, -and made for the door, meaning of course to see the president. - -“You’d better wait a minute,” said Galt. “I’m not through yet.” - -He waited. - -Then Galt, addressing the assistants, outlined a new policy. What they -were to work for was through freight, passing from one end of the -system to the other. What they were to avoid was anything they wouldn’t -like a railroad to do to them. What they were to believe in was a gang -spirit. What they were to get immediately was a doubling of their pay. - -Getting down on the floor he advanced slowly with a stealthy step at -the traffic manager, who began to quail. - -“You choose whether to resign or be fired,” said Galt. “The first -assistant will take your place.” He added something in a lower tone -that no one else could hear, then stood looking at him fixedly. The -traffic manager started, mopped the back of his neck, wavered, and -stood quite still. - -“Well, it’s damned high time,” he said, at last, by way of mentioning a -basic fact. With that he sat down and wrote his resignation. - -This incident was an omen. Unconsciously Galt worked on the principle -that once a thing has happened it cannot unhappen. The fact of its -having happened is original and irrevocable. Every other fact in the -universe must adjust itself to that one. Something else may happen the -next instant; that is a new happening again. - -Mr. Valentine was violently agitated by the traffic manager’s -dismissal. If he had been consulted he would have made an issue of it. -But there it was. It had happened. The fact created a situation. He -might refuse to accept the situation, but he could not extinguish the -fact. He fumed and let it pass. Nothing was ever the same again. - -Galt consulted nobody. He turned from the traffic man to Harbinger and -ordered that the pay of the whole executive staff from the secretary -down be doubled. Then he put Harbinger out, took the whole of the room -for himself, painted the word “Chairman” on the door and thereafter -the Great Midwestern was managed from his desk. There was never a -moment’s doubt about it. There was no time to debate his authority. It -took all of everybody’s time to keep up with what was happening. He -recast the operating department by telegraph in one hour, according to -a plan already matured in his mind. He changed the accounting system -radically, and much to everyone’s surprise, John Harrier accepted the -change with enthusiasm. - -Having made a flying trip over the road he sent a telegram ahead of -him calling a special meeting of the board of directors. It convened at -ten o’clock. Galt came directly from the train, stained, unshaven and a -little weary, until he began to talk. - -What he proposed was that fifty million dollars be raised at once -and spent for new engines, cars, rails and road improvements. -Mordecai alone was prepared for this. All the others were daft with -astonishment. A railroad only a few days out of bankruptcy to find and -spend that sum for improvements! It was preposterous. Not only was the -whole board against him, save Mordecai; it was hostile and struck with -foreboding. As Galt rose to make his argument I remembered what he had -twice said: “I shall be one of ten men in a Board Room. Everything else -follows from that.” - - -vi - -This was the first true exhibition of his power to move men’s minds,--a -power which nobody understood, which he did not himself understand. -Perhaps it was not their minds he moved. Men of strong will often -turned from their convictions and voted with him or for what he wanted -who afterward, having recovered their own opinions, were unable to say -why they had acted that way. He was not eloquent. When he was excited -his voice became shrill and irritating. He had no felicity of speech -and often lost the grammar of tenses, cases and pronouns. The reasoning -was always clear. He moulded an argument in the form of a wedge and -then hit it a sledge-hammer blow. But it was not the argument alone -that did it. As time went on he more and more dispensed with argument -and brought the result to pass directly, as a hypnotist with a well -trained subject induces the trance without preparation, seemingly by -an act of mere intention. It was a power that increased with use until -it was like an elemental force and acted at a distance, so that he -had only to send an agent with word that this or that should be done, -and men did it helplessly. You may say of course that all such later -phenomena were owing to a habit of submission, men having accepted the -tyranny of his will, only that would not account for the rise of his -power from nothing, would it? - -In this first case he had back of him no prestige of success. He -was still unknown and distrusted by a majority of the ten directors -who sat at the board table. And they were not men accustomed to be -led. They were themselves leaders. In all Wall Street it would have -been impossible to find a more powerful, self-confident group, cold, -calculating, unsentimental in business, their faces all cruelly scarred -with the marks of success terrifically achieved. Yet as he talked their -chemistries changed. The first visible reaction was one of bothered -surprise. This was followed by efforts of resistance. The last phase -was one of fascination. - -His reasons were these: A flood was about to rise. He adduced evidence -on that point. Money, materials and labor were plenty and cheap. -Never again would it be possible to increase the railroad’s capacity -at a cost so low. And a railroad that made itself ready to receive the -flood would reap a rich harvest. Finally, the spending of fifty million -dollars in this way would give business the impulse it was waiting -for,--the little push that sends a great vessel down the ways into the -water. The moment was rare and propitious. - -“Is it true,” asked Mr. Valentine, “that the chairman on his own -responsibility, without consulting the president or the board of -directors, has already placed contracts for engines, cars, rails and -construction work, before the money has been voted for that purpose, -before anybody knows whether it can be raised or not? I have heard so.” - -Everyone was startled by the question. Galt was not expecting it. - -“That is true,” he said, and waited. - -“So we are committed to this expenditure whether we approve it or not?” - -“That’s the predicament,” said Galt, recklessly. - -Valentine, wholly deceived by his manner, came heavily on. - -“Have you any idea what it will cost us to get out of these -contracts,--to cancel them?” - -“The construction contracts,” Galt said very slowly, “are subject to -cancellation without penalty until this midnight. The contracts for -engines, cars and rails cannot be cancelled. I’ve baked this pie for -the Great Midwestern. If it doesn’t want it I’ll give the company’s -treasurer my check for one hundred thousand dollars and eat it myself.” - -“What do you mean?” Horace Potter asked. - -“I mean that in consideration of placing the orders when and as I did, -on the equipment makers’ empty stomach, I got a special discount of ten -per cent. The idea was that the news of our buying as it got around -would start a general buying movement. That has happened. Other roads -have placed orders behind ours at full prices. We started a stampede. -Nobody has been buying equipment for two or three years. Everybody -needs some. These contracts can be sold today for at least one hundred -thousand dollars.” - -“Can we sell fifty millions of bonds?” asked Potter, looking at -Mordecai. - -“Ve vill guarantee to zell zem,” said Mordecai. “Mr. Gald iss righd. Iv -ve reap ve musd zow.” - -With no further discussion they voted with Galt, and the feud between -Valentine and Galt was openly established. - -We were torn by the dilemma of allegiance. Everyone was fond of -Valentine. One could not help liking him. And his position was -desperately uncomfortable. Galt had reduced him to a mere figurehead, -not intentionally perhaps, not by any overt act of hostility certainly, -but as an inevitable consequence of his ruthless pursuit of ends. -Valentine became obstructive. Galt grew irritable. They ceased to have -any working contact whatever. And although the organization to a man -was sorry for Valentine, still there was a turning to Galt, purely as -an instinctive reaction to strength. As a railroad executive Valentine -for all his experience was inefficient. This had been always tolerantly -understood. But now with Galt’s work beginning to produce results -in contrast the fact was openly admitted. Galt’s touch was sure, -propulsive and unhesitating. And besides, in whatever he did there was -an element of fortuity that could not be reasoned about. He not only -did the right things; he did them at precisely the right time. - -“You remember what I told you a long time ago,” said Harbinger. “He -sees things before they happen. My heart breaks for the old man ... but -it’s no use.” - -The sight of inspired craftsmanship is irresistible to men. The -organization wavered between affection for the one and awe of the other -and ended by giving its undivided loyalty to Galt, not for love of his -eyes but for reasons that were obvious. - -One day Mr. Valentine complained that I was unable to serve him and -Galt both, and asked me gently if I did not wish to go entirely to -Galt. He had guessed my inclinations. So we shook hands and parted. -Thereafter my place was in Galt’s room and I attended the board -meetings as his private secretary. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -HEYDAY - - -i - -His activities were of increasing complexity. A Stock Exchange ticker -was installed, for he meant to keep his eye on the stock market; -then an automatic printing device on which foreign, domestic and -Wall Street news bulletins were flashed by telegraph; then a private -switchboard and a number of direct telephones,--one with the house of -Mordecai & Co., one with the operating department at Chicago, one with -the office of Jonas Gates, several with Stock Exchange brokers and -others designated by code letters the terminals of which were his own -secret. He worked by no schedule, hated to make fixed appointments, -and took people as they came. They waited in the reception room, -which of necessity became his ante-chamber. In a little while it was -crowded with those who asked for Galt, Galt, Galt. Not one in twenty -who entered asked for Valentine, the president. A mixed procession it -was,--engineers, equipment makers, brokers, speculators, inventors, -contractors and persons summoned suddenly out of the sky whose business -one never knew. Never wasting it himself, never permitting anyone else -to waste it, he had time for everything. He received impressions whole -and instantaneously. With people he was abrupt, often rude. He wanted -the point first. If a man with whom he meant to do business insisted -upon talking beside the point he would say: “Go outside to make your -speech and then come back.” He never read a newspaper. He looked at it, -sniffed, crumpled it up and cast it from him, all with one gesture. -Four or five times a day he ran a yard or two of ticker tape through -his fingers and glanced in passing at the news printing machine. -Magazines and books were non-existent matter. Yet within the area of -his own purposes no fact, no implication of fact, was ever lost. - -Meanwhile Great Midwestern stock was slowly rising. One effect of this -was to relieve the tension in the Galt household. Gram’ma Galt’s daily -question was no longer dreaded. - -Having asked it in the usual way at the end of dinner one evening, and -Galt having told her the price, she electrified us all by addressing -some remarks to me. - -“You are with my son a good deal of the time?” - -“All day,” I said. - -I was looking at her. She frowned a little before speaking, wetted her -lips with her tongue, and spoke precisely, in the level, slightly deaf -and utterly detached way of old people. - -“Do you see that he gets a hot lunch every day?” - -“I have never attended to that,” I said. - -“Does he, though?” she asked. - -“We’ve been very careless about it,” I said. “Sometimes when he’s busy -he doesn’t get any.” - -“Please see that he gets a hot lunch every day,” she said. “Cold -victuals are not good for him. And tea if he will drink it.” - -I promised. An embarrassed silence followed. She was not quite through. - -“Have you any Great Midwestern stock?” she asked. - -“I have a small amount.” - -“You must believe in it,” she said, adding after a pause: “We do.” - -Then she was through. - -Had she alone in that household always believed in Great Midwestern -stock, which was to believe in him? Or had she only of a sudden become -hopeful? Was it perhaps a flash of premonition, some slight exercise of -the power possessed by her son? Long afterward I tried to find out. She -shook her head and seemed not to understand what I was talking about. -She had forgotten the incident. - -The next day I ordered a hot lunch to be sent in and put upon Galt’s -desk. He said, “Huh!” But he was not displeased, and ate it. And this -became thereafter a fixed habit. - - -ii - -The new equipment had only just begun to move on the new rails when he -went before the board with a proposal to raise one hundred millions -for more equipment, more rails, elimination of curves and reduction of -grades. - -“My God, man!” exclaimed Horace Potter. “Do you want to nickel plate -this road?” - -“It will nickel plate itself if we make it flat and straight,” said -Galt. - -He was in a stronger position this time. His predictions were coming -true. The flood tide was beginning. Everybody saw the signs. Great -Midwestern’s earnings were rising faster than those of any competitor, -and at the same time its costs were falling because of the character -of the new equipment. Therefore profits were increasing. On the other -hand, Valentine now was openly hostile, and Jonas Gates whom Galt could -have relied upon, was ill. There were nine at the board table. - -He argued his case skillfully. For the first time he produced his -profile map of the road, showing where the bad grades were and how on -account of them freight was hauled at a loss over two divisions of the -right of way. To flatten here a certain grade,--selected for purposes -of illustration,--would cost five millions of dollars. The cost of -moving freight over that division would be thereby reduced one-tenth -of a cent per ton per mile. This insignificant sum multiplied by the -number of tons moving would mean a saving of a million dollars a year. -That was twenty per cent. on the cost of reducing the grade. It was -certain. - -“Are the contracts let?” asked Valentine, ironically. - -“They are ready to be let,” said Galt. “That’s how I know for sure what -the cost will be.” - -“Let’s vote,” said Potter, suddenly. “He’ll either make or break us. I -vote aye.” - -The ayes carried it. There were no audible noes. Valentine did not vote. - - -iii - -At this time Galt was laying the foundation for an undisclosed -structure. It had to be deep and enduring, for the strain would be -tremendous. He poured money into the Great Midwestern with a raging -passion. As the earnings increased he plowed them in. With the -assistance of the pessimistic treasurer he disguised the returns. -Improvements were charged to expenses as if they were repairs. New -property was added in the guise of renewing old. This he did for fear -the stockholders, if they knew the truth, would begin too soon to -clamor for dividends. He spent money only for essential things, that -is, in ways that were productive, and neglected everything else, until -we had at last the finest transportation machine in the country and the -shabbiest general offices. The consequences of this policy, when they -began to be realized, were incredible. - -In the autumn of 1896 a strange event came suddenly to pass. People -were delivered from the Soft Money Plague, not by their own efforts, -as they believed, but because maladies of the mind are like those of -the body. If they are not fatal you are bound to get well. Doctors will -take the credit. The Republican party won the election that year on a -gold platform, and this is treated historically as a sacred political -victory for yellow money; the white money people were hopelessly -overturned. But it was wholly a psychic phenomenon still. Why all at -once did a majority of people vote in a certain way? To make a change -in the laws, you say. Yes, but there the mystery deepens. Immediately -after this vote was cast the shape of events began to change with no -change whatever in the laws. The law enthroning gold was not enacted -until four years later, in 1900, and this was a mere formality, a -certificate of cure after the fact. By that time the madness had -entirely passed, for natural reasons. - - -iv - -After 1896 the flood tide began to swell and roar. Galt was astride of -it,--a colossus emerging from the mist. - -The Great Midwestern was finished. He had rebuilt it from end to end. -And now for that campaign of expansion which was adumbrated on the map -I had studied in his room at home. For these operations he required -the active assistance of Mordecai, Gates and Potter. He persuaded them -privately and bent them to his views. - -I began to notice that he went more frequently to the stock ticker. -His ear was attuned to it delicately. A sudden change in the rhythm of -its g-n-i-r-r-r-i-n-g would cause him to leave his desk instantly and -go to look at the tape. He was continually wanted on those telephones -with the unknown terminals. Speaking into them he would say, “Yes,” ... -or ... “No,” ... or ... “How many?” ... or ... “Ten more at once.” - -One afternoon he turned from the ticker and did a grotesque pirouette -in the middle of the floor. - -“Pig in the sack, Coxey. Pig in the sack. Not a squeal out of him.” - -“What pig is that?” I asked. - -He looked at me shrewdly and said no more. - -Under his direction they had been buying control of the Orient & -Pacific Railroad in the open market, so skillfully that no one even -suspected it. He had not been a speculator all his life for nothing. -What set him off at that moment was the sight of the last few thousand -shares passing on the tape. - -Valentine was in Europe for his annual vacation. Galt called a special -meeting of the directors. He talked for an hour on the importance -of controlling railroads that could originate traffic. The Great -Midwestern did not originate its own traffic. The Orient & Pacific was -a far western road with many branches in a rich freight producing area. -The Great Midwestern had been getting only one third of its east bound -freight, and it was a very profitable kind of freight, moving in solid -trains of iced cars at high rates; the other two thirds had been going -to competitive lines. - -It would be worth nearly fifteen million dollars a year for the Great -Midwestern to own the Orient & Pacific and get all of its business. A -syndicate had just acquired a controlling interest in Orient & Pacific -stock and he, Galt, had got an option on it at an average price of -forty dollars a share. The Great Midwestern could buy it at that price. -What was the pleasure of the board? - -The substance was true; the spirit was rhetorical. The formal pleasure -of the board was already prepared. Four members, listening solemnly as -to a new thing, had assisted in the purchase. Galt, Potter, Gates and -Mordecai were the syndicate. Potter as usual called for the vote, and -voted aye. The rest followed. - -A brief statement was issued to the Wall Street news bureaus. It -produced a strange sensation. An operation of great magnitude had been -carried through so adroitly that no one suspected what was taking -place, not even the Orient & Pacific Railroad Company’s own bankers. -They were mortified unspeakably. More than that, they were startled, -and so were all the defenders of wealth and prestige in this field of -combat, for they perceived that a master foeman had cast his gage among -them. And they scarcely knew his name. - -Twenty minutes after our formal statement had been delivered to the -Wall Street news bureaus the waiting room was full of newspaper -reporters demanding to see the chairman. - -“But what do they want?” asked Galt, angry and petulant. “We’ve made -all the statement that’s necessary.” - -“They say they must talk to somebody, since it is a matter of public -interest. The bankers have referred them here. There’s nobody but you -to satisfy them.” - -“Tell them there’s nothing more to be said.” - -“I’ve told them that. They want to ask you some questions.” - -It was his first experience and he dreaded it. - -“We’ll have a look at them,” he said. “Let them in.” - -As they poured in he scanned their faces. Picking out one, a keen, -bald, pugnacious trifle, he asked: “Who are you?” - -“I’m from the Evening Post.” - -He put the same question to each of the others, and when they were all -identified he turned to the first one again. - -“Well, Postey, you look so wise, you do the talking. What do you want -to know?” - -Postey stepped out on the mat and went at him hard. Why had control of -the Orient & Pacific been bought? What did it cost? How would it be -paid for? Would the road be absorbed by the Great Midwestern or managed -independently? Had the new management been appointed? What were Galt’s -plans for the future? - -To the first question he responded in general terms. To the second he -said: “Is that anybody’s business?” - -“It’s the public’s business,” said Postey. - -“Oh,” said Galt. “Well, I can’t tell you now. It will appear in the -annual report.” - -After that he answered each question respectfully, but really told -very little, and appeared to enjoy the business so long as Postey did -the talking. When he was through the Journal reporter said: “Tell us -something about yourself, Mr. Galt. You are spoken of as one of the -brilliant new leaders in finance.” - -“That’s all,” said Galt, repressing an expletive and turning his back. -When they were gone he said to me: “Don’t ever let that Journal man in -again. Postey, though, he’s all right.” - -All accounts of the interview, so far as that went, were substantially -correct. In some papers there was a good deal of silly speculation -about Galt. The Journal reporter went further with it than anyone else, -described his person and manners vividly, and went out of his way three -times to mention in a spirit of innuendo that there was a stock ticker -in Galt’s private office, with sinister reference to the fact that -before he became chairman of the Great Midwestern he had been a Stock -Exchange speculator. - -I called Galt’s attention to this. - -“Yes,” he said. “We’re out in the open now where they can shoot at us.” - - -v - -The Orient & Pacific deal brought on the inevitable crisis. Valentine -was in Paris. An American correspondent took the news to him at his -hotel and asked for comment upon it. He blurted his astonishment. He -knew nothing about it, he said, and believed it was untrue. This was -unexpected news. The correspondent cabled it to his New York paper -together with the statement that Valentine would cut his vacation and -return immediately. Wall Street scented a row. It was rumored that -Valentine was coming home to depose Galt; also that the purchase of the -Orient & Pacific would be stopped by injunction proceedings. Comment -unfriendly to Galt began to appear in the financial columns of the -newspapers. Great Midwestern stock now was very active in the market. -This gave the financial editors their daily text. They spoke of its -being manipulated, presumably by insiders, and it filled them with -foreboding to remember that the man now apparently in command of this -important property was formerly a Stock Exchange speculator, with no -railroad experience whatever. - -We easily guessed what all this meant. Galt had no friends among the -financial editors. He did not know one of them by sight or name. But -Valentine knew them well, and so did those bankers who had lost control -of the Orient & Pacific. The seed of prejudice is easily sown. There is -a natural, herd-like predisposition to think ill of a newcomer. That -makes the soil receptive. - -Galt was serene until one day suddenly Jonas Gates died of old age and -sin, and then I noticed symptoms of uneasiness. I wondered if he was -worried about those papers I had witnessed in his private office on the -day the Great Midwestern failed. The executors of course would find -them. - -On reaching New York Valentine’s first act was to call a meeting of the -board of directors. He was blind with humiliation. First he offered -a resolution so defining the duties and limiting the powers of the -chairman of the board as to make that official subordinate to the -president. Then he spoke. - -Owing to the sinister aspect of the situation and to the importance of -the interests involved he felt himself justified in revealing matters -of an extremely confidential character. It had come to his knowledge -that there existed between the chairman and the late Jonas Gates a -formal agreement by the terms of which Gates pledged himself to support -Galt for a place on the board of directors and Galt on his part, _in -consideration of a large sum of money_, undertook first to gain control -of the company’s affairs and overthrow the authority of its president. - -Would the chairman deny this? - -But wait. There was more. In the same way it had come to his knowledge -that two other agreements existed as of the same date. One provided -that when Galt had gained control of the company’s policies he would -cause it to buy the Orient & Pacific railroad in which Gates was then a -large stockholder. The third was a stipulation that a certain part of -Gates’ profit on the sale of his Orient & Pacific stock to the Great -Midwestern should apply on Galt’s debt to him. Would the chairman deny -the existence of these agreements? - -Still not waiting for a reply, not expecting one in fact, he offered -a second resolution calling for the resignation of Henry M. Galt as -chairman of the board; his place to be filled at the pleasure of the -directors. - -Galt all this time sat with his back to Valentine gazing out the window -with a bored expression. His onset was dramatic and unexpected. - -With a gesture to circumstances he rose, thrust his hands in his -pockets, and began walking slowly to and fro behind Valentine. - -“I hate to do it,” he said. “I like Old Dog Tray, here. But he won’t -stay off the track. If he wants to get run over I can’t help it.... -Those agreements he speaks of,--without saying how he got hold of -them,--they are true. I had a lot of G. M. stock when the company went -busted. The stock records will show it. I was in a tight place and went -to Gates for money to hold on with. He laughed at me. Didn’t believe -the stock was worth a dollar, he said. I spent hours with him telling -him what I knew about the property, showing him its possibilities. I -had made a study of it. I spoke of the Orient & Pacific as a road the -G. M. would have to control. ‘That would suit me,’ he said. ‘I’ve just -had to take over a large block of that stock for a bad debt.’ I said, -‘All the better. With your stock accounted for it will be easier to buy -the rest.’ And so it was. But that’s ahead of the story. Gates said one -trouble with the G. M. was Valentine. I knew that, too. The end of it -was that I persuaded him. He took everything I had and loaned me the -money. The agreement was that the stuff I pledged with him for the loan -could be redeemed _only_ provided my plans for the development of the -G. M. were realized and certain results appeared. Otherwise he was to -keep it. It was the devil’s own bargain. I was in a hole, remember, -... had the bear in my arms and couldn’t let go, ... and you all knew -Gates.” - -Valentine interrupted. He spoke without looking around. - -“One of your plans for the development of the Great Midwestern was the -elimination of the president.” - -“Exactly,” said Galt. “The president at that time was not president, -but receiver. He was receiver for a property he had managed into -bankruptcy.... Well, that part of the agreement has been kept. There -ain’t any doubt about who’s running the G. M. I’m running it, subject -to the approval of the directors. Five minutes after I was elected -chairman of this board I took the traffic manager’s resignation in -that room out there under threat of having him indicted for theft. -He was the president’s friend. I did this without the president’s -sanction or knowledge. The place was rotten with graft. We were paying -extortionate prices for equipment and materials because the equipment -makers and the material men were our friends. Our pockets were wide -open. Listen to this!” - -From typewritten sheets he read a wrecking indictment of the old -Valentine management, setting out how money had been lost and wasted -and frittered away, how the company had been overcharged, underpaid and -systematically mulcted. He gave exact figures, names, dates and ledger -references. - -“She’s all right now,” he said. “Clean as a grain of wheat. I’m telling -you what was. I don’t intimate that the president took part in plucking -the old goose. I don’t say that. He was too busy making public speeches -on the miseries of railroads to know what was going on.” - -Valentine was not crushed. He showed no sense of guilt. No one believed -him guilty in fact. What he represented, tragically and with great -dignity, was the crime of obsolence. A stronger man was putting him -aside in a new time. He started to speak, but Potter spoke instead. - -“I move to strike all this stuff off the record,” he said, “and let -matters rest as they are.” He pushed back his chair. Everyone but -Valentine arose. There was no vote. Officially nothing had been -transacted. The president was left sitting there alone, with his -resolutions in front of him. - -All that Galt said was true. It was probably not the whole truth. His -transaction with Gates seemed on the face of it too strange to be so -briefly and plausibly explained. One fact at least he left out, which -was that Gates hated Valentine with a fixation peculiar to cryptic old -age. Nobody knew quite why. He was possibly more interested in revenge -upon Valentine than in the future of the Great Midwestern. It may be -surmised also that he had some intuition of Galt’s latent power, just -as Mordecai had, and placed a bet on him at long, safe odds. It was -Galt who took the risk. And as for the Orient & Pacific deal, that -did not require to be defended on its merits, for there was already a -profit in it for the company. - -After this Valentine should have resigned. Instead he carried the -fight outside, over all persuasion. It became a nasty row. He publicly -attacked the company’s purchase of the Orient & Pacific, denounced -Galt personally, and solicited the stockholders for proxies to be -voted at the annual meeting for directors who would support him. His -acquaintance with the financial editors, several of whom were his warm -friends, gave him an apparent advantage. All the newspapers were on his -side. - -But nobody then knew how Galt loved a fight. He poured his essence -into it and attained to a kind of lustful ecstacy. His methods were -both direct and devious. To win by a safe margin did not satisfy him. -It must be a smashing defeat for his opponent. He, too, appealed to -the stockholders. Valentine in one way had played into his hands. His -complaint was that Galt had seized the management. Well, if that were -true, nobody but Galt could claim credit for the results, and they were -beginning to be marvelous. Great Midwestern’s earnings were improving -so fast that Galt’s enemies must resort to malicious innuendo. They -said he was a wizard with figures, which was true enough, and that -possibly the earnings were fictitious, which was not the case at all. - -Long before the day of the annual meeting Galt had a large majority of -the stockholders with him. Nevertheless, he sent me abroad to solicit -the proxies of foreign stockholders. They were easy to get. I was -surprised to find that the foreigners, who are extremely shrewd in -these matters, with an instinct for men who have the money making gift, -had already made up their minds about Galt. They had been watching his -work and they were buying Great Midwestern stock on account of it. - -When it came to the meeting Valentine had not enough support to elect -one director. His humiliation was complete. Then he resigned and Galt -was elected in his place, to be both chairman and president. - -He was not exultant. For an hour he walked about the office with a -brooding, absent air. This was his invariable mood of projection. He -was not thinking at all of what had happened. He put on his hat and -stood for a minute in the doorway. Looking back he said, “Hold tight, -Coxey,” and slammed the door behind him. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -HEARTH NOTES - - -i - -Galt’s overthrow of Valentine was an episode of business which need -not have concerned the outside world. But the conditions of the -struggle were dramatic and personal and the papers made big news of -it. The consequences were beyond control. Henry M. Galt was publicly -discovered. That of course was inevitable, then or later. He was -already high above the horizon and rising fast. The astronomers were -unable to say whether he was a comet or a planet. They were astonished -not more by the suddenness of his coming than by the rate at which he -grew as they observed him. - -The other consequences were abnormal, becoming social and political, -and followed him to the end of his career. - -Valentine was not a man to be smudged out of the picture. He was a -person of power and influence. The loss of his historic position was -of no pecuniary moment, for he was very rich; it was a blow at his -prestige and a hurt to his pride, inflicted in the limelight. His -grievance against Galt was irredressible. Honestly, too, he believed -Galt to be a dangerous man. But he was a fair fighter within the rules -and would perhaps never himself have carried the warfare outside of -Wall Street where it belonged. - -Mrs. Valentine was the one to do that. She was the social tyrant of her -time, ruling by fear and might that little herd of human beings who -practice self-worship and exclusion as a mysterious rite, import and -invent manners, learn the supercilious gesture which means “One does -not know them,” and in short get the goat of vulgus. Her favor was the -one magic passport to the inner realm of New York society. Her disfavor -was a writ of execution. She was a turbulent woman, whose tongue knew -no inhibitions. Whom she liked she terrified; whom she disliked she -sacrificed. - -Now she took up the fight in two dimensions. Galt she slandered -outrageously, implanting distrust of him in the minds of men who -would carry it far and high,--to the Senate, even to the heart of the -Administration. Then as you would expect, from her position as social -dictator she struck at the Galt women. That was easy. With one word she -cast them into limbo. - -Mrs. Galt had inalienable rights of caste. She belonged to a family -that had been of the elect for three generations. Her aunt once held -the position now occupied by Mrs. Valentine. Galt’s family, though not -at all distinguished, was yet quite acceptable. Marriage therefore did -not alter Mrs. Galt’s social status. She had voluntarily relinquished -it, without prejudice, under pressure of forbidding circumstances. -These were a lack of wealth, a chronic sense of insecurity and Galt’s -unfortunate temperament. - -Gradually she sank into social obscurity, morose and embittered. She -made no effort to introduce her daughters into the society she had -forsaken; and as she was unwilling for them to move on a lower plane -the result was that they were nurtured in exile. - -Vera at a certain time broke through these absurd restraints and began -to make her own contacts with the world. They were irregular. She -spent weekends with people whom nobody knew, went about with casual -acquaintances, got in with a musical set, and then took up art, not -seriously for art’s sake, but because some rebellious longing of -her nature was answered in the free atmosphere of studios and art -classes. In her wake appeared maleness in various aspects, eligible, -and ineligible. Natalie, who was not yet old enough to follow Vera’s -lead, nor so bold as to contemplate it for herself, looked on with -shy excitement. The rule is that the younger sister may have what -caroms off. Vera’s men never caromed off. They called ardently for -a little while and then sank without trace, to Natalie’s horror and -disappointment. What Vera did with them or to them nobody ever knew. -She kept it to herself. - -“You torpedo them,” said Natalie, accusing her. - -Mrs. Galt watched the adventuring Vera with anxiety and foreboding, -which gradually gave way to a feeling of relief, not unmingled with a -kind of awe. - -“Thank Heaven I don’t have to worry about Vera!” she said one day, -relevantly to nothing at all. She was thinking out loud. - -“Why not, mamma?” asked Natalie. - -“Don’t ask me, child. And don’t try to be like her.” - - -ii - -Then all at once they were rich. - -For a while they hardly dared to believe it. The habit of not being -rich is something to break. Galt’s revenge for their unbelief, past and -present, was to overwhelm them with money. First he returned to them -severally all that he had borrowed or taken from them to put into Great -Midwestern. This, he said, was not their principal back. It was the -profit. It was only the beginning of their profit. Their investments -were left whole. Presently they began to receive dividends. Besides, -he settled large sums upon them as gifts, and kept increasing them -continually. - -“What shall we do with it?” asked Natalie. - -“Do with it?” said Galt. “What do people do with money? Anything they -like. Spend it.” - -He encouraged them to be extravagant, especially Natalie. She had a -passion for horses. He gave her a stable full on her birthday, all show -animals, one of which, handled by Natalie, took first prize in its -class at Madison Square Garden the next month. Galt, strutting about -the ring, was absurd with wonder and excitement. He wished to clap the -judge on the back. Mrs. Galt restrained him as much as she could. She -could not keep him from shouting when the ribbon was handed out. It was -more a victory for Natalie than for the horse. She was tremendously -admired. People looked at their cards to find her name, then at her -again, asking, “Who is she?” - -She was nobody. In the papers the next morning her name was mentioned -and that was all, except that one paper referred to her as the daughter -of a Wall Street broker. Other girls, neither so beautiful nor so -expert as Natalie, were daintily praised. - -Galt was furious. Yet he had no suspicion of what was the matter. There -was gloom in his household when he expected gaiety. His efforts to -discover the reasons were met with evasive, cryptic sentences. - -“What have you been doing today?” he asked Natalie one hot June evening -at dinner. - -“Nothing,” she answered. - -This exchange was followed as usual by a despondent silence which -always contained an inaudible accusation of Galt. Everyone would have -denied it sweetly. He couldn’t turn it on them. He could only take it -out in irritability. - -“All fuss and feathers and nothing to do,” he said. “You make me sick. -I can’t see why you don’t do what other girls do. There’s nothing -they’ve got that you can’t have. Go some place. Go to Newport. That’s -where they all go, ain’t it?” - -“Papa, dear,” said Natalie, “what should we do at Newport?” - -“Do! Do! How the--how do I know? Swim, dance, flirt, whatever the rest -of them do. Take a house ... make a splurge ... cut in with the crowd. -I don’t know. Your mother does. That’s her business. Ask her.” - -“Oh, but you don’t understand,” said Natalie. “We’d not be taken in. -Mother does know.” - -“What does that mean?” Galt asked. - -“You can’t just dress up and go where you want to go,” said Natalie. -“You have to be asked. We’d look nice at Newport with a house, wouldn’t -we?” - -“Go on,” said Galt, in a dazed kind of way. - -“I mean,” said Natalie, ... “oh, you know, papa, dear. Don’t be an old -stupid. Why go on with it?... Of course you can always do things with -people of a sort. They ask you fast enough. But mother says if we do -that we’ll never get anywhere. So we have to wait.” - -“Wait for what?” - -“I don’t know,” said Natalie, on the verge of tears. “Ask mother.” - -“So ho-o-o-o!” said Galt, beginning to see. “I’ll ask her.” - -Mrs. Galt and Vera were in a state of crystal passivity. They heard -without listening. Galt pursued the matter no further at dinner. Later -he held a long interview with Mrs. Galt and she told him the truth. -Social ostracism was the price his family paid for the enemies he had -made and continued to make in Wall Street. She had tried. She had -knocked, but no door opened. She had prostrated herself before her -friends. They were sorry and helpless. Nothing could be done,--not at -once. She had better wait quietly, they said, until the storm blew -over. Mrs. Valentine was at her worst, terrible and unapproachable. The -subject couldn’t even be mentioned. Anyone who received the Galts was -damned. - - -iii - -Galt was unable to get his mind down to work the next day. He would -leave it and walk about in a random manner, emitting strange, -intermittent sounds,--grunts, hissings and shrewd whistlings. Then he -would sit down to it again, but with no relief, and repeat the absent -performance. - -“Come on, Coxey,” he said, taking up his hat. “We’ll show them -something.” - -We went up-town by the L train, got off at 42nd Street, took a cab and -drove slowly up Fifth Avenue. - -“That’s Valentine’s house,” he said, indicating a beautiful old brick -residence. He called to the cabby to put us down and wait. We walked -up and down the block. Almost directly opposite the Valentine house -was a brown stone residence in ill repair, doors and windows boarded -up, marked for sale. Having looked at it several times, measuring the -width of the plot with his eye, he crossed over to the Valentine -house, squared his heels with the line of its wall and stepped off the -frontage, counting, “Three, six, nine,” etc. It stretched him to do -an imaginary yard per step. He was as unconscious as a mechanical tin -image and resembled one, his arms limp at his sides, his legs shooting -out in front of him with stiff angular movements. He wore a brown straw -hat, his hair flared out behind, his tie was askew and fallen away from -the collar button. - -Returning he stepped off in the same way the frontage of the property -for sale. - -“About what I thought,” he said. “Twenty feet more.” - -He wrote down the number of the house and the name and address of the -real estate firm from the sign and we were through. An agent was sent -immediately to buy the property. He telephoned before the end of the -day. - -“We’ve got it, Coxey,” said Galt. “The transfer will be made in your -name. This is all a dead secret. Not a word. Find the best architect in -New York and have him down here tomorrow.” - -As luck was, the architect had a set of beautiful plans that had been -abandoned on account of cost. With but few modifications they suited -Galt perfectly. He could hardly wait until everything was settled,--not -only as to the house itself, but as to its equipment, decorations and -furnishings complete, even pictures, linen and plate. - -“When it’s done,” he said, “I want to walk in with a handbag and stay -there.” - -Having signed the contracts he added an extra cumulative per diem -premium for completion in advance of a specified date. Then he put it -away from his mind and returned,--I had almost said,--to his money -making. That would not be true. His mind was not on money, primarily. -He thought in terms of creative achievement. - -There are two regnant passions in the heart of man. One is to tear -down, the other is to build up. Galt’s passion was to build. In his -case the passion to destroy, which complements the other, was satisfied -in removing obstacles. Works enthralled him in right of their own -magic. To see a thing with the mind’s eyes as a vision in space, to -give orders, then in a little while to go and find it there, existing -durably in three dimensions,--that was power! No other form of -experience was comparable to this. - -His theory, had he been able to formulate one, would have been that -any work worth doing must pay. That was the ultimate test. If it -didn’t pay there was something wrong. But profit was what followed as -a vindication or a conclusion in logic. First was the thing itself to -be imagined. The difference between this and the common attitude may be -subtle; it is hard to define; yet it is fundamental. He did not begin -by saying: “How can the Great Midwestern be made to earn a profit of -ten per cent.?” No. He said: “How shall we make the Great Midwestern -system the greatest transportation machine in the world?” If that were -done the profit would mind itself. He could not have said this himself. -He never troubled his mind with self-analysis. I think he never knew -how or why he became the greatest money maker of his generation in the -world. - - -iv - -Nothing happened to betray the secret of the house that rose in Fifth -Avenue opposite Valentine’s. The real estate news reporters all went -wild in their guesses as to its ownership. Galt never interfered -about details; but if the chart of construction progress which he -kept on his desk showed the slightest deviation from ideal he must -know at once what was going wrong. There was a strike of workmen. He -said to give them what they wanted and indemnified the contractors -accordingly. Once it was a matter of transportation. Three car loads of -precious hewn stone got lost in transit. The records of the railroad -that had them last showed they had been handed on. The receiving road -had no record of having received them. They had vanished altogether. -At last they were found in Jersey City. A yard crew had been using -them for three weeks as a make-weight to govern the level of one of -those old-fashioned pontoons across which trains were shunted from -the mainland tracks to car barges in the river. They happened to be -just the right weight for the purpose. After that every railroad -with a ferry transfer that the Great Midwestern had anything to say -about installed a new kind of pontoon, raised and lowered by a simple -hydraulic principle. - -As the time drew near Galt swelled with mystery. He could not help -dropping now and then at dinner a hint of something that might be -coming to pass. He addressed it always to Natalie, for the benefit -of the others. He looked at her solemnly one evening and contorted a -nursery rhyme: - - - Who got ’em in? - Little Johnnie Quinn - Who got’ em out? - Big John Stout. - - -“Old silly,” said Natalie. “You’ve got it wrong. It goes--” - -“Now let me alone,” he said. “I’ve got it the way I want it. What do -you know about it? Poor little outcast! No place to go. Nobody to take -her in.” - -He leaned over to pet her consolingly. - -“Stop it!” she said, attacking him. They scuffled. Some dishes were -overturned. She caught a napkin under his chin and tied it over the top -of his head. - -“All right,” he mumbled. “You’ll be sorry. You wait and see.” - -She held his nose and made him say the rhyme the right way, repeating -it after her, under penalty of being made to take a spoonful of -gooseberry jam which he hated. - - -v - -The momentous evening came at last. It had been a particularly hard -day in Wall Street. Galt was cross and easily set off. So the omens -were bad to begin with. Natalie read them from afar and gently let him -alone. He bolted his food, became restless, and asked Mrs. Galt to -order the carriage around. - -“Which one?” she asked. “Who will be going?” She did not ask where. - -“All of us,” said Galt. - -“Gram’ma, too?” Natalie asked. - -He nodded. - -“Come on,” he said, pushing back his dessert. He went into the hall, -got into his coat, and walked to and fro with his hat on, fuming. He -helped Gram’ma down the steps and handed her into the carriage, then -Mrs. Galt, then Vera, Natalie last. - -“Go there,” he said to the coachman, handing him a slip of paper. - -The house, with not a soul inside of it, was brilliantly lighted. -Galt in a fever of anticipation crossed the pavement with his most -egregious, cock-like stride. The entrance was level with the street, -screened with two tall iron gates on enormous hinges. Before inserting -the key he looked around, expecting to see the family at his heels. -What he saw instead threw him into a violent temper. I was still -standing at the carriage door waiting to hand them out. Natalie stood -on the curb with her head inside arguing with her mother. Mrs. Galt -would have to know whom they were calling on. Natalie went to find out. - -“Nobody,” said Galt. “Nobody, tell her.” - -When Natalie returned with this answer Mrs. Galt construed it in the -social sense. She was rigid with horror at the thought that Galt by one -mad impulse might frustrate all her precious plans. For all she knew he -was about to launch them upon a party of upstart nobodies in the very -sight of Mrs. Valentine. Vera now joined with Natalie. They added force -to persuasion and slowly brought her forth. We went straggling across -the pavement toward Galt, who by this time was in a fine rage. - -As he unlocked the gates and pushed them open Mrs. Galt had a flash of -understanding. “Oh!” she exclaimed in a bewildered, contrite tone. It -was almost too late. - -There were two sets of doors after the gates. - -We stood in a vaulted hallway. There was a retiring room on either -side. Further in, where the width of these two rooms was added to that -of the hallway, a grand impression of the house began. We were then in -a magnificently arched space, balanced on four monolith columns. At the -right was a carpeted stone staircase. At the left was a great fireplace -and in front of it a very large velvet-covered divan. Logs were burning -lazily on the andirons. On a table at one side was a cut glass service -and iced water. Beyond, straight ahead, was a view of the dining room. -As we walked in that direction there was a sound of tinkling water. -This issued from a fountain suddenly disclosed in an unsuspected space. -A fire was burning in the dining room. The table was decorated. The -sideboard was furnished. - -Galt, silently leading the way, brought us back to the grand staircase. -God knows why,--women must weep in a new house. Possibly it makes them -feel more at home. All the feminine eyes in that party, Vera’s alone -excepted, were red as we mounted the stairs. - -As Galt’s satisfaction increased he began to talk. “This,” he said, “is -where we live.” - -That was a room the whole width of the house and half its depth, second -floor front, full of soft light reflected from the ceiling, dedicated -to complete human comfort. Everything had been thought of. Trifles of -convenience were everywhere at hand. There were flowers on the table, -books in the bookcases, current magazines lying about, pillows on the -rug in front of the fire place and an enormous divan in which six might -lie at once. - -On the same floor was a music room; then a ball room. The chambers were -next above, arranged in suites. This was mother’s, meaning Mrs. Galt; -that was Gram’ma’s, that one Vera’s, that one Natalie’s, those others -for company,--or they could rearrange them as they pleased. Every room -was perfectly dressed, even to towels on the bath room racks and toilet -accessories in the cabinets. - -“The help,” he said, “and some other things,” passing the next two -floors without stopping. The top floor was his. One large room was -equipped as an office is. His desk was a large mahogany table with -six telephone instruments on it. Opening off to the right was his -apartment. “And this,” he said, opening a door to the left, “is Coxey’s -when he wants it ... two rooms and bath like mine.” - -On the roof, under glass, was a tennis court. The view of the city from -there at night was apparitional. Galt led us to the front ostensibly -that we might see it to better advantage, but for another reason really. - -“That’s Valentine’s house down there,” he said, “that roof. We are -three stories higher and twenty feet wider.... You could almost spit on -it.” - -Mrs. Galt shuddered. - -Well, that was all to see. - -“She’s built like a locomotive,” said Galt, trying here and there a -door to show how perfectly it fitted. There was no higher word of -praise. - -We went down by an automatic electric elevator and were again in that -vaulted, formal space on the ground floor. Words would not come. Mrs. -Galt stood gazing into the fire, overwhelmed, wondering perhaps how -this would affect her campaign to propitiate Mrs. Valentine. Natalie -sat on the stairway with her chin in her hands. Vera helped herself -to some iced water. Gram’ma Galt sat far off in the corner on a stone -bench. - -Galt surveyed them with incredulous disgust. This was a kind of -situation for which he had no intuition at all. His emotions and -theirs were diametrically different. For him the moment was one of -realization. That which was realized had existed in his thoughts whole, -just as it was, for nearly a year. For them it was a terrific shock, -overturning the way of their lives, and women moreover do not make -their adjustments to a new environment in the free, canine manner of -men, but with a kind of feline diffidence. It is very rash to surprise -them so without elaborate preparation. - -The tension became unbearable. I was expecting Galt to break forth in -weird sounds. Instead, without a word, but with his teeth set and his -hands clenched, he leaped into the middle of the divan with his feet -and bounced up and down, like a man in a circus net, until I thought -he should break the springs. That seemed to be what he was trying to -do. But it was the very best quality of upholstery, as he ought to have -known. Then he came down on his back full length and lay still, the -women all staring at him. - -Vera had a sense of tragedy. It gave her access to his feelings. She -walked over to the divan, knelt down, took his head in her arms and -kissed him. This of all her memorable gestures was the finest. And it -was spoiled. Or was it saved, perhaps? She might not have known how to -end it. - -“Ouch!” said Galt. “A pin sticks me.” - -He got up. - -“Come on, Coxey, I want to show you something in the office upstairs.” - -That was subterfuge. He only wished to get away. We took the elevator -and left them. He went directly to his bedroom, ripped off his collar -and threw it on the floor, kicked off his shoes, and cast himself -wearily on the bed. There he lay, on the costly lace counterpane, lined -with pink silk, a forlorn and shabby figure. - -Presently Mrs. Galt timidly appeared at the door, followed by Vera -and Natalie. They were a little out of breath, having walked up, not -knowing how to manage the elevator. - -“It’s lovely ... perfectly splendid!” said Mrs. Galt, sitting on the -bed and taking his hand. “I’m only sorry I haven’t words to tell you--” -And she began to weep again. - -“Don’t,” said Galt. “How does Gram’ma like it?” - -“Hadn’t we better start home now?” said Mrs. Galt. - -“Home!” said Galt. “What’s this, I’d like to know? Not a bolt missing. -She’s all fueled ... steam up ... ready to have her throttle pulled -open. Go downstairs and hang up your hat. Telephone over for the -servants.... How does Gram’ma like it?” - -“We haven’t anything here, you know,” Mrs. Galt protested gently. “The -girls haven’t and neither have I.” - -“I’m here for good,” said Galt. “I want my breakfast in that dining -room tomorrow morning.... How does Gram’ma like it?.... What’s the -matter?” - -They couldn’t evade it any longer. Natalie told him. - -“Gram’ma says she won’t live here.” - -“Why not?” - -“She won’t say why not. Just says she won’t.” - -“All right, all right,” said Galt. “Being a woman is something you -can’t help. Tell her we’ll give her a deed to the old house ... all for -her own. We’ll play company when we come to see her.... That reminds -me.” - -He brought a large folded document out of his pocket and handed it to -Mrs. Galt. - -“What’s this?” - -“Deed to this house,” he said. “It’s from Coxey. Thank him. We kept it -all in his name until today. Now it’s in your name.” - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -A BROKEN SYMBOL - - -i - -Vera by this time was in high, romantic quest of that which cannot -be found outside oneself. She had a passion to be utterly free. It -was a cold, intellectual phantasy, defeated in every possibility by -some strange, morbid no-saying of her emotional nature. Her delusion -had been that circumstances enthralled her. That refuge now was gone. -Wealth gave her control over the circumstances of her life. She could -do what she pleased. She was free to seek freedom and her mind was -strong and daring. - -She leased an old house in West Tenth Street and had it all made over -into studio apartments, four above to be let by favor to whom she liked -and one very grand on the ground floor for herself. Then she became a -patron of the arts. It is an easy road. Art is hungry for praise and -attention. Artists are democratic. They keep no rules, go anywhere, -have lots of time and love to be entertained by wealth, if only to put -their contempt upon it. The hospitality of a buyer must be bad indeed -if they refuse it. Vera’s hospitality was attractive in itself. Her -teas were man teas. Her dinners were gay and excellent. They were -popular at once and soon became smart in a special, exotic way. Her -private exhibitions were written up in the art columns. - -She had first a conventional phase and harbored academic art. That -passed. Her taste became more and more radical; so also of course did -her company. I went often to see her there,--to her teas and sometimes -to her dinners, because one could seldom see her anywhere else. But it -was a trial for both of us. She introduced me always with an air which -meant, “He doesn’t belong, as you see, but he is all right.” I was -accepted for her sake. The men were not polite with each other. They -quarrelled and squabbled incessantly, mulishly, pettishly, in terms as -strange to me as the language of my trade would have been to them. They -were polite to me. That was the distinction they made. - -As Vera progressed, her understanding of art becoming higher and -higher, new figures appeared, some of them grossly uncouth, either -naturally so or by affectation. She discovered a sculptor who brought -his things with him to be admired,--small ones in his pockets, larger -ones in his arms. I could not understand them. They resembled the -monstrosities children dream of when they need paregoric. He had been -stoker, prize-fighter, mason, poet, tramp,--heaven knows what!--with -this marvellous gift inside of him all the time. He wore brogans, -trousers that sagged, a shirt open to the middle of his hairy chest, a -red handkerchief around his neck and often no hat at all. - -Vera seemed quite mad about him. She took me one day to his studio, -saying particularly that she had never been there. It was a small -room at the top of a palsied fire trap near Gramercy Park, reached by -many turnings through dark hallways with sudden steps up and down. In -it, besides the sculptor in a gunny-sack smock, there was nothing but -some planks laid over the tops of barrels, some heaps of clay, and -his things, which he called pieces of form. On the walls, scrawled in -pencil, were his social engagements, all with women. Vera’s name was -there. - -Once he came to tea with nothing of his own to show, but from under his -coat he produced and held solemnly aloft an object which proved to be a -stuffed toy beast,--dog, cow, bear or what you couldn’t tell, it was so -battered. One of its shoe-button eyes, one ear and the tail were gone. -Its hide was cotton flannel, now the color of grimy hands. - -“What is it?” everybody asked. - -He wouldn’t tell until he had found something to stand it on. A book -would serve. Then he held it out at arm’s length. - -“I found it on the East Side in a rag picker’s place!” he said. “I seem -to see something in it ... what?... a force ... something elemental ... -something.” - -The respect with which this twaddle was received by a sane company, -some of it distinguished, even by Vera herself, filled me with -indignation. - -Later the sculptor sat by me and asked ingratiatingly how matters were -in Wall Street. - -“You are the third man who has asked me that question today,” I said. -“Why are artists so much interested in Wall Street?” - -“I’m not,” he said. “I only thought it was a proper question to ask. -Some of them are. I hear them talking about it. Pictures sell better -when people are making money in Wall Street. Sculpture never sells -anyway. Mine won’t.” - -I said men were doing very well in Wall Street. Times were prosperous -again. - -“So I understand,” he replied. “It seems very easy to make money there -if you get in right. Do you know of anything sure?” - -I said I didn’t. - -“You are with Mr. Galt?” he asked. - -“Yes.” - -“He is a great money maker, isn’t he? What is he like?” - -“He’s an elemental force,” I said, leaving him. - - -ii - -But Vera was shrewd and purposeful, having always her ends in view. -Manifestations such as the sculptor person were kept in their place. -They were not permitted to dominate the scene. They played against a -background that was at once exquisite and reassuring. In a mysterious -way she created an atmosphere of pagan, metaphysical tranquillity, -which rejects nothing and refines whatever it accepts. No thought, no -representation of fact or experience, however extreme, was forbidden. -But you must perceive all things æsthetically. Vulgarity was the only -sin. Emotions were objects. You might enjoy them in any way you liked -save one. You must not touch them. For this was the higher sensuality, -ethereal and philosophical,--a sensuality of the mind alone. - -All of this was the unconscious expression of herself. Eros -intellectualized! It can be done. - -Her achievement became known in a cultish way. She made admission to -her circle more and more difficult and the harder it was the more -anxious people were to get in. On Mrs. Valentine’s world she turned the -tables. She flouted society and it began to knock at her door. She had -something it wanted and sold it dear. - -There are always those who seek in art that which they have lost or -used up or never dared take in life. There are those whose desires -are projected upon the mind and obsess it long after the capacity for -direct experience is ruined. There are those to whom anything esoteric -and new is irresistible. There were those, besides, who sought Vera, -notably among them a tall blond animal of the golden series. - -He was the man I saw bring Vera home that evening I waited to have -it out with her. I met him again in London on Galt’s business while -soliciting proxies among our foreign stockholders. At that time he -was acting for his father’s estate with an English syndicate that had -large investments in American railroads. Since then, by the will of -Providence, he had come into possession of the estate together with an -hereditary title of great social distinction. - -Enter, as he pleases, Lord Porteous. With a thin, cynical head, a -definite simplicity of outline and an exaggerated, voluptuous grace -of body, he remarkably resembled an old Greek drawing. How he had -found Vera in the first place I never knew. That happened, at any -rate, before she was rich. He had the trained British instinct -for putting money with the right people, and it was true that the -English discovered Galt from afar while he was yet almost unknown in -Wall Street. But when I saw him that first time with Vera the Great -Midwestern was on its way to bankruptcy and Galt’s interest in it was -extremely precarious. - -Well, no matter. It was inevitable however it happened. When he -returned to this country as Lord Porteous he found her again and -immediately added his prestige to her circle. Art bored him. He -played the part of beguiled Philistine and amused himself by uttering -bourgeoise comments of the most astonishing banality. Whether he -truly meant them or not nobody knew for sure. He never by any chance -betrayed his form. If satire, it was art; if not, it was incredible. -Sensitive victims were reduced to a state of grinning horror. One who -committed suicide was believed to have been driven to it by something -Lord Porteous said to him in a moment of their being accidentally alone -at the sideboard. The artist dropped his glass in a gibbering rage -and went headlong forth. He was never seen alive again, and as m’lord -couldn’t be asked we never knew what it was. - -For all that, Lord Porteous was a capital social asset, and a valiant -protagonist. He carried Vera’s name with him wherever he went, even -to Mrs. Valentine’s table,--there especially, in fact, because he -discovered how much it annoyed her. He disliked her; and she was -helpless. - - -iii - -Like her father, Vera was adventurous with success. No measure was -enough. She began to import art objects that were bound to be talked -about,--not old masters, nothing so trite as that, but daring, -controversial things, the latest word of a modern school or the most -authentic fetich of a new movement in thought. Her grand stroke was -the purchase in London of the rarest piece of antique negro sculpture -then known to exist in the world. It had been miraculously discovered -in Africa and was brought to England for sale. Its importance lay -in the fact that a certain self-advertised cult, leading a revolt -against classic Greek tradition, acclaimed it on sight as the perfect -demonstration of some theory which only artists could pretend to -understand. Modern sculpture, these people said, was pure in but two of -its three dimensions. This African thing, wrought by savages in a time -of great antiquity, was pure also in the third dimension. Therefore -it excelled anything that was Greek or derived therefrom. A storm of -controversy broke upon the absurd little idol’s head. Photographs of it -were printed in hundreds of magazines and newspapers in Europe and the -United States. And when it came to be sold at auction it was one of the -most notorious objects on earth. - -The British Museum retired after the second bid. Agents acting for -private collectors ran the price up rapidly. The bidding, according to -the news reports cabled to this country the next morning, was “very -spirited,” and the treasure passed at a fabulous price to the agent of -“Miss Vera Galt, the well known American collector.” She had engaged -the assistance of a dealer who knew how to get publicity in these high -matters. English art critics politely regretted that an object of such -rare æsthetic interest should leave Europe; American critics exulted -accordingly and praised Miss Galt’s enterprise. - -I was at the studio the day the thing arrived and was unpacked. Besides -the initiates, votaries and friends, a number of art critics were -present by invitation. Vera, as usual, was detached and tentative, with -no air of proprietorship whatever. She was like one of the spectators. -Yet every detail of the ceremony had been rigidly ordained. The place -prepared to receive the idol was not too conspicuous. It was to be -important but not paramount. It must not dominate the scene. - -As one not entitled to participate in the chatter I was free to listen. -There were _oh’s_ and _ah’s_ and guttural sounds, meant in each case to -express that person’s whole unique comprehension and theory of art. The -more articulate had almost done better, I thought, to limit themselves -to similar exclamations. What they said was quite meaningless, to me -at least. With the enthusiasm of original discovery one declared that -it was wholly free of any representational quality. Another said with -profound wisdom that it was neither the symbol nor the representation -of anything, but purely and miraculously a thing in itself. Its -unrepresentationalness and thing-in-itselfness were thereupon asserted -over and over, everyone perceiving that to be the safe slant of -opinion. They were wonderfully excited. No lay person may hope to -understand these commotions of æsthetic feeling. The idea was to me -grotesque that this strange, discolored figure, not more than fifteen -inches high, with its upturned nose, its cylindrical trunk, cylindrical -arms not pertaining to the trunk, cylindrical legs pertaining to -neither the trunk nor the arms, terminating in block feet, should be an -august event in the world of art. - -Lord Porteous came in. He helped himself to tea and sat down with Vera -at some distance from the murmuring group that surrounded the idol. -Voices kept calling him to come. He went, holding his tea and munching -his cake, and gave it one casual look. - -“How very ugly,” he said, and returned to Vera’s side. - -I hated him for having the assurance to say it. No one else would -have dared. I hated him for his possessive ways. I hated him for all -the reasons there were. A malicious spirit invaded me. I sat near -them, wishing my proximity to be disagreeable. He was very polite and -friendly, which gave me extra reasons. He made some reference to a -recent occurrence in Wall Street. He asked me what I made of the negro -carving. - -“I don’t understand it,” I said. - -“We are the barbarians here,” he said. “They understand it. Look at -them.” - -Vera was silent. - - -iv - -Gradually the party dispersed, everyone stopping on the way forth to -inform Vera of her greatness, her service to art, her hold upon their -adoration and affection. At length only Lord Porteous and I remained. -The tea things were removed, twilight passed, lights were made, and -still we lingered, making artificial conversation. Suddenly, with a -subtle air of declining the competition, he took his leave. - -Vera lay in a great black, ivory-mounted chair, her head far back, her -feet on a hassock, smoking a cigarette in a long shell holder, staring -into the smoke as a man does. The presence of Lord Porteous seemed to -linger between us long after his corporeal entity was gone. - -“He says he thinks it very ugly,” I remarked. - -“Yes?” she said with that unresolved, rising inflexion which provokes a -man to open the quarrel. - -“No one else could have carried off that audacity,” I said. - -She let that pass. - -“I wonder what your archaic sculptor man would think of it?” I said. -“He wasn’t here.... We haven’t seen him for a long time.” - -She shrugged her shoulders and continued to gaze into the smoke of her -cigarette. - -“So you are bored,” I said. “A world of your own, a lord at your feet, -and still you are bored.” - -“Do you mean to pick a quarrel with me?” she asked. - -“I wish to cancel our bargain,” I said. “The one we made that time long -ago in the tea shop.” - -“Very well,” she said. “It is cancelled.” - -“Is that all?” - -“What more could there be?” she asked, looking at me for the first -time, with that naïve expression of blameless innocence which was Eve’s -fig leaf. - -“You have nothing to say?” - -“No,” she said. “Women are not as vocal about these things as men seem -to be.” - -“You were vocal enough when we were making the bargain,” I said. “Have -you no curiosity to know why I wish to cancel it?” - -“Friendship does not satisfy a man,” she said. - -“Have you made the same bargain with others? ... with Lord Porteous?” I -asked. - -“No.” - -“Why not?” - -“Please don’t be stupid,” she said, lighting another cigarette and -beginning to toy with the smoke. “Are you staying for dinner?” - -“I’m going,” I said, “but not until I have told you.” - -“What?” - -“Why I ask to cancel our bargain.” - -“Oh,” she said. “I thought that was quite done with.” - -“Well, then, why you are bored.” - -“Yes,” she said, “why I am bored. You will tell me that?” - -Her profile was in silhouette against the black of the chair. She was -smiling derisively. - -“It is because you have imprisoned yourself in a lonely castle,” I -said. “You used that figure of speech yourself when we were making -the bargain. ‘It is my castle,’ you said. Therefore you know it. The -name of that castle is Selfishness. The name of your jailer is Vera -Afraid. What you fear is life, for its pain and scars. You hail it from -afar. You call it inside the walls under penalities. It must be good. -It shall not bite or scratch or kiss you. You are too precious to be -touched.” - -“You haven’t named the prisoner,” she said, slowly. - -“She is Vera Desireful,” I said. “She is starved for life, for the -bread of participation.... She lives upon the poisonous crusts of -phantasy. She is probably in danger of going mad. Her dreams are -terrible.” - -“You cannot be saying these things to me!” she exclaimed, with a -startled, incredulous face. - -“Long ago I might have said them just as well,” I answered. “I have -known always what an unnatural, self-saving woman you are, how -treacherous you are to the impulse which brings you again and again -to the verge of experience. There, in the act of embracing life, you -suddenly freeze with selfish fear. Do you think life can be so cheated? -If it cannot burn you it will wither you. When it is too late you may -realize that to have one must give. Well, it is impossible of course. -You cannot give yourself. The impulse is betrayed on the threshold. I -knew it when I was fool enough to ask you to marry me.” - -“You never asked me,” she said, thoughtfully, as reviewing a state of -facts. “You only said you wanted to marry me.” - -I construed it as a challenge. No, that is as I think of it now. -What happened to me then was beyond any process of thought. It -occurred outside of me, if that means anything. There was a sense of -dissolving. Objects, ideas, place, planes, dimensions, my own egoistic -importance, all seemed to dissolve in one significant sensation. There -is a recollection that at this moment something became extremely vivid. -What it was that became vivid I do not know. The word that comprehends -without defining it is completion. In the whole world there was nothing -else of consequence or meaning. - -“I ask you now,” I said. - -I heard my own words from afar. They were uttered by someone who had -been sitting where I sat and for all I knew or cared might be sitting -there still. _I_ was a body moving through space, with a single -anxiety, which was to meet another body in space for a purpose I could -not stop to examine. I remember thinking, “I may. I may. The bargain is -cancelled.” - -She leaped to her feet, evading me, and laughed with her head tossed -back,--an icy, brilliant laugh that made me rigid. I could not -interpret it. I do not know yet what it meant. Nor do I comprehend the -astonishing gesture that followed. - -Slowly she moved to the African idol, picked it up, brought it to the -mantel under a strong light and began to examine it carefully. She -explored every plane of its surface and became apparently quite lost -in contemplation of its hideous beauty. Holding it at arm’s length and -still looking at it she spoke. - -“Lord Porteous thinks it very ugly?” - -“So he said,” I replied. - -“He may be right,” she said. “Perhaps it is. So many things turn ugly -when you look at them closely ... friendship even.” - -Then she dropped it. - -As it crashed on the hearthstone she turned, without a glance at the -fragments or at me, and walked out of the room. - -Three days later her engagement to Lord Porteous was announced. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -SUCCESS - - -i - -The ready explanation of Galt’s rise in a few years to the rôle of Wall -Street monarch is that he was a master profit maker. The way of it -was phenomenal. His touch was that of genius, daring, unaccountable, -mysteriously guided by an inner mentality. And when the results -appeared they were so natural, inevitable, that men wondered no less at -their own stupidity than at his prescience. Why had they not seen the -same opportunity? - -His associates made money by no effort of their own. They had only -to put their talents with the mighty steward. He took them, employed -them as he pleased, and presently returned them two-fold, five-fold, -sometimes twenty-fold. - -But this explanation only begs the secret. The nature of his unique -power is still hidden. It was in the first manifestation a power -to persuade men. It became a power to command them, in virtue of -the ability he had to reward them. This ability was the consummate -power,--a power to imagine and create wealth. As it grew and as the -respect for it became a superstition among his associates and a terror -to all adversaries he passed into the dictatorial phase of his career. - -Mordecai’s thought,--“Id iss only zat ve zhall manage him a -liddle,”--was rudely shattered. He was unmanageable. He gave Mordecai -& Co. peremptory orders, and they were obeyed, as they well might be, -since Galt’s star had lifted the house of Mordecai from third to first -rank in the financial world. It had become richer and more powerful -than any other house in Wall Street save one and that one was its -ancient enemy. - -Mordecai’s courage had fainting fits. To “zese heights” he was often -unable to follow without a good deal of forcible assistance. Frequently -he would come to wrestle prayerfully with Galt, begging him in vain to -scale down some particularly audacious plan, whatever it was. One day -they had been at this for an hour. Galt was pugnacious and oppressive. -They stood up to it. Mordecai, retreating step by step, had come to bay -in a corner, gazing upward, the tips of his fingers together; Galt was -passing to and fro in front of him, laying down his will, stopping now -and then to emphasize the point by shaking his fist under Mordecai’s -nose. - -Just then the boy from the reception room came to my desk with the -name of Horace Potter. That was awkward. Potter was a tempestuous -man, easily moved to high anger, himself an autocrat, unaccustomed -to wait upon the pleasure of others. He was personally one of Galt’s -most powerful supporters and brought to him besides the whole -strength of the puissant oil crowd, which controlled at that time -more available wealth than any other group in Wall Street. It was an -unusual concession for him to call upon anyone. People always came to -him. And there he was outside, waiting. He had come to keep a definite -appointment. There was no excuse. I tried to tell Galt, but he waved me -away fiercely. - -“Don’t bother me now, Coxey.” - -Five minutes passed. Of a sudden Potter bolted in. “What is this?” he -roared. “Am I one to cool my heels in your outer office?” - -Galt turned round and stared at him, blankly at first and then with -blazing anger. - -“How did you get in here?” he asked. - -“By God, I walked in,” said Potter. - -“Then, by God, walk out again,” said Galt, turning his back. - -I followed him out, thinking to find some mollifying word to say; he -was unapproachable. The reception room was empty but for Potter and -the friend he had with him, an important banker who was to have been -presented to Galt in a special way. They talked with no heed of me. - -“He’s in one of his damned tantrums,” said Potter. “We’ll have to chuck -it or try again.” - -The other man got very red. - -“Why do you stand it?” he asked. “You!” - -“I’ll tell you why,” said Potter. “We make more with him than with any -other man who ever handled our money. That’s a very good reason.” - -“I couldn’t help it,” I said to Galt, afterward. - -“All right,” he said. “He won’t do it again.” - -He never did. And so one by one they learned to take him as he was, to -swallow their pride and submit to his moods, all for the same reason. -He had the power to make them rich, richer, richest. - -A meeting of the board of directors became a perfunctory formality, -serving only to verify and approve Galt’s acts for purposes of record. -On his own responsibility he committed the company to policies, -investments, vast undertakings, and informed the board later. Success -was his whole justification. If once that failed him his authority -would collapse instantly. - -In a rare moment of self-inspection, after one of his darling visions -had come true, he said: - -“After all, Coxey, it’s the Lord makes the tide rise. We don’t control -it. We only ride it.” - -It was an amazing tide. Never was one like it before. It floated old -hulks that had been lying helpless and bankrupt on the sands for years. -And when men began to say it was high enough, that it was time to -prepare for the ebb, Galt said it was yet beginning. On the day Great -Midwestern stock sold at one hundred dollars a share,--par!--he said to -Mordecai: “That’s nothing. It will sell at two hundred. Buy me twenty -thousand shares at this price.” - -“I belief you, Mr. Gald,” said Mordecai in an awe-struck whisper. - - -ii - -Proceeds of the incessant enormous issues of new securities had been -invested first in the reconstruction of the Great Midwestern itself -and then in the shares of other railroads, beginning with the Orient -& Pacific. That was the first of a series of transactions. We now -owned outright or controlled by stock ownership no fewer than fifteen -other railroad properties, besides lake and ocean steamship lines, -docks, terminals, belt lines, trolley systems, forests, oil fields -and coal mines. The Great Midwestern was the vertebra of an organism, -ramifying east, west, north and south; it reached from the Atlantic -to the Pacific, with antennæ to Asia and Europe. Its treasury was -inexhaustible, fed by so many streams. - -Not only did our own earnings increase amazingly as all those other -properties poured their traffic into us, but the Great Midwestern -treasury received dividends on the shares by which it controlled -those traffic bringers. Thus we garnered twice. There was yet a third -source of profit. As the Great Midwestern acquired new properties Galt -rebuilt them out of their own earnings or by use of their own credit, -so that their value increased. Thus, they brought us traffic, they -paid dividends into our treasury and at the same time they were so -enhanced in physical value by Galt’s methods of development that they -were soon worth three or four times what they had cost. All this was -in each case so obvious, once it had happened, and yet so remarkable -in the aggregate, that people could scarcely believe it. A writer in -one of the financial papers exclaimed: “If these figures are true, -then the Great Midwestern Railway Company could go out of the railroad -business entirely and live richly on the profits that appear from its -investments in the securities of other railroads.” - -And the figures _were_ true. - - -iii - -Galt’s name rose to impersonal eminence. The properties embraced in -the Great Midwestern organism were referred to as Galt properties. -Their securities were Galt bonds or Galt stocks. The acts of the -Great Midwestern were not its own; they were Galt’s. There was a Galt -influence which reached beyond his own domain. Once an important -railroad system in which neither he nor the Great Midwestern had any -direct interest was about to reduce its rate of dividend. The directors -on their way to the meeting said they would vote to reduce it. But they -didn’t. When the meeting was over they were asked why they had changed -their minds. The explanation was that Galt had sent word to them that -he wished them not to do it. He said it would be a shock to public -confidence, and that he would divert enough traffic to the road to -enable it to earn the dividend it had been paying. And presently Wall -Street people were talking of a Galt crowd or a Galt party, meaning all -that group of men associated with him in his undertakings. - -The magazines discovered him. For a long time he would not be -interviewed. There was nothing to talk about, he said; why did they -pester him? They wrote articles about him, notwithstanding, because -he was a new power in the land, and so much of the information they -put forth was garbled or immature that he was persuaded at last to -submit to a regular interview. The writer assigned to the task was -at that time a famous interviewer. He came one evening to the house -by appointment and waited in the great drawing room. I was with him, -giving him some advice, when Galt came in, wearing slippers the heels -of which slapped the floor at every step. He sat in a large chair, -crouched himself, stared for a full minute at the interviewer through -large shell spectacles, justifying, I afterward remembered, the -interviewer’s impression of him as a huge, predatory, not unfriendly -spider. Suddenly he spoke, saying: - -“Ain’t you ashamed to be in this business?” - -“Everybody has something to be ashamed of,” said the interviewer. “What -are you ashamed of?” - -That pleased Galt. He loved a straight hit on the nose. And it turned -out to be a very successful interview. - -What the public knew about him was already enough to dazzle the -imagination. What it didn’t know, not yet at least, was more -surprising. His private fortune became so great that he was obliged -to think what to do with it. Unerringly he employed it in means to -greater power. Hitherto he had relied mainly upon the support of -individuals and groups of men who put their money with him. Now he -began on his own account to buy heavily into financial institutions and -before anybody knew what he was doing he had got working control of -several great reservoirs of liquid capital, such as chartered banks and -insurance companies. The use of this was that he could influence them -to invest their funds in the securities of the Great Midwestern and -its collateral properties. That made it easier for him to sell the new -stocks and bonds which he was endlessly creating to provide money for -his projects. - -His passion to build burned higher and higher. Any spectacle of -construction fascinated him. We stood for an hour one morning at the -corner of Broadway and Exchange Place watching a new way of putting -down the foundation for a steel building. Wooden caissons were sunk in -the ground by a pneumatic principle to a great depth and then filled -with concrete. The building was to be twenty stories high. - -“Have you noticed,” I asked him, “how the skyline of New York has -changed since steel construction began? If you haven’t seen it from -down the bay or across the river for several years you wouldn’t know -it.” - -“I haven’t,” he said. “Yes ... of course. It must be so.” - -An hour later in the office he called me to the window. “See that -handful of old brick rookeries down there?... Fine place to build.... -Let’s do something for your skyline.” - -In his mind’s eye was the mirage of a skyscraper thirty stories tall -with the Great Midwestern’s executive offices luxuriously established -on the top floors. A year later it was there, and we were there. - -Most men are superstitious about leaving the environment in which -success has been bearded and made docile. Was he? I never quite knew. -All this time we had remained in those dark, awkward old offices with -their funny walnut furniture. Not a desk had been changed. A new rug -was bought for the president’s room when Valentine left and Galt moved -in; and Harbinger, restored to the room Galt had moved him out of, -asked for some new linoleum on the floor. Nothing else had been done to -improve our quarters. Where Cæsar sits, there his empire is. What he -sits on does not matter at all. - -His last act in this setting was dramatic. Word came one Saturday -morning that the dæmonic Missouri River was on a wild rampage, with a -sudden mind to change its way. Three towns that lay in its path were -waiting helplessly to be devoured, and there was no telling what would -happen after that. The government’s engineers were frantic, calling -for help, with no idea where it was to come from. Galt got Chicago on -the wire and spoke to the chief of his engineer corps, a man to whom -mountains were technical obstacles and rivers a petty nuisance. - -“The Missouri River is cavorting around again,” said Galt. “Now, -listen.... Yes!... Take everything we’ve got, men, materials and -equipment--hello!--anything you need, including the right of way. I -don’t care what it costs, but put a ring in her nose and lead her back -to her trough. This order is unlimited. It takes precedence over mail, -business and acts of Providence. Go like hell.... Hello!... That’s all.” - -Then he walked out for the last time and never once looked back. On -Monday morning he walked into our ornate new offices without appearing -to notice them. He was impatient for something that should be on his -desk. It was there,--a message from the engineer: - -“Will have her stopped by 6 p. m., Monday. Get her back to bed in a few -days.” - -It was a memorable feat, a triumph of daring and skill, and cost the -Great Midwestern several millions of dollars. - - -iv - -At about this time, quite accidentally, there shaped in his thoughts -that ultimate project which lies somewhere near the heart of every -instinctive builder. One evening at dinner Natalie said: “I wonder why -we have no country place? Everyone else has.” - -Galt stopped eating and looked at her slowly. - -“Why of course, that’s it,” he said. “I’ve been wondering what it was -we didn’t have, ... looking at it all the time, like the man at the -giraffe.... Huh!” - -He approached it in a characteristic manner at once. There was -somewhere a topographic map of New Jersey. It was searched for and -found and he and Natalie lay on the floor with their heads together -exploring it. First he explained to her how one got the elevations by -following the brown contour lines and what the signs and figures meant. - -“Then this must be a mountain,” she exclaimed. - -“Right,” he said. “You get the idea. Here’s a better one. Look here.” - -“Oh, but see this one,” she said. “Look! All by itself.” - -He examined her discovery thoughtfully. It was a mountain in northern -New Jersey, the tallest one, two small rivers flowing at its feet, a -view unobstructed in all directions. - -“You’ve found the button,” he said. “I believe you have ... wild -country ... not much built up.... What’s that railroad, can you see?... -All right. We can get anything at all we want from them.” - -The whole family went the next day on a voyage of verification and -discovery. It was all they had hoped for. Natalie was ecstatic in -the rôle of Columbus. Fancy! She had found it on a map, no bigger -than that!--and here it was. Mrs. Galt was acquiescent and a little -bewildered. Vera was conservative. They imagined a large house on top -of the mountain, with a road up, more or less following the trail they -had ascended to get the view, which took the breath out of you, Natalie -said. You could see the Hudson River for many miles up, New York City, -the Catskills possibly on a very clear day,--most of the world, in -fact. Mrs. Galt and Vera perceived the difficulties and had no sense of -how they were to be overcome. Galt imagined an estate of fifty thousand -acres of which this mountain should be the paramount feature; miles of -concrete roads, a power dam and electric light plant large enough to -serve a town, a branch railroad to the base of the mountain, a private -station to be named Galt, and finally,--the most impossible thing he -could conceive,--a swift electric elevator up the mountain. - -The business of acquiring the land began at once. The mountain itself -was easy to buy. Many old farm holders in the valley were obstinate. -But he got the heart of what he wanted to begin with, the rest would -come in time, and construction plans of great magnitude were soon under -way. The house in Fifth Avenue was in one sense a failure. It had not -reduced Mrs. Valentine. It only made her worse. The social feud was -unending. Well, now he would show them a country place. - -And this, though he knew it not, was to be his castle on a hill, -inaccessible and grand, a place of refuge, the feudal, immemorial -symbol of power and conquest. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -THE COMBAT - - -i - -Meanwhile Galt’s enemies had been drawing together secretly. Hatred, -fear and envy resolved all other emotions. Men who had nothing else in -common were joined in a conspiracy to destroy him. The leviathans of -this deep move slowly and take their time. Besides, it was a fearsome -undertaking. There was bound to be a terrific struggle. One false move -and the dragon would escape. - -The plan was to attack him from two sides at once. - -Several of the railroad properties acquired by the Great Midwestern -were in some sense competitive,--though Galt had not bought them -primarily for that reason,--and as the law was never clear as to how -far the merging of separate railroads might go, it would be possible -to attack the Galt system under the Anti-Trust Act. If the government -could be moved to do this and if then at the same time his Wall Street -enemies concertedly attacked his credit his downfall might be foretold. - -This plan required elaborate preparation. The government could not be -directly solicited to act. It would have to be moved by suggestion, and -with such finesse as to conceal the fact that it was being influenced -at all, elsewise than by its own convictions of right. There are those -who know how to effect these Machiavellian results. Intrigue is still -man’s sovereign art. That is why he makes so much of politics. - -Mrs. Valentine, pursuing vengeance in her own way, had made Galt’s name -anathema throughout her precious principality. If you were anybody at -all, or aspired to be, you were obliged to think and speak ill of him, -for he represented vulgarity raised by its own audacity to a wicked -and sinister eminence, if he had been born so one could understand -it, she said. But he knew better. That made it all the worse. He had -betrayed the decencies. His one passion was to amass wealth. Those who -had helped him to rise he trampled down. He made his money dishonestly. -A Stock Exchange gambler with a Napoleonic obsession! Well, she -invariably said at the end, his time would come and then people would -see what she meant. - -Her own power she employed in a reckless manner. She visited disfavor -upon those who were lukewarm in malignity, going so far as to make a -scene with Lord Porteous, for that he dared to speak in defense of the -monster. She took in people whose only recommendation was zealotry in -her cause. Her subjects going to and fro carried the evangel to other -realms, especially to official society in Washington, which heard in -this way every scandalous thing Galt had ever said about politicians in -power. - -The extent and character of her information could be explained only -on the assumption that somewhere in our organization, probably on the -board of directors, was a masked enemy who continually gave Galt up -to Valentine. He had not disappeared from the field of action. All -this time he was working in the background with a single passion,--a -righteous one, as he believed,--which was to assist in the overthrow of -Galt. It was natural that he should join the conspirators. He brought -them much information; he had political resources and access to the -means of publicity. - -A fortuitous time arrived. For several years the public, now restored -to high prosperity, observed with interest, awe, even with pride the -appearance of those vast anonymous shapes which capital by a headlong -impulse had been raising up to control production and transportation. -Mergers, combines, trusts,--they came in endless succession. Hardly a -day passed without a new sensation in phantasmic millions. People were -seized with a gambling mania. Each day promoters threw an enormous -mass of new and unseasoned securities upon the market, and they were -frantically bought, as if the supply were in imminent danger of -failing. Astonishing excesses were committed. The Stock Exchange was -overwhelmed. For many weeks the lights never went out in Wall Street -because clerks worked all day and all night to keep the brokers’ books -straight. - -The cauldron boiled over badly at last, and there was a silly panic, -more theatrical than serious. It served, however, to break a dream -and awaken the critical faculty. The public all at once became deeply -alarmed. There arose a great clamor about trusts. Those shapes which -had been viewed with pride, as symbols of the nation’s progress and -strength, were now perceived in the light of fear. - -Radical thought had been held in disesteem since the collapse of -the Soft Money Plague. Here was a new bogey. Trusts were human evil -objectified. They were swallowing the country up. In a little while all -business would be in their hands. There would come to be only two kinds -of people,--those few who owned the trusts and the many who worked for -them, and freedom would perish in the land. Something would have to -be done about it. Why had nothing been done? Were the trusts already -more powerful than the state? Suddenly the trust vs. the state was -the paramount political issue. There was an onset of books, essays, -speeches, magazine and newspaper articles. Sense and folly, wisdom -and demagoguery were hopelessly entangled. This kind of outburst is -characteristic of a roaring, busy democracy, whose interest in its -collective self is spasmodic and hysterical. The horse is stolen before -anybody thinks of minding the barn. - -Gradually the force of this anti-trust feeling, baffled by the -complexity of the subject and seeking all the more for that reason a -personal victim, began to focus upon Galt. You could see it taking -place. The Galt Railroad System, formerly treated with respect and -wonder, now was represented to be an octopus, oppressive, arrogant, -holding power of life and death over helpless communities. - -And all the time there were men at Washington who whispered into the -official ear: “Of course a lot of this outcry is senseless. There are -good trusts and bad trusts. Most of them have the economic welfare -of the country at heart and are willing to submit to any reasonable -regulation. The public is undiscriminating. Its mind becomes fixed on -what is bad. It happens to be fixed on this Galt Railroad Trust. Well, -as to that, we must say there is reason for the public’s prejudice. -You would find very few even in Wall Street to defend his methods. The -danger is that unless the evils justly complained of are torn away -by those who understand how to do it our entire structure will be -destroyed in a fit of popular passion.” - -Galt was warned of what was going on at Washington; but he was so -contemptuous of politics and so sure of his own way that he sneered. -Who knew what the law was? It had never been construed. The legality of -his acts had been attended to by the most eminent counsel, including -a former Attorney General of the United States. What could happen to -him that wasn’t just as likely to happen to everybody else? He had only -done what everyone was doing, only better, more of it, and perhaps to -greater profit. If he was vulnerable, then so were all the others who -had combined lesser into greater things, and they would have to find -a way out together. No wealth would be destroyed. And so he reasoned -himself into a state of indifference. - -He greatly underestimated the force of public opinion. He knew nothing -about it, for it had never touched him really. Mass psychology in Wall -Street he understood perfectly. Social and political phenomena he did -not comprehend at all. - -One day Great Midwestern stock turned suddenly very weak, falling from -220 to 210 in half an hour. He watched it, annoyed and frowning, and -sent for Mordecai, who could not explain it. That afternoon news came -that the minority stockholders of the Orient & Pacific had brought a -suit in equity against the Great Midwestern, alleging that Galt, by -arbitrary exercise of the power of a majority stockholder, had reduced -the Orient & Pacific to a state of utter subservience, had thereby -destroyed its independent and competitive value, and had mulcted it -heavily for the benefit of the Great Midwestern’s treasury. This, they -represented, was a grievous injury to them as minority stockholders and -also contrary to public interest. - -That old Orient & Pacific sore had never healed. The bankers who -controlled the road by sacred right for many years before Galt -snatched it out of their hands had all this time ominously retained -a minority interest in the property. Galt did intend from the -beginning to make the Orient & Pacific wholly subordinate to the Great -Midwestern. It was an essential part of his plan. Therefore minority -stockholders, in good faith, would have had a proper grievance. But -these were not minority stockholders in good faith. They were private -bankers, biding their time to take revenge. Galt had been willing at -any time to buy them out handsomely; they wouldn’t sell because the -minority interest was a weapon which some day they would be able to use -against him. - -Although the name never appeared in the proceedings, dummies having -been put forward to act as complainants in the case, everybody knew -that Bullguard & Co. inspired the suit. They were the bankers who owned -the minority interest in Orient & Pacific shares. Everybody knew, -too, that they bore Galt an implacable enmity. What nobody knew until -afterward was that the conspiracy to destroy Galt was organized by -Jerome Bullguard himself. - -He was a man of tremendous character. His authority in Wall Street -was pontifical. Men accepted it as a natural fact. Until the rise -of Mordecai & Co., under Galt’s ægis, his house occupied a place of -solitary eminence. Its traditions were fixed. Their consequences were -astronomical. Bullguard was the house. His partners were insignificant, -not actually if you took them as individuals, but relatively, -in contrast with him. His imperious will he imposed upon men and -events,--upon men by force of a personality that inspired dread and -obedience, and upon events by the dynamic quality of his intelligence. -His mind seemed to act in an omnipotent manner with no effort whatever. -His sanctions and influence pervaded the whole scheme of things, yet -he himself was as remote as a Japanese emperor. A good deal of the awe -that surrounded him was owing to the fact that he worked invisibly. The -hand that shaped the thunderbolts was almost never seen. There was a -saying in Wall Street that his name appeared nowhere but over the door -of his banking house. In a community where men must be lynx-eyed and -seven-sensed, able to see the unseeable and deduce the unknowable, his -objects were so elaborately concealed that nobody ever knew for sure -what he was doing until it was done, and then it couldn’t be proved, -for he would have had perhaps no actual contact with it at any point. -There were times when he held the stock market in his two hands, doing -with it as he pleased, yet never could anyone say, “He is here,” or -“There he is.” - -Bullguard’s attitude toward Galt was natural, quite fair and regular -according to the law of conquest. Galt was an invader, a financial -Attila, who had followed the conqueror’s star to that place at which -the issue is joined for all or none. Nothing short of supremacy would -satisfy him. Therefore, he should fight for it. Did he think the crown -might be surrendered peaceably? - -Galt perfectly understood this philosophy of combat. He would not have -wished it otherwise. Fighting he loved. His fight with Valentine, -because it was petty, had been personal in spite of him. His contest -with Bullguard was impersonal and epic, a meeting of champions in the -heroic sense. - -The Orient & Pacific suit was but the opening of a barrage. An -important stockholder in the Security Life Insurance Company, which -was one of the capital reservoirs Galt had got control of, brought -suit to compel him to take back all the Great Midwestern stocks and -bonds owned by that institution, on the ground that as a member of its -finance committee he had improperly influenced it to invest its funds -in securities in which he was interested as a seller. The purpose -of this suit was three-fold: firstly, to advertise the fact that he -dominated the fiscal policies of the Security Life Insurance Company; -secondly, to create the suspicion that his motive in gaining control -of institutions in which people kept their savings was to unload his -stocks and bonds upon them; thirdly, to cast discredit upon Great -Midwestern securities as investments. - -It produced an enormous popular sensation. Galt was denounced and -caricatured bitterly in the newspapers. One cartoon, with a caption, -“The Milkman,” represented the Security Life as a cow eating his -stocks and bonds and giving down policyholders’ money as milk into his -private pail. - -Next he was sued on account of some land which, according to the -complaint, he had cheapened by withholding railroad facilities, only in -order to buy it, whereupon he enhanced its value an hundred times by -making it the site of a large railroad development, thereby enriching -himself to the extent of several millions. That, like so many other -things alleged about him, was both true and untrue. - -Ten private suits were brought against him within three months, each -one adroitly contrived to disclose in a biased, damaging manner some -phase of his complex and universal activities hitherto unknown or -unobserved by the public. Each one was preceded by an attack on Great -Midwestern stock and by increasingly hostile comment in the press. The -cumulative effect was disastrous. Public sentiment became hysterical. - - -ii - -Law suits, as such, never worried Galt. He was continually engaged in -litigation and kept a staff of lawyers busy. His way with lawyers was -to tell them baldly what he wanted to do and leave it to them to evolve -the legal technique of doing it. Then if difficulties followed he would -say: “That’s your own bacon. Now cure it.” Only, they were always to -fight, never to settle. - -But now he became silent and brooding. He paced his office for -hours together. When spoken to his eyes looked out of a mist. It was -necessary to bring his attention to matters requiring decision. He had -Mordecai in two or three times a day. They conferred endlessly in low -tones and watched the ticker anxiously. So far as I could see he did -nothing to support the pride of Great Midwestern stock. I wondered -why. Later I knew. At this juncture he was selling it himself. He was -selling not only his stock but enormous amounts of his own bonds, -thereby converting his wealth into cash. That is to say, he was -stripping for the fray. - -For three days Great Midwestern stock had been falling in a leaden -manner and Wall Street was distraught with a sense of foreboding when -one morning the big shell burst. First the news tickers flashed this -bulletin: - - - “The recent extraordinary weakness of Great Midwestern is - explained by the rumor that the Government is about to bring suit - under the Anti-Trust Act against the Galt Railroad System. There - is talk also of criminal proceedings against Mr. Galt.” - - -Galt read it with no sign of emotion. Evidently he was expecting it. - -Events now were moving rapidly. Half an hour later the news tickers -produced a bulletin as follows: - - - “Washington--It is announced at the Attorney General’s office - that the government has filed suit against the Galt Railroad - Trust praying for its dissolution on the ground of its being an - oppressive conspiracy in restraint of trade.... No confirmation - of rumors that criminal proceedings will be brought against Henry - M. Galt as a person.” - - -Details followed. They ran for an hour on the news printing machines, -to the exclusion of everything else, while at the same time on the -quotation tickers the price of Great Midwestern was falling headlong -under terrific selling. - -The government’s complaint set out the history of the Galt Railway -System, discussed at length its unique power for evil, examined a large -number of its acts, pronounced adverse judgment upon them, and ended -with an impassioned arraignment of Galt as a man who set his will above -the law. Wherefore, it prayed the court to find all his work illegal -and wicked and to decree that the Galt Railway System be broken up into -its component parts, to the end that competition, peace and happiness -might be restored on earth. - -The outer office was soon in the possession of reporters clamoring -to see Galt. He obstinately refused to meet them. They demanded a -statement, and while they waited we prepared one as follows: - - - “No step in the formation of the Great Midwestern Railway - System was taken without the approval of eminent counsel. If, - as it stands, it is repugnant to the law, as the law shall be - construed, then of course it will have to be dissolved. If that - comes to pass all those securities in the Great Midwestern’s - treasury, representing ownership and control of other properties, - will have to be distributed pro rata among Great Midwestern - stockholders--either the securities as such or the proceeds of - their sale. In either case the profit will amount to a dividend - of not less than $150 a share for Great Midwestern stockholders. - That is the extent to which these securities have increased in - value since the Great Midwestern bought them. - - “(Signed) Henry M. Galt.” - - -All of that was obvious, only nobody had thought of it. The statement -was received with utter amazement. On the strength of it Great -Midwestern stock advanced suddenly ten points. - -Now occurred the strangest incident of the chapter. To imagine it you -have to remember that public feeling was extremely inflamed. That -afternoon a New York Grand Jury indicted Galt under an old forgotten -statute making it a crime to circulate false statements calculated to -advance or depress the price of shares on the Stock Exchange. - -A huge broad-toe came to our office with the warrant. Galt was under -arrest. His lawyers were summoned. They communicated with the District -Attorney. Couldn’t they appear for Mr. Galt and arrange bail? No. The -District Attorney believed in social equality. Mr. Galt would have to -appear like any other criminal. - -Though it was a very hot afternoon and Galt was tired he insisted that -we should walk. - -“Do you want to handcuff me?” he asked. - -Broad-toe was ashamed and silent. - -So we went, Galt and the officer leading,--past the house of Bullguard -& Co., up Nassau Street, dodging trucks, bumping people, sometimes in -the traffic way, sometimes on the pavement; to the Criminal Courts -Building in City Hall Park, up a winding stairway because Galt would -not wait for the elevator, and to the court room where the District -Attorney was waiting. There was some delay. The judge could not be -found at once. - -Galt sat on the extreme edge of a chair, one hand in his trouser’s -pocket, the other fiddling with his watch chain, staring at the clock -over the judge’s bench as if he had never seen one before. The searing -emotions of chagrin and humiliation had not come through. Word of our -presence there spread swiftly and the court room began to fill up with -reporters and spectators. - -The court arrived, adjusting its gown, read the paper that was handed -up by the District Attorney, then looked down upon us, asking: “Where -is the defendant?” - -Galt stood up. The court eyed him curiously until the lawyers began to -speak. The District Attorney wanted bail fixed at one million dollars. -The court shook its head. Galt’s lawyers asked that he be released on -his own recognizance. The court shook its head again. After a long -wrangle it was fixed at $100,000, which the lawyers were prepared to -provide on the spot. - -Getting out was an ordeal. By this time the court room was stuffed -with morbid humanity. Reporters surrounded Galt, adhered to him, laid -hands upon him to get his attention. He made continually the gesture -of brushing away flies from his face. The stairway and corridors were -jammed. As we emerged on the street screaming newsboys offered us the -evening papers with eight-column headlines: “Galt Indicted”--“Galt -Arrested”--“Galt May Go To Jail.” From the steps across the pavement to -a cab I had in waiting an open aisle had been broken through the mob -by photographers, who had their cameras trained to catch Galt as we -passed. He looked straight ahead, walking rapidly, but not in haste. - -“Where to?” he asked, as the door of the cab slammed behind us. - -“Anywhere first, to get out of this,” I said. - -“Let’s go to the club,” he said. - -I knew which one he meant. Though he was a member of several clubs he -went always to one. - -As we entered the big, quiet red lounging room, five bankers, three of -whom had been counted among Galt’s supporters, were seated in various -postures of ease, their minds absorbed in the evening papers. Galt’s -emotions were those of a boy who, having outrun the cops, lands with a -whoop in the arms of his gang. He tossed his hat aside and shouted: - -“Wh-e-e-e! Wo-o-ow!” - -The five bankers looked up, rose as one, and stalked out of the room. - -For a minute Galt did not understand what had happened. He saw them -rise as he sat down and evidently thought they were coming to him. -When they did not arrive he turned his head casually, then with a -start he looked all around at the empty space. His eyes had a startled -expression when they met mine again and his face was an ashen color. He -made as if to ring the bell, hesitated, looked all around once more, -and said: - -“Well, Coxey, let’s go home.” - - -iii - -I began to fear he might collapse. The strain was telling. At the house -a servant admitted us. There was no one else in sight. We went directly -to his apartment. He tore off his collar and lay for some time quite -still staring straight ahead. - -“We are the goat,” he said. “They put it on us, Coxey. That’s all.... -They will, eh?... Valentine and his newspaper friends ... those magpies -at Washington ... we’ll give them something to set their teeth. Now -take down what I’m going to say. Put it in the form of a signed -statement to the press. Are you ready?” - -He dictated: - - - “On the evening of July seventeen the question of proceeding - against the Great Midwestern Railway System was the occasion - of a special Cabinet meeting at the White House. Besides the - President and the gentlemen of the Cabinet, several members of the - Interstate Commerce Commission were present. The President asked - each one for his opinion. The Attorney General spoke for half an - hour to this effect ... that the Great Midwestern Railway System - was not a combination in restraint of trade, that its methods - were not illegal, that it was necessary for the proper development - of the country that railroads should combine into great systems, a - process that had been going on since the first two railroads were - built, and, finally, that a suit for its dissolution, if brought, - would be lost in the courts. Others spoke in turn. Then someone - said: ‘Where is the Secretary of War. He is a great jurist. What - does he think?’ The Secretary of War was asleep in a corner. - They roused him. He came into the circle and said, ‘Well, Mr. - President, Galt is the ---- ---- -- ---- we are after, isn’t he?’ - Then the President announced his decision that proceedings should - be taken. Thereupon the Attorney General spoke again, saying: - ‘Since that is the decision, I will outline the plan of action. - First let the Interstate Commerce Commission prepare a brief upon - the facts, showing that the Great Midwestern Railway System is - a combination in restraint of trade, that its ways are illegal - and oppressive and that its existence is inimical to public - welfare. Upon this the Attorney General’s office will prepare - the legal case.’ That is how a suit for the dissolution of the - Great Midwestern Railway System came to be brought. That is how - politicians conduct government.” - - -“Have you got all that down? Read it to me.” When I came to the -offensive epithet uttered by the Secretary of War I read,--“dash, dash, -dash.” - -“What’s that?” he asked. - -“We can’t use the term itself. It’s unprintable,” I said. - -“Can’t we?” he said. “But we can. It was applied to me without any -dash, dash. Spell it out. Anyhow, it’s history.” - - -iv - -Natalie, who had come in on tip-toe, noiselessly, was standing just -inside the door. Galt seemed suddenly to feel her presence. When he -looked at her tears started in his eyes and he turned his face away. -She rushed to his side, knelt, and put her arms around him. No word was -spoken. - -I left them, telephoned for the family physician to come and stay in -the house, and then acted on an impulse which had been rising in me for -an hour. I wished to see Vera. - -She was alone in the studio. I had not seen her informally since the -cataclysmic evening that wrecked the African image. - -“Oh,” she said, looking up. “I thought you might come. Excuse me while -I finish this.” - -She was writing a note. When she had signed it with a firm hand, and -blotted it, she handed it to me to read. It was a very brief note to -Lord Porteous, breaking their engagement. - -“He won’t accept it,” I said. - -“You can be generous,” she replied. “However, it doesn’t matter. I -accept it.” - -“These things are all untrue that people are saying about your father. -It’s a kind of hysteria. The indictment, if that’s what you are -thinking of, is preposterous. Nothing will come of it. There will be a -sudden reaction in public feeling.” - -“I know,” she said. “That isn’t all.... I suppose you have come to take -me home?” - -“But what else?” I asked. - -She shook her head. As we were leaving the studio she paused on -the threshold to look back. I was watching her face. It expressed -a premonition of farewell. Once before I had seen that look. When? -Ah, yes. That night long ago when she told me the old house had been -mortgaged. Then I understood. - -To her, and indeed to all the family, this crisis in Galt’s affairs -meant another smash. The only difference between this time and others -was that they would fall from a greater height, and probably for the -last time. - -We drove home in a taxi. - -“How I loathe it!” she whispered as we were going in, saying it to -herself. - -Natalie appeared. - -“You’re in for it,” she said to me. “Father wants to know who brought -the doctor in.” - -“I was worried about him,” I said. - -“So is the doctor. But it’s no use. He can’t do a thing. Father sent -him away in a hurry.” - -Gram’ma Galt came in for dinner. So we were five. Galt did not come -down. Conversation was oblique and thin. One wondered what the servants -were thinking, and wished the service were not so noiseless. If only -they would rattle the plates, or break something, or sneeze, instead -of moving about with that oiled and faultless precision. The tinkling -of water in the fountain room was a silly, exasperating sound, and for -minutes together the only sound there was. Mrs. Galt was off her form. -She tried and failed. Nobody else tried at all. - -Natalie, as I believed, was the only one whose thoughts were outside -of herself. Several times our eyes met in a lucid, sympathetic manner. -This had not happened between us before. What we understood was that -both of us were thinking of the same object,--of a frail, ill kept -little figure with ragged hair and a mist in its eyes, wounded by the -destiny that controlled it,--of Galt lying in his clothes on a bed -upstairs, and nothing to be done for his ease or comfort. She was -grateful to me that my thoughts were with him, and when I was not -looking at her I was thinking how different these four women were. -Yet one indefinable thing they had all in common. It brought and held -them together in any crisis affecting Galt. It was not devotion, not -loyalty, not faith. Perhaps it was an inborn fatalistic clan spirit. -But whatever it was, I knew that each of them would surrender to -him again, if need were, the whole of all she possessed. They were -expecting to do it. - -“What is the price of Great Midwestern stock to-day?” asked Gram’ma -Galt in a firm, clear voice. Everybody started a little, even one of -the servants who happened to stand in the line of my vision. - -“One hundred and seventy,” I said. - -To those of us who had just seen it fall in a few weeks from -two-hundred-and-twenty this price of one-hundred-and-seventy seemed -calamitous. That shows how soon we lose the true perspective and how -myopically we regard the nearest contrast. - -“When my son took charge of it eight years ago it was one-and-a-half -... one-and-a-half,” said Gram’ma Galt in the same clear voice. - -For this I rose and saluted her with a kiss on the forehead. She didn’t -mind. Natalie gave me a splendid look. Then I excused myself and went -to see Galt. - -The door of his apartment was ajar. I could see him. He was in his -pajamas now, apparently asleep. So I closed the door and sat at his -desk in the work room outside to call up Mordecai, who had asked me to -communicate with him, and attend to some other matters. Presently the -hall door opened and closed gently. I looked around. It was Gram’ma -Galt. In her hand she carried a large envelope tied around with a blue -ribbon. She walked straight to the door of Galt’s apartment and went in -without knocking. I could see her from where I sat. She left the door -open behind her. - -“What’s this?” Galt asked, as she put the envelope on the bed beside -him. She did not answer his question, but leaned over, laid one hand on -his forehead and spoke in this delphic manner: - -“Fast ye for strife and smite with the fist of wickedness.” - -Then she turned, came straight out, closed the door carefully, passed -me without a glance, and was gone. Never again did I wonder whence Galt -derived his thirst for combat. When he emerged some ten minutes later -the mist had fallen from his eyes. The right doctor had been there. He -handed me the envelope tied around with blue ribbon. - -“That’s Gram’ma Galt’s little fortune ... everything she has received -out of Great Midwestern. Keep it in the safe for a few days so she will -think we needed it.... Did you give out that statement?” - -“Not yet. There is plenty of time,” I said. - -“Tear it up. That isn’t the way we fight, ... is it?” - -Gram’ma Galt never got her envelope back. Two weeks later she died. - - -v - -The Galt panic was one of those episodes that can never be fully -explained. Elemental forces were loose. Those that derived from human -passion were answerable to the will; there were others of a visitant -nature fortuitous and uncontrollable. What man cannot control he may -sometimes conduct. You cannot command the lightning, but if it is about -to strike you may lure it here instead of there. - -Weather is so often the accomplice of dark enterprise! The financial -weather at this time was very bad and favored the Bullguard conspiracy. -Confidence, which in this case means the expectation of profit, was in -decline. It had never recovered from the shock of that first accident -to greed’s cauldron three months before when an ignorant popular mania -for speculation came all at once to grief. Since then the rise of -feeling against trusts, and the certainty that it would be translated -into political action, had filled Wall Street with confusion and alarm. - -Bullguard’s part was to focus all this distrust and fear upon Galt. -Each day the papers reported the weakness of Galt securities, how they -fell under the selling of uneasy holders, and what the latest and most -sinister rumors were. That was news. Nobody could help printing it. -The financial editors each day repeated what eminent bankers said: “We -pray to be delivered from this Jonah. His ways are not our ways, yet he -bringeth wrath upon all alike.” That was true. They said it; they even -believed it. The financial editors could not be blamed for writing it. - -So many winds running their feet together, like people in a mob, -create a storm; and when it is over and they are themselves again, -sane little winds, they wonder at what was done. The Wall Street news -tickers reported that certain banks were refusing to lend money on Galt -securities. This may have been a stroke of the conspiracy or merely a -reaction to the prevailing fear, or both interacting. One never knows. -But it was true, and Great Midwestern securities suffered another -frightful fall. - -This went on for three weeks with scarcely an interruption. Day after -day Galt stood at the ticker watching Great Midwestern fall,-- - -to 150, - -to 140, - -to 130, - -to 120, and did nothing. For the first time in his life he was on the -defensive. That made the strain much worse. His normal relief was in -action. He loved to carry the fight to the enemy, even rashly; but -foolhardy he was not. He had foreseen that at the crucial moment he -should stand alone against the field. Nobody believed he could win. The -odds were too great. Therefore he could rely only upon himself. - -One by one, by twos and threes, then by groups, his supporters fell -away. Those who had submitted to his rule from fear were the first to -go over to the other side, surreptitiously at first, lest they should -have guessed wrong, then openly as they saw how the fight seemed to be -going against him. Several bankers publicly renounced their relations -with him. Others whose allegiance was for profit only, whose gains were -wet with the sweat of their pride, forsook him as fast as they were -convinced that his career as a money maker was at an end. Potter was -one of these, and the last to go. He did it handsomely according to his -way. One day he came in. - -“Galt,” he said, “I know you are in a hell of a fix and I have done not -one damn thing to help. I’m not that kind of person. I hate to quit a -man in trouble. So I’ve come to tell you why. There are two reasons. -One reason is I’ve got so much of this Great Midwestern stuff that it’s -all I can do to take care of myself. I didn’t get out in time, and now -I can’t get out at all.... The other reason is ... well, I’ll say it -... why not?... You have trampled on my pride until I have no liking -for you left. You’re the most hateful man I ever did business with. -That’s why.” - -The impulse to come and have it out in this manner was big-man-like, -I thought, even though the root was self-justification. No one else -had done so much. All the others had gone slinking away. If Galt had -responded differently a real friendship might have blazed there, for -instinctively they liked and admired each other. Their antagonism was -not essential. And, besides, the real reason, as we afterward knew, was -the one he gave first. Potter, with all his wealth, was himself in a -tight place. Bullguard was pressing the oil crowd, too. - -“That’s understood,” said Galt, in his worst manner. “I didn’t buy your -pride. I only rented it. Now you’ve got it back, look it over, see how -much it’s damaged, and send me a bill.” - -Potter went out roaring oaths. - -A change was taking place in Galt. I saw it in sudden, unexpected -glimpses. The movements of his body were slower. Anger and irritation -no longer found outlet in tantrums, but in sneering, terrible sarcasms, -uttered in a cold voice. He looked without seeing and spoke as from a -great distance, high up. His mind, when he revealed it, was the same -as ever. Nothing had happened to his mind. His soul lived in torment. -His greatest sin had been to hold public opinion in contempt. Now it -was paying him back. To have deserved the opprobrium and suspicion -with which he was overwhelmed would perhaps have killed him then; but -to suffer disgrace undeservedly was in one way worse. He reacted by -suspecting those who suspected him, and some who didn’t. I believe at -one time he almost suspected Mordecai, whose loyalty never for one -moment wavered. - -However, Mordecai knew, as no one else did, that Galt was still in -a very strong position. He had not begun to strike. Thanks to the -intuition which moved him at the onset to convert two thirds of his -fortune into cash he could, when the moment came, strike hard. - -Now came the day of days,--the time when Bullguard did his utmost. -Fastenings gave way. Walls rocked. Strong men lost their rational -faculties and retained only the power of primitive vocal utterance. -The sounds that issued from the Stock Exchange were appalling. The ear -would think a demented menagerie was devouring itself. Thousands of -small craft disappeared that day and left no trace. - -Great Midwestern, spilling out on the tape in five and ten-thousand -share blocks, fell twenty points in two hours. Galt was in his office -at the ticker. Mordecai was with him, holding his hands reverently -together, gazing at the tape in a state of fascination. On one headlong -impulse Great Midwestern touched one hundred dollars a share,--par! It -had fallen from two-hundred-and-twenty in three months. - -“It’s over,” said Galt, turning away. I once saw a great prizefighter, -on giving the knock-out blow at the end of a hard battle, turn his back -with the same gesture and walk to his own corner. - -“Vhat iss id you zay?” asked Mordecai, following. - -“It’s over,” Galt repeated. “They haven’t got me and they can’t go any -further without breaking themselves. Get your house on the wire. That’s -the direct telephone ... that one. I want to give an order.” - -Mordecai picked up the telephone and asked for one of his partners, who -instantly responded. - -“Vhat iss ze order?” asked Mordecai, holding the telephone and looking -at Galt. - -“Buy all the Great Midwestern there is for sale up to -one-hundred-and-f-i-f-t-y!” said Galt. - -Mordecai transmitted this extraordinary order, put the telephone down -softly, and lisped, “My Gott!” - -Just then the door burst open. Thirty or forty reporters had been -waiting in the outer office all day. Their excitement at last broke -bounds; they simply came in. The Evening Post man was at their head. - -“Mr. Galt,” he shouted, “you have got to make some kind of statement. -Public opinion demands it.” - -I expected Galt to explode with rage. - -“Postey,” he said, “I don’t know a damn thing about public opinion. -That’s your trade. Tell me something about it.” - -“It wants to know what all this means,” said Postey. - -“Well, tell it this for me,” said Galt. “Tell it just as I tell you. -The panic is over.” - -“But, Mr.--” - -“Now, that’s all,” said Galt. “Ain’t it enough?” - -I had been to look at the tape. - -“Great Midwestern is a hundred and thirty,” I announced at large. - -The reporters stared at me wide-eyed. - -Postey ran to look for himself, bumping Mordecai aside. - -“That’s right,” he said, making swiftly for the door. The others -followed him in a trampling rush. - -The sensation now to be accounted for was not the weakness but the -sudden recovery of Great Midwestern and Galt’s statement explained it. -So they were anxious to spread their news. - -It was true. Galt had timed his stroke unerringly. - -Everyone was amazed to see how little Great Midwestern stock was -actually for sale when a buying hand appeared. That was because so -much of the selling had been fictitious. The stock closed that day at -one-hundred-and-fifty and never while Galt lived was it so low again. -The feet of many winds ran rapidly apart and the storm collapsed. - - -vi - -That evening, for the first time in many weeks, Galt had dinner with -the family. - -We do not see each other change and grow old as a continuous process. -It is imperceptible that way. But as one looks at a tree that has been -in one’s eye all the time and says with surprise, “Why, the leaves have -turned!” so suddenly we look at a person we have seen every day and -say, “How he has changed!” some association of place or act causing a -vivid recollection to arise in contrast. - -We had all seen Galt coming and going. I had been with him constantly. -Yet now as he sat there at table we remembered him only as he was the -last time before this at dinner, making a scene because there was never -anything he liked to eat and the cook put cheese in the potatoes. -The difference was distressing. He was old and world-weary. He ate -sparingly, complained of nothing and was so absent that when anyone -spoke to him he started and must have the words repeated. - -Natalie alone succeeded in drawing his interest. She had spent the -day at Moonstool. This name had been provisionally bestowed upon -the country place, because it happened to be the local name of the -mountain, and then became permanent in default of agreement on any -other. - -Work there had been progressing rapidly. The house itself was finished; -the principal apartments were ready to be occupied. The surroundings -of course were in confusion. Steam drills were going all the time. -Roadways were blasting through solid rock. The landscape was in turmoil. - -“But you could live there now,” said Natalie, “if you didn’t mind the -noise,” closing a long recital, to which Galt had listened thoughtfully. - -“We might have the wedding there,” he said. - -His suggestion produced a ghastly silence. Mrs. Galt tried to turn it -away. Galt was alert. - -“What have I stepped on now?” he wanted to know. “Suffering Moses! It -ain’t safe for me to walk around in my own house. What’s the matter?” - -“Nothing,” said Natalie. - -“Yes, there is. What is it?” - -When he couldn’t be put off any longer Vera said, quietly: “My -engagement to Lord Porteous is broken.” - -“Why?” asked Galt, astonished. “That’s the first I’ve heard of it.” - -“No matter why,” said Vera. “Let’s not talk about it.” - -He looked into their faces severally. His expression was utterly -wretched and they avoided it. He guessed the reason why,--made it -perhaps even worse than it was. - -In his own household he was on the defensive. There was always that -inaudible accusation he could never get hold of. In the old days it -was that he stretched them on the rack of insecurity and was not like -other men. Then it was the way he had made them rich. Now it was that -dreadful sense of insecurity again. They did not know whether they -were rich or poor. They thought he was heading for a last spectacular -smash-up. And suppose he had told them there was happily no danger -of that. Their thoughts would accuse him still. Why couldn’t they be -rich as other people were, decently, quietly and in good taste? The -Valentines were rich and no obloquy pursued them. Their privacy was not -besieged by newspaper reporters. The finger of scorn never pointed at -them. - -Vera’s broken engagement was a harrowing symbol. Galt was extremely -miserable. One could imagine what he was thinking. The Galt fortune -was saved. The Galt power had survived. But the Galt name was a sound -of reproach. The public opinion that had so devastated his spirit did -not leave his family unwhipped. These women had suffered for being his. -Though they might not believe the things that were said of him, still -they could not help feeling ashamed of the wealth he had brought them. -They were defenseless. He was clothed with a sense of justification -that he could not impart. They were naked to the scourge. - -His day of victory ended in gloom and dumb wretchedness. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -THE HEIGHTS - - -i - -Then with one swift intention the sun broke through,--and there were -the heights!... directly in front of him. The rest of the way was -enchanted. All its difficulties were illusions. They vanished as he -approached. - -His Wall Street enemies were scattered in the night. It was as he had -said. They had been unable to destroy him and they did not dare carry -the fight any further for fear of involving themselves in ruin. His -amazing counter stroke, delivered at the very moment when their utmost -effort had failed, threw them into a panic. It took the stock market -out of their hands and turned it squarely against them. The conspiracy -was not abandoned. It collapsed. After that it was every man for -himself, with the fear of Galt in his heart. - -The penitential procession started early the next day. Those who -had deserted him returned with gestures of humility, begging to be -chastised and forgiven. The vanquished sat patiently in his outer -office, bearing tokens of amity and proposals of alliance. For he was -Galt, the one, unique and indestructible. - -He treated the spectacle as it deserved, cynically, with a saving salt -of humor. - -“They make their beds fast,” he said. - -Among the first to come was one of Bullguard’s partners,--a -peasant-minded, ingratiating person whose use to Bullguard was his -ability to face the devil smirk for smirk. His errand was to say that -Bullguard & Co. would entertain any reasonable offer for the purchase -of their minority interest in Orient & Pacific shares, and if they -could be of service to Mr. Galt at any time, why, etc., he had only to -oblige them by letting them know how. Galt was cool as to the services, -etc., but he made an offer for the minority Orient & Pacific shares -which was accepted a few hours later. That was Bullguard’s way of -declaring war at an end. It was the grand salute. - -Horace Potter was the only man who never came back. He could not sneak -back and there was no other way. They had mortally wounded each other’s -pride. - - -ii - -Meanwhile Congress, like the old woman of the story book, heavy-footed, -slow to be amazed, always late but never _never_, heard of Galt, became -much alarmed and solemnly resolved to investigate him. He was summoned -to appear before a Committee of the House with all his papers and -books. The Committee felt incompetent to conduct the examination. -Finance is a language politicians must not know. It is not the language -of the people. So it engaged counsel,--a notorious lawyer named Samuel -Goldfuss. - -He was a man who knew all the dim and secret pathways of the law, and -charged Wall Street clients enormous fees for leading them past the -spirit to the letter. He charged them more when he caught them alone -in the dark, or lost in the hands of a bungling guide, for then he -could threaten to expose them to the light if they declined to accept -his saving services at his own price. Having got very rich by this -profession he put his money beyond reach of the predacious and became -public spirited, or pretended to have done so, and proceeded to sell -out Satan to the righteous. It became his avocation to plead the cause -of people against mammon, and where or whensoever a malefactor of great -wealth was haled to court or brought to appear before a committee of -Congress, Goldfuss thrust himself in to act as prosecuting attorney, -with or without fees; and his name was dread to any such, for he -knew their devious ways and all the wickedness that had ever been -practiced in or about the Stock Exchange. His motives were never quite -understood. Some said he attended to Satan’s business still, never -sold him out completely, but put the hounds on the wrong scent by some -subtle turn at the end. Others said his motive was to terrorize the -great malefactors so that when they were in trouble he could extort big -fees simply for undertaking not to appear on the people’s side. - -And this sinister embodiment of public opinion was the man whom Galt -was to face, who had never before faced public opinion in any manner at -all. It was likely to be a stiff ordeal. Counsel warned him accordingly. - -“I’ve got a straight story to tell,” he said. “I don’t need any help.” - -However, they insisted on standing by. We arrived in Washington one hot -August morning, left all our eminent counsel in their favorite hotel, -and went empty handed to the Capitol, where neither of us had been -before. We wandered about for half an hour, trying to find the place -where the Committee sat. It was a special Committee with no room of its -own. We were directed at last to the Rivers and Harbors Committee room. -It was full of smoke, electric fans and men in attitudes of waiting. -Six, looking very significant, sat around a long table covered with -green cloth. Others to the number of thirty or forty sat on chairs -against the walls. At a smaller table were the reporters with reams of -paper in front of them. - -“Is this the Committee that wants to see Henry M. Galt?” he asked, -standing on the threshold. - -“It is,” said the man at the head of the table. He was the chairman. -He sat with one leg over the arm of his chair, his back to the door, -and did not turn or so much as move a hair. He spoke in that loud, -disembodied voice which makes the people’s business seem so impressive -to the multitude and glared at us through the back of his head. - -“I am that person,” said Galt. - -“You have delayed us a quarter of an hour,” said the chairman, still -with his back to us. - -“You were hard to find,” said Galt, very simply, looking about for a -place to sit. A chair was placed for him at the opposite end of the -table. There was no place for me, so I stood a little aside. Goldfuss, -whom I had never seen and had not yet identified, sat beside the -chairman. They had their heads together, whispering. The chairman spoke. - -“The question is raised as to whether witness may be permitted to -appear with counsel. It is decided in the negative. Counsel will be -excused.” - -Silence. Nothing happened. - -“Counsel will be excused,” said the chairman again. - -Still nothing happened. - -“If you are talking at me,” said Galt, “I have no counsel. I didn’t -bring any,--that is, I left them at the hotel.” - -“Who is the gentleman with you?” the chairman asked. - -“Oh,” said Galt, looking at me. “That’s all right. He’s my secretary. -He doesn’t know any more law than I do.” - -There was a formal pause. The official stenographer leaned toward Galt, -speaking quietly, and took his name, age, address and occupation. The -chairman said, “Proceed.” - -Goldfuss poised himself for theatrical effect. He was a small, -body-conscious man with a coarse, loose skin, very close shaven, -powdered, sagging at the jowls; a tiny wire mustache, unblinking blue -eyes close together and a voice like the sound of a file in the teeth -of a rusty saw. - -“So this is the great Galt,” he said, sardonically, slowly bobbing his -head. - -“And you,” said Galt, “are the Samuel Goldfuss who once tried to -blackmail me for a million dollars.” - -Oh, famous beginning! The crowd was tense with delight. - -Goldfuss, looking aggrieved and disgusted, turned to the chairman, -saying: “Will the Committee admonish the witness?” - -The chairman took his leg down, carefully relighted a people’s cigar, -and said: “Strike that off the record.... I will inform the witness -that this is a Committee of Congress, with power to punish contumacious -and disrespectful conduct.... The witness is warned to answer questions -without any irrelevant remarks of his own.” - -“I beg your pardon,” said Galt. “What was the question?” - -The official stenographer read from his notes,--“So this is the great -Galt.” - -“That ain’t a question,” said Galt. - -The round was his. The audience tittered. The chairman put his leg back -and glared wearily into space. - -“I withdraw it,” said Goldfuss. “Start the record new from here.... Mr. -Galt, you were directed to produce before this Committee all your books -and papers. Have you brought them?” - -“No.” - -“No? Why not, please?” - -“They would fill this whole room,” said Galt. - -Mr. Goldfuss started again. - -“Your occupation, Mr. Galt,--you said it was what?” - -“Farmer,” said Galt. - -“Yes? What do you farm?” - -“The country,” said Galt. - -“Do you consider that a nice expression?” - -“Nicest I know, depending on how you take it,” said Galt. - -“Well, now tell this Committee, please, how you farm the country, using -your own expression.” - -“I fertilize it,” said Galt. “I sow and reap, improve the soil and keep -adding new machinery and buildings.” - -“What do you fertilize it with, Mr. Galt?” - -“Money.” - -“What do you sow, Mr. Galt?” - -“More money.” - -“And what do you reap?” - -“Profit.” - -“A great deal of that?” - -“Plenty,” said Galt. - -“And what do you do with the profit, Mr. Galt?” - -“Sow it again.” - -“A lovely parable, Mr. Galt. Is it not true, however, that you are also -a speculator?” - -“Yes, that’s true,” said Galt. - -“To put it plainly, is it not true that you are a gambler?” - -“That’s part of my trade,” said Galt. “Every farmer is a gambler. He -gambles in weather, worms, bugs, acts of Congress and the price of his -produce.” - -“You gamble in securities, Mr. Galt?” - -“Yes.” - -“In the securities of the railroad properties you control?” - -“Heavily,” said Galt. - -“If, for example, you are going to increase the dividend on Great -Midwestern stock you first go into the market and buy it for a -rise,--buy it before either the public or the other stockholders know -that you are going to increase the dividend?” - -“That’s the case,” said Galt. - -“As a matter of fact, you did some time ago increase the dividend on -Great Midwestern from four to eight per cent., and the stock had a big -rise for that reason. Tell this Committee, please, when and how and at -what prices you bought the stock in anticipation of that event?” - -“In anticipation of that eight per cent. dividend,” said Galt -reminiscently, “I began to buy Great Midwestern stock ... let me see -... nine years ago at ten dollars a share. It went down, and I bought -it at five dollars a share, at two dollars, at a dollar-and-a-half. The -road went into the hands of a receiver, and I stuck to it. I bought it -all the way up again, at fifteen dollars a share, at fifty dollars, at -a hundred-and-fifty, and I’m buying still.” - -Goldfuss was bored. He seemed to be saying to the audience: “Well, -so much for fun. Now we get down to the hard stuff.” He took time to -think, stirred about in his papers and produced a certain document. - -“Mr. Galt, I show you a certified list of the investments of -the Security Life Insurance Company. You are a director of that -institution, are you not?” - -“Yes.” - -“You used some of your farming profits to buy a large interest in the -Security Life Insurance Company?” - -“Yes.” - -“You are chairman of its finance committee?” - -“Yes.” - -“In fact, Mr. Galt, you control the investments of the Security Life. -You recommend what securities the policy holders’ money shall be -invested in and your suggestions are acted upon. Is that true?” - -“Something like that,” said Galt. - -“Now, Mr. Galt, look at this certified statement, please. The -investments amount to more than four hundred millions. I call your -attention to the fact that nearly one quarter of that enormous total -consists of what are known as Galt securities, that is, the stocks -and bonds of railroad companies controlled by Henry M. Galt. Is that -correct?” - -“Substantially,” said Galt. - -“Did you, as chairman of the finance committee of the Security Life, -recommend the purchase of those securities?” - -“Yes.” - -“And at the same time, as head of the Great Midwestern railway system, -you were interested in selling those securities, were you not?” - -“We need a great deal of capital,” said Galt. “We are selling new -securities all the time. We sell all we can and wish we could sell -more. There is always more work to do than we can find the money for.” - -“So, Mr. Galt, it comes to this: As head of a great railroad system you -create securities which you are anxious to sell. In that rôle you are a -seller. Then as chairman of the finance committee of the Security Life -Insurance Company, acting as trustee for the policy holders, you are a -buyer of securities. In that position of trust, with power to say how -the policy holders’ money shall be invested, you recommend the purchase -of securities in which you are interested as a seller. Is that true?” - -“I don’t like the way you put it, but let it stand,” said Galt. - -“How can you justify that, Mr. Galt? Is it right, do you think, that a -trustee should buy with one hand what he sells with the other?” - -Galt leaned over, beating the table slowly with his fist. - -“I justify it this way,” he said. “I know all about the securities of -the Great Midwestern. I don’t know of anything better for the Security -Life to put its money into. If you can tell me of anything better I -will advise the finance committee at its next meeting to sell all of -its Great Midwestern stuff and buy that, whatever it is. I’ll do more. -If you can tell me of anything better I will sell all of my own Great -Midwestern stocks and bonds and buy that instead. I have my own money -in Great Midwestern. There’s another Galt you left out. As head of -a great railway system I am a seller of securities to investors all -over the world. That is how we find the capital to build our things. -But as an individual I am a buyer of those same securities. I sell to -everybody with one hand and buy for myself all that I can with the -other hand. Do you see the point? I buy them because I know what they -are worth. I recommend them to the Security Life because I know what -they are worth. That is how I justify it, sir.” - -Enough of that. Goldfuss had meant to go from the Security Life to each -of the other financial institutions controlled by Galt, meaning to show -how he had been unloading Galt securities upon them. But what was the -use? What could he do with an answer like that? He passed instead to -the Orient & Pacific matter. Galt admitted that he had used the power -of majority stockholder to make the property subservient to the Great -Midwestern because that was the efficient thing to do. - -“And that, you think, is a fair way to treat minority stockholders?” -Goldfuss asked. - -“We were willing at any time to buy them out at the market price,” said -Galt. “However, that’s now an academic matter. The Great Midwestern has -acquired all that minority interest in Orient & Pacific.” - -This was news. There was a stir at the reporters’ table. Several rose -and went out to telegraph Galt’s statement to Wall Street, where nobody -yet knew how Bullguard & Co. had made peace with him. - -So they went from one thing to another. They came to that notorious -land transaction on account of which he had been sued. - -“We needed that land for an important piece of railroad development,” -said Galt. “Some land traders got wind of our plans, formed a -syndicate, bought up all the ground around, and then tried to make -us buy it through the nose. We simply sat tight until they went -broke. Then we took it off their hands. There was more than the Great -Midwestern needed because they were hogs. The Great Midwestern took -what it wanted and I took the rest. The directors knew all about it.” - -“And it was very profitable to you personally, this outcome?” - -“Incidentally it was,” said Galt. “Somebody would get it. It fell into -my hands. What would you have done?” - -“Strike that off the record,--‘What would you have done?’” said -Goldfuss. “Counsel is not being examined.” - -After lunch he took a new line. - -“Mr. Galt,” he asked, “what are you worth?” - -“I don’t know,” said Galt. - -“You don’t know how rich you are?” - -“No.” - -Goldfuss lay back in his chair with an exaggerated air of astonishment. - -“But you will admit you are very rich?” he said, having recovered -slowly. - -“Yes,” said Galt. “I suppose I am.” - -“Well, as briefly as possible, will you tell this Committee how you -made it?” - -“Now you’ve asked me something,” said Galt, leaning forward again. -“I’ll tell you. I made it buying things nobody else wanted. I bought -Great Midwestern when it was bankrupt and people thought no railroad -was worth its weight as junk. When I took charge of the property I -bought equipment when it was cheap because nobody else wanted it and -the equipment makers were hungry, and rails and ties and materials -and labor to improve the road with, until everybody thought I was -crazy. When the business came we had a railroad to handle it. I’ve -done that same thing with every property I have taken up. No railroad -I’ve ever touched has depreciated in value. I’m doing it still. You -may know there has been an upset in Wall Street recently, a panic in -fact. Everybody is uneasy and business is worried because a financial -disturbance has always been followed by commercial depression. There -are signs of that already. But we’ll stop it. In the next twelve -months the Great Midwestern properties will spend five hundred million -dollars for double tracking, grade reductions, new equipment and larger -terminals.” - -This was news. Again there was a stir at the reporters’ table as -several rose to go out and flash Galt’s statement to Wall Street. - -“Mr. Galt,” said Goldfuss, “do you realize what it means for one man -to say he will spend five hundred millions in a year? That is half the -national debt.” - -“I know exactly what it means,” said Galt. “It means for once a -Wall Street panic won’t be followed by unemployment and industrial -depression. Our orders for materials and labor now going out will -start everything up again at full speed. Others will act on our -example. You’ll see.” - -“You will draw upon the financial institutions you control, the -Security Life and others, for a good deal of that money,--the five -hundred millions?” - -“You get the idea,” said Galt. “That’s what financial institutions are -for. There’s no better use for their money.” - -“You have great power, Mr. Galt.” - -“Some,” he said. - -“If it goes on increasing at this rate you will soon be the economic -dictator of the country.” - -No answer. - -“I say you will be the economic dictator of the whole country.” - -“I heard you say it,” said Galt. “It ain’t a question.” - -“But do you think it desirable that one man should have so much -power,--that one man should run the country?” - -“Somebody ought to run it,” said Galt. - -“Is it your ambition to run it?” - -“It is my idea,” said Galt, “that the financial institutions of the -country,--I mean the insurance companies and the banks,--instead of -lending themselves out of funds in times of high prosperity ought -then to build up great reserves of capital to be loaned out in hard -times. That would keep people from going crazy with prosperity at one -time and committing suicide at another time. But they won’t do it by -themselves. Somebody has to see to it,--somebody who knows not only how -not to spend money when everybody is wild to buy, but how to spend it -courageously when there is a surplus of things that nobody else wants. -Every financial institution that I have anything to do with will be -governed by that idea, and the Great Midwestern properties, while I -run them, will decrease their capital expenditures as prices rise and -increase them as prices fall. When we show them the whole trick and how -it pays everybody will do it. We won’t have any more depressions and -Coxey’s armies. We won’t have any more unemployment. In a country like -this unemployment is economic lunacy.” - -The hearing continued for three days. The newspapers printed almost -nothing else on their first three pages. Galt’s testimony produced -everywhere a monumental effect. Public opinion went over by a -somersault. - -He denied nothing. He admitted everything. He was invincible because he -believed in himself. - -“Mr. Galt,” said Goldfuss, rising, “that will be all. You are the most -remarkable witness I have ever examined.” - -They shook hands all around. - - -iii - -As we were going down the Capitol steps Galt stumbled and clutched -my arm. The sustaining excitement was at an end and the reaction was -sudden. Solicitude made him peevish. He insisted irritably, and we -went on walking, though it was above his strength. When we were half -way back to the hotel, a mile yet to go, he stopped and said: “You’re -right, Coxey. Ain’t it hot! Let’s call a cab.” - -He wouldn’t rest. A strange uneasiness was upon him. We took the next -train for New York. - -“I want to go to Moonstool,” he said. The idea seized him after we were -aboard the train. - -“Fine. Let’s take a holiday tomorrow and go all over it,” I said. - -“Now. I want to go there now,” he said. - -“Directly there ... and not go home?” - -“That’s home, ain’t it?” he said, becoming irritable. “Let’s go -straight there.” - -He had a fixation upon it. - -From Baltimore I got off an urgent telegram to Mrs. Galt, telling her -Galt was very tired and insisted on going directly to the country -place. Could she meet us at Newark with a motor car? That would be the -easiest way. - -Automobiles were just then coming into general use. Galt with his -ardent interest in all means of mechanical locomotion was enthusiastic -about them. The family had four, besides Natalie’s, which was her own. -She drove it herself. - -Mrs. Galt met us at Newark. Galt greeted her with no sign of surprise. -He could not have been expecting her. I had told him nothing about the -arrangements. He slept all the way up from Washington and did not know -where we were when we got off the train. She helped him into the car. -When they were seated he took her hand and went to sleep again. - -There was a second motor behind us, with a cook, three servants, some -luggage and provisions. Mrs. Galt was a very efficient woman. She had -thought of everything the situation required. - -It was nearly midnight when we arrived at Moonstool and stopped in -front of the iron gates. They were closed and locked. And there was -Natalie who had been sent ahead to announce our coming. She drove -out alone, got lost on the way, and had not yet succeeded in raising -anybody when we came up. The place was dark, except for red lanterns -here and there on piles of construction material. The outside watchmen -were shirking duty, and those inside, if not doing likewise, were -beyond hearing. - -Nearby was the railroad station of Galt, a black little pile with not -a light anywhere. It had not yet been opened for use. We could hear -the water spilling over the private Galt dam in the river. There was -enough electricity in the Galt power house to illuminate a town. On the -mountain top, half a mile distant, the Galt castle stood in massive -silhouette against the starry sky. And here was Galt, in the dark, an -unwelcome night-time stranger, forbidden at the gate. He was still -asleep. We were careful not to wake him. - -A watchman with a bull’s eye lantern and a billy stick exuded from the -darkness. - -“Wha’d’ye want?” - -We wanted to go in. - -“Y’can’t go in,” he said. “Can’t y’ see it’s private? Nobody lives -there.” - -It is very difficult to account for the improbable on the plane of a -night watchman’s intelligence. First he stolidly disbelieved us. Then -he took refuge in limited responsibility. - -“M’orders is t’let nobody in,” he said. “D’ye know anybody aroun’ here?” - -It seemed quite possible that no human being around here would know -us. By an inspiration Natalie remembered the superintendent of -construction. He lived not far away. She knew where. Once when she was -spending a day on the job he had taken her home with him to lunch. It -was not more than ten minutes’ drive, she said. - -It was further than she thought. We were more than three quarters of -an hour returning with the superintendent. It took twenty minutes more -to wake the crew at the power house and get the electricity turned on. -Then we drove slowly up the main concrete road now lighted on each side -by clusters of three ground glass globes in fluted columns fifty feet -apart. Although it was finished the road was still cluttered with heaps -of sand and debris. - -Galt all this time was fast asleep, his head resting on Mrs. Galt’s -shoulder. We could scarcely wake him when we tried. He seemed drunk -with weariness. As we helped him out he opened his eyes once and -startled us by saying to the superintendent: “Fire that watchman -... down below,” as if he had been conscious of everything that -happened. His eyes closed again, he tottered, and we caught him. The -superintendent supported him on one side, I on the other, and so he -entered, dragging his feet. - -Natalie knew more about the house than anyone else. She led the way to -the apartment that was Galt’s, and then left us to place the servants -and show them their way around. I helped Mrs. Galt undress him and get -him to bed. I was amazed to see how thin and shrunken his body was. He -was inert, like a child asleep. Mrs. Galt, very pale, was strong and -deft. - -“We must have a doctor at once,” she said. “I thought of bringing one -and then didn’t because he minds so awfully to have a doctor in.” - -Still we were not really alarmed. - -The telephone system had been installed. Natalie knew that. She knew -also where the big switchboard was. I telephoned the family physician -to meet us at the Hoboken ferry and then Natalie and I set out to fetch -him, a drive of nearly seventy miles there and back. - -“We ought to do it in two hours,” she said, as we coasted freely,--very -freely,--down the lighted cement road and plunged through the gates -into darkness. - -“The doctor must be in his right mind when we deliver him.” - -I meant it lightly. Her reckless driving was a household topic and she -was incorrigible. But she answered me thoughtfully. - -“We’ll make the time going.” - -She pulled her gloves tighter, took the time, inspected the -instruments, switched off the dash light, cut out the muffler, -settled herself in the seat and opened the throttle wide. It was a -four-cylinder, high-power engine. The sound we made was that of an -endless rip through a linen sheet. Road side trees turned white, uneasy -faces to our headlights. The highway seemed to lay itself down in front -of us as we needed it; and there was a feeling that it vanished or fell -away into black space behind us. Giddy things such as fences, buildings -and stone walls were tossed right and left in streaming glimpses. Good -motor roads were yet unbuilt. There were short, sharp grades like humps -on the roller coaster at the fair. Taking them at fifty miles an hour, -at night, when you cannot see the top as you start up, nor all the way -down as you begin the plunge, is a wild, liberating sensation. Sense of -level is lost. One’s center of gravity rises and falls momentously, the -heart sloshes around, and you don’t care what happens, not even if you -should run off the world. It doesn’t matter. - -Natalie was in a trance-like rapture. She never spoke. Her eyes were -fixed ahead; her body was static. Only her head and arms moved, -sometimes her feet to slip the clutch or apply the brake. All that -pertains to the pattern of consciousness,--seeing, hearing, attention, -will and willing,--were strained outward beyond the windshield, as if -externalized, acting outside of her. What remained on the seat, besides -the thrill at the core of her, was her automatic self controlling this -lunging, roaring mechanism without the slightest effort of thought. -The restrained impulses of her nature apparently found their escape -in this form of excitement. It was one thing she could do better than -anyone else. She did it superbly and adored doing it. I could not help -thinking how Vera would drive, if she drove at all. - -There was no traffic at that hour of night until we fell in with the -milk and truck wagons crossing the Hackensack Meadows toward the Hudson -River ferries. Natalie cut in and out of that rumbling procession with -skill and ease. Her calculations were tight and daring, but never -foolhardy. - -“Very accomplished driving,” I said, as she pulled up at the ferry with -the engine idling softly. - -“Fifty minutes,” she said, a little down, on looking at her watch. “I -thought we should have done it in forty-five. Don’t you love it at -night?” - - -iv - -Dawn was breaking when we returned. It gave us a start of apprehension -to see the lights still burning in Galt’s apartment. We found Mrs. Galt -sitting at the side of his bed. Her face was distorted with horror and -anxiety. Galt lay just as I had seen him last. - -“He hasn’t moved,” said Mrs. Galt. “I can’t arouse him. I’m not sure he -is breathing.” - -Neither was the doctor. The pulse was imperceptible. A glass held at -his nostrils showed no trace of moisture. All the bodily functions were -in a state of suspense. The only presumption of life lay in the general -arbitrary fact that he was not dead. The doctor had never seen anything -like this before. He was afraid to act without a consultation. Motors -were sent off for four other doctors, two in New Jersey and two in New -York. They would bring nurses with them. - -Mrs. Galt could not be moved from the bedside. - -Natalie telephoned Vera to come. I telephoned Mordecai. Then we walked -up and down the eastern terrace and watched the sun come up. She -stopped and leaned over the parapet, looking down. Her eyes were dry; -her body shook with convulsive movements. My heart went forth. I put my -arm around her. She stood up, gazed at me with a stricken expression, -then dropped her head on my shoulder and wept, whispering, “Coxey, -Coxey, oh, what shall we do?... what shall we do?” - -Gangs of workmen were appearing below. The day of labor was about to -begin. I left her to get the superintendent on the telephone and tell -him to suspend work. - - -v - -The consultation began at nine o’clock. Mordecai arrived while it was -taking place. Somehow on the way he had picked up Vera. They came -together. We waited in the library room of Galt’s apartment. At the end -of an hour the five doctors came to us, looking very grave. The Galts’ -family doctor announced the consensus. It was a stroke, with some -very unusual aspects. Life persisted; the thread of it was extremely -fine, almost invisible. It might snap at any moment, and they wouldn’t -know it until some time afterward. Thin as it was, however, it might -pull him back. There was a bare possibility that he would recover -consciousness. Meanwhile there was very little that could be done. - -Mordecai rose from his chair with a colossal, awful gesture. His eyes -were staring. His face was like a mask. His head turned slowly right -and left through half a circle with a weird, mechanical movement, as a -thing turning on a pivot in a fixed plane. - -“Zey haf kilt him!” he whispered. “All ov you I gall upon to vitness, -zey haf kilt him. Zey could nod ruin him. Zat zey tried to do. But ... -zey haf kilt him!... Ve are vonce more in ze dark ages.” - -The physicians were astonished and ill at ease. They did not know what -he was talking about. They did not know who he was. I was the only one -who could know what he meant and for a minute I was bewildered. Then -it broke upon me. - -The combat reconstructed itself in my mind. I recalled those days of -strain and anguish when all the forces of Wall Street were acting to -destroy him and he fought alone. He withstood them. In the might of -his own strength, in that moment which it had been torture almost -unendurable to bide the coming of, he smote his enemies “with the fist -of wickedness” and scattered them away. Yes, all that. He had won the -fight. Yet there he lay. His death would leave them in possession of -the field, with a victory unawares. They meant only to break his power, -to unloose his hands, to overthrow him as an upstart dynast. But the -blood weapon which we think is put away, which they never meant and -would not have dared to use,--it had done its work in spite of them. -They could not break him. They had only killed him. - -That was what Mordecai meant. - - -vi - -Well, we had to wait. Life must wait upon death because it can. There -was much to think about. Mordecai spent two hours with me making -precise arrangements against any contingency. It was very important -that Wall Street should know nothing about Galt’s condition. The news -might cause a panic. I was to call him up at regular intervals by a -direct telephone wire on which no one could listen in. If any rumor -got out it should be met with blank silence. - -“Zey vill vind id zoon oud no matter,” he said. - -What he needed was a little time to prepare the financial structure -for the imminent shock. He would inform his associates and such others -as were entitled to know and together they would agree upon protective -measures. Galt’s death was bound to produce a terrific convulsion. -There is no line of succession in Wall Street, no hereditary prince to -receive the crown. When the monarch falls the wail is, “The king is -dead! There is no king!” - -About 10 o’clock in the morning of the second day Galt opened his eyes. -He could neither move nor speak, but he was vividly conscious. Mrs. -Galt came to the room where I had established a work station to tell me -this. - -“He wants something,” she said. “He says so with his eyes. I think it -is you he wants.” - -His eyes expressed pleasure at seeing me. Not a muscle moved. He could -see and hear and think, and that was all. He did want something. I -guessed a number of things and he looked them all away. It wasn’t -Mordecai. It wasn’t anything in relation to business. In this dilemma I -remembered a game we played in childhood. It was for one of the players -to hold in his mind any object on earth and for the other to identify -it by asking questions up to twenty that had to be answered yes or no. -Galt’s eyes could say yes and no and he could hear. Therefore anything -he was thinking of could be found out. I explained the game to him, he -instantly understood, and we began. Was the thing a mineral substance? -He did not answer. Was it vegetable? He did not answer. Was it animal -then? Still no answer, but a bothered look in his eyes. I stopped to -wonder why he hadn’t answered yes or no to one of the three. Was it -perhaps something mineral, vegetable and animal combined? His eyes -lighted, saying yes. Was it in this room? No. Was it far away? No. Was -it just outside? Yes. - -I went to the window and looked out. In every direction below the level -of the finished terrace was the sight of construction work in a state -of suspense, heaps of materials, tools where they had fallen, power -machinery idle. A thought occurred to me. I went back and looked in his -eyes. - -“We’ve had all the work stopped because of the noise. Do you wish it to -go on? Is that what you want?” - -“Yes,” he answered, with a flash of his eyes. - -Two hours later the air was vibrant with the clank-clank of many steam -drills, the screech of taut hoisting cables, the throb of donkey -engines, the roar of rock blasting, and he was happy. - -Incidentally the resumption of work served Mordecai’s purpose in an -unexpected way. Rumor of Galt’s illness did get out. The newspapers -began to telephone. Unable to get information in that way they thought -it must be serious and sent reporters out in haste. They returned -to their offices saying they couldn’t get a word out of us, but Galt -couldn’t be very ill so long as all that uproar was permitted to go on. - -A week passed in this way. One evening on my return from an urgent trip -to New York Natalie came racing down the great hall to meet me, with a -flying slide at the end, as in the old days she was wont to meet Galt, -and whether she meant it quite, or miscalculated the distance, I do not -know; but anyhow I had either to let her go by off her balance or catch -her, and she landed in my arms. - -“Oh, Coxey, he’s asking for you,” she said, getting her feet and -dragging me along at a run. “He’s better all at once. He can talk.” - -The faculty of speech was gradually restored. When he could talk freely -he told us that he had been conscious all the while, day and night. He -heard every word that was spoken at the consultation. Therefore he had -more expert opinion on his condition than we had. He had kept count of -time. He knew what day it was when he first opened his eyes, and since -then in his sleep he had been continuously conscious. He felt no pain. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -GATE OF ENIGMA - - -i - -And now began the last phase of his career. Lying there in that state, -unable so much as to raise his hand, with a mind all but disembodied, -he intended his thoughts to the passion that ruled him still. The -doctors warned him that it would be extremely dangerous to exercise -his mind. It would cause the thread of life to part. That made no -difference. What was the thread of life for? - -Three times a week Mordecai came to talk with him. These visits, -beginning naturally as between friends, soon became conferences -of a consequential character between principal and banker. They -examined problems, discussed measures, evolved policies, and spent -hours, sometimes whole days, together. Mordecai became Galt’s self -objectified. He executed his will, promulgated his ideas, represented -him in all situations. He sat for him at board meetings and in general -Wall Street councils. This became soon an institutional fact. No -business of a high nature proceeded far in Wall Street until Mordecai -was asked, “What does Mr. Galt say?” or “What would Mr. Galt think?” - -A paralyzed hand ruled the world of finance. - -Galt’s mind was clear and insatiable. It comprehended both details and -principles. He directed minutely the expenditure of that five hundred -millions and verified his own prophecy. The outlay of this vast sum -upon railroad works averted a period of industrial depression. - -I remained permanently at Moonstool. The room in which at first I had -established merely a point of contact with the outside world to meet -such emergencies as might arise became a regular office. We installed -news printing machines and direct telephones. Stock Exchange quotations -were received by a private telegraph wire. We had presently a staff of -clerks, typists and statisticians, all living in the house and keeping -hours. The personnel of this singular organization included one fresco -painter. - -More than anything else Galt missed his maps and charts. A map of any -portion of the earth’s surface enthralled him. The act of gazing at it -stimulated his thoughts. And statistical charts,--those diagrams in -which quantities, ratios and velocities are symbolized by lines that -rise and fall in curves,--these were to him what mathematical symbols -are to an astronomer. He could not think easily without them. We had -tried various devices for getting maps and charts before him, and they -were all unsatisfactory. One day he said: “I can look at the ceiling -and walls without effort. Why not put them there?” - -But we could not get maps large enough to show from the ceiling and -there was a similar difficulty about charts, even though we drew them -ourselves. Then we thought of painting them. We found a fresco painter -possessing the rudiments of the peculiar kind of intelligence required -for such work and then trained him to it. - -We painted a map of the world in two hemispheres on the ceiling. The -United States had to be carefully put in, with the Great Midwestern -system showing in bold red lines. On the walls we painted statistical -charts to the number of eight. Several were permanent, such as the -one showing the combined earnings of the Galt railroad properties and -another the state of general business. They had only to be touched up -from time to time as new statistics came in. Others were ephemeral, -serving to illustrate some problem his mind was working on. They were -frequently painted out and new ones put in their place. - -Under these conditions, gazing for hours at the world map, he conceived -a project which was destined to survive him in the form of an idea. -If he had lived it might have been realized. This was a pan-American -railroad,--a vertical system of land transportation articulating the -North and South American continents. It was painted there on the -ceiling. Mordecai saw it and wept. - -How easily the mind accommodates itself to any situation! In a short -time all of this seemed quite natural because it was taking place. -Having accepted Galt as a dynast in the flesh, Wall Street now accepted -him as an invisible force pervading all its affairs, as if it might -go on that way forever. Through Mordecai it solicited his advice and -opinion on matters that were not his. Once Mordecai brought him the -problem of a railroad that was in trouble; he bought the railroad to -save it from bankruptcy. People, seeing this, began to think he was -not ill at all, but preferred to work in a mysterious manner. Great -Midwestern stock meanwhile was rising, always rising, and touched at -last the fabulous price of three hundred dollars a share. Faith in it -now was as unreasoning as distrust of it had once been. - - -ii - -Galt entertained no thought of malice toward his old enemies. Proof of -this was dramatic and unexpected. A servant came up one afternoon with -the name of Bullguard. I could hardly believe it. I found him standing -in the middle of the hall, just inside the door, a large, impenetrable -figure, giving one the impression of immovable purpose. I had never -seen him before. - -“I wish to see Mr. Galt,” he said, in a voice like a tempered north -wind. - -“Nobody sees him, you know.” - -“I must see him,” he replied. - -“I will ask him. Is it a matter of business?” - -“It is very personal,” he said. - -The way he said this gave me suddenly a glimpse of his hidden -character. Beneath that terrifying aspect, back of that glowering under -which strong men quailed, lay more shy, human gentleness than would be -easily imagined. - -Galt received him. They were alone together for a full hour. What -passed between them will never be known. I waited in the library room, -one removed from Galt’s bedchamber, and saw Bullguard leave. He passed -me unawares, looking straight ahead of him, as one in a hypnotic -trance. Outside he forgot his car and went stalking down the drive in -that same unseeing manner, grasping a great thick walking stick at -the middle and waving it slowly before his face. His car followed and -picked him up somewhere out of sight. - - -iii - -One of the minor triumphs of this time was the collapse of the social -feud. Mrs. Valentine’s subjects began to revolt. Society made definite -overtures to the Galt women. But nobody now cared. Mrs. Galt and -Natalie lived only for Galt, and they were the two who would in any -case be interested. Mrs. Galt was his silent companion. Natalie was his -mercury, going errands swiftly between his bedchamber and the office. -She was absorbed in what went on and a good deal of it she understood -in an imaginative manner. Coming with a message from Galt, perhaps a -request for information or data, she would often sit at my desk to -hear or see the results, saying, “I feel so stupid when I don’t know -what it means.” In the evening, as we might be walking or driving -together, she would review the transactions of the day and get them all -explained. - -Vera lived in New York at her studio, but came often to Moonstool. Her -engagement to Lord Porteous was renewed. She spoke to me about it one -evening on the west terrace, after sunset. - -“You were right about Lord Porteous,” she said. “He refused from the -beginning to consider our engagement broken.” - -“Of course,” I said. - -That was evidently not what she expected me to say. She gave me a slow, -sidewise look. - -“I’m very glad,” I added, making it worse. - -We took several turns in silence. - -“Why are you glad?” she asked, in a tone she seldom used. - -“Isn’t that what I should say?... I was thinking ... I don’t know what -I was thinking ... nor why I am glad.” - -We stood for a long time, a little apart, watching the afterglow. She -shivered. - -“I am cold,” she said. “Let’s go in, please.” - - -iv - -The next day in the midst of a conference with Mordecai Galt’s eyes -closed. The doctor was in the house. He shook his head knowingly. - -There followed a fortnight of horrible suspense. Most of the time we -did not know at a given moment whether he was alive or dead. Once for -three days he did not open his eyes and we thought it was over. Then -he looked at us again and we knew he had been conscious all the time. -The faculty of speech never returned. There would be a rumor that he -was dead and prices would fall on the Stock Exchange; then a rumor that -he wasn’t, and prices would rise again. The newspapers established a -death watch in the private Galt station and kept reporters there day -and night to flash the news away. To keep them from the house I had -to promise them solemnly that I would send word down promptly if the -fatality happened. - -Mrs. Galt and Natalie watched alternately. One or the other sat at -his bedside all the time. One evening about 8 o’clock I was sharing -the vigil with Natalie when Galt opened his eyes. We were sitting -on opposite sides of his bed. He looked from one of us to the other -slowly, several times, and then fixed a wanting expression on me. - -I knew what he wanted without asking. Natalie knew also. It concerned -us deeply, uniting our lives, yet at that moment we were hardly -conscious of ourselves. What thrilled us was the thought of something -we should do for him, because he wanted it. - -I put out my hand to her across the bed. She clasped it firmly. - -“That is what you mean,” I said. - -“Yes,” he answered. - -A flood of recollection swept through me. I saw Natalie all the way -back to girlhood, to that night of our first meeting in her father’s -house. I could not remember when I had not loved her. I saw everything -that had happened between us, saw it in sunlight, and wondered how -I could have been so unaware. Trifling incidents, almost forgotten, -became suddenly luminous, precious and significant. And this instant -had been from the beginning appointed! - -Natalie, still clasping my hand, leaned far over and gazed intently -into his eyes. - -“You want me to marry Coxey?” she asked, in a tone of caressing -anxiety, which seemed wholly unconscious of me, almost excluding. - -“Yes,” he answered, repeating it several times, if that may be -understood. The answer lingered in his eyes. Then they closed, slowly, -as ponderous gates swing to, against his utmost will, and they never -opened again. - -He was buried in the side of Moonstool. All of his great enemies came -to assist at the obsequies. Bullguard was one of the pallbearers. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -NATALIE - - -After the funeral the family returned to the Fifth Avenue house. Though -I took up a permanent abode elsewhere, my apartment was still there, -and I came and went almost as one of the household. - -The more I saw of Natalie the stranger and more distant she was. Her -behavior was incomprehensible. She was friendly, often tender, always -solicitous, but kept a wall of constraint between us. She positively -refused to talk of our engagement, and came to the point where -she denied there was any such thing. When I proposed to cure that -difficulty in a very obvious way she took refuge in fits of perverse -and wilful unreasonableness. She would spend a whole evening in some -inaccessible mood and become herself only for an instant at the last. -Suddenly they resolved to travel. She persuaded her mother to it. - -“Then we won’t see Coxey for a long, long time,” she said, one evening -at dinner; “and maybe he will miss us.” - -They went around the world. Her letters were friendly, sprightly, -teasing, and very unsatisfactory. She would not be serious. - -At last Galt’s posthumous affairs began to settle, so that I could -leave them, and I immediately set out in a westerly direction, -intending to meet Mrs. Galt and Natalie in the Orient on surprise. -I missed them in China, because they had revised their schedule and -gone to Japan. In Japan I missed them again because they were suddenly -homesick and cut their sojourn short. We crossed the Pacific a week -apart. They stopped only four days in San Francisco, so I missed them -there. Then I telegraphed Natalie what I had been doing. Four months -had passed without a word of news between us. - -On arriving in New York I went directly to the Fifth Avenue house. As I -rang the bell a feeling of desolation assailed me. The absurd thought -rose that she somehow knew of my pursuit and had purposely defeated it. - -She was downstairs, sitting alone before the fireplace in the reception -hall, reading. She dropped her book and ran toward me, rather at me, -slid the last ten feet of it with her head down, her arms flung wide, -and welcomed me with a hearty hug. - -“Are we?” I asked, holding her. - -“Coxey, silly dear! All this time we have been.” - - - - -+-------------------------------------------------+ -|Transcriber’s note: | -| | -|Obvious typographic errors have been corrected. | -| | -+-------------------------------------------------+ - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DRIVER*** - - -******* This file should be named 65853-0.txt or 65853-0.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/5/8/5/65853 - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it -under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this -eBook or online at <a -href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you are not -located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this ebook.</p> -<p>Title: The Driver</p> -<p>Author: Garet Garrett</p> -<p>Release Date: July 17, 2021 [eBook #65853]</p> -<p>Language: English</p> -<p>Character set encoding: UTF-8</p> -<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DRIVER***</p> -<p> </p> -<h4 class="pgx" title="">E-text prepared by Tim Lindell, Martin Pettit,<br /> - and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> - (http://www.pgdp.net)<br /> - from page images digitized by<br /> - the Google Books Library Project<br /> - (https://books.google.com)<br /> - and generously made available by<br /> - Internet Archive<br /> - (https://archive.org/) - </h4> -<p> </p> -<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10"> - <tr> - <td valign="top"> - Note: - </td> - <td> - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/driver00garrgoog - </td> - </tr> -</table> -<p> </p> -<hr class="pgx" /> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/front.jpg" alt="front" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span></p> - -<h1>THE DRIVER </h1> - -<hr /> - -<div class="center"><img src="images/title.jpg" alt="title page" /></div> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> - -<p class="bold2">THE DRIVER</p> - -<p class="center space-above">BY</p> - -<p class="bold2">GARET GARRETT</p> - -<p class="bold">AUTHOR OF “THE BLUE WOUND,” ETC.</p> - -<div class="center space-above"><img src="images/logo.jpg" alt="logo" /></div> - -<p class="center space-above">NEW YORK<br />E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY<br />681 FIFTH AVENUE</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span></p> - -<p class="center">Copyright, 1922<br />By E. P. Dutton & Company<br />———<br /><i>All Rights Reserved</i></p> - -<p class="center space-above">First printing, September, 1922<br />Second printing, October, 1922</p> - -<p class="center space-above">PRINTED IN THE UNITED<br />STATES OF AMERICA</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> - -<h2>CONTENTS</h2> - -<table summary="CONTENTS"> - <tr> - <td colspan="2" class="left"><span class="smaller">CHAPTER</span></td> - <td><span class="smaller">PAGE</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>I. </td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Phantasma</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>II. </td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Funk Idol</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>III. </td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Galt</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_63">63</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>IV. </td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">An Economic Nightmare</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_86">86</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>V. </td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Vera</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>VI. </td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">A Giant in Baby Sweat</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>VII. </td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Daring the Dark</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_131">131</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>VIII. </td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Low Water</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_136">136</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>IX. </td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Forth He Goes</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_139">139</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>X. </td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Heyday</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>XI. </td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Hearth Notes</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_180">180</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>XII. </td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">A Broken Symbol</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_198">198</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>XIII. </td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Success</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_213">213</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>XIV. </td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Combat</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_226">226</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>XV. </td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">The Heights</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>XVI. </td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Gate of Enigma</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_285">285</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td>XVII. </td> - <td class="left"><span class="smcap">Natalie</span></td> - <td><a href="#Page_293">293</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> - -<p class="bold2">THE DRIVER</p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER I</span> <span class="smaller">PHANTASMA</span></h2> - -<h3>i</h3> - -<p>It is Easter Sunday in the village of Massillon, Stark County, Ohio, -fifty miles south by east from Cleveland. Fourth year of the soft Money -Plague; 1894.</p> - -<p>Time, about 10 o’clock.</p> - -<p>The sky is low and brooding, with an untimely thought of snow. Church -bells are ringing. They sound remote and disapproving. Almost nobody is -mindful of their call. The soul may miss its feast; the eye of wonder -shall not be cheated. The Comic God has published a decree. Here once -more the sad biped, solemn, ludicrous and romantic, shall mount the -gilded ass. It is a spectacle that will not wait. For weeks in all the -newspapers of the country the fact has been advertised in a spirit of -waggery. At this hour and from this place the Army of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span>Commonweal -of Christ will set forth on foot in quest of the Economic Millennium.</p> - -<p>The village is agog with people congregating to witness the fantasied -event. In the main street natives and strangers mingle their feet -gregariously. There are spasmodic sounds of laughter, retort, argument -and ribaldry; and continually the shrill cries of youth in a frenzy of -expectation. Buggies, two-wheelers, open carts and spring wagons line -both sides of the street. The horses are blanketed. A damp, chill wind -is blowing. Vendors from Chicago, lewd-looking men, working a hundred -feet apart, are yelling: “Git a Christ army button here fer a nickel!” -There is a composite smell of ham sandwiches, peanuts, oranges and -cigars.</p> - -<p>A shout rises at the far end of the street. The crowd that has been -so thick there, filling the whole space, bursts open. A band begins -playing “Onward Christian Soldiers,” and the spectacle is present.</p> - -<p>First comes a negro bearing the American flag.</p> - -<p>Next, on a white horse, is a thick, close-bearded, self-regarding man -with powerful, darting eyes and an air of fantastic vanity. He wears a -buckskin coat with fringed sleeves; the breast is covered with gaudy -medals. On his head is a large white sombrero. Around his neck swings a -string of amber beads. He is cheered and rallied as he passes and bows -continually.</p> - -<p>Behind him walks a trumpeter, saluted as Windy Oliver. After the -trumpeter walks the Astrologer,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> bearing the wand of his mysterious -office. Then a band of seven pieces, very willing and enterprising.</p> - -<p>And now, by the timbre and volume of the cheering, you recognize the -Commander. He rides. Sitting so still and distant beside a negro -driver in a buggy drawn by two mares he is disappointing to the eye. -There is nothing obviously heroic about him. He wears spectacles. -Above a thin, down-growing mustache the face is that of a man of ideas -and action; the lower features, especially the mouth, denote a shy, -secretive, sentimental, credulous man of mystical preoccupations. None -of these qualities is more than commonplace. The type is well known -to inland communities—the man who believes in perpetual motion, in -the perfectibility of human nature, in miraculous interventions of -deity, and makes a small living shrewdly. He might be the inventor of -a washing machine. He is in fact the owner of a sandstone quarry and a -breeder of horses.</p> - -<p>But mark you, the ego may achieve grandeur in any habitat. It is -not in the least particular. This inconsiderable man, ludicrously -setting forth on Easter Sunday in command of a modern crusade, has one -startling obsession. He believes that with the bandit-looking person on -the white horse he <i>shares the reincarnation of Christ</i>.</p> - -<p>In a buggy following, with what thoughts we shall never know, rides the -wife of this half of Christ reincarnated.</p> - -<p>Next comes another negro bearing the banner of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> the Commonweal of -Christ. In the center of it is a painted Christ head. The lettering, -divided above and below the head, reads:</p> - -<p class="center">PEACE ON EARTH: GOOD WILL TO MEN<br /><br />B U T<br /><br />DEATH TO INTEREST BEARING BONDS</p> - -<p>Then comes the Army of the Commonwealers. They are counted derisively. -The Commander said there would be an hundred thousand, or at least ten -thousand, or, at the start, not fewer than one thousand. Well, the -number is one hundred scant. They are a weird lot—a grim, one-eyed -miner from Ottumwa; a jockey from Lexington, a fanatical preacher of -the raw gospel from Detroit, a heavy steel mill worker from Youngstown, -a sinewy young farmer from near Sandusky, a Swede laborer from -everywhere, one doctor, one lawyer, clerks, actors, paper hangers, -blind ends, what-nots and tramps. There is not a fat man among them, -nor one above forty. They march in order, looking straight ahead. A -man in a blue overcoat and white trousers, riding a horse with a red -saddle, moves up and down the line eyeing it importantly.</p> - -<p>At the end of this strange procession are two wagons. One is called the -commissariat wagon; it is loaded with a circus tent, some bales of hay -for the horses and a few bags of provisions—hardly enough for one day. -The other is a covered<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> wagon painted blue. The sides are decorated -with geometrical figures of incomprehensible meaning. This vehicle of -mystery belongs to the precious being on the white horse ahead. He -created it; inside are sliding panoramas which he has painted.</p> - -<p>As these wagons pass, people on foot and in buggies and wagons to -the number of more than a thousand fall into line and follow. Their -curiosity is not yet sated. They cannot abandon the spectacle.</p> - -<p>Among these followers are forty-three correspondents, representing -newspapers from New York to San Francisco; four Western Union telegraph -operators, and two linemen. The route to Jerusalem is uncertain. -Something may happen on the open road, miles from a telegraph office. -Hence the linemen, anywhere to climb a pole and tap the wires, and -special operators to dispatch the news emergently! The reporters are to -whoop the story up and be in on the crucifixion.</p> - -<p>Could anything less seeming of reality be invented by the imagination? -It has the pattern of a dream. Yet it is history.</p> - -<p>This is how two fatuous spirits, charlatans maybe, visionaries -certainly,—Carl Browne on the white horse and Jacob S. Coxey in the -buggy,—led the Army of the Commonweal of Christ (Coxey’s Army for -short), out of Massillon, past the blacksmith shop, past the sandstone -quarry, past the little house where the woman was who waved her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> apron -with one hand and wiped her eyes with the other, out upon the easting -highway, toward Washington, with the Easter chimes behind them.</p> - -<p>And for what purpose? Merely this: to demand from Congress a law by -which unlimited prosperity and human happiness might be established on -earth.</p> - -<h3>ii</h3> - -<p>I, who am telling it, was one of the forty-three correspondents.</p> - -<p>The road was ankle deep with that unguent kind of mud which lies on -top of frost. Snow began to fall. Curiosity waned in the rear. The -followers began to slough off, shouting words of encouragement as they -turned back. Browne on his white horse, Coxey in his buggy and the -man in the red saddle were immersed in vanity. But the marchers were -extremely miserable. None of them was properly shod or dressed for -it. They were untrained, unused to distance walking, and after a few -miles a number of them began to limp on wet, blistered feet. The band -played a great deal and the men sang, sometimes all together, sometimes -in separate groups. The going was such that no sort of marching order -could be maintained.</p> - -<p>At one o’clock there was a stop for coffee and dry bread, served out of -the commissariat wagon.</p> - -<p>It was understood that the Army would live on the country as it went -along, trusting to charity and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> providence; but the shrewdness of -the Commander had foreseen that the art of begging would have to be -learned, and that in any case it could not begin successfully on the -first few miles out.</p> - -<p>The Commonwealers watched us curiously as we tapped the telegraph wires -by the roadside to send off flash bulletins of progress. Both Browne -and Coxey exhorted their followers to courage, challenged the weaklings -to drop out, and the march was resumed with only two desertions. These -were made good by accessions further on.</p> - -<p>At four o’clock a halt was called near a village, the inhabitants of -which made friendly gestures and brought forth bacons and hams which -were gratefully added to the boiled potatoes and bread served out of -the wagon. The tent was raised. Browne, astride his bespattered white -horse, made a speech.</p> - -<p>He was the more aggressive half of the reincarnation. Indeed, it came -presently to be the opinion of the correspondents that he was the -activating principle of the whole infatuation, and held the other in a -spell. He was full of sound and rhetoric and moved himself to ecstacy -with sonorous sayings. His talk was a wild compound of Scripture, -Theosophy and Populism.</p> - -<p>The Kingdom of Heaven on earth was at hand, he said. The conditions -foretold in Revelations were fulfilled. The seven heads of the beast -were the seven conspiracies against the money of the people. The -ten horns of the beast were the ten<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> monopolies nourished in Wall -Street—the Sugar Trust, the Oil Trust, and so on.</p> - -<p>“We are fast undermining the structure of monopoly in the hearts of the -people,” he declaimed, reaching his peroration. “Like Cyrus of old we -are fast tunnelling under the boodlers’ Euphrates and will soon be able -to march under the walls of the second Babylon, and its mysteries, too. -The infernal, blood-sucking bank system will be overthrown, for the -handwriting is on the wall.”</p> - -<p>The listeners, though they growled at the mention of Wall Street and -cheered the fall of Babylon, received his interpretation of their -rôle and errand with an uneasy, bothered air. Voices asked for Coxey. -He spoke to them in a gentle manner, praised them for their courage -and fortitude, emphasized the hardships yet to be endured, proposed a -hymn to be sung, and then dismissed them to rest with some practical -suggestions touching their physical comfort. Rest and comfort, under -the circumstances, were terms full of irony, but nobody seemed to think -of that. They cheered him heartily.</p> - -<h3>iii</h3> - -<p>In the village railroad station was a telegraph office, where our -special operators cut in their instruments and received our copy. Among -us we filed more than 40,000 words of narrative, incident, pathos and -ridicule.</p> - -<p>News is stranger than fiction not in what it tells<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> but in how it -happens. In a room twenty feet square, lighted by one kerosene lamp, we -wrote our copy on our knees, against the wall, on each other’s backs, -standing up and lying down, matching notes and exchanging information -as we went along.</p> - -<p>“What’s the name of this town?”</p> - -<p>“Louisville.”</p> - -<p>“Kentucky?”</p> - -<p>“Kentucky, no. Hear him!—Ohio.”</p> - -<p>“Didn’t know there was a Louisville, Ohio.”</p> - -<p>“Write it anyway. It isn’t the first time you’ve written what you don’t -know.”</p> - -<p>Then silence, save for the clicking of the telegraph instruments and -the cracking of copy paper.</p> - -<p>“Who was the man in the red saddle?”</p> - -<p>No answer.</p> - -<p>Again: “Who was the guy in the red saddle?”</p> - -<p>No answer.</p> - -<p>Another voice, in the same difficulty, roaring: “Who in hell was the -man in the red saddle?”</p> - -<p>Now everybody for a minute stops writing. Nobody knows.</p> - -<p>Voice: “Call him Smith: the man of mystery: the great unknown.”</p> - -<p>We did. The man in the red saddle was Smith the Great Unknown to the -end of his silly part.</p> - -<p>There was a small hotel in the place, with only two bedrooms available, -and these had been selfishly seized by three magazine writers who had -no telegraph stuff to file. They had retired. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> rest of us took -possession of a fairly large lounging room and settled ourselves for -the night on cots, pallets and chairs.</p> - -<p>The lean-minded man from Cleveland, reclining on the hotel desk with -his feet on the cigar case, started an untimely discussion.</p> - -<p>“We’ve sent off a lot of guff about this thing,” he said, “and not a -word of what it means. Not a man here has tried to tell what it means.”</p> - -<p>“Leave that to the editorial writers and go to sleep,” said St. Louis -from under his hat. He had made his bed in the swivel chair.</p> - -<p>“It means something ... it means something,” said Cleveland.</p> - -<p>“Well, what?” asked a petulant voice.</p> - -<p>“It’s a joke,” said St. Louis, not moving. “People have to laugh,” he -added. “Go to sleep or be still.”</p> - -<p>Another voice: “What does it mean, you Cleveland? I saw you reading -Plutarch. What does it mean?”</p> - -<p>“These people are asking questions to which there is no answer,” said -the Cleveland man, lifting on his elbow. “Why is anybody hungry in a -land of surplus food? Why are able bodied men out of work while we have -such roads as the one we traveled to-day? I don’t know. I’m asking.”</p> - -<p>A man whom we had hardly noticed before, anæmic, shrill and hairy, sat -up on his mattress and thrust a naked bent arm out of his blanket. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you what it means,” he shouted. “Wall Street has sucked the -country dry. People may perish, but Wall Street will have its profit -and interest. Labor may starve, but the banking power will keep money -sound. Money in itself is nothing,—merely a convenience, a token by -means of which useful things are exchanged. Is that so? Not at all. -Money no longer exists for the use of people. We exist for the sake of -money. There is plenty everywhere, but people cannot buy because they -are unemployed and have no money. Coxey says, ‘Create the money. Make -it abundant. Then people may work and be prosperous.’ Well, why not? -Wall Street says if you make money abundant you will ruin the country. -Hell! The country is already ruined. We laugh. Yet what we have seen -to-day is the beginning of revolution. As people have freed themselves -from other tyrannies, so they will free themselves from this money -tyranny.”</p> - -<p>He stopped, out of breath and choking, and a singular hubbub arose. -Everyone awake had been listening attentively, and now, just as they -lay, not an arm or a leg stirring, all those huddled, inert forms -became vocal, shouting:</p> - -<p>“Populist! Right-o! Put him out! Douse him!”</p> - -<p>Accents of weariness, irritation and raillery were inseparably mingled. -Yet the overtone was not unfriendly. We could be light and cruel with -the Army of the Commonweal of Christ, because its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> whole figure was -ludicrous, but there was no love among us for Wall Street or the money -power. Those names stood for ideas of things which were commonly feared -and hated and blamed for all the economic distress of the time.</p> - -<p>Above, the plutocratic magazine writers were pounding on the floor. The -hairy agitator, breathing heavily, melted back into his mattress, heavy -in his conscience, no doubt, for having written a very sarcastic piece -about that Easter Day event. We saw it afterward in his Chicago paper. -The fat reporter from Cincinnati began to snore.</p> - -<p>For a long time I lay awake, thinking.</p> - -<p>What were we doing here? Reporting the news. News of what? One -hundred inconsequent men dreaming in the mud,—was that news? No, not -intrinsically. As a manifestation of the frustrate human spirit it -might serve as material for the reflective fictionist, or text for some -Olympian humorist, but why was it news to be written hot and dispatched -by telegraph?</p> - -<p>In their acts of faith, folly, wisdom and curiosity men are moved by -ideas. Perhaps, therefore, the discrepancy between the unimportance -of this incongruous Easter Day spectacle itself and the interest we -bestowed upon it was explained by what it signified—that is, by the -motivating idea. This thought I examined carefully.</p> - -<p>Two years before this, Jacob S. Coxey, horse breeder, quarry owner, -crank, whom no one had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> heard of until then, proposed to cure the -economic disease then afflicting the country by the simple expedient of -hiring all the unemployed on public works. Congress should raise half -a billion dollars from non-interest bearing bonds and spend the money -on national roads. This plan received some publicity as a freak idea; -nobody had been really serious about it. What then happens?</p> - -<p>One Carl Browne, theosophist, demagogue and noise-breaker, seeks out -this money crank at Massillon and together they incubate the thought of -calling upon the people to take the plan in the form of a petition and -walk with it to Congress. The thing is Russian,—“a petition in boots,” -a prayer to the government carried great distances by peasants on foot. -The newspapers print it as a piece of light news. Then everybody begins -to talk about it, and the response is amazing. People laugh openly and -are secretly serious.</p> - -<p>A day is set for the march to begin, a form of organization is -announced and Coxey Army contingents begin to appear spontaneously all -over the country. This also is news, to be treated in the same light -spirit, and no doubt it is much exaggerated for sportive reasons. As -the day approaches little groups of men, calling themselves units of -the Christ Army of the Commonweal, set out from Missouri, Illinois, -Pennsylvania, Kansas, Michigan, from anywhere east of the Missouri -River, footing it to Massillon to merge their numbers. Then it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> rains. -For three weeks there is nothing but rain, and the flesh fails. That is -why there is but a scant one hundred to make the start. Coxey believes -the bemired and tardy units will survive and catch up. He still hopes -to have tens of thousands with him when he reaches Washington.</p> - -<p>But all of this vibration is unmistakably emotional. That is a fact -to be accounted for. When did it become possible to emotionalize the -human animal with a financial idea?—specifically, a plan to convert -non-interest bearing bonds into an unlimited amount of legal tender -money? Never. The money theory is merely the ostensible aspect, the -outwardness of the matter. Something else is signified. What is it?</p> - -<p>I come back to what the Cleveland man said. Why are people hungry in a -land of surplus food? Why is labor idle? Labor applied to materials is -the source of all wealth. There is no lack of materials. The desire for -wealth is without limit. Why are men unemployed instead of acting on -their unfinished environment to improve it?</p> - -<p>And now, though I had thought my way around a circle, I began to -glimpse some understanding of what was taking place in a manner -nominally so preposterous. People had tormented themselves with -these questions until they were weary, callous and bitterly ironic. -The country was in the toils of an invisible monster that devoured -its heart and wasted its substance. The name of this monster<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> was -Hard Times. The problem of unemployment was chronic, desperate and -apparently hopeless. The cause of it was unknown. People were sick of -thinking and talking about something for which there was no help. They -had either to despair or laugh. Then came Coxey, fanatic, mountebank -or rare comedian,—so solemn in his egregious pretensions that no one -knew which,—and they laughed. It might become serious. Mass psychology -was in a highly inflammable condition. There was always that thought -in reserve to tinge the laughter with foreboding. But if there came -a conflagration, then perhaps the questions would be unexpectedly -answered; nobody cared much what else happened.</p> - -<p>Cincinnati turned over with a frightful snort and was suddenly quiet. I -prayed that he might be dead and went to sleep.</p> - -<p>The next morning the New York Herald man took me aside.</p> - -<p>“I’ve been recalled from this assignment to go to Europe,” he said. -“I’m waiting for a man to relieve me. He will pick us up some time -to-day.”</p> - -<p>I said I was sorry; and I was, for we were made to each other’s liking.</p> - -<p>“I don’t care for the man who is relieving me,” he continued. “Besides, -he isn’t competent to do what I’m about to ask you to undertake in my -place.”</p> - -<p>“Anything I can,” I said.</p> - -<p>“You are from the west,” he continued, “and therefore you’re not likely -to know how jumpy the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> Wall Street people are about what’s going on. -They are afraid of this Coxey movement,—of what it may lead to. They -want to know a lot about it,—more than they can get from the newspaper -stories. I’ve been sending a confidential letter on it daily to -Valentine ... you know, ... John J., president of the Great Midwestern -Railroad. He wants the tale unvarnished, and what you think of it, -and what others think of it. He particularly wants to know in the -fullest way how the Coxeyites are received along the way, for therein -is disclosed the state of public feeling. Well, I wish you to take -this commission off my hands. It pays fifty a week for the life of the -circus. I’ll see him in New York, tell him who you are and why I left -it for you to do. Then when the thing is over you can run up to New -York from Washington and get your money.”</p> - -<p>I hesitated.</p> - -<p>“It’s Wall Street money,” I said.</p> - -<p>“It’s railroad money,” he replied. “That may be all the same thing. -But there’s no difficulty, really. It’s quite all right for anyone to -do this. What’s wanted is the truth. Put in your own opinions of Wall -Street if you like. Indeed, do that. Wall Street people are not as you -think they are. Valentine is a particularly good sort and honest in his -point of view. I vouch for the whole thing.”</p> - -<p>So I took it; and thereafter posted to John J. Valentine, 130 Broadway, -room 607, <i>personal</i>, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> daily confidential report on the march of the -Commonwealers.</p> - -<p>I would not say that the fact of having a retainer in railroad money -changed my point of view. It did somewhat affect my sense of values and -my curiosity was extended.</p> - -<p>For the purpose of the Valentine reports I made an intensive personal -study of the Commonwealers. I asked them why they were doing it. Some -took it as a sporting adventure, with no thought of the consequences, -and enjoyed the mob spirit. Some were tramps who for the first time in -their lives found begging respectable. But a great majority of them -were earnest, wistful men, fairly aching with convictions, without -being able to say what it was they had a conviction of, or what was -wrong with the world. Their notions were incoherent. Nobody seemed -very sanguine about the Coxey plan; nobody understood it, in fact; yet -something would have to be done; people couldn’t live without work.</p> - -<p>Unemployment was the basic grievance. I took a group of twenty, all -skilled workmen, sixteen of them married, and found that for each of -them the average number of wage earning days in a year had been twelve. -They blamed the money power in Wall Street. When they were asked how -the money power could profit by their unemployment, what motive it -could have in creating hard times, they took refuge in meaningless -phrases. Most of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> them believed in peaceable measures. Only three or -four harbored destructive thoughts.</p> - -<p>The manner of the Army’s reception by farmers, villagers and -townspeople was variable and hard at first to understand. Generally -there was plenty of plain food. Sometimes it was provided in a -generous, sympathetic spirit; then again it would be forthcoming as -a bid for immunity, the givers at heart being fearful and hostile. -The Army was much maligned by rumor as a body of tramps obtaining -sustenance by blackmail. It wasn’t true. There was no theft, very -little disorder, no taking without leave, even when the stomach gnawed.</p> - -<p>One learned to anticipate the character of reception by the look of -the place. In poor, dilapidated communities there was always a hearty -welcome with what food the people could spare, cheerfully bestowed; -the better and more prosperous the community the worse for the -Commonwealers.</p> - -<p>I spoke of this to some of the more thoughtful men. They had noted the -fact and made nothing of it. Then I spoke of it to one of the tramps, -who knew the technique of begging; he said:</p> - -<p>“Sure. Anybody’d know that. D’jew ever get anything at a big house? The -poor give. We ought to stick to the poor towns.”</p> - -<p>In those industrial communities where class distinctions had -arisen,—that is to say, where poverty and affluence were separately -self-conscious, the police invariably were disagreeable and the poor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> -were enthusiastic over the Commonwealers. At Allegheny, where the steel -mill workers had long suffered from unemployment, the Army received a -large white silk banner, lettered:</p> - -<p>“Laws for Americans. More money. Less misery.”</p> - -<p>Here there were several collisions between, on one side, the -Commonwealers and their welcomers, and, on the other, the police. At -some towns the Army was not permitted to stop at all. At others it was -officially received with music, speeches and rejoicings.</p> - -<p>As these incidents became repetitious they ceased to be news, yet they -were more important, merely by reason of recurring, than the bizarre -happenings within the Army which as newspaper correspondents we were -obliged competitively to emphasize, as, for example, the quarrel -between Browne and the bandmaster, the mutiny led by Smith the Great -Unknown, the development of the reincarnation myth and the increasing -distaste for it among the disciples.</p> - -<p>The size of the Army fluctuated with the state of the weather. Crossing -the Blue Mountains by the icy Cumberland road in a snow storm was an -act of fortitude almost heroic. Confidence in the leaders declined. -Browne came to be treated with mild contempt. The line,—“Christ -and Coxey,”—which had been painted on the commissariat wagon was -almost too much. There was grumbling in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> ranks. Everybody was -discouraged when the expectation of great numbers had finally to be -abandoned. Never did the roll exceed five hundred men, not even after -the memorable junction in Maryland with Christopher Columbus Jones, -forty-eight men and a bull dog, from Philadelphia.</p> - -<p>Yet there was a cohesive principle somewhere. Nearly all of those who -started from Massillon stuck to the very end. What held them together? -Possibly, a vague, herd sense of moving against something and a dogged -reaction to ridicule. This feeling of againstness is sometimes stronger -to unite men, especially unhappy men, than a feeling of forness. The -thing they were against was formless in their minds. It could not be -visualized or perceived by the imagination, like the figure of the -horrible Turk in possession of the Holy Sepulchre. Therefore it was a -foredoomed crusade.</p> - -<p>The climax was pitiably futile.</p> - -<p>Two self-mongering reincarnations of Christ, both fresh and clean, -having nighted in decent hotels, led four hundred draggle-tail men into -Washington and up Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol grounds, enormous -humiliated crowds looking on. Browne dismounted and leaped over the -low stone wall. Coxey tried to make a speech. Both were good-naturedly -arrested for trespassing on the public grass and violating a police -ordinance. The leaderless men wandered back to a camp site that had -been mercifully loaned. For a time they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> dully subsisted upon charity, -ceased altogether to be news, and gradually vanished away.</p> - -<h3>iv</h3> - -<p>Though the Army of the Commonweal of Christ was dead, and Coxey himself -was now a pusillanimous figure, Coxeyism survived in a formidable -manner. The term was current in newspaper language; and the country -seemed to be full of those forms of social insubordination which it -was meant to signify. In the west rudely organized bands, some of them -armed, and strong enough to overwhelm the police of the cities through -which they passed, were running amuck. They bore no petition in boots; -they were impatient and headlong. One of their pastimes was train -stealing. They would seize a railroad train, overpower the crew and -oblige themselves to outlaw transportation; and the railroad people, -fearful of accidents, would clear the way to let them through. It was -very exciting for men who had nothing else to do, and rather terrifying -to the forces of law and order.</p> - -<p>Public opinion was distracted and outraged.</p> - -<p>Some said, “Put down Coxeyism. Put it down with a strong hand. To treat -it tenderly is to encourage lawlessness.”</p> - -<p>Others said, “You may be able to put down Coxeyism by force, but you -will sometime have to answer the questions it has raised. Better now -than later.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> - -<p>There was a great swell of radical thought in the country. The Populist -party, representing a blind sense of revolt, had elected four men to -the Senate and eleven to the House of Representatives. Many newspapers -and magazines were aligned with the agitators, all asking the same -questions:</p> - -<p>Why hunger in a land of plenty?</p> - -<p>Why unemployment?</p> - -<p>Why was the economic machine making this frightful noise?</p> - -<p>The Federal and state governments were afraid to act effectively -against Coxeyism because too many people sympathized with it, secretly -or openly. It was partly a state of nerves. Writers in the popular -periodicals and in some of the solemn reviews laid it on red. In -Coxey’s march they saw an historic parallel. In almost the same -way five hundred volunteers, knowing how to die, had marched from -Marseilles to Paris with questions that could not be answered, and gave -the French Revolution a hymn that shook the world. Human distress was -first page news. The New York World gave away a million loaves of bread -and whooped up its circulation. The New York Herald solicited donations -of clothing which it distributed in large quantities to the ragged.</p> - -<p>On the train from Washington to New York I found men continually -wrangling in fierce heat about money, tariff and Coxeyism. I was -surprised to hear Wall Street attacked by well dressed, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>apparently -prosperous men, in the very phrases with which the Coxeyites had -filled my ears. Nobody by any chance ever stood in defense of Wall -Street, but there were those who denounced the Coxeyites and Populists -intemperately. Everybody denounced something; nobody was <i>for</i> -anything. National morale was in a very low state.</p> - -<p>In the smoking compartment two men, behaving as old acquaintances, -quarreled interminably and with so much dialectical skill that an -audience gathered to listen in respectful silence. One was a neat, -clerical-looking person whose anxieties were unrelieved by any glimpse -of humor or fancy. The other was carelessly dressed, spilt cigar ashes -over his clothes unawares, and had a way of putting out his tongue and -laughing at himself dryly if the argument went momentarily against him -or when he had adroitly delivered himself from a tight place. He was -the elder of the two. He was saying:</p> - -<p>“Because men are out of work they do not lose their rights as citizens -to petition Congress in <i>any</i> peaceable manner. Your low tariff is the -cause of unemployment. There is the evidence,—those cold smoke stacks.”</p> - -<p>He pointed to them. We were passing through Wilmington.</p> - -<p>“The importation of cheap foreign goods has shut our factories up. You -retort by calling the unemployed tramps.”</p> - -<p>“It was the high Republican tariff that made the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> people soft and -helpless,” said the other. “For years you taught them that good times -resulted not from industry and self-reliance but from laws,—that -prosperity was created by law. Now you reap the fruit. You put money -into the pockets of the manufacturers by high tariffs. The people know -this. Now they say, ‘Fill our pockets, too.’ It’s quite consistent. But -it’s Socialism. That’s what all this Coxeyism is,—a filthy eruption of -Socialism, and the Republican party is responsible.”</p> - -<p>“You forget to tell what has become of the jobs,” the other said. “All -they want is work to do. Where is the work?”</p> - -<p>“These Coxeyites,” the other retorted, “are a lot of strolling beggars. -They refuse work. They enjoy marching through the country in mobs, -living without work, doing in groups what as individuals they would -not dare to do for fear of police and dogs. And the Republican party -encourages them in this criminality because it needs a high tariff -argument.”</p> - -<p>At this point an impulse injected me into the discussion.</p> - -<p>“You are wrong about the Coxeyites,” I said. “At least as to those from -Massillon. I marched with them all the way. A few were tramps. There -were no criminals. A great majority of them were men willing to work -and honestly unemployed.”</p> - -<p>Both of them stared at me, and I went on for a long time, not knowing -how to stop and wishing I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> hadn’t begun. The younger man heard me -through with a bored air and turned away. But the other asked me some -questions and thanked me for my information.</p> - -<p>The episode closed suddenly. We were running into the Jersey City -railroad terminal, on the west bank of the Hudson River, and all -fellow-traveler contacts began to break up without ceremony in the -commotion of arrival. I saw no more of the disputants and forgot them -entirely in the thrill of approaching New York for the first time.</p> - -<p>It was early evening. Slowly I made headway up the platform against -the tide of New Jersey commuters returning from work. With a scuffling -roar of feet, and no vocal sound whatever, they came racing through the -terminal in one buffalo mass, then divided into hasty streams, flowed -along the platforms and boarded the westbound trains, strangely at ease -with extraordinary burdens, such as reels of hose, boxes of tomato -plants, rakes, scythes, hand cultivators, bags of bulbs, carpentering -tools and bits of lumber.</p> - -<p>Beating my way up the current, wondering how so many people came, by -what means they could be delivered in such numbers continuously, I came -presently into view of the cataract. Great double-decked ferryboats, -packed to the rails with self-loading and unloading cargoes, were -arriving two or three at a time and berthing in slips which lay side by -side in a long row, like horse stalls. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span></p> - -<p>We, the eastbound passengers from the Washington train, gathered at one -of the empty slips. Through the gates I saw a patch of water. Suddenly -a stealthy mass up-heaved, hesitated, then made up its mind and came -head on with terrific momentum. At the breathless moment the engines -were reversed, there was a gnashing of waters, and the boat came -fast with a soft bump. The gates burst open and the people decanted -themselves with a headlong rush. We stood tight against the wall to let -them pass. As the tail of the spill filed by we were sent aboard, the -gates banged to behind us, and the boat was off toward the other shore -for another load. This was before the unromantic convenience of Hudson -River tunnels.</p> - -<p>I stood on the bow to have my first look at New York.</p> - -<p>One’s inner sense does not perceive the thing in the moment of -experience, but films it, to be afterward developed in fluid -recollection. I see it now in memory as I only felt it then.</p> - -<p>A wide mile of opal water, pulsatile, thrilling to itself in a -languorous ancient way. And so indifferent! Indifference was -its immemorial character. I watched the things that walked upon -it—four-eyed, double-ended ferryboats with no fore or aft, like -those monsters of the myth that never turned around; tugs like mighty -Percherons, dragging sledges in a string; a loitering hyena, marked -dynamite, much to be avoided; behemoths of the deep, helpless in this<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> -thoroughfare, led by hawsers from the nose; sore-footed scows with one -pole rigs, and dressy, high-heeled pleasure craft. The river was as -unregardful of all these tooting, hooting, hissing improvisations as -of the natural fish, the creaking gulls, or those swift and ceaseless -patterns woven of the light which seem to play upon its surface and are -not really there.</p> - -<p>Beyond was that to which all this hubbub appertained. The city!... -Sudden epic!... Man’s forethought of escape ... his refuge ... his -self-overwhelming integration. Anything may happen in a city. Career -is there, success is there, failure, anguish, horror, women, hell, and -heaven. One has the sense of moral fibres loosening. Lust of conquest -stirs. The spirit of adventure flames. A city is a tilting field. -Unknown, self-named, anyone may enter, cast his challenge where he -will, and take the consequences. The penalties are worse than fatal. -The rewards are what you will.</p> - -<p>“New York!” I said.</p> - -<p>It stood against the eastern sky, a pure illusion, a rhythmic mass -without weight or substance, in the haze of a May-day evening. The -shadows of twilight were rising like a mist. Everything of average -height already was submerged. Some of the very tall buildings still had -the light above, and their upper windows were a-gleam with reflections -of the sunset.</p> - -<p>Seething city!... So full of life transacting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> potently, and yet so -still! A thin gray shell, a fragile show, a profile raised in time and -space, a challenge to the elements. They take their time about it.... -Lovely city!... Ugly city!... Never was there one so big and young and -hopeful all at once.</p> - -<p>“New York!” I said again, out loud.</p> - -<p>A man who must have been standing close beside me for some time spoke -suddenly, without salutation or word of prelude.</p> - -<p>“You were with Coxey’s Army?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” I said, turning to look at him. I recognized him as a man who -sat in one corner of the smoking compartment, listening in an attentive -though supercilious manner, and never spoke.</p> - -<p>“Wasn’t there plenty to eat?” he asked, in a truculent tone.</p> - -<p>“People were very generous along the way.”</p> - -<p>“Wasn’t there plenty to eat?” he asked, repeating the question -aggressively.</p> - -<p>“There was generally enough and sometimes plenty,” I replied. Then I -added rather sharply: “I have no case to prove for the Coxeyites, if -that’s what you think.”</p> - -<p>“I know you haven’t,” he said. “I have no case to make against them -either. They are out of work. That’s bad. But people who will ask need -not be hungry. You can cut that out. The unemployed eat. You’ve seen -it. Do the ravens feed them?”</p> - -<p>“What are you driving at?” I asked. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span></p> - -<p>“They all eat,” he repeated. “Ain’t that extraordinary?”</p> - -<p>“It doesn’t seem so to me,” I said. “They have to eat.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, do they?” he said. “You can eat merely because you have to, can -you? Suppose there wasn’t anything to eat?”</p> - -<p>He was turning away, with his feathers up, as if he had carried the -argument. But I detained him.</p> - -<p>“All right,” I said. “There is not enough work but plenty to eat. We’ll -suppose it. What does that prove?”</p> - -<p>Eyeing me intently, with some new interest, he hesitated, not as to -what he would say but as to whether he should bother to say it.</p> - -<p>“It proves,” he said, “that the country is rich. Nobody knows it. -Nobody will believe it. The country is so rich that people may actually -live without work.”</p> - -<p>“That’s an interesting point of view,” I said. “Who are you?”</p> - -<p>“Nobody,” he replied, with an oblique sneer. “A member of the Stock -Exchange.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” I said, before I could catch it. And not to leave the -conversation in that lurch I asked: “Do you know who those two men were -who wrangled in the smoking compartment?”</p> - -<p>“Editors,” he replied, cynically. “The younger one was Godkin of -the Post. I’ve forgotten the other one’s name. Silly magpies! -Pol-i-t-i-c-s, <i>hell</i>!” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> - -<p>At that instant the ferryboat bumped into her slip. The petulant man -screwed his head half round, jerked a come-along nod to a girl who had -been standing just behind us, and stalked off in a mild brain fit.</p> - -<p>I had not noticed the girl before. She passed me to overtake her -father,—I supposed it was her father,—and in passing she gave me a -look which made me both hot and cold at once. It left me astonished, -humiliated and angry. It was a full, open, estimating look, too -impervious to be returned as it deserved and much too impersonal to -be rude. It was worse than rude. I was an object and not a person. It -occurred to me that either or both of us might have been stark nude and -it would not have made the slightest difference.</p> - -<p>For a moment I thought I must have been mistaken,—that she was not a -girl but a man-hardened woman. I followed them for some distance. And -she was unmistakably a girl, probably under twenty, audaciously lithe -and flexible. She walked without touching her father,—if he were that. -He was a small man, wearing a soft hat a little down on one side, and -moved with a bantam, egregious stride. One hand he carried deep in his -trousers pocket, which gave him a slight list to the right, for his -arms were short. The skirts of his overcoat fluttered in the wind and -his left arm swung in an arc.</p> - -<p>Presently I lost them, and that was all of it; but this experience, -apparently so trivial, cost me all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> other sensations of first contact -with New York. I wandered about for several hours, complaining that all -cities are alike. I had dinner, and the food was like food anywhere -else. Then I found a hotel and went to bed. My last thought was: Why -did she look at me at all?</p> - -<p>Her eyes were dark carnelian.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER II</span> <span class="smaller">THE FUNK IDOL</span></h2> - -<h3>i</h3> - -<p>“Where is one-hundred-and-thirty Broadway?” I asked the hotel porter -the next morning.</p> - -<p>“One-hundred-and-thirty Broadway? That’s in Wall Street,” he said. -“Take the elevated down town and get off at Rector Street.”</p> - -<p>That was literal. Broadway is in Wall Street, as may be explained.</p> - -<p>Wall street proper,—street with a small <i>s</i>,—is a thoroughfare. -Wall Street in another way of speaking,—street with a big <i>S</i>,—is a -district, the money district, eight blocks deep by three blocks wide -by anything from five to thirty stories high. It is bounded on the -north by jewelry, on the northeast by leather, on the east by sugar -and coffee, on the south by cotton, on the southwest by shipping and -on the west by Greek lace, ship chandlery and Trinity churchyard. It -grew that way. The Wall Street station of the elevated railroad is at -Rector Street, and Rector Street is a hand-wide thoroughfare running -uphill to Broadway under the south wall of Trinity graveyard. When you -are half way up you begin to see over the top of the wall, rising to -it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> gradually, and the first two things you see are the tombstones of -Robert Fulton and Alexander Hamilton. A few steps more and you are in -Broadway. Rector Street ends there.</p> - -<p>Trinity church is on the west side of Broadway, thirty paces to your -left. Standing with your back to Trinity church door you look straight -down Wall street, with a little <i>s</i>. All of this is Wall Street with a -big <i>S</i>. You are in the midst of it.</p> - -<p>If it is nine-thirty or a quarter to ten you may see here and there -in the preoccupied throng groups of three bearing wealth,—in each -case two men with a box carried between them and a third walking close -behind with one hand resting lightly upon something in his outer -pocket. These are the trusted clerks of big banking and brokerage -houses. They go each morning to fetch the strong box from one of -the great Wall Street safety deposit vaults. At four o’clock they -take it back for the night. The third man walking behind is probably -unnecessary. If the box were not too heavy one man unarmed might bear -it safely to and fro. Banditry,—that is to say, taking by force,—is -here unknown. There is a legend to account for this fact. It is -that the police keep a dead line around the money district which -thieves dare not cross. Every crook in the world is supposed to know -and respect the sacred taboo. It may be so, more or less. One need -not believe it whole. A much more probable explanation is what any -highwayman knows. He might make off with a dozen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> of those strong boxes -and then be no richer than he was before. They contain no money at -all, but stocks and bonds, numbered and registered, which represent -wealth reduced to an impalpable, theft-proof form. A railroad may lie -in one of those boxes. But if you ran away with the box you would have -neither the railroad nor anything you could turn into cash. The lost -stock and bond certificates would be cancelled and new ones issued in -their place; and after that anyone who tried to sell one of the stolen -certificates would be instantly arrested.</p> - -<p>I walked a little way into Wall Street, somewhat in awe of it, almost -expecting to be noticed and challenged for trespassing. The atmosphere -was strange and inhospitable and the language unknown. Two men were -quarreling excitedly, one standing on the edge of the sidewalk, the -other down on the pavement. One seemed to be denouncing the government -for letting the country go bankrupt.</p> - -<p>“It is busted,” he shrieked. “The United States Treasury is busted.”</p> - -<p>The other at the same time spoke of the color, the shape, the bowels -and religion of men who were exporting gold to Europe. I could make -nothing of it whatever. Nobody else so much as glanced at them in -passing. Everybody seemed absent, oblivious and self-involved. When -two acquaintances met, or collided, there was a start of recognition -between them, as if they had first to recall themselves from afar. -Incessantly from within a great red brick<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> building came a sound of -b-o-o-ing, cavernous and despairing. This place was the Stock Exchange -and the noise was that which brokers and speculators make when prices -are falling.</p> - -<p>A few steps further down the street a dray stood backed against the -curb, receiving over its tailboard some kind of very heavy freight. -“Ickelheimer & Company—Bullion and Foreign Exchange,” was the legend -on the window; and what the men were bringing forth and loading on -the dray was pure silver, in pigs so large that two strong men could -carry only one. The work went on unguarded. People passed as if they -didn’t see it. Precious money metal flung around like pig iron! The -sight depressed me. I walked slowly back to Broadway feeling dazed and -apprehensive.</p> - -<p>No. 130 Broadway was an office building. The executive offices of -the Great Midwestern Railroad occupied the entire sixth floor. Room -607, small and dim, without windows, was the general entrance where -people asked and waited. High-backed wooden benches stood against the -walls. The doors opening out of it were ground glass from the waist -up, lettered in black. The one to the left was lettered, “President,” -the one straight ahead, “Vice President-Secretary,” and the one to the -right, “Private.” In one corner of this room, at a very tiny desk, sat -a boy reading a book. He was just turning a page and couldn’t look up -until he had carried over; but he held out his hand with a pencil<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> and -a small writing pad together, meaning that I should write my name, whom -I wished to see and why. I gave it back to him with my name and nothing -more.</p> - -<p>“Your business, please,” he said, holding it out to me again.</p> - -<p>I let it to him tactfully that my business was private. If necessary, -I could explain it to the president’s secretary. Might I see his -secretary first?</p> - -<p>The boy put down his book and eyed me steadily.</p> - -<p>“He left this morning.”</p> - -<p>“The president?”</p> - -<p>“His secretary.”</p> - -<p>“Suddenly, perhaps?” I said.</p> - -<p>He slowly nodded his head several times, still gazing at me.</p> - -<p>“How long have you been here?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“Two weeks.”</p> - -<p>“Do you care for it?”</p> - -<p>Instead of answering he got up, took the name I had written on the pad, -and disappeared through the door to the left. Almost at once he stood -holding it open and beckoned me to enter.</p> - -<p>First was a small ante-space, probably called his office by the private -secretary who had gone suddenly away. It was furnished with letter -filing cases, two chairs and a typewriter desk standing open and -littered with papers.</p> - -<p>The president’s room immediately beyond was large and lighted by -windows, but desolate. The rug<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> was shabby. The walls were hung with -maps and railroad scenes in photograph, their frames askew. At one -side against the wall was a long oak table; on it were ink and writing -materials, also some books and periodicals.</p> - -<p>On the other side of the room a very large man sat writing at a small, -old-fashioned walnut desk with a green-covered floor that pulled out -and a solid curved top that opened up or closed down with a rotary -motion. That kind of furniture was even then out of style. It is now -extinct. It was too ugly to survive in the antique shops.</p> - -<p>He went on writing for a minute or two, then turned slowly, looked me -through and put out his hand.</p> - -<p>“I’m preparing a speech on your subject,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Coxeyism?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Your reports were excellent,—very good, indeed.”</p> - -<p>As he said this he turned to search for something on his desk.</p> - -<p>It is an odd sensation to meet a notorious person at close range for -the first time, especially one who has been much caricatured in the -newspapers. There is an imaginary man to be got rid of surreptitiously -before the real one can be accepted. One feels somehow embarrassed -while this act is taking place, with an impulse to apologize for the -human fact of its being so much easier on hearsay to believe ill than -good of a fellow being whom you do not know. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p> - -<p>This John J. Valentine was a person of much figure in the country. -He was the head of a family two generations removed from the uncouth -progenitor who founded its fortune in commerce, real estate and -transportation; therefore, he was an aristocrat. For many years he had -been president of the Great Midwestern Railroad. After his name in -the Directory of Directors was a long list of banks, corporations and -insurance companies. He made a great many authoritative speeches, which -were read in the economics classes of the universities, printed at -length in the newspapers and commented upon editorially. What he said -was news because he said it. He represented an immovable point of view, -the chief importance of which lay in the mere fact of its existence. He -spoke courageously and believingly for the vested rights of property.</p> - -<p>However, he might have been all that he was and yet not a national -figure in the popular sense. For the essential element of contemporary -greatness he was indebted to the fact that his features gave themselves -remarkably to caricature. The newspaper cartoonists did the rest. -They had fixed him in the public mind’s eye as the symbol of railroad -capital.</p> - -<p>There was in him or about him an alarming contradiction. The -explanation was too obvious to be comprehended all at once. It was -this: that his ponderable characteristics were massive, overt and rude, -such as one would not associate with a notable gentleness of manner; -and yet his manner was gentle<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> to the point of delicacy and he seemed -remarkably to possess the gift of natural politeness. Physically he -was enormous in all proportions. The head was tall and the forehead -overhanging gave the profile a concave form. He had a roaring, windy -voice, made husky by long restraint; it issued powerfully from a cave -partly concealed by a dense fibrous mustache.</p> - -<p>“Oh, here they are,” he said, producing my reports.</p> - -<p>Turning them sheet by sheet he questioned me at length, desiring me to -be most explicit in my recollections as to the reactions of people to -Coxeyism. His knowledge of the country through which we had passed was -surprising. When we were at the end I said:</p> - -<p>“I have talked with all sorts of people besides,—people in Washington, -on my way to New York, and here also. Nobody seems to know what is -wrong. Some say it’s the tariff. Others say it’s something that has -been done to money. Nearly everyone blames Wall Street more or less. -What is the matter? Why is labor unemployed?”</p> - -<p>He passed his hand over his face, then leaned forward in his chair and -spoke slowly:</p> - -<p>“Why are the seven-year locusts? Why do men have seasons of madness? -Who knows?”</p> - -<p>After a pause, his thoughts absorbing him, he continued in a tone of -soliloquy.</p> - -<p>The country was bewitched. The conglomerate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> American mind was -foolishly persuaded to a variety of wistful and unverified economic -notions,—that was to say, heresies, about such important matters as -money, capital, prices, debts. People were minding things they knew -nothing about and could never settle, and were neglecting meanwhile to -be industrious. This had happened before in the world. In the Middle -Ages Europe might have advanced, with consequences in this day not -easily to be imagined, but for the time and the energy of mind and body -which were utterly wasted in quest of holy grails and dialectical forms -of truth. So now in this magnificent New World, the resources of which -were unlimited, human progress had been arrested by silly Utopians who -distracted the mind with thoughts of unattainable things.</p> - -<p>Take the railroads. With already the cheapest railroad transportation -in the world, people were clamoring for it to be made cheaper. Crazy -Populists were telling the farmers it ought to be free, like the air. -Prejudice against railroads was amazing, irrational and suicidal. All -profit in railroading had been taxed and regulated away. Incentive to -build new roads had been destroyed. If by a special design of the Lord -a railroad did seem to prosper the politicians pounced upon it and -either mulcted it secretly or held it forth to the public as a monster -that must be chained up with restrictive laws. Sometimes they practised -both these arts at once. Result: the nation’s transportation arteries -were strangling.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> No extension of the arterial system for an increasing -population was possible under these conditions. What would the sequel -be? Rome for all her sins might have endured if only she had developed -means of communication, namely, roads, in an adequate manner. It was -obvious and nobody saw it. Well, now he was trying to save people from -a repetition of that blunder. He was trying to make them see in time -that unless they allowed the railroads to prosper the great American -experiment was doomed.</p> - -<p>I could not help thinking: people prophesy against Wall Street and Wall -Street prophesies against the people.</p> - -<p>I was surprised that he gave me so much time until it occurred to me -that he was thinking out loud, still working on his speech.</p> - -<p>He wished me to take my reports, which were merely field notes, and -pull them into form as an article on Coxeyism. He would procure -publication of it, in one of the monthly reviews perhaps, under his -name if I didn’t mind, and he could adopt it whole, or under my own. It -didn’t matter which.</p> - -<p>“An unhappy incident has just occurred in my office,” he said. “My -private secretary had to be sent away suddenly. You might work in his -room out there if it’s comfortable.”</p> - -<p>I sat down to the task at once, in the ante-room, at the vacant desk. -Half an hour later, passing out, he dropped me word of where he was -going and when he might be expected back, in case anyone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> should ask. -In a little while the boy did ask. Either he had not been at his place -when the president passed out, or else the president forgot to tell -him, his habit being to leave word at the desk where I sat. Also the -telephone rang several times and as there was no one else to do it I -answered.</p> - -<p>This ambiguous arrangement continued, the president coming and going, -leaving me always informed of his movements and asking me to be so good -as to say this or that to persons who should call up on the telephone. -It took two days to finish the article. He conceived a liking for my -style of writing and asked me to edit and touch up a manuscript that -had been giving him some trouble. Then it was to go over the proofs of -a monograph he had in the printer’s hands.</p> - -<p>On the fifth day, about 4 o’clock, I was at work on these proofs and -the president was in his office alone with the door closed when someone -came in from the waiting room unannounced. I did not look up. Whoever -it was stood looking at my back, then moved a little to one side to -get an angular view, and a voice I recognized but could not instantly -identify addressed me.</p> - -<p>“Hello, Coxey!”</p> - -<p>“Hello,” I said, looking round. It was the irritating man of the -ferryboat incident. He sat down and ogled me offensively.</p> - -<p>“Are you the new private secretary?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know what I am,” I said. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span></p> - -<p>“But you’re working for Jeremiah,” he said, jerking a glance at the -proofs. “Oh, o-o-o! Toot-toot!” He was suddenly amused and shrewd. “You -must be the man who sent him those reports on the march of Coxey’s -Army. That’s it. Very fine reports they were. Most excellent nonsense. -My name is Galt—Henry M. Galt.”</p> - -<p>“I’m pleased to meet you again,” I said, giving him my name in return.</p> - -<p>“And old jobbernowl hasn’t hired you yet!” he said. “I’ll see about it.”</p> - -<p>With that he got up abruptly and bolted into the president’s office, -closing the door behind him. I hated him intensely, partly I suppose -because unconsciously I transferred to him the feeling of humiliation -and anger produced in me by that look from the girl who was with him on -the ferryboat. It all came over me again.</p> - -<p>Half an hour later, as he was going out, he said: “All right, Coxey. -You’ll be here for some time.”</p> - -<p>The last thing the president did that day was to have me in his office -for a long, earnest conversation. He required a private secretary. -Several candidates had failed. What he needed was not a stenographer or -a filing clerk. That kind of service could be had from the back office. -He needed someone who could assist in a larger way, especially someone -who could write, as I could. He had looked me up. The recommendations -were satisfactory. He knew the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> college from which I came and it was -sound. In short, would I take the job at $200 a month.</p> - -<p>“I must tell you,” he said, “there is no future in the railroad -business, no career for a young man. A third of the railway mileage of -the country is bankrupt. God only knows if even this railroad can stand -up. But you will get some valuable experience, and if at any time you -wish to go back to newspaper work I’ll undertake to get you a place in -New York no worse than the one you leave.”</p> - -<p>I protested that I knew almost nothing of economics and finance.</p> - -<p>“All the better,” he said. “You have nothing unsound to get rid of. -I’ll teach you by the short cuts. Two books, if you will read them -hard, will give you the whole groundwork.”</p> - -<p>I accepted.</p> - -<h3>ii</h3> - -<p>The next morning Mr. Valentine presented me to the company secretary, -Jay C. Harbinger, and desired him to introduce me around the shop.</p> - -<p>“This way,” said Harbinger, taking me in hand with an air of deep, -impersonal courtesy. He stepped ahead at each door, opened it, held -it, and bowed me through. His attitude of deference was subtly yet -unmistakably exaggerated. He was a lean, tall, efficient man, full of -sudden gestures, who hated his work and did it well, and sublimated the -petty <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>irritations of his position in the free expression of violent -private judgments.</p> - -<p>We stopped first in his office. It was a small room containing two very -old desks with swivel chairs, an extra wooden chair at the end of each -desk for visitors, a letter squeeze and hundreds of box letter files -in tiers to the ceiling, with a step ladder for reaching the top rows. -There was that smell of damp dust which lingers in a place after the -floor has been sprinkled and swept.</p> - -<p>“That’s the vice-president’s desk,” said Harbinger, indicating the -other as he sat down at his own, his hands beneath him, and began to -rock. “He’s never here,” he added, swinging once all around and facing -me again. He evidently couldn’t be still. The linoleum was worn through -under his restless feet. “What brings you into this business?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Accident,” I said.</p> - -<p>“It gets you in but never out,” he said. “It got me in thirty years -ago.... Are you interested in mechanical things?”</p> - -<p>“Like what?” I asked.</p> - -<p>Jerking open a drawer he brought forth a small object which I -recognized as a dating device. He showed me how easily it could be -set to stamp any date up to the year 2000. This was the tenth model. -He had been working on it for years. It would be perfect now but for -the stupidity of the model-maker who had omitted an important detail. -The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> next problem was how to get it on the market. He was waiting for -estimates on the manufacture of the first 500. Perhaps it would be -adopted in the offices of the Great Midwestern. That would help. The -president had promised to consider it. As he talked he filled a sheet -of paper with dates. Then he handed it to me. I concealed the fact that -it did not impress me wonderfully as an invention; also the sympathetic -twinge I felt. For one could see that he was counting on this absurd -thing to <i>get him out</i>. It symbolized some secret weakness in his -character. At the same moment I began to feel depressed with my job.</p> - -<p>“Well,” he said, putting it back and slamming the drawer, “there’s -nothing more to see here. This way, please.”</p> - -<p>His official manner was resumed like a garment.</p> - -<p>In the next room were two motionless men with their backs to each -other, keeping a perfunctory, low-spirited tryst with an enormous iron -safe.</p> - -<p>“Our treasurer, John Harrier,” said Harbinger, introducing me to the -first one,—a slight, shy man, almost bald, with a thick, close-growing -mustache darker than his hair. He removed his glasses, wiped them, and -sat looking at us without a word. There was no business before him, no -sign of occupation whatever, and there seemed nothing to say.</p> - -<p>“A very hearty lunch,” I remarked, hysterically, calling attention to a -neat pile of pasteboard boxes on top of the desk. Each box was stamped -in big<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> red letters: “Fresh eggs. 1 doz.” He went on wiping his glasses -in gloomy silence.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Harrier lives in New Jersey and keeps a few chickens,” said -Harbinger. “He lets us have eggs. If you keep house ... are you -married, though?”</p> - -<p>“No,” I said.</p> - -<p>The treasurer put on his glasses and was turning his shoulder to us -when I extended my hand. He shook it with unexpected friendliness.</p> - -<p>The other man was Fred Minus, the auditor, a very obese and sociable -person of the sensitive type, alert and naïve in his reactions.</p> - -<p>“Nice fellows, those, when you know them a bit,” said Harbinger as -we closed the door behind us and stood for a moment surveying a very -large room which might be called the innermost premises of a railroad’s -executive organization. There were perhaps twenty clerks standing or -sitting on stools at high desks, not counting the cashier and two -assistants in a wire cage, which contained also a safe. The bare -floor was worn in pathways. Everything had an air of hallowed age and -honorable use, even the people, all save one, a magnificent person who -rose and came to meet us. He was introduced as Ivy Handbow, the chief -clerk. He was under thirty-five, full of rosy health, with an unmarried -look, whose only vice, at a guess, was clothes. He wore them with -natural art, believing in them, and although he was conscious of their -effect one could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> not help liking him because he insisted upon it so -pleasantly.</p> - -<p>At the furthermost corner of the room was the transfer department. -That is the place where the company’s share certificates, after -having changed hands on the Stock Exchange, come to be transferred -from the names of the old to the names of the new owners. Five clerks -were working here at high pressure. To my remark that it seemed the -busiest spot,—I had almost said the only busy spot,—in the whole -organization, Harbinger replied: “Our stock has recently been very -active. With a large list of stockholders—we have more than ten -thousand—there is a constant come and go, old stockholders selling -out and new ones taking their places. Then all of a sudden, for why -nobody knows, the sellers become numerous and in their anxiety to find -buyers they unfortunately attract speculators who run in between seller -and buyer, create a great uproar, and take advantage of both. That is -what has been happening in the last few days. This is the result. Our -transfer office is swamped.”</p> - -<p>He began to show me the routine. We took at random a certificate for -one thousand shares that had just come in and followed it through -several hands to the clerk whose task was to cancel it and make out -another certificate in the new owner’s name. At this point Harbinger -saw something that caused him to stop, forget what he was saying and -utter a grunt of surprise. I could not help seeing that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> what had -caught his attention was the name that unwound itself from the transfer -clerk’s pen. Harbinger regarded it thoughtfully until it disappeared -from view, overlaid by others; and when he became again aware of me it -was to say: “Well, we’ve been to the end of the shop. There’s nothing -more to see.”</p> - -<p>The name that had arrested his attention was Henry M. Galt.</p> - -<h3>iii</h3> - -<p>At lunch time Harbinger asked me to go out with him. On our way we -overtook the treasurer and auditor, who joined us without words. We -were a strange party of four,—tall discontent, bald gloom, lonely -obesity and middling innocence. Two and two we walked down Broadway to -the top of Wall Street, turned into it and almost immediately turned -out of it again into New Street, a narrow little thoroughfare which -serves the Stock Exchange as a back alley. The air was distressed -with that frightful, destructive b-oo-o-o-o-ing which attends falling -prices. It seemed to issue not only from the windows and doors of the -great red building but from all its crevices and through the pores of -the bricks.</p> - -<p>“They are whaling us in there to-day,” said Harbinger over his shoulder.</p> - -<p>“Nine,” said John Harrier. It was the first word I had heard him utter, -and it surprised me that the sound was definite and positive. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Are you talking about Great Midwestern Railroad stock?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Harbinger, “John says it sold at nine this morning. That is -the lowest price in all the company’s history. Every few days there’s -a rumor on the Stock Exchange that we are busted, as so many other -railroads are, and then the speculators, as I told you, create so much -uproar and confusion that no legitimate buyer can find a legitimate -seller, but all must do business with the speculator, who plays -upon their emotions in the primitive manner by means of terrifying -sounds and horrible grimaces. Hear him! He has also a strange power -of simulation. He adds to the fears of the seller when the seller is -already fearful, and to the anxieties of the buyer when the buyer is -already impatient, making one to part with his stock for less than it’s -worth and the other to pay for it more than he should.”</p> - -<p>Eating was at Robins’. The advantage of being four was that we could -occupy either a whole table against the wall opposite the bar or one -of the stalls at the end. As there was neither stall nor table free we -leaned against the bar and waited. We appeared to be well known. Three -waiters called to Harbinger by name and signalled in pantomime over the -heads of the persons in possession how soon this place or that would be -surrendered. While we stood there many other customers passed us and -disappeared down three steps into a larger room beyond. “Nobody ever -goes down there,” said Harbinger,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> seeing that I noticed the drift of -traffic. “It’s gloomy and the food isn’t so good.” The food all came -from one kitchen, as you could see; but as for its being more cheerful -here than in the lower room that was obviously true because of the -brilliantly lighted bar. And cheerfulness was something our party could -stand a great deal of, I was thinking. Harbinger had left himself in -a temper and was now silent. The other two were lumpish. Presently we -got a stall and sat there in torpid seclusion. The enormous surrounding -clatter of chairs, feet, doors, chinaware and voices touched us not at -all. We were as remote as if we existed in another dimension. Lunch -was procured without one unnecessary vocal sound. Not only was there -no conversation among us; there was no feeling or intuition of thought -taking place. I was obliged to believe either that I was a dead weight -upon them or that it was their habit to make an odious rite of lunch. -In one case I couldn’t help it; in the other I shouldn’t have been -asked. In either case a little civility might have saved the taste of -the food. When there is no possibility of making matters worse than -they are one becomes reckless.</p> - -<p>“Who is Henry M. Galt?” I asked suddenly, addressing the question to -the three of them collectively. I expected it to produce some effect, -possibly a strange effect; yet I was surprised at their reactions to -the sound of the name. It was as if I had spilled a family taboo. -Unconsciously gestures of anxiety<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> went around the table. For several -minutes no one spoke, apparently because no one could think just what -to say.</p> - -<p>“He’s a speculator,” said Harbinger. “Have you met him?—but of course -you have.”</p> - -<p>“The kind of speculator who comes between buyer and seller and harries -the market, as you were telling?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“He has several characters,” said Harbinger. “He is a member of -the Stock Exchange, professional speculator, floor trader, broker, -broker’s broker, private counsellor, tipster, gray bird of mystery. An -offensive, insulting man. He spends a good deal of time in our office.”</p> - -<p>“Why does he do that?”</p> - -<p>“He transacts the company’s business on the Stock Exchange, which isn’t -much. I believe he does something in that way also for the president -who, as you know, is a man of large affairs.”</p> - -<p>“He seems to have a good deal of influence with the president,” I said. -There was no answer. Harbinger looked uncomfortable.</p> - -<p>“But there’s one thing to be said for him,” I continued. “He believes -in the Great Midwestern Railroad. He is buying its shares.”</p> - -<p>Harbinger alone understood what I meant. “It’s true,” he said, speaking -to the other two. “Stock is being transferred to his name.” It was the -secretary’s business to know this. Harrier and Minus were at first -incredulous and then thoughtful. “But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> you cannot know for sure,” -Harbinger added. “That kind of man never does the same thing with both -hands at once. He may be buying the stock in his own name for purposes -of record and selling it anonymously at the same time.”</p> - -<p>While listening to Harbinger I had been watching John Harrier, and now -I addressed him pointedly.</p> - -<p>“What do you think of this Henry Galt?”</p> - -<p>His reply was prompt and unexpected, delivered with no trace of emotion.</p> - -<p>“He knows more about the G. M. railroad than its own president knows.”</p> - -<p>“John! I never heard you say that before,” said Harbinger.</p> - -<p>Harrier said it again, exactly as before. And there the subject stuck, -head on.</p> - -<p>We returned by the way we had come, passing the rear of the Stock -Exchange again. At the members’ entrance people to the number of thirty -or forty were standing in a hollow group with the air of meaning to be -entertained by something that was about to happen. We stopped.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” I asked.</p> - -<p>Harbinger pushed me through the rind to the hollow center of the -crowd and pointed downward at some blades of grass growing against -the curbstone. The sight caused nothing to click in my brain. For an -instant I thought it might be a personal hoax. It couldn’t be that, -however, with so many people participating. I was beginning to feel -silly when the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> crowd cheered respectfully and parted at one side to -admit a man with a sprinkling pot. He watered those blades of grass in -an absent, philosophical manner, apparently deaf to the ironic words of -praise and encouragement hurled at him by the spectators, and retired -with dignity. I watched him disappear through an opposite doorway. The -crowd instantly vanished. The four of us stood alone in the middle of -New Street.</p> - -<p>“Grass growing at the door of the New York Stock Exchange,” said -Harbinger, grinning warily as one does at a joke that is both bad and -irresistible. The origin of the grass was obvious. An untidy horse had -been fed at that spot from a nose bag and some of the oats that were -spilled had sprouted in a few ounces of silt gathered in a crevice at -the base of the curbstone.</p> - -<p>The incident gave me a morose turn of thought. As a jest it was -pitiable. What had happened to people to abase their faith in -themselves and in each other? Simple believing seemed everywhere -bankrupt. Nobody outside of it believed in Wall Street. That you might -understand. But here was Wall Street nurturing in fun a symbol of -its own decay, and by this sign not believing in itself. Harbinger -denounced the Stock Exchange speculators who depressed the price of -Great Midwestern shares and circulated rumors damaging the railroad’s -credit. But did Harbinger himself believe in Great Midwestern? No. -The Great Midwestern did not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> believe in itself. Its own president -did not believe in it. He was busily advertising his disbelief in the -whole railroad business. Why had he no faith in the railroad business? -Because people had power over railroads and he disbelieved in people. -Therefore, people disbelieved in him.</p> - -<p>I was saying to myself that I had yet to meet a man with downright -faith in anything when I thought of Galt. He believed in the country. I -remembered vividly what he said about it on the ferryboat. It was rich -and nobody would believe it. He believed also in Great Midwestern, for -he was buying the stock in the face of those ugly rumors.</p> - -<p>The fact of this one man’s solitary believing seemed very remarkable -to me at that instant. In the perspectives of times and achievement it -became colossal.</p> - -<h3>iv</h3> - -<p>The president was in Chicago on two errands. One was to hold a solemn -quarterly conference with the operating officials on the ground. There -was supposed to be much merit in having it take place on the ground. -The first time I heard the locution it made me think of Indian chiefs -debating around a camp fire. The executive offices in New York were -more than a thousand miles from the Great Midwestern’s first rail’s -end. It does not matter so much where a railway’s brains are; but its -other organs must remain where they naturally belong, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> that is -why all the operating departments were in Chicago. Four times a year -the brains were present in the physical sense. At all other times the -operating officials either brought their problems to New York, solved -them on the spot, or put them in a pigeon hole to await the next -conference.</p> - -<p>His other errand was to deliver a speech, entitled, “Lynching the -Railroads,” at a manufacturers’ banquet. On the plane of large ideas -the great Valentine mind was explicit; elsewhere it was vague and -liable. Although this was the first time I had been left alone with the -New York office for more than one day my instructions were very dim. At -the last moment the president said: “You will know what to do. Use your -own judgment. Open everything that comes in. Tell Mr. Harbinger to be -very careful about the earnings. They got out again last week.”</p> - -<p>He was referring to the private weekly statement of gross and net -revenues compiled jointly by the secretary and treasurer and delivered -by Harbinger’s own hand to the president. This exhibit was not for -publication like the monthly statement; it was a special sounding for -the information of the executive, or a kind of statistical cheese auger -by means of which the trained sense could sample the state of business. -The figures were supposed to be jealously guarded. On no account were -they to go out of the office, save by direct order of the president. -The crime of my predecessor had been to let them<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> fall regularly into -the hands of certain Stock Exchange speculators.</p> - -<p>Knowing all this, everybody knowing it, I wondered at Harbinger when -late one evening he brought the statement to my desk, saying: “Here are -the weekly figures. You take them. It’s better to keep them all in one -place while the chief is away. I haven’t even a copy.”</p> - -<p>I was not surprised that he should be trying to rid himself of a -distasteful responsibility. But the act of avoidance was in itself -puerile. Suppose there was another leak. He could say that he had put -the statement out of his keeping into mine; he could say he had not -kept a copy; but could he expect anyone to believe he had erased them -from his mind? It irritated me. I kept thinking about it that night. I -concluded there was something I did not understand; and there was.</p> - -<p>As I was opening my desk the next morning Galt came in and without a -word or sign of salutation addressed me summarily.</p> - -<p>“Harbinger says you have the earnings.”</p> - -<p>“The weekly earnings?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“The weekly earnings,” he repeated after me, trying to mimic my voice -and manner. He would have been ridiculous except that he was angry, and -anger was an emotion that seemed curiously to enlarge him. So here was -the explanation of Harbinger’s behavior. He had expected Galt to ask -him for the figures and he meant to be able to say that he didn’t have -them. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> - -<p>We regarded each other steadily.</p> - -<p>“Well?” I said.</p> - -<p>“You apparently don’t know that I get them,” he said, his anger -beginning to rise against me.</p> - -<p>“No, I don’t know it,” I said. “Does Mr. Harbinger know?”</p> - -<p>This reference to Harbinger, which he understood to be sarcastic, -completed his rage.</p> - -<p>“Do I get them?” he asked, bulging at me in a menacing manner.</p> - -<p>“Sorry,” I said. “There’s no hole for you in my instructions.”</p> - -<p>At that he began to pass in front of me, with long, stealthy steps, -his shoulders crouched, his hands in his pockets, his head low and -cocked right and then left as he turned and passed again, all the while -looking at me fixedly with a preposterous, maleficent glare. The effect -was so ludicrous that I laughed. And then for only so long as it takes -to see a flashing thing there was a look in his eyes that made me -shudder. Suddenly he went out, slamming the door so hard that I held my -breath for the sound of falling glass.</p> - -<p>As the pantomime reconstructed itself in reflection it assumed a comic -aspect. No, it couldn’t have been serious. I was almost persuaded -it had been a bit of undignified acting, an absurd though harmless -way of working off a fit of temper, when I recalled that look and -shuddered again. Once before I had seen that expression in the eyes of -a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>malevolent hunchback. It was the look of a giant tragically trapped -in a puny body. Galt was a small man, weighing less than one hundred -pounds, with a fretful, nagging body.</p> - -<p>Before lunch the president called me on the G. M.’s private telegraph -wire. He stood at the key in the Chicago office and I stood at the -key in the New York office, and we conversed through the operators -without written messages. Was everything all right? he asked me. Yes, -everything was all right. There was nothing urgent? he asked. No, there -was nothing urgent, I said. Then, as if he had but chanced to think of -it, he said: “I forgot to tell you. It’s all right for Mr. Galt to have -the earnings.”</p> - -<p>His anxiety to seem casual about it betrayed the fact that he had -called me expressly to say that Galt should have the earnings; and -there was no doubt in my thoughts that Galt since leaving me had been -in communication with my chief by telegraph. What an amazing to-do!</p> - -<p>If my deductions were true, then I might expect to be presently favored -with another visit. So I was. He came in about 2 o’clock and sat down -at the end of my desk without speaking. I did not speak either, but -handed him the statement of earnings. He crumpled the paper in his hand -and dropped it in the waste basket. I was sure he hadn’t looked at it.</p> - -<p>“Coxey,” he said, “promise never again to laugh<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> at me like that.... -We’ve got a long way to go ... up and down grade ... but promise -whatever happens never to do that again.”</p> - -<p>Somehow I was not surprised. For a little time we sat looking at each -other.</p> - -<p>“All right,” I said, holding out my hand to him. It was an irrational -experience. We shook hands in the veiled, mysterious manner of boys -sealing a life-time compact for high adventure, no more words either -necessary or feasible.</p> - -<p>But with Harbinger some further conversation seemed appropriate. So -later I said to him.</p> - -<p>“Why are you so afraid of Galt?”</p> - -<p>“You do ask some very extraordinary questions?”</p> - -<p>“I have a right to ask this one,” I said, “seeing that you put it upon -me to refuse him the earnings. You were afraid to refuse him. Isn’t -that why you gave the figures to me?”</p> - -<p>“You will have to think what you like of my motives,” he said, with -rather fine dignity, though at the same time turning red. “I don’t see -why you shouldn’t learn yours as we’ve had to learn ours,” he added.</p> - -<p>“My what?”</p> - -<p>“That’s all,” he said, twirling about in his swivel chair and avoiding -my regard.</p> - -<p>“Why do you dislike him?”</p> - -<p>“It isn’t that I dislike him,” he retorted, beginning to lose his -temper a bit. “The thing of it is I don’t know how to treat him. He -has no authority<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> here that one can understand, get hold of, or openly -respect. Yet there are times when you might think he owned the whole -lot of us.”</p> - -<p>“How did this come about?”</p> - -<p>“Gradually,” he said. “Or, ... at least ... it was only about a year -ago that he began to have the run of the place. Before that we knew him -merely as a broker who made a specialty of dealing in Great Midwestern -securities. From dealing so much in our securities he came to have a -personal curiosity about the property. That’s what he said. So he began -to pry into things, wanting information about this and that, some of it -very private, and when we asked the president about it he said, ‘Oh, -give him anything but the safe.’ Lately he’s been spending so much time -around here that I wonder how he makes a living. He knows too much -about the company. You heard John Harrier. He knows as much about our -mortgages, indentures, leases and records as I know, and that’s my end -of the business. He’s made me look up facts I never heard of before. -He’s been all over the road, looking at it with a microscope. I do -believe he knows generally more about the Great Midwestern than any -other person living. Why? Tell me why?”</p> - -<p>“He and the president are old friends, did you say?”</p> - -<p>He paused for effect and said: “Henry Galt has only one friend in the -world. That’s himself. Ask<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> anybody who knows him in Wall Street. He’s -been around here twenty years.”</p> - -<p>“Maybe it’s his extensive knowledge of the property that gives him his -influence with the president,” I suggested.</p> - -<p>Harbinger came forward with a lurch, rested his elbows on his desk, -hung his chin over his double fist and stared at me close up.</p> - -<p>“Maybe!” he said.</p> - -<p>“Well, what do you think?” I asked. He was aching to tell me what all -of this had been leading up to, and yet the saying of it was inhibited.</p> - -<p>“I’m not a superstitious man,” he said, speaking with effort. “There’s -a natural reason for everything if you know what it is.... It’s very -strange.”</p> - -<p>“What’s strange?”</p> - -<p>“He knows both what is and what isn’t.”</p> - -<p>“Galt does?”</p> - -<p>He nodded and at the same time implored me by gesture not to let my -voice rise. “May be anywhere around ... in the next room,” he said, -hardly above a whisper. “Yes. He knows things that haven’t happened. If -there’s such a gift as pre-vision he has it.”</p> - -<p>“If that were true,” I objected, “he would have all the money in the -world.”</p> - -<p>“Just the same it’s true,” said Harbinger, rising and reaching for his -coat. He looked at me a little askance, doubtless with misgivings as to -the propriety of having talked so much.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER III</span> <span class="smaller">GALT</span></h2> - -<h3>i</h3> - -<p>It was true of Galt, as Harbinger said, that he had no friends; it -was not therefore true that his world was full of enemies. He had -many acquaintances and no intimates. He was a solitary worker in the -money vineyards, keeping neither feud nor tryst with any clan. His -reputation in Wall Street was formless and cloudy. Everybody knew him, -or knew something about him; for twenty years he had been a pestiferous -gadfly on the Stock Exchange, lighting here and there, turning up -suddenly in situations where he had to be settled with or bought off, -swaggering, bluffing, baiting, playing the greatest of all games of -wit with skill and daring—and apparently getting nowhere in the end. -Once he had engaged in a lone-handed fight with a powerful banking -group over the reorganization of a railroad, demanding to be elected to -the directorate as the largest minority stockholder. The bankers were -indignant. The audacity of a stock market gambler wanting to sit on -a railroad board! What would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> anybody think? He took his case to the -courts and was beaten.</p> - -<p>Another time he unexpectedly appeared with actual control of a small -railroad, having bought it surreptitiously during many months in the -open market place; but as he held it mostly with credit borrowed from -the banks his position was vulnerable. It would not do for a gambler -like this to own a railroad, the bankers said; so his loans were called -away from him and he had to sell out at a heart-breaking loss. He was -beaten again.</p> - -<p>He took his defeats grimly and returned each time to the practice -of free lance speculation, with private brokerage on the side. The -unsuccess of these two adventures caused him to be thought of as a man -whose ambitions exceeded his powers. There were a great many facts -about him, facts of record and facts of hearsay, but when they were -brought together the man was lost. Though he talked a great deal to -any one who would listen he revealed nothing of himself. His office -was one dark little room, full of telephones; and he was never there. -He carried his business in his head. Nobody positively spoke ill of -him, or if one did it was on ground of free suspicion, with nothing -more specific to be alleged than that he turned a sharp corner. That is -nothing to say. To go wide around corners in Wall Street is a mark of -self-display. People neither liked nor disliked him. They simply had no -place in their minds to put him. So they said, “Oh, yes,—Harry <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>Galt,” -and shook their heads. They might say he was unsafe and take it back, -remarking that he had never been insolvent. What they meant was that -he was visionary. Generally on the Stock Exchange there is a shrewd -consensus as to what a man is worth. Nobody had the remotest notion of -what Galt was worth. It was believed that his fortune went up and down -erratically.</p> - -<p>Between Galt and the president of the Great Midwestern there was a -strange relationship. Harbinger had said it was not one of friendship. -Perhaps not. Yet it would be difficult to find any other name for it. -Their association was constant. Galt did all of Valentine’s private -Stock Exchange business, as Harbinger said. What Harbinger did not know -was that they were engaged in joint speculations under Galt’s advice -and direction. All of this, of course, could be without personal liking -on either side. Galt was an excellent broker and an adroit speculator. -Valentine never spoke of him without a kind of awe and a certain unease -of manner. Galt’s references to Valentine were oblique, sometimes -irreverent to the verge of disrespect, but that was Galt. It did not -imply dislike.</p> - -<p>On the president’s return from Chicago I mentioned the fact of having -refused to give Galt the earnings.</p> - -<p>“Quite right,” he said. “I ought to have told you about Mr. Galt.”</p> - -<p>“Is it all right to give him anything he wants?”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> I asked, remembering -what Harbinger had said and wishing to test it for myself. He did not -answer at once, nor directly. After walking about for several minutes -he said:</p> - -<p>“Mr. Galt is becoming a large stockholder in the Great Midwestern -Railroad. Why, I don’t know. I cannot follow his process of thought. -Our stock is very low. I don’t know when if ever we shall be able to -pay dividends on it again. But I cannot keep him from buying it. He is -obstinate in his opinions.”</p> - -<p>“Is his judgment good in such matters?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“It isn’t judgment,” he said slowly. “It isn’t anything you can touch -by reason. I suppose it is intuition.”</p> - -<p>“Do his intuitions prove in the sequel?”</p> - -<p>He grew more restless and then stood for a long time gazing out of the -window.</p> - -<p>“It’s queer,” he said, speaking to himself. “He has extraordinary -foresight. I wish I could see with him now. If he is right then -everybody else is wrong. No, he cannot be right ... he cannot be. -Conditions are too plain.”</p> - -<p>“He doesn’t see conditions as they are?” I said.</p> - -<p>“As they are?” he repeated, starting, and then staring at me out of -focus with recollected astonishment. “He doesn’t see them at all. They -don’t exist. What he sees is ... is.... Well, well, no matter,” he -said, letting down suddenly and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> returning to his desk with a large -gesture of sweeping something behind him.</p> - -<p>It was difficult to be friends with Henry Galt. His power of irritation -was impish. None escaped its terrors, least of all those upon whom he -bestowed his liking. He knew all their tender spots and kept them sore. -No word of satire, derision or petulance was ever restrained, or missed -its mark. His aim was unerring; and if you were not the victim you -wickedly understood the strength of the temptation. He not only made -people feel little; he made them look little. What saved it or made it -utterly intolerable, according to the point of view, was that having -done this he was scornful of his own ego’s achievement, as to say: “I -may be greater than you but that’s no sign I am anything to speak of.” -There was a curious fact about his exhibitions of ungoverned feeling, -either ecstasies or tantrums. He had no sense of physical dignity, and -therefore no sensation ever of losing it. For that reason he could -bring off a most undignified scene in a manner to humiliate everyone -but himself. Having behaved incorrigibly he would suddenly stalk off in -majestic possession of himself and leave others in a ludicrous plight, -with a sense of having suffered an unanswerable indignity. It delighted -him to seize you up on some simple declaration of opinion, demand the -reason, then the grounds of the reason, and run you off your wits with -endless, nagging questions.</p> - -<p>On handing him the weekly earnings one <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>afternoon I passed a word of -unconsidered comment. He impeached it with a question. I defended it -foolishly. He impeached the defense with another question. And this -went on until I said:</p> - -<p>“It was nothing in the beginning. I merely meant it to be civil, like -passing the time of day. I’m sorry I spoke at all.”</p> - -<p>“Sorry spoils it,” he said. “Otherwise very handsome.” And he passed -into the president’s office for the long conference which now was a -daily fixture. They went away together as usual. Presently Galt alone -returned and said in a very nice way:</p> - -<p>“Come and have dinner with me, Coxey.”</p> - -<p>When we were seated in the Sixth Avenue L train he resumed the -inquisitive manner, only now he flattered me by showing genuine -interest in my answers. Had I seen the board of directors in action? -How was I impressed? Who was the biggest man in the lot at a guess? -Why so? What did I think of Valentine, of this and that one? Why? He -not only made me recall my impressions, he obliged me to account for -them. And he listened attentively. When we descended at 50th Street he -seemed not to notice that it was drizzling rain. There was no umbrella. -We walked slowly south to 48th Street and turned east, talking all the -time.</p> - -<p>The Galt house was tall, brown and conventional, lying safe within the -fringe. It was near the middle of the block. Eastward toward Fifth -Avenue as the scale of wealth ascended there were several<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> handsome -houses. Westward toward Sixth Avenue at the extreme end of the block -you might suspect high class board. But it is a long block; one end -does not know the other. About the entrance, especially at the front -door as Galt admitted us with a latch-key, there was an effect of -stinted upkeep.</p> - -<p>Inside we were putting off our things, with no sign of a servant, when -suddenly a black and white cyclone swept down the hall, imperilling -in its passage a number of things and threatening to overwhelm its -own object; but instead at the miraculous moment it became rigid, -gracefully executed a flying slide on the tiled floor, and came to a -perfect stop with Galt in its arms.</p> - -<p>“Safe!” I shouted, filled with excitement and admiration.</p> - -<p>“Natalie,” said Galt, introducing her.</p> - -<p>She shook hands in a free, roguish manner, smiling with me at herself, -without really for an instant taking her attention off Galt.</p> - -<p>“You’re wet,” she said severely.</p> - -<p>“No, I’m not.”</p> - -<p>“You’re soaking wet,” she insisted, feeling and pinching him at the -same time. “You’ve got to change.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve got to do nothing of the kind,” he said. “We want to talk. Let us -alone.” To me he said: “Come up to my room,” and made for the stairway.</p> - -<p>Natalie, getting ahead of him, barred the way. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You won’t have a minute to talk,” she said. “Dinner is ready. Go in -there.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, all right ... all right,” he growled, turning into the parlor. -Almost before he could sit down she was at him with a dry coat, holding -it. Grumbling and pretending to be churlish, yet secretly much pleased, -he changed garments, saying: “Will that do you?”</p> - -<p>“For now,” she said, smoothing the collar and giving him a little whack -to finish.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Galt appeared. Then Galt’s mother, introduced simply and sweetly -by her nursery name, Gram’ma Galt. There was an embarrassing pause.</p> - -<p>“Where is Vera?” Galt asked.</p> - -<p>Vera, I supposed, was the ferryboat girl.</p> - -<p>Nobody answered his question. Mrs. Galt by an effort of strong -intention moved us silently toward the dining room. The house seemed -bare,—no pictures to look at, a few pieces of fine old furniture mixed -with modern things, good rugs worn shabby and no artistry of design or -effect whatever except in the middle room between parlor and dining -room which contained a grand piano, some art objects and a thought of -color. Nothing in the house was positively ugly or in bad taste, nor in -the total impression was there any uncomfortable suggestion of genteel -poverty. What the environment seemed to express, all save that one -middle room, was indifference.</p> - -<p>“You will want to talk,” said Mrs. Galt, placing me at the left of -Galt, so that I faced Natalie, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> sat at his right. This was the foot -of the table. Mrs. Galt sat at the head of it, with Gram’ma Galt at her -right and a vacant place at her left.</p> - -<p>“Where is Vera?” Galt asked again, beginning to develop symptoms.</p> - -<p>“She isn’t coming down,” said Mrs. Galt in a horizontal voice.</p> - -<p>“Why not?” asked Galt, beating the table. “Why not?”</p> - -<p>“T-e-e o-o-o doubleyou,” said Natalie, significantly, trying to catch -his eye. But he either didn’t hear or purposely ignored her, and went -on:</p> - -<p>“She does this to spite me. She does it every time I bring anybody -home. I won’t have it. She’s a monkey, she’s a snob. I’ll call her till -she comes. Hey, Ver-a-a-a!”</p> - -<p>Natalie had been shaking him by the arm, desperately trying to make him -look at a figure formed with the fingers of her right hand. Evidently -there was a code between them. She had already tried the cipher, T O -W, whatever that meant, and now this was the sign. If he would only -look! But of course he wouldn’t. Suddenly the girl threw herself around -him, and though he resisted she smothered him powerfully and whispered -in his ear. Instantly the scene dissolved. She returned to her place -slightly flushed with the exertion, he sat up to the table, and dinner -began to be served as if nothing unusual had taken place.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Galt addressed polite inquiries at me, spoke<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> to the butler, -conversed with Natalie, not feverishly or in haste, but placidly, in a -calm level voice. She was a magnificent brunette woman, turning gray at -a time of life and in a manner to make her look even younger and more -striking than before. Her expression was trained, impersonal and weary, -as that of one who knows the part too well to be surprised or taken -unawares and had forgotten what it was like to be interested without -effort. There were lines suitable to every occasion. She knew them -all and spoke them well, omitting nothing, slurring nothing, adding -nothing. Her conversation, like her expression, was a guise. Back of -that there dwelt a woman.</p> - -<p>No one spoke to the old mother. I tried to talk to her. She became -instantly rigid and remained so until I turned away embarrassed. As I -did so Natalie was looking at me.</p> - -<p>“Don’t mind Gram’ma,” she said across the table. “When she wants to -talk she will let you know.”</p> - -<p>I happened to catch the angry look that the grandmother darted at the -girl for this polite impertinence. It betrayed an amazing energy of -spirit. That old stone house with its breaking lines, dissolving gray -textures, and no way in, was still the habitat of an ageless, sultry -sibyl. Trespass at your peril! But youth possessing itself is truly -impervious. The girl did not mind. She returned the look with a smile, -just a little too winsome, as everything about her seemed a little too -high in key or color, too<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> extraordinary, too unexpected, or, like the -girl in the perfumer’s advertisement, a little too much to be true, -not in any sense of being unreal, but as an entity altogether and -unfortunately improbable. She had learned how to get what she wanted, -and her way of getting it, one could imagine, was all that made life -bearable in that household.</p> - -<p>Its sky was low and ominous, charged with a sense of psychic stress. I -felt two conditions of conflict, one chronic and one acute. The feeling -of there being something acute was suddenly deepened when the old -mother spoke for the first and only time. Her voice was clear, precise -and commanded undivided attention. The question she asked gave me a -queer start.</p> - -<p>“What is the price of Great Midwestern to-day?”</p> - -<p>“Eight,” said Galt, amid profound silence.</p> - -<p>That was all. Yet it was as if a spark had passed through inflammable -gas. The same feeling was deepened further by another incident.</p> - -<p>“Coxey,” said Galt, addressing me rhetorically, “what one thing has -impressed you most in Wall Street?”</p> - -<p>“The unbelief of people in themselves, in each other and in what they -are doing,” I replied.</p> - -<p>“What’s that? Say it again.”</p> - -<p>I said it again, whereat he burst forth with shrill, discordant, -exulting sounds, beating the china with a spoon and making for one -person an incredible uproar. At the same time he looked about him with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> -a high air, especially at his wife, whose expression was perfectly -blank. Natalie smiled grimly. The old mother was oblivious.</p> - -<p>“I don’t see anything in that,” I said, when the racket subsided.</p> - -<p>“There is, though,” he said. “You didn’t mean to do it but you hit ’em -in the eye that time,—square in the eye. Wow!” He was very agreeably -excited and got up from the table.</p> - -<p>“Come on,” he said, “we’ll talk in my room.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll send your coffee up,” Mrs. Galt called after us, as he bore me -off.</p> - -<p>“This is where I live and play,” he said, applying a latch-key to a -door at the top of the stairway. He went in first to get the light on, -saying: “I don’t let anybody in here but Natalie. She can dust it up -without touching anything.”</p> - -<p>The room was a workshop in that state of involved disorder, tools -all scattered about, which is sign and measure of the craftsman’s -engrossment. There was an enormous table piled high at both ends with -papers, briefs, maps, charts, blue prints, files, pamphlets and stuffed -envelopes. Books were everywhere,—on the table, on the chairs, on -the floor, many of them open, faces up and faces down, straddled one -upon another leap-frog fashion, arranged in series with weights to -hold them flat, books sprawling, leaning, prone. Poor’s Manual of -Railway Statistics, the Financial Chronicle, Statistical Abstract of -the United States, Economics of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>Railroad Construction, History of -the Erie Railroad, the Yardmaster’s Assistant,—such were the titles. -Against the right wall to a height of six feet were book shelves filled -with all the contemporary financial and commercial periodicals in -bound volumes, almanacs, endless books of statistical reference and -the annual reports of various railway corporations, running back for -many years. On top of the shelves was the only decorative thing in the -room,—a beautiful working model of a locomotive, perfect in every -intricate part, mounted in brass and set upon a nickel plated section -of railway.</p> - -<p>One could have guessed without seeing him that the occupant of this -room was restless, never at physical ease, and worked all over the -place, sitting here and there, lying down and walking about. On the -left side of the room was a couch and close beside it at one end a -morris chair, a reading light between them. Both the couch and chair -showed nervous wear and tear. And beyond the table in the clear space -the rug had been paced threadbare.</p> - -<p>Most of the available wall area was covered with maps and colored -charts. I walked about looking at them. Galt removed his shoes, put on -slippers, got into a ragged lounging jacket and threw himself on the -couch, where he lay for some time watching me with the air of one who -waits only to pop open at the slightest touch in the right place.</p> - -<p>“What is this?” I asked, staring at a large map which showed the Great -Midwestern in heavy red<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> lines, as I fairly well knew it, but with such -ramified extensions in blue lines as to make it look like a gigantic -double-ended animal with its body lying across the continent and its -tentacles flung wide in the east and west.</p> - -<p>“That’s crystal gazing,” he said.</p> - -<p>“It’s what?”</p> - -<p>“What may be,” he said, coming off the couch with a spring. As he -passed the table he snatched up a ruler to point with.</p> - -<p>See! There was the Great Midwestern alone,—all there was of it, from -there to there. It was like a desert bridge from east to west, or, -better still, like a strait connecting two vast oceans of freight. It -was not so placed as to be able to originate traffic for itself, not -profitably, yet that is what it had always been trying to do instead of -attending exclusively to its own unique function. Its opportunity was -to become the Dardanelles of trans-continental traffic. To realize its -destiny it must control traffic at both ends. How? Why, by controlling -railroads east and west that developed and originated freight, as -a river gathers water, by a system of branches reaching up to the -springs. And those blue lines, see!—they were those other roads which -the Great Midwestern should control in its own interest.</p> - -<p>He turned to a chart ten feet long by four feet deep hung level with -the eyes on the opposite wall. The heavy black line erratically -rising and falling against a background of graduated horizontal -lines<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> was an accurate profile of the Great Midwestern for the whole -of its length,—that is, a cross section of the earth showing the -configuration of its surface under the G. M. railroad’s ties and rails. -It was unique, he said. Never had such a thing been done on this scale -before. The purpose was to exhibit the grades in a graphic manner. -There were many bad grades, each one like a hole in the pocket. His -knowledge was minute. “Now from here to here,” he said, indicating 100 -miles of profile with low grades, “it costs half a cent to move a ton -of freight one mile, and that pays. But from here to here,” indicating -a sudden rise in the next fifty miles, “it costs three cents per ton -per mile and all the profit made in the preceding 100 miles is lost on -that one grade.”</p> - -<p>“What can be done about it?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“Cut that grade down from 150 to 50 feet in the mile,” he said, slicing -the peak of it through with his ruler, “and freight can be moved at a -profit.”</p> - -<p>“It would take a lot of labor and money, wouldn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“Well, what of all this unemployment belly-ache you and old Bubbly Jock -are writing pieces about?” he retorted. “You say there is more labor -than work. I’ll show you more work to be done on the railroads than you -can find labor in a generation for. All right, you say, but then it’s -the money. The Great Midwestern hasn’t got the money to spend on that -grade. True. Like all other roads with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> bad grades it’s hard up. But it -could borrow the money and earn big dividends on it. Track levelling -pays better than gold mining.”</p> - -<p>“You and Coxey ought to confer,” I said. “You are not so far apart. -He wants the government to create work by the simple expedient of -borrowing money to build good roads. And here you say the railroads, if -they would borrow money to reduce their grades, might employ all the -idle labor there is.”</p> - -<p>He gave me a queer look, as if undecided whether to answer in earnest. -“Coxey is technically crazy,” he said, “and I’m technically sane. That -may be the principal difference. Besides, it isn’t the government’s -business.”</p> - -<p>This diversion gave his thoughts a more general character. For three -hours he walked about talking railroads,—how they had got built so -badly in the first place, why so many were bankrupt, errors of policy, -capital cost, upkeep, the relative merits of different kinds of -equipment, new lines of development, problems of operation. For this -was the stuff of his dreams. He devoured it. The idea of a railroad -as a means to power filled the whole of his imagination. It was man’s -most dynamic tool. No one had yet imagined its possibilities. He became -romantic. His feeling for a locomotive was such as some men have for -horses. The locomotive, he said, suddenly breaking off another thought -to let that one through,—the locomotive was more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> wonderful than any -automotive thing God had placed on earth. According to the book of Job -God boasted of the horse. Well, look at it alongside of a locomotive!</p> - -<p>He never went back to finish what he was saying when the image of a -locomotive interrupted his thought. Instead he became absent and began -to look slowly about the room as if he had lost something. I understood -what had happened. He was seized with the premonition of an idea. He -felt it before he could see it; it had to be helped out of the fog. -I made gestures of going, which he accepted. As we shook hands he -became fully present for long enough to say: “I never talk like this to -anyone. Just keep that in mind.... Good night.”</p> - -<h3>ii</h3> - -<p>He did not come down with me. He did not come even to the door of his -own room. As I closed it I saw his back. He was leaning over the table -in a humped posture, his head sideways in his left hand, writing or -ciphering rapidly on a sheet of yellow paper. Good for the rest of -the night, I thought, as I went down the dimly lighted stairs, got my -things and let myself into the vestibule.</p> - -<p>The inner door came to behind me with a bang because the outer door was -partly open and a strong draught swept through. At the same instant I -became aware of a woman’s figure in the darkness of the vestibule. She -was dry; therefore she could not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> be just coming in, for a cold rain -was falling. And if she had just come out, why hadn’t I seen her in -the hallway? But why was I obliged to account for her at all? It was -unimportant. Probably she had been hesitating to take the plunge into -the nasty night. I felt rather silly. First I had been startled and -then I had hesitated, and now it was impossible to speak in a natural -manner. My impulse was to bolt it in silence. Then to my surprise she -moved ahead of me, stood outside, and handed me her umbrella. I raised -it and held it over her; we descended the steps together.</p> - -<p>“I’m going toward Fifth Avenue,” I said.</p> - -<p>She turned with me in that direction, saying: “I was waiting for you.”</p> - -<p>“You are Vera?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“The ferryboat girl,” I added.</p> - -<p>“The what?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing. Go on. Why were you waiting for me?”</p> - -<p>She did not answer immediately. We walked in silence to the next light -where she turned and gave me a frankly inquisitive look.</p> - -<p>“Oh,” she said.</p> - -<p>“Oh, what?” said I. “You don’t remember me.”</p> - -<p>“Nothing,” she answered, giving me a second look, glancewise. “Two -nothings make it even,” she added.</p> - -<p>There was an awkward pause. “May I ask you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> something? You are with the -Great Midwestern, in Mr. Valentine’s office?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“I have no one else to ask,” she said. “You will be surprised. It is -this: do you think Great Midwestern stock a good investment?”</p> - -<p>I was angry and uncomfortable. Why was she asking me? But she wasn’t -really; she was coming at something else.</p> - -<p>“I haven’t any opinion,” I said, “and that isn’t what you mean.”</p> - -<p>We were now in Fifth Avenue and had stopped in the doorway of a lighted -shop to be out of the rain. She blushed at my answer and at the same -time gave me a look of scrutiny. I had to admire the way she held to -her purpose.</p> - -<p>“I am very anxious to know what Mr. Valentine’s opinion is,” she said.</p> - -<p>“That’s better,” I replied. “But why should you want even his opinion? -Your father knows more about Great Midwestern than its president, more -than any other one person. Why not get his opinion?”</p> - -<p>Until that moment she had perfectly disguised a state of anxiety -verging upon hysteria. Suddenly her powers of self-repression failed. -My reference to her father caused the strings to snap. Her expression -changed as if a mask had fallen. The grief muscles all at once -relaxed and the pretty frown they had been holding in the forehead -disappeared.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> Her eyes flamed. Her upper lip retracted on one side, -showing the canine tooth. Her giving way to strong emotion in this -manner was a kind of pagan revelation. It did not in the least distort -her beauty, but made it terrible. This, as I learned in time, was the -only one of her effects of which she was altogether unconscious.</p> - -<p>“We know his opinion,” she said. “We take it with our food. He is -putting everything we have into Great Midwestern stock,—his own money, -the family’s money, mother’s, Natalie’s, gram’ma’s and now mine.”</p> - -<p>“Without your consent? I don’t understand it,” I said.</p> - -<p>“The money in our family is divided. Each of us has a little. Most -of it is from mother’s side of the house. My father and gram’ma are -trustees of a sum that will come to me from my uncle’s estate when -I am twenty-one. It is enough to make me independent for life. They -are putting that into this stock! Is it a proper investment for trust -funds, I ask you?”</p> - -<p>I felt I ought not to be listening. Still, I had not encouraged these -intimate disclosures, she was old enough to know what she was doing, -and, most of all, the information was dramatically interesting. I was -obliged to say that by all the rules Great Midwestern stock would not -be considered a proper investment for trust funds.</p> - -<p>“I’ve protested,” she said. “I’ve threatened to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span> take steps. Pooh! What -can I do? They pay no more attention to me than <i>that</i>! Neither father -nor gram’ma. Mother is neutral. Father says it will make me rich. I -don’t want to be rich. Besides he has said that before.”</p> - -<p>“It may turn out well,” I said.</p> - -<p>“It isn’t as if this were the first time,” she continued. “Twice he has -had us on the rocks. Twice he has lost all our money, all that he could -get his hands on, in the same way, putting it into a railroad that he -hoped to get control of or something, and going smash at the end. Once -when I was a little girl and again three years ago. To-day on the train -I heard two men talking about a receivership for the Great Midwestern -as if it were inevitable. What would that mean?”</p> - -<p>“It would be very disagreeable,” I said.</p> - -<p>“That’s almost the same as bankruptcy, isn’t it?”</p> - -<p>“It is bankruptcy,” I said; but I added that rumors just then were very -wild in Wall Street and so false in general that the worse they were -the less they were heeded, people reacting to them in a disbelieving, -contrary manner.</p> - -<p>She shook her head doubtfully.</p> - -<p>“Are you going to tell me what Mr. Valentine’s opinion is?”</p> - -<p>“He would not recommend anyone to buy the stock just now,” I said. “He -makes no secret of seeing darkly.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p> - -<p>“The rocks again,” she said. “And no more legacies to save us. Nearly -all of our rich relatives are already dead.”</p> - -<p>The realism of youth!</p> - -<p>I could not resist the opportunity to ask one question.</p> - -<p>“I can understand your case,” I said, “but the others,—your mother and -grandmother,—they are not helpless. Why do they hand over their money -for these adventures in high finance? Or perhaps they believe in your -father’s star.”</p> - -<p>“No more than I believe in it,” she replied. “No. It isn’t that. -They can’t help it.” She looked at me from afar, through a haze of -recollections, and repeated the thought to herself, wondering: “They -cannot help it. We cannot say no. Even I cannot say it. What he wants -he gets.”</p> - -<p>She shivered.</p> - -<p>“Will you walk back with me, please.”</p> - -<p>It was still raining. We walked all the way back in silence. At the -step she reached for her umbrella, said thank you and stepped inside. -The door closed with a slam. That could have been the draught again, -provided the inner door stood open, which seemed very improbable.</p> - -<p>What left me furious, gave me once more that hot, humiliated feeling -which resulted from our first encounter on the ferryboat, was the -same thing again. She had spoken my name, she had solicited a favor,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> -she had employed blandishments, she had exposed the family’s closet -of horrors, and all the time I might have been a person in a play, a -non-existent giraffe or one of Cleopatra’s eunuchs.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER IV</span> <span class="smaller">AN ECONOMIC NIGHTMARE</span></h2> - -<h3>i</h3> - -<p>You may define a mass delusion; you cannot explain it really. It is a -malady of the imagination, incurable by reason, that apparently must -run its course. If it does not lead people to self-destruction in a -wild dilemma between two symbols of faith it will yield at last to the -facts of experience.</p> - -<p>Once the peace of the world was shattered by this absurd question: Was -the male or the female faculty the first cause of the universe? There -was no answer, for man himself had invented the riddle; nevertheless -what one believed about it was more important than life, happiness or -civilization. Proponents of the male principle adopted the color white. -Worshippers of the female principle took for their sign and symbol -the color red, inclining to yellow. Under these two banners there -took place a religious warfare which involved all mankind, dispersed, -submerged and destroyed whole races of people and covered Asia, Africa -and Europe with tragic ruins. Then someone accidentally thought of -a third principle which reconciled those two and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> human sanity was -restored on earth. All this is now forgotten.</p> - -<p>Since then people have been mad together about a number of -things,—God, tulips, witches, definitions, alchemy and vanities -of precept. In 1894 they were mad about money,—not about the use, -possession and distribution of it, but as to the color of it, whether -it should be silver,—that is to say, white like the symbol of those -old worshippers of the masculine faculty, or gold,—that is, red -inclining to yellow, as was the symbol of those who in the dimness of -human history adored the feminine faculty.</p> - -<p>And as people divided on this question of silver or gold they became -utterly delirious. Either side was willing to see the government’s -credit ruined, as it very nearly was, for the vindication of a fetich. -They did not know it. They had not the remotest notion why or how they -were mad because they were unable to realize that they were mad at all.</p> - -<p>I have recently turned over the pages of the newspapers and periodicals -of that time to verify the recollection that events as they occurred -were treated with no awareness of their significance. And it was so. -Intelligence was in suspense. The faculty of judgment slept as in a -dream; the imagination ran loose, inventing fears and phantasies. That -the government stood on the verge of bankruptcy or that the United -States Treasury was about to shut up under a run of panic-stricken gold -hoarders was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> regarded not as a national emergency in which all were -concerned alike, but as proof that one theory was right and another -wrong, so that one side viewed the imminent disaster gloatingly and was -disappointed at its temporary postponement, while the other resorted to -sophistries and denied self-evident things.</p> - -<p>Nor does anyone know to this day why people were then mad. Economists -write about it as the struggle for sound money (gold), against unsound -money (silver), and that leaves it where it was. Money is not a thing -either true or untrue. It is merely a token of other things which are -useful and enjoyable. Both silver and gold are sound for that purpose. -Their use is of convenience, and the proportions and quantities in -which they shall circulate as currency is rationally a matter of -arithmetic. Yet here were millions of people emotionally crazed over -the question of which should be paramount, one side talking of the -crime of dethroning silver and the other of the gold infamy.</p> - -<h3>ii</h3> - -<p>All other business having come to a stop while this matter was at an -impasse, a truce was effected in this wise by law: Gold should remain -paramount, nominally, but the Treasury should buy each month a great -quantity of silver bullion, turn it into white money, force the white -money into circulation and then keep it equal to gold in value. Now, -the amount<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> of precious metal in a silver dollar was worth only half -as much as the amount of precious metal in a gold dollar. Yet Congress -decreed that gold and silver dollars should be interchangeable and -put upon the Treasury a mandate to keep them equal in value. How? By -what magic? Why, by the magic of a phrase. The phrase was: “It is the -established policy of the United States to maintain the two metals at a -parity with each other by law.”</p> - -<p>Naïve trust in the power of words to command reality is found in all -mass delusions.</p> - -<p>The Coxeyites were laughed at for thinking that prosperity could be -created by phrases written in the form of law. Congress thought the -same thing. It supposed that the economic distress in the country could -be cured by making fifty cents’ worth of silver equal to one hundred -cents’ worth of gold, and that this miracle of parity could be achieved -by decree.</p> - -<p>Anyone would know what to expect. The gold people ran with white -dollars to the Treasury and exchanged them for gold and either hoarded -the gold or sold it in Europe. In this way the government’s gold fund -was continually depleted, and this was disastrous because its credit, -the nation’s credit in the world at large, rested on that gold fund. -It sold bonds to buy more gold, but no matter how fast it got more -gold into the Treasury even faster came people with white money to -be redeemed in money the color of red inclining to yellow, and all -the time the Treasury was obliged by law to buy each month<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> a great -quantity of silver bullion and turn it into white money, so that the -supply of white money to be exchanged for gold was inexhaustible.</p> - -<p>Wall Street was the stronghold of the gold people. It was to Wall -Street that the government came to sell bonds for the gold it required -to replenish its gold fund. The spectacle of the Secretary of the -Treasury standing there with his hat out, like a Turkish beggar, -was viewed exultingly by the gold people. “<i>Carlisle’s Bonds Won’t -Go</i>,” said the New York Sun in a front page headline, on one of these -occasions. Carlisle was the Secretary of the United States Treasury, -entreating the gold people to buy the government’s bonds with gold. -They did it each time, but no sooner was the gold in the Treasury than -they exchanged it out again with white money.</p> - -<p>This could not go on without wrecking the country’s financial system. -That would mean disaster for everyone, silver and gold people alike; -yet nobody knew how to stop. The silver people said the solution was to -dethrone the gold token and make white money paramount; the others said -the only way was to cast the white money fetich into the nearest ash -heap and worship exclusively money of the color red inclining to yellow.</p> - -<h3>iii</h3> - -<p>Delusions are states of refuge. The mind, unable to comprehend -realities or to deal with them, finds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span> its ease in superstitions, -beliefs and modes of irrational procedure. It is easier to believe than -to think.</p> - -<p>The realities of this period in our economic history, apart from the -madness, were extremely bewildering. For five or six years preceding -there had been an ecstasy of great profits. The prodigious manner in -which wealth multiplied had swindled men’s dreams. No one lay down at -night but he was richer than when he got up, nor without the certainty -of being richer still on the morrow. The golden age had come to pass. -Wishing was having. The government had become so rich from duties -collected on imported luxuries that the Treasury surplus became a -national problem. It could not be properly spent; therefore it was -wasted. And still it grew. This time for sure the tree of Mammon would -touch the Heavens and human happiness must endure forever.</p> - -<p>Then suddenly it had fallen. Speculation, greed and dishonesty had -invisibly devoured its heart. The trunk was hollow. Everything turned -hollow. People were astonished, horrified and wild with dismay. -They would not blame themselves. They wished to blame each other -without quite knowing how. The casual facts were hard to see in right -relations. Popular imagination had not been trained to grasp them. The -whole world was dealing with new forces, resulting from the application -of capital to machine production on a vast scale, and there had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> -just appeared for the first time in full magnitude that monstrous -contradiction which we name overproduction. This was a world-wide -phenomenon, but stranger here than in European countries because this -country was newly industrialized on the modern plan and knew not how to -manage the conditions it had created; could not understand them in fact.</p> - -<p>“Ve are a giant in zwaddling cloths,” exclaimed Mordecai, the Jewish -banker, who was one of the directors of the Great Midwestern. He said -it solemnly at every directors’ meeting.</p> - -<p>Just so. Still, it was incomprehensible to people generally, and as -the pain of loss, chagrin and disappointment unbearably increased the -conglomerate mind performed the weird self-saving act of going mad. -That is to say, people made a superstition of their economic sins and -cast the blame for all their ills upon two objects,—gold and silver -tokens. Thus what had been an economic crisis only, subject to repair, -became a fiasco of intelligence.</p> - -<p>The Europeans, all gold people, who had bought enormous quantities of -American stocks and bonds, said: “What now! These people are going -crazy. They may refuse ever to pay us back in gold.” Whereupon they -began hastily to sell American securities.</p> - -<p>“After all,” sighed the London Times, “the United States for all its -great resources is a poor country.”</p> - -<p>In the panic of 1893 confidence was destroyed.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> People disbelieved in -their own things, in themselves, in each other.</p> - -<p>Important banking institutions failed for scandalous reasons. Railroads -went headlong into bankruptcy, until more than a billion dollars’ worth -of bonds were in default, and in many cases the disclosures of inside -speculation were most disgraceful.</p> - -<p>United States Senators were discovered speculating in the stock of -corporations that were interested in tariff legislation, particularly -the Sugar Trust.</p> - -<p>The name of Wall Street became accursed, not that morality was lower -in Wall Street than anywhere else, but because the consequences of its -sins were conspicuous.</p> - -<p>All industry sickened.</p> - -<p>A scourge of unemployment fell upon the land and labor as such, with -no theory of its own about money, knowing only what it meant to be out -of work, assailed the befuddled intelligence of the country with that -embarrassing question: Why were men helplessly idle in this environment -of boundless opportunity?</p> - -<p>The Coxeyites thought it was for want of money. So many people thought. -They proposed that the government should raise money for extensive -public works, thereby creating jobs for the workless, but the United -States Treasury, which only a short time before contained a surplus -so large that Congress had to invent ways of spending it, was now in -desperate straits. The government’s income was not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> sufficient to pay -its daily bills. However, neither the curse of unemployment nor the -poverty of the United States Treasury was owing to a scarcity of money. -The banks were overflowing with money,—idle money, which they were -willing to lend at ½ of 1 per cent. just to get it out of their vaults. -In one instance a bank offered to lend a large amount of money without -interest. But nobody would borrow money. What should they do with it? -There was no profit in business.</p> - -<p>So there was unemployment of both labor and capital.</p> - -<h3>iv</h3> - -<p>At the time of my arrival in Wall Street conditions were already -very bad. They grew worse. There was the shocking disclosure after -bankruptcy that one of the principal railroads had deliberately -falsified its figures over a period of years. European investors were -large holders of the shares and bonds of this property, and naturally -the incident caused all American securities to be disesteemed abroad. -Foreign selling now heavily increased for that reason, and as the -foreigners sold their American securities on the New York Stock -Exchange they demanded gold.</p> - -<p>The United States Treasury had survived two runs upon its gold fund, -but its condition was chronically perilous, and began at length to -be despaired of. Gold was leaving the country by every steamer.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> The -feud between the gold and silver people grew steadily more insane and -preoccupied Congress to such a degree that it neglected to consider -ways and means of keeping the government in current funds. Labor, which -had been clamorous and denunciatory, now became militant. Reports of -troops being used to quell riots of the unemployed were incessant -in the daily news. Wheat fell to a very low price and the farmers -embraced Populism, a hot-eyed political movement in which every form -of radicalism this side of anarchy was represented. Then came the -disastrous American Railway Union strike, bringing organized labor -into direct conflict with the authority of the Federal Government. The -nation was in a fit of jumps. Public opinion was hysterical.</p> - -<p>As I understood more and more the bearing of such events I marvelled -at Galt’s solitary serenity. He was still buying Great Midwestern -stock, as we all knew. Each time another lot of it passed into his name -word of it came up surreptitiously from the transfer office. Some of -the directors at the same time were selling out. This fact Harbinger -confided to me in a burst of gloom; he thought it very ominous, nothing -less than an augury of bankruptcy. I felt that Galt ought to know, yet -I hesitated a long time about telling him. My decision finally to do so -was sentimental. I had by this time conceived a deep liking for him, -and the thought that he was putting his money into Great Midwestern -stock,—his own, Gram’ma’s and Vera’s,—while the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> directors were -getting theirs out bothered me in my sleep. But when I told him he -grinned at me.</p> - -<p>“I know it, Coxey. They didn’t know enough to sell when the price was -high, and they don’t know any better now.”</p> - -<p>That was all he said. The ethical aspect of the matter, if there was -one, apparently did not interest him.</p> - -<p>Now befell a magnificent disaster. One of the furnace doors came -unfastened in the Heavens, and a scorching wind, a regular sirocco, -began to blow in the Missouri Valley. More than half the rich, -wealth-making American corn crop was ruined. This was a body-blow for -the Great Midwestern. It meant a slump in traffic which nothing could -repair. On the third day the news was complete. We received it in the -form of private telegraph reports from the Chicago office. They were -on my desk when Galt came in. I called his attention to them, but he -looked away, saying:</p> - -<p>“The Lord is ferninst us, Coxey. Maybe ... he ... is.”</p> - -<h3>v</h3> - -<p>That night I went home with him to dinner. He was in one of his absent -moods and very tired. Natalie overwhelmed him as usual in the hallway, -and when he neither grumbled nor resisted she put off her boisterous -manner and began to look at him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> anxiously. At dinner everyone was -silent. He communicated his mood. Vera was there at her mother’s left. -Efforts to make conversation were listless, Galt participating in none -of them. There was a sense of something that was expected to happen; -that was Gram’ma’s remorseless evening question.</p> - -<p>“What is the price of Great Midwestern stock today?” she asked, -speaking very distinctly.</p> - -<p>“Five and a half,” said Galt, in a petulant voice.</p> - -<p>The announcement was received stoically, with not the slightest change -of countenance anywhere, though that was the lowest price at which the -stock had ever sold and represented a serious loss for the house of -Galt. However, the state of feeling made itself felt without words. It -became at last intolerable for Galt. He threw down his napkin, shouted -three times, “Wow! Wow! Wow!”, and each time brought his fist down -on the table with a force that made the china jump. With that he got -up and left us. We heard him unlock the door of his room and slam it -behind him.</p> - -<p>“What has happened?” asked Vera, looking at me.</p> - -<p>I told them of the disaster to the corn crop and how for that reason -there had been heavy selling of Great Midwestern shares.</p> - -<p>Vera shrugged her shoulders. Later in the evening when we were -alone she looked about her at the walls and ceiling, as one with a -premonition of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>farewell, and said bitterly: “A pretty shipwreck it -will be this time.”</p> - -<p>“Has your money gone into it, too?” I asked.</p> - -<p>She nodded, and said: “Now he wants to mortgage the house.”</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER V</span> <span class="smaller">VERA</span></h2> - -<h3>i</h3> - -<p>By this time I had become a frequent visitor in the Galt household. A -summer had passed since my first appearance there. The second time I -came to dinner Vera presented herself, though tardily. As she entered -the dining room Galt rose and made her an exaggerated bow, which she -altogether disregarded.</p> - -<p>“All got up this evening!” he said, squinting at her when she was -seated. That she disregarded, too, looking cold and bored. She wore -a black party gown of some very filmy stuff, cut rather low, with an -effect of elaborate simplicity. A small solitary gem gleamed in her -blue-black hair and a point of light shone in each of her eyes. She was -forbiddingly resplendent, with an immemorial, jewel-like quality. She -derived entirely from her mother and in no particular resembled her -father. He tried another sally.</p> - -<p>“Isn’t it chilly over there by you, Vera child?” he asked, ironically -solicitous.</p> - -<p>Instantly she replied: “Yes, father dear. Won’t you bring me my scarf, -please.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p> - -<p>After that he let her alone. When dinner was over he took me off to his -room again and we passed another evening with the railroads.</p> - -<p>No dinner passed without some glow of the feud between Galt and -Vera. They seldom saw each other at any other time. Her habits were -luxurious. She never came down to breakfast. He delighted to torment -her and always came off with the worst of it. Perhaps he secretly -enjoyed that, too. She was more than a match for him. Their methods -were very different. He taunted and teased, without finesse. She -retorted with cold, keen thrusts which left him sprawling and helpless. -In a pinch she turned upon him that astonishing trick she had of -looking at people without seeing them. The experience, as I knew, was -crushing. It never failed to make him fume.</p> - -<p>Gradually I perceived the nature of their antagonism. Natalie was -her father’s play-fellow, but Vera fascinated him. He admired her -tremendously and feared her not a little. She baffled, eluded and -ignored him. The only way he could get her attention was to bully her, -which he did simply for the reason that he could not let her alone. -But there was something on her side, too, for once I noticed that when -he had failed to open hostilities she subtly provoked him to do so. -Probably both enjoyed it unconsciously.</p> - -<p>Between the sisters there was a fiercely repressed antagonism. Natalie -was four years the younger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> and much less subtle, but in the gentle art -of scratching she was the other’s equal. Both were extremely dexterous -and played the game in good sportsmanship.</p> - -<p>“I saw Mr. Shaw at the matinée today,” Natalie announced one evening. -After a slight pause she added: “He seems miraculously recovered. I -never saw him looking so well.”</p> - -<p>I happened to catch a twinkle, where of all places but in the eyes of -Gram’ma! She looked for an instant quite human. But it was too late to -save me, for I had already asked: “What was he ill of?”</p> - -<p>“Something that’s never fatal, apparently,” said Natalie, demurely, -fetching a little sigh. Then I understood that what a person named -Shaw had miraculously recovered from was an infatuation for the elder -sister. And for my stupidity I got a disdainful glance from Vera.</p> - -<p>Another time Natalie said to Vera: “I shall see the handsome Professor -Atwood tomorrow. May I tell him you are mad about him?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, dear,” said Vera. “He will draw the right conclusion.”</p> - -<p>The barb of that retort was hidden, but it did its work. Natalie -blushed furiously and subsided.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Galt surveyed the field of these amenities with a neutral, -mind-weary air. She never took part, never interfered, would not -appear to be even listening, though in fact she missed nothing, and -never failed in the embarrassing after-moment to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> provide a lightning -conductor, a swift bridge or a rescue raft, as the need was. She seemed -to do this mechanically, with not the slightest effort. And although -her topics were commonplace that was not necessarily an indication -of what her mind was like. The want at those moments was for easy, -thoughtless conversation, and therefore trite subjects served best. -Her own interest in them was never sustained. Having cleared the air -she retired within herself again. One wondered what she did with her -mind the rest of the time. Lost it perhaps in wonder at life’s baroque, -uncontrollable projections.</p> - -<h3>ii</h3> - -<p>One evening as dinner was finishing Vera looked at me across the table -and said: “Won’t you come sometime to tea when father can’t have you -all to himself? He hates tea.”</p> - -<p>I was startled and absurdly thrilled; but the curious feeling was that -I became in that instant an object of curiosity and solicitude mingled, -as one marked by fate for a certain experience. I got this particularly -from Natalie who glanced first at me with an anxious expression, and -then at her sister.</p> - -<p>“We are always at home Sunday afternoon,” said Mrs. Galt.</p> - -<p>I was the only caller the next Sunday. Galt did not appear. Tea was -served in that middle room, between the parlor and dining room, -which was a domain over which Vera exercised feudal rights.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> That -was why it was more attractive than any other part of the house. It -expressed something of her personality. Conversation was low-spirited -and artificial. Natalie was not her sparkling self. Mrs. Galt was in -her usual state of pre-occupation, though very gracious, and helpful -in warding off silences. I do not know how these things are managed. -Presently Vera and I were alone. I asked her to play. Her performance, -though finished and accurate, was so empty that I said without thought: -“Why don’t you let yourself go?”</p> - -<p>“Like this?” she said, turning back. And then, having no music in -front of her, she played a strange tumultuous Russian thing with -extraordinary power. I begged her to go on. Instead she left the piano -abruptly and stood for a minute far away at the window with her back -to me, breathing rapidly, not from the exertion of playing, I thought, -but from the emotional excitement of it. Then she called me to come -and look at a group of Sunday strollers passing in the street,—three -men and two women, strange, dark aliens full of hot slothful life. The -men around their middles wore striped sashes ending in fringe, and no -coats, like opera brigands; the women were draped in flaming shawls. -All of them wore earrings.</p> - -<p>“What are they?” she asked.</p> - -<p>Immigrants, I guessed, from some odd corner of Southern Europe, who -hadn’t been here long enough to get out of their native costume. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> - -<p>“They will be drab soon enough,” she said, turning away.</p> - -<p>I wanted to talk of her playing, being now enthusiastic about it, -but she put the subject aside, saying, “Please don’t,” and we talked -instead of pictures. There was a special exhibition of old masters at -the Metropolitan Museum which she hadn’t seen. Wouldn’t I like to go? -It came out presently that she painted. I asked to see some of her -things and she got them out,—two or three landscapes and some studies -of the nude. She had just begun working in a life class, she said.</p> - -<p>“Very interesting,” I said, trying to get the right emphasis and -knowing instantly that it had failed. She gathered them up slowly and -put them away.</p> - -<p>“They are like your playing,” I added, “as you played at first.”</p> - -<p>“How do you mean?”</p> - -<p>“I mean you somehow hinder your self-expression.”</p> - -<p>“I do not let myself go? Is that what you mean?”</p> - -<p>“Precisely. What are you afraid of?”</p> - -<p>“Then you believe in letting oneself go?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“Well, why not?”</p> - -<p>“Suppose one isn’t sure of one’s stopping places?”</p> - -<p>We became involved in a discussion of the moralities, hitherto, present -and future, tending to become audacious. This is a pastime by means of -which, in first acquaintance, two persons of opposite sex<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> may indulge -their curiosity with perfect security. The subject is abstract. The -tone is impersonal. Neither one knows how far the other will go. They -dare each other to follow, one step at a time, and are both surprised -at the ground they can make. There is at the same time an inaudible -exchange, which is even more thrilling, for that is personal. This -need never be acknowledged. If the abstract does not lead naturally to -the concrete, then the whole conversation remains impersonal and the -inaudible part may be treated as if it had never occurred. That is the -basic rule of the game.</p> - -<p>Her courage amazed me. I began to see what she meant by supposing that -one might not be sure of one’s stopping places. She had been reading -France, Stendhal, Zola, Shaw, Pater, Ibsen, Strindberg and Nietzsche.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Galt reappeared. “We are debating the sins of Babylon,” I said. -She smiled and asked me to dinner.</p> - -<p>That was the beginning. We went the next Sunday to the Metropolitan -Museum and one evening that same week to the theatre. What we set out -to see was an English play that everyone was talking about. At the last -minute she asked if the tickets might be changed. And when I asked her -where she would go instead she naïvely mentioned a musical comedy much -more talked about than the English play for very different reasons. -Afterwards when I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> asked her what part of the show she liked best she -said: “The way people laughed.”</p> - -<p>Life transacting thrilled her. Contact with people, especially in -free, noisy crowds, produced in her a kind of intoxication. We walked -a great deal in the pulsating streets, often till late at night, and -that she enjoyed more than the play, the opera or any other form of -entertainment. Her curiosity was insatiable. She was always for going a -little further, for prying still deeper into the secrets of humanity’s -gregarious business, afraid yet venturesome and insistent. She would -pick out of the throng whimsical, weird and dreadful personalities and -we would follow them for blocks.</p> - -<p>Once at a corner we came suddenly upon a woman importuning a man. She -was richly gowned and not in any way common. He was sinister, sated -and cruel. She had lost her head, her pride, her sense of everything -but wanting him. We were close enough to hear. He spoke in a low, -admonishing tone, imploring her not to make a scene. She grew louder -all the time, saying, “I don’t care, I don’t care,” and continued -alternately to assail him with revealing reproaches and to entreat him -caressingly, until they both seemed quite naked in the lighted street. -The man was contemptible; the woman was tragic. I took Vera by the arm -to move her away, but she was fixed between horror and attraction and -stood there regarding them in the fascinated way one looks at deadly -serpents through the glass at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> Zoo. The man at last yielded with a -bored gesture, called a cab, whisked the woman into it, and the scene -vanished. Vera shuddered and we walked on.</p> - -<p>We explored the East Side at night, visiting the Chinese and Jewish -theatres, Hungarian coffee houses and dance halls. Nobody had ever done -this kind of thing with her before. It was a new experience and she -adored it. Of what she did with it in her mind I knew almost nothing. -Emotions in the abstract she would discuss with the utmost simplicity. -Her own she guarded jealously.</p> - -<p>One evening late, with a particularly interesting nocturnal adventure -behind us, we stood in the hallway saying good-night. We said it and -lingered; said it again and still lingered. She was more excited than -usual. Her lips were slightly parted. She almost never blushed, but on -rare occasions, such as now, there was a feeling of pink beneath the -deep brunette color of her skin.</p> - -<p>Her beauty seemed of a sudden to expand, to become greatly exaggerated, -not in quality but in dimensions, so that it excluded all else from -the sense of space. The sight of it unpoised me. And she knew. I could -feel that she knew. My impulse toward her grew stronger and stronger, -tending to become irresistible. This she knew also. Yet she lingered. -Then I seized and kissed her. At the first touch her whole weight fell -in my arms. Her eyes closed, her head dropped backward, face <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>upturned. -She trembled violently and sighed as if every string of tension in her -being snapped.</p> - -<p>How little we can save of those enormous moments in which the old, old -body mind remembers all that ever happened! What was it that one knew -so vividly in that co-extensive, panoramic, timeless interval, and -cannot now recall?</p> - -<p>The first kiss goes a journey. The second stays on earth. The first one -is a meeting in the void. Then this world again.</p> - -<p>“Vera! Vera!” I whispered.</p> - -<p>Her eyes opened.... The look they gave me was so unexpected, so -unnatural in the circumstances, that I had a start of terror lest she -had gone out of herself. Then I recognized it. This was she whom I had -forgotten. These were those impervious, scornful carnelian eyes you -could not see into. The old hot and cold feeling came over me again. -And though she still lay in my arms, not having moved at all, it was -now as if I were not touching her, as if I never had. I released her. -Without a word she turned and walked slowly up the stairway out of -sight.</p> - -<p>The next whole day was one of utter, lonely wretchedness, supported -only by a feeling of resentment. I found myself humming “Coming Through -the Rye,” and wondering why, as it was a ditty I had not remembered -for years. Then it came to me why,—“If a body kiss a body need a body -cry?” What had I done that was so terrible after all? </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p> - -<p>I went to the Galts’ for dinner uninvited, as now I often did. Vera did -not appear. She was reported to be indisposed. I passed the evening -with Galt in his study, and left early. Natalie was alone in the -parlor, reading. She came into the hall as I was putting on my coat and -laid a hand on my arm, consolingly.</p> - -<p>“You won’t stop coming, will you?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?”</p> - -<p>“They always do,” she said. “And some of them are so nice, like you.”</p> - -<p>“Natalie, what are you talking about?”</p> - -<p>“Father would miss you terribly,” she said.</p> - -<p>I promised whatever it was she wanted. She shook hands on it and -watched me down the steps.</p> - -<p>The next evening I called after dinner. Vera was out. I wrote her a -note of expostulation, then one in anger, and a third in terms that -were abject; and she answered none of them.</p> - -<h3>iii</h3> - -<p>In this state of suspense an enormous time elapsed, three weeks at -least. For me Vera was non-existent in her father’s house. When I was -there for dinner she never came down. There was a pretense that her -absence was unnoticeable. Nobody spoke of it; nobody mentioned her -name. In spite of this, or perhaps because of it, I could not rid -myself of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> notion that I had become an object of sympathy in the -household.</p> - -<p>One afternoon I had been in to see Galt, who was ill, and as I let -myself out through the front door there was Vera at the bottom of the -steps in conversation with a huge blond animal of the golden series, -very dangerous for dark women. She saw me obliquely and turned her -attention more to him with a subtle excluding gesture. Evidently she -wished me to pass. Instead I waited, watching them, until he became -conscious of the situation and cast off with a large various manner -which comprehended me. As she came up the steps toward me, slowly, -but with unblurred, definite movements, hard to the ache of desire -yet soft and voluptuous to the forbidden sense of touch, with a kind -of bird-like beauty, I could not for a moment imagine that I had ever -kissed her, much less that she had responded to a ruffling caress. I -forgot what I was going to do, or by what right I meant to do anything. -I was cold and hopeless, with a sudden sense of fatigue, and might have -suffered her to pass me in silence as she wished to do but for the -look she gave me on reaching the top. That was her mistake. It was the -old impersonal, trampling look, to which anger was the one self-saving -reply. I took her by the arm and turned her face about.</p> - -<p>“We are going for a walk,” I said, moving her with me down the steps.</p> - -<p>I counted upon her horror of a scene to give me the brutal advantage, -and it did. She came <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>unresistingly. Yet it was in no sense a victory. -She submitted to a situation she could not control, but contemptuously, -with no respect or fear for the force controlling it. We walked in -silence to a tea shop in Fifth Avenue; and when we were seated and the -waiter came her respect for appearances made her speak.</p> - -<p>“Just some tea, please,” she said, sweetly. And those were the only -words she uttered.</p> - -<p>Her defense was to stare at me as if I were reciting a tedious tale. -It bored her. Once I thought she repressed a yawn. That was when I -began to say the same things over again. She was without any vanity -of self-justification. Not for an instant did she avert her eyes. -She looked at me steadily, unblinkingly, with a kind of reptilian -indifference. She could see into me; I could not see into her. At the -end I became abusive. Then if at all there was a faint suspicion of -interest.</p> - -<p>“A fool there was who loved the basilisk,” I said. “He who plucks that -icy flame will be destroyed but not consumed.... Shall we go?”</p> - -<p>I like still to remember that she did not smile at this idiotic -apostrophe. Every man, I suppose, says a thing like that once,—if he -can. We rose at once. We walked all the way back in silence. I did not -go in, but handed her up the steps and left her without good-night.</p> - -<p>On the next day but one a note came. Would I meet her for tea at the -same place? </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p> - -<p>She was prompt and purposeful. She waited until tea was served, then -put it aside, and spoke.</p> - -<p>“Why do all men, though by different ways, come to the same place?”</p> - -<p>“I know nothing about all men,” I said. “It’s enough to know about -myself. I’m not very sure of that.”</p> - -<p>“They all do,” she said, reflectively.</p> - -<p>“But I want to marry you,” I said, with emphasis on the personal -pronoun.</p> - -<p>“Yes; ... that, too,” she said, with a saturated air.</p> - -<p>“Oh, weary Olympia!” I said. “How stands the score? How many loves lie -beheaded in your chamber of horrors? Or do you bury them decently and -tend their graves?”</p> - -<p>“You try me,” she said, with no change of voice or color. “It is very -stupid.... Man takes without leave the smallest thing and presumes upon -that to erect preposterous claims. Take our case. I begin by liking -you. I invite you to a friendship. You are free to accept or decline. -You accept. Wherein so far have you acquired rights in me? We find this -relation agreeable and extend it. All of this is voluntary. Nothing -is surrendered under compulsion. We are both free. Then suddenly you -overwhelm me by a sensuous impulse. It is a wanton, ravishing act. I -resent it by the only peaceable means in my power. That is, I avoid -you. Immediately you assail me with violent reproaches, as by a right.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> -Is it the invader’s right of might? Is human relationship a state of -war?... Don’t interrupt me, please.... And now, when I have come to -say that under certain conditions I am prepared to make an exception -in your forgiveness,—for Heaven knows what reason!—you taunt me of -things you have no right to mention. They are mine alone.”</p> - -<p>There was a retort, but I withheld it. How shall man tell woman she -hath provoked him to it? If he tell her she will wither him. Yet if the -sight, smell and sound of her provoke him not, then is she mortally -offended. He shall see without looking and be damned if he looks -without seeing. It is so. But she divined my thoughts.</p> - -<p>“If a woman gives it is quite the same,” she went on. “Only worse, for -in that case he presumes upon what he has received by favor to become -lord of all that she has.”</p> - -<p>“I lie in the dust,” I said.</p> - -<p>“I know the pose,” she said, with a lighter touch. “Happily it is -absurd. If it were not that it would be contemptible.”</p> - -<p>“Well, pitiless woman, what would you have a man to be and do? Let us -suppose provisionally that I ask out of deep, religious curiosity. I -may not like the part. How should a man behave with you?”</p> - -<p>“I dislike you very much at this moment,” she replied. “By an effort I -remember that you have saving qualities. Did you hear me say that I was -prepared to make an exception?” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> - -<p>“It may be too late,” I said. “What are the terms? You said under -certain conditions.”</p> - -<p>She frowned, hesitated and went on slowly.</p> - -<p>“It is my castle. You may dwell there, you may come and go, you may -make free of it in discretion, agreeably to our joint pleasure, -<i>provided</i> you forego beforehand all rights accruing from use and -tenure.”</p> - -<p>We debated the contract in a high, ceremonious manner. It was agreed -that the bargain, if made, should terminate automatically at the -instant I should presume to make the slightest demand upon her.</p> - -<p>“As if for instance I should demand the key to the chamber of horrors,” -I said, whimsically.</p> - -<p>“Exactly,” she replied.</p> - -<p>I stipulated, not in earnest of course, that she should make no demands -upon me.</p> - -<p>“That was implied,” she said. “We make it explicit.”</p> - -<p>When at last I accepted unreservedly she put forth her hand in a full, -generous gesture; and the pact was sealed.</p> - -<p>We walked homeward on a perfectly restored basis of friendship, changed -our minds at the last minute, went instead to a restaurant, then to the -theatre, and passed a joyous evening together.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER VI</span> <span class="smaller">A GIANT IN BABY SWEAT</span></h2> - -<h3>i</h3> - -<p>Steadily the American giant grew worse in his mind. There were yet -lower depths of insolvency. The passion to touch them was like the -impulse to collective suicide in the Dark Ages. Bankruptcy ceased to -be a disgrace, there was so much of it. Hope of profit was abandoned. -Optimism was believed to be an unsound mode of thought. All of this -was a state of feeling, a delusion purely. The country was rich. The -unemployed were fed on fine white bread and an unlaundered linen shirt -cost fifty cents.</p> - -<p>Every catastrophe was bound to happen.</p> - -<p>On a rainy Wall Street morning in late December, with no sign or -gesture of anguish, the Great Midwestern Railroad gave up its corporate -existence and died.</p> - -<p>It was a shapeless event.</p> - -<p>Ten men sat around the long table in the Board Room smoking, fidgeting, -irritably watching the time. These were the eminent directors. They -were men whose time nobody could afford to waste,—enterprisers in -credit, capital, oil, coal, metals and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> packing house products. They -wished the obsequies to begin promptly and be as brief as possible, for -they had many other things to mind. Yet the president, with nothing -else to do, had kept them waiting for nearly five minutes. This had -never happened before. However, when he came and silently took his -place at the head of the table he looked so dismal that they forgave -him, and the ceremony might have been brought off with some amiability -of spirit but for a disagreeable incident at the beginning.</p> - -<p>The disturber was Jonas Gates, a dry, mottled little man, indecorously -old and lewdly alert, with a shameless, impish sense of pleasantry. -He practiced usury on a large scale as a kind of Stock Exchange pawn -broker, lending money to people in difficulties at high rates of -interest until they had nothing more to pledge and then cutting them -off at the pockets. He knew some of everybody’s secrets and much more -than he knew he guessed by the magic formula that he was sure of -nothing worse of himself than was generally true of his neighbors. He -was hated for his tongue, feared for what he knew and respected for his -wealth, which was one of the largest private fortunes of that time.</p> - -<p>This Jonas Gates, cupping his hands to his mouth and making his voice -high and distant, as one calling to the echoes, inquired at large:</p> - -<p>“Are there any stockholders present?”</p> - -<p>Everyone was scandalized. Several were without pretense of concealing -it. He surveyed their faces<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> with amused impudence. Then spreading his -hands at each side of his mouth and making his voice hoarse, like a boy -calling into an empty hogshead, he inquired again:</p> - -<p>“Are there any stockholders present?”</p> - -<p>It was a ghastly joke. There is no law forbidding a director to part -with his shares when the omens foretell disaster. It is commonly done -in fact in the anonymous mist of the stock market, only you never -mention it. The convention is that all stockholders have equal rights -of partnership. But as directors are the few who have been elected -by many to act as managing partners, and since it is necessary for -managing partners to have first access to all information, it follows -from the nature of circumstances that they are inside stockholders -and that the others are outside stockholders; and it follows no less -from the nature of mankind that the outsiders invariably suspect the -insiders of selling out in time to save themselves.</p> - -<p>“Iss id vor a meeting ov ze directors ve are here, Mr. Presidend?” -asked Mordecai. He was the eminent banker. He spoke sweetly and lisped -slightly as he always did when annoyed.</p> - -<p>“This is a directors’ meeting,” said the president, adding: “The -secretary will read the call.”</p> - -<p>“Please God!” exclaimed Gates, not yet ready to be extinguished. -“Put it on the record. I ask: Are there any stockholders present? No -answer. Again I ask: Are there any stockholders present? No<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> answer. -Great embarrassment. What is to be done? Idea! This is a directors’ -meeting. Bravo! Proceed. On with the stockholders’ business. We are not -stockholders. Therefore we shall be able to transact their business -impartially.”</p> - -<p>There was a distraught silence.</p> - -<p>“Proceed,” said Gates. “I shan’t interrupt the services any more.”</p> - -<p>What followed was brief. A resolution was offered and passed to the -secretary to be read, setting out that owing to conditions which left -the directors helpless and blameless, to wit: the depression of trade, -the distrust of securities, the rapacity of the tax gatherer, the -harassment of carriers by government agencies, et cetera, the Great -Midwestern was unable to pay its current debts, wherefore counsel -should be instructed to carry out the formalities of putting the -property in the hands of the court.</p> - -<p>“Is there any discussion?” asked the president.</p> - -<p>Horace Potter, of oil, spoke for the first time. He was a sudden, -ferocious man with enormous gray eyebrows and inflammable blue eyes.</p> - -<p>“Have a glance at Providence,” he said. “We damn everything else. Say -the crops are a disgrace. That’s true and it’s nobody’s fault here -below.”</p> - -<p>“Yes, that should go in,” said the president. He took back the -resolution, wrote into it with a short lead pencil the phrase, “and the -failure of crops over a large part of the railroad’s territory,” and -offered it to be read again. Everybody nodded. He called<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> for the vote. -The ayes were unanimous, and the aye of Jonas Gates was the loudest of -all.</p> - -<p>With that they rose.</p> - -<p>The Board Room had two doors. One was a service door opening into -Harbinger’s office; it was used only by the secretary and such other -subordinate officials as might be summoned to attend a board meeting -with records and data. The main door through which the directors came -and went was the other one opening into the president’s office. Their -way of normal exit therefore was through the president’s office, -through the anteroom where I worked, into the reception room beyond and -thence to the public corridor.</p> - -<p>As the president’s private secretary it was expected of me to see them -out. Directly behind me on this occasion came Mordecai, like a biblical -image, his arms stiff at his sides, the expression of his face remote -and sacrificial. This was his normal aspect; nevertheless it seemed -now particularly appropriate. A sacrifice had been performed upon the -mysterious altar of solvency and he alone had any solemnity about it. -The others followed, helping each other a little with their coats, -exchanging remarks, some laughing.</p> - -<p>So we came to the door that opened into the reception room. I had my -hand on the knob when Mordecai suddenly recoiled.</p> - -<p>“A-h-h-h-ch, don’d!” he exclaimed. “Zey are zare.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span></p> - -<p>Evidently some rumor of the truth had got abroad in Wall Street. The -reception room was full of reporters waiting for news of the meeting, -and this was unexpected, since nobody save the officials and directors -were supposed to know that a meeting was taking place. Mordecai’s fear -of reporters was ludicrous, like some men’s fear of small reptiles. -He stood with his back to the door facing the other directors. Horace -Potter was for pushing through.</p> - -<p>“Hell,” he said. “Let’s tell them we’ve let her go and get out. I’m -overdue at another meeting three blocks from here.”</p> - -<p>He could move through a crowd of clamorous reporters with the safety of -an iceberg.</p> - -<p>“Ziz vay, all ze gentlemen, b-l-e-a-s-e,” said Mordecai, ignoring -Potter’s suggestion. He led them back to the president’s office; he -had remembered an unused, permanently bolted door that opened directly -from the president’s office upon the main corridor. His thought was -to go that way and circumvent the reporters. But they had sensed that -possibility. This point of exit also was besieged.</p> - -<p>“A-h-h-h-ch!” he said again. “Zey are eferyvare. How iss id zey get -ze news?” Saying this he looked at each of his fellow directors -severely. Potter frowned, not for being looked at by Mordecai, but from -impatience.</p> - -<p>“Id iss best zat ze presidend zhall brepare a brief vormal stadement,” -said Mordecai. “Ve can vait in ze Board Room. Zen he vill bring zem for -ze <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>statement in here. Vhile he iss reading id to zem ve can ze ozer -vay ged out.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t wait,” said Potter. He bolted into the reception room alone -and banged the door behind him. The reporters instantly surrounded him, -and we heard him say: “A statement is coming.”</p> - -<p>The president turned to me and dictated as follows:</p> - -<p>“Certain creditors of the Great Midwestern Railroad Company being about -to apply to the court for a receiver to be appointed, the question -to be decided at today’s meeting of the directors was whether to -borrow a sum of money on the company’s unsecured notes at a high rate -of interest and thus temporize with its difficulties or confess its -inability to meet its obligations and allow the property to be placed -in the hands of the court. After due consideration the directors -unanimously resolved to adopt the latter course in order that the -assets may be conserved for the benefit of all parties concerned. -(Signed.) John J. Valentine, president.”</p> - -<p>Turning to the directors, who had been standing in a bored, formless -group, he asked: “Does that cover it?”</p> - -<p>All of them gave assent save Mordecai. He was gazing at the ceiling, -his hands held out, pressing the tips of his fingers together.</p> - -<p>“Id iss fery euvonious, Mr. Falentine,” he said. “Conzerved iss a fine -vord. A fery good vord. Id iss unvair to ze bankers, iss id not, to -zpeak of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> borrowing ad high rates of interest money? Iss id nod already -zat ze company hass borrowed more money vrom id’s bankers zan id can -pay?”</p> - -<p>“Read it please,” said the president to me. I read it aloud.</p> - -<p>“Strike out the phrase, ‘whether to borrow a sum of money on its -unsecured notes at a high rate of interest,’ and make it read, ‘the -question to be decided at today’s meeting of the directors was whether -to temporize with its difficulties, or,’—and so on.”</p> - -<p>Mordecai, still gazing at the ceiling, nodded with satisfaction. Then -he returned to the plane below and led them back to the Board Room, -waiting himself until they were all through and closing the door -carefully.</p> - -<p>The reporters were admitted. We took care to get all of them in at one -time, twenty or more, and held the doors open while the directors, -passing through Harbinger’s office, made their august escape.</p> - -<h3>ii</h3> - -<p>When the reporters were gone a stillness seemed to rise about us like -an enveloping atmosphere. Receding events left phantom echoes in our -ears. Valentine, having gazed for some time fixedly at a non-existent -object, looked slowly about him, saying:</p> - -<p>“The corpse is gone.”</p> - -<p>Then he went and stood in one of the west windows. I stood at the -other. The rain had congealed. Snow was falling in that ominous, -isolating way<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> which produces in blond people a sense of friendly -huddling, instinctive memory perhaps of a north time when contact meant -warmth and security. It blotted out everything of the view beyond -Trinity church and graveyard. There was a surrounding impression of -vertical gray planes in the windows of which lights were beginning to -appear, for it was suddenly dark. The Trinity chimes proclaimed in this -vortex the hour of noon.</p> - -<p>“What day of the month is it?” he asked, clearing his voice after -speaking.</p> - -<p>“The eighteenth.”</p> - -<p>“Twenty years, lacking two days, I have been president of the Great -Midwestern,” he said. “In that time—” He stopped.... Trinity chimes -struck the quarter past. “How it snows,” he said, turning from the -window. “Well, you see what the railroad business is like. Shall I ask -a place for you on one of the New York papers? I promised to do that, -you remember, if anything should happen.”</p> - -<p>“If you don’t mind,” I said, “I’ll stay on here to clear things up a -bit.”</p> - -<p>“I expected you to say that,” he said. “Still, don’t be sentimental -about it. Nobody can tell now what will happen. We shall be in the -hands of the court. Well, as you like. I have an appointment to keep -with counsel. I may not be back today.”</p> - -<p>He departed abruptly.</p> - -<p>It occurred to me to go about the offices to see what effect the news -was having. That would be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> something to do. Harbinger, leaning over his -desk on his elbows, his head clutched in his two hands, was looking at -three models of his stamping device.</p> - -<p>“How do they take it?”</p> - -<p>“Take what?” he asked, not looking up.</p> - -<p>“The news.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, that! I don’t know. Go ask them yourself.”</p> - -<p>John Harrier was sitting precisely as I saw him that first time, -perfectly still, staring at an empty desk.</p> - -<p>“Well, it appears we are busted,” I said.</p> - -<p>“We’ve been busted for about nine months,” he answered, without moving -his head. “But now two and two make four again. Thank God, I say. I -couldn’t make her look solvent any longer. Arithmetic wouldn’t stand -it, and it stands a lot.”</p> - -<p>In the large back office the clerks were gathered in small groups -discussing it. Work was suspended.</p> - -<p>“Hey!” shouted Handbow. “We’re going to celebrate to-night. A little -dinner, <i>with</i>, at the Café Boulevard. Will you come?”</p> - -<p>The reckless spirit of calamity was catching. I felt it. Even the -shabby old furniture took on an irresponsible, vagabond appearance. -Solvency, like a scolding, ailing, virtuous wife, was dead and buried. -Nobody could help it. Now anything might happen. The moment was full -of excitement. There was no boy in the reception room. I sat down -at my desk, got up, took a turn about the president’s office, and -was thinking I should lock up the place and go out to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> lunch when I -happened to notice that the Board Room door was ajar. In the act of -closing it I was startled by the sight of a solitary figure at the head -of the long directors’ table. Though his back was to me I recognized -him at once. It was Galt. He had slid far down in the chair and was -sitting on the end of his spine, legs crossed, hands in his pockets. He -might have been asleep. While I hesitated he suddenly got to his feet -and began to walk to and fro in a state of excitement. The character -of his thoughts appeared in his gestures. His phantasy was that of -imposing his will upon a group of men, not easily, but in a very -ruthless way.</p> - -<p>“Are you running the Great Midwestern?” I asked, pushing the door open.</p> - -<p>Starting, he looked at me vaguely, as one coming out of a dream, and -said:</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>He asked if I had been present at the meeting and was then anxious to -know all that had taken place, even the most trivial detail.</p> - -<p>“And now,” I said, when I was unable to remember anything more, “please -tell me what will happen to the Great Midwestern?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing,” he said. “The court will appoint old rhinoceros receiver, -and—”</p> - -<p>“Mr. Valentine, you mean?”</p> - -<p>“That’s customary in friendly proceedings,” he said. “Anyhow, it will -be so in this case. The court takes charge of the property as trustee -with arbitrary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> powers. It can’t run the railroad. It must get somebody -to do that. So it looks around a bit and decides that the president is -the very man. He is hired for the job. The next day he comes back to -his old desk with the title of receiver. All essential employes are -retained and you go on as before, only without any directors’ meetings.”</p> - -<p>“How as before? I don’t understand.”</p> - -<p>“That’s the point, Coxey. You can’t shut up a busted railroad like a -delicatessen shop. Bankrupt or not it has to go on hauling freight and -passengers because it’s what we call a public utility. A railroad may -go bust but it can’t stop.”</p> - -<p>“Then what is a receivership for?”</p> - -<p>“That’s another point. You are getting now some practical economics, -not like the stuff old polly-woggle has been filling you up with. The -difference is this: When you are bankrupt you put yourself in the hands -of the court for self-protection. Then your creditors can’t worry you -any more. A railroad in receivership doesn’t have to pay what it owes, -but everybody who owes it money has got to pay up because the court -says so. It goes along that way for a few months or a year, paying -nothing and getting paid, until it shows a little new fat around its -bones and is fit to be reorganized.”</p> - -<p>“What happens then?”</p> - -<p>“Well, then it is purged of sin and gets born again with a new name. -The old Great Midwestern Railroad Company becomes the new Great -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>Midwestern Railway Company, issues some new securities on the -difference between r-o-a-d and w-a-y, and sets out on its own once -more. The receiver is discharged. The stockholders elect a president, -maybe the same one as before or maybe not, and the directors begin to -hold meetings again.”</p> - -<h3>iii</h3> - -<p>The Stock Exchange received the news calmly. It was not unexpected. -The directors, as we knew, had been getting out. They read the signs -correctly. Under their selling the price of Great Midwestern stock had -fallen to a dollar-and-a-half a share. For a stock the par value of -which is one hundred dollars that is a quotation of despair. Nothing -much more could happen short of utter extinction. Many of the finest -railroads in the country were in the same defunct case. You could buy -them for less than the junk value of their rails and equipment. But if -you owned them you could not sell them for junk. You had to work them, -because, as Galt said, they were public utilities. And they worked at a -loss.</p> - -<p>It happened also on this day that everyone was thinking of something -else. That was nothing less than the imminent bankruptcy of the United -States Treasury. This delirious event now seemed inevitable.</p> - -<p>For several weeks uninterruptedly there had been a run on the -government’s gold fund. People were frantic to exchange white money for -gold. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> waited in a writhing line that kept its insatiable head -inside the doors of the sub-Treasury. Its body flowed down the long -steps, lay along the north side of Wall Street and terminated in a -wriggling tail around the corner in William Street, five minutes’ walk -away. It moved steadily forward by successive movements of contraction -and elongation. Each day at 3 o’clock the sub-Treasury, slamming its -doors, cut off the monster’s head. Each morning at 10 o’clock there -was a new and hungrier head waiting to push its way in the instant the -doors opened. Its food was gold and nothing else, for it lived there -night and day. The particles might change; its total character was -always the same. Greed and fear were the integrating principles. Human -beings were the helpless cells. It grew. Steadily it ate its way deeper -into the nation’s gold reserve, and there was no controlling it, for -Congress had said that white money and gold were of equal value and -could not believe it was not so. The paying tellers worked very slowly -to gain time.</p> - -<p>The spectacle was weirdly fascinating. I had been going every day at -lunch time to see it. This day the spectators were more numerous than -usual, the street was congested with them, because the officers of the -sub-Treasury had just telegraphed to Washington saying they could hold -out only a few hours more. That meant the gold was nearly gone. It -meant that the United States Treasury might at any moment put up its -shutters and post a notice:<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> “<i>C L O S E D. Payments suspended. No more -gold.</i>”</p> - -<p>Never had the line been so excited, so terribly ophidian in its aspect. -Its writhings were sickening. The police handled it as the zoo keepers -handle a great serpent. That is, they kept it straight. If once it -should begin to coil the panic would be uncontrollable.</p> - -<p>Particles detached themselves from the tail and ran up and down the -body trying to buy places nearer the head. Those nearest the head -hotly disputed the right of substitution, as when someone came to take -a position he had been paying another to hold. In the tense babel of -voices there came sudden fissures of stillness, so that one heard one’s -own breathing or the far-off sounds of river traffic. At those moments -what was passing before the eyes had the phantastic reality of a dream.</p> - -<p>In the throng on the opposite side of the street I ran into Galt and -Jonas Gates together. Later it occurred to me that I had never before -seen Galt with any director of the Great Midwestern, and it surprised -me particularly, as an after thought, that he should know Gates. Just -then, however, there was no thinking of anything but the drama in view. -Everyone talked to everyone else under the levelling pressure of mass -excitement.</p> - -<p>“Have you heard?” I asked Galt. “The sub-Treasury has notified -Washington that it cannot hold out. It may suspend at any moment.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I suppose then eighty million healthy people will have nothing to eat, -nothing to wear, no place to go, nothing to do with their idle hands. -We’ll all go to hell in a handbasket.”</p> - -<p>He spoke loudly. Many faces turned toward us. A very tall, lean man, -with a wild light in his eyes and a convulsive, turkey neck, laid a -hand on Galt’s arm.</p> - -<p>“Right you are, my friend, if I understand your remark. We are about -to witness the dawn of a new era. I have proved it. In this little -pamphlet, entitled, ‘The Crime of Money—thirty reasons why it should -be abolished on earth,’ I show—”</p> - -<p>“Don’t jingle your Adam’s apple at me,” said Galt, giving him a look of -droll contempt.</p> - -<p>The man was struck dumb. Feeling all eyes focused on the exaggerated -object thus caricatured in one astonishing stroke he began to gulp -uncontrollably. There were shouts of hysterical laughter. In the -confusion Galt disappeared, dragging Gates with him.</p> - -<p>The sub-Treasury held out until three o’clock and closed its doors -once more in a solvent manner, probably, for the last time. Everybody -believed it would capitulate to the ophidian thing the next day. There -was no escape. Events were in the lap of despair.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER VII</span> <span class="smaller">DARING THE DARK</span></h2> - -<h3>i</h3> - -<p>At five o’clock that evening Galt called me on the telephone and asked -me to come to his office. I had never been there. It was at 15 Exchange -Place, up a long brass-mounted stairway, second floor front. The -building was one of a type that has vanished,—gas lighted, wise and -old, scornful of the repetitious human scene, full of phantom echoes. -On his door was the name, Henry M. Galt, and nothing else. Inside was -first a small, bare room in which the only light was the little that -came through the opaque glass of a partition door marked “Private.” I -hesitated and was about to knock on this inner door when Galt shouted:</p> - -<p>“Come in, Coxey.”</p> - -<p>He was alone, sitting with his hat on at a double desk between two -screened windows at the far side of the room. He did not look up at -once. “Sit down a minute,” he said, and went on reading some documents.</p> - -<p>The equipment of his establishment was mysteriously simple,—a stock -ticker at one of the windows,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> a row of ten telephones fastened to -the wall over a long shelf on which to write in a standing position, -a bookkeeper’s high desk and stool, several chairs, a water cooler in -disuse, a neglected newspaper file in the corner, a safe, and that was -all.</p> - -<p>“We are waiting for Gates,” he said, with divided attention, reading -still while talking. “I want you to witness ... gn-n-n-u-u, how do you -spell unsalable, <i>a l a</i> or <i>a l e</i>?... Yes ... that’s what I made it -... witness our signatures.... We get superstitious down here ... in -this witches’ garden ... we do. There are things that grow best when -planted in the last phase of the moon, ... on a cloudy night ... dogs -barking.... There he is.”</p> - -<p>Jonas Gates walked straight in, sat down at the other side of the desk -without speaking, and reached for the papers, which Galt passed to him -one by one in a certain order. Having read them carefully he signed -them. Then Galt signed them, rose, beckoned me to sit in his place, -and put the documents before me separately, showing of each one only -the last page. There were six in all,—three originals which went back -to Gates and three duplicates which Galt retained. There was a seventh -which apparently required neither to be jointly signed nor witnessed. -It lay all the time face up on Gates’ side of the desk. I noted the -large printed title of that one. It was a mortgage deed. Gates put it -with the three others which were his, snapped a rubber band around them -and went out, leaving no word or sign behind him. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Crime enough for one day,” said Galt, going to the safe. “You are -coming up for dinner. Turn out that light there above you.”</p> - -<p>“Did you expect Great Midwestern to go bankrupt?” I asked as we walked -down the stairway.</p> - -<p>He did not answer me directly, nor at all for a long time. When we were -seated in the L train he said: “So you know that I was buying the stock -all the way down?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>He did not speak again until we left the train at 50th Street.</p> - -<p>“No, I didn’t expect it,” he said. “It wasn’t inevitable until the Lord -burned up the corn crop. But I allowed for it, and what’s worse in -one way is better in another. We’re all right. In the reorganization -I’ll get the position I want. I’ll be one of ten men in a board room. -Everything else follows from that.”</p> - -<h3>ii</h3> - -<p>As Natalie met us I observed her keenly, thinking she would betray -a feeling of anxiety. But she knew his moods at sight and met them -exactly. To my surprise she hailed him gaily and he responded. Then -they fell to wrangling over nothing at all and carried on a fierce -make-believe quarrel until dinner time.</p> - -<p>At the table he tried to force a general spirit of raillery and made -reckless sallies in all directions.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> They failed miserably until -Natalie joined him in a merciless attack upon Vera. It was entirely -gratuitous. When it had gone very far Mrs. Galt was on the point of -interfering, but checked the impulse, leaving Vera to take care of -herself. She held her own with the two of them. When the game lagged -Natalie would whisper to Galt. He would say, “No-o-o-o-o!” with -exaggerated incredulity, and they would begin again. Suddenly they -turned on me, Natalie beginning.</p> - -<p>“Don’t you think Coxey ought to get married?” Galt’s name for me had -long been current in the household.</p> - -<p>“Coxey, here? No. Nobody would marry him,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>“But he’s sometimes quite nice,” said Natalie.</p> - -<p>They discussed my character as if I were not there, the kind of wife I -should have and what would please Heaven to come of it. Natalie knew, -as Galt didn’t, that this was teasing Vera still.</p> - -<p>Dinner was nearly over when Gram’ma Galt asked her terrible question. -“What is the price of Great Midwestern stock today?”</p> - -<p>Galt answered quietly: “One-and-a-half.”</p> - -<p>There was no more conversation after that.</p> - -<p>Later when we were alone I asked Vera if the house had been pledged.</p> - -<p>“The mortgage was executed yesterday,” she said. “It’s roof and all -this time.”</p> - -<p>“He doesn’t seem at all depressed,” I said. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p> - -<p>“No,” she answered. “That is his way with disaster. We’ve seen it -before.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you admire him for it, though?”</p> - -<p>“I hate him!” she cried passionately. The intensity of her emotion -astonished me. Her hands were clenched, her eyes were large and her -body quivered. We were sitting together on the sofa. I got up and -walked around. When I looked at her again she lay face downward in the -pillows, weeping convulsively.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER VIII</span> <span class="smaller">LOW WATER</span></h2> - -<h3>i</h3> - -<p>Well, the United States Treasury did not hang out the bankrupt’s -sign. What happened instead was that President Cleveland in his -solitary strength met a mad crisis in a great way. He engaged a group -of international bankers to import gold from Europe and paid them -for it in government bonds. The terms were hard, but the government, -owing to the fascinated stupidity of Congress, was in a helpless -plight. What Cleveland had the courage to face was the fact that -any terms were better than none. It was fundamentally a question of -psychology. The spell had somehow to be broken. The richest and most -resourceful country in the world was about to commit financial suicide -for a fetich. All that was necessary to save it was to restore the -notion,—merely the notion,—of gold solvency. People really did not -want gold to hoard or keep. They wanted only to think they could get it -if they did want it.</p> - -<p>The news of the President’s transaction with the bankers, appearing -in the morning papers, produced a profound sensation. The white money -people denounced him with a fury that was indecent. Many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> men of his -own political faith turned against him, thinking he had destroyed their -party. Congress was amazed. There was talk of impeachment proceedings. -Popular indignation was extreme and unreasoning. The White House had -sold out the country to Wall Street. Mankind was about to be crucified -upon a cross of gold. The principle of evil had at last prevailed.</p> - -<p>Thus people reacted emotionally to an event which marked the beginning -of a return of sanity. Upon the verities of the case the effect of -Cleveland’s act was positive. While the nation raved the malady itself -began to yield. That ophidian monster which was devouring the gold -reserve began to disintegrate from the tail upward. Presently only -the head was left and that disappeared with the arrival of the first -consignment of gold from Europe under the government’s contract with -the bankers.</p> - -<p>The full cure of course was not immediate. But never again were people -altogether mad. As the tide reverses its movement invisibly, with many -apparent self-contradictions in the surf line on the sand, so it is -with the course of events. Between the tail of the ebb and the first of -the flood there is a time of slack with no tendency at all. That also -is true in the rhythm of human activities.</p> - -<h3>ii</h3> - -<p>Historically it is noted that a stake set in the wet sand on the -morning after the Great Midwestern’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> confession of insolvency would -have indicated the extreme low water mark of that strange ebb tide in -the economic affairs of this country the unnatural extent and duration -of which was owing to the moon of a complex delusion. There was first a -time of slack before the flood began to run,—a time of mixed omens, of -alternating hope and doubt. Yet all the time unawares the country grew -richer because people worked hard, consumed less than they produced and -stored the surplus in the form of capital until the reservoirs were -ready to overflow.</p> - -<p>As for the Great Midwestern, everything came to pass as Galt predicted. -Valentine was appointed by the court to work the railroad as receiver. -In that rôle he returned to his desk. The word “president” was erased -from the glass door of his office; the word “receiver” was painted -there instead. That was the only visible sign of the changed status. We -paid our way with receiver’s certificates, issued under the direction -of the court. Dust settled in the Board Room, where formerly the -directors met. Trains continued to move as before.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER IX</span> <span class="smaller">FORTH HE GOES</span></h2> - -<h3>i</h3> - -<p>Life in this financial limbo would have exactly suited the placid -temperament of our organization but for the distracting activities of -Galt. With Valentine’s permission he took that old vice-president’s -desk in Harbinger’s office and began to keep hours. Such hours! He -was always there when Harbinger arrived. At ten he went to the Stock -Exchange; at three he returned. He was still there when Harbinger went -home. The scrubwomen complained of him, that he kept them waiting until -late at night. Sometimes for that reason they left the room unswept. -Insatiably he called for records, data, unheard of compilations of -statistics. He wrangled with John Harrier, the treasurer, for hours on -end over the nature of assets and past accounting. Their voices might -often be heard in adjacent rooms, pitched in the key of a fish wives’ -quarrel.</p> - -<p>Harrier was an autocratic person whose ancient way of accounting -had never before been challenged nor very deeply analyzed. With so -much laxity at the top of the organization he had been able to do as -he pleased, and being a pessimist his tendency was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> to undervalue -potential assets, such as lands, undeveloped oil and mining rights -and deferred claims. Gradually he wrote them off, a little each year, -until in his financial statements they appeared as nominal items. His -judgments were arbitrary and passed without question. This had been -going on for many years. The result was that a great deal of tangible -property, immediately unproductive yet in fact very valuable, had -been almost lost sight of. The Great Midwestern, like the country, -was richer than anybody would believe. And nobody cared. Live working -assets were in general so unprofitable, especially in the case of -railroads, that dormant assets were treated with contempt. Galt valued -them. He knew how Harrier had sunk them in his figures and forced him -step by step to disclose them.</p> - -<p>“They are at it again,” Harbinger said, coming in one evening to sit -for a while in my room, bringing some papers with him.</p> - -<p>“Who?”</p> - -<p>“Galt and Harrier. I can’t think for their incessant caterwauling.”</p> - -<p>“How do you get along with him?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“With Galt? He makes me very uncomfortable. There’s no concealing -anything from him.”</p> - -<p>“Do you still dislike him?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, no. That wears off. I’ve been watching his mind work. It’s a -marvellous piece of mechanism.” He went on with his work. “I know at -last what he’s doing,” he said suddenly. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> - -<p>“What?”</p> - -<p>“He’s developing a plan of reorganization.”</p> - -<p>That was true. I had known it for some time. He accumulated his data -by day in the office and worked it up by night in his room at home. He -showed it to me as it progressed. There was a good deal of writing in -it. The facts required interpretation. He was awkward at writing and I -helped him with it, phrasing his ideas. The financial exposition was -one part only. There was then the physical aspect of the property to be -dealt with. When it came to that he spent six weeks out on the road. -Three days after he set out on this errand we began to receive messages -by telegraph from our operating officials, traffic managers, agents and -division superintendents, to this effect:</p> - -<p>“Who is Henry M. Galt?”</p> - -<p>At Valentine’s direction I answered all of them, saying: “Treat Henry -M. Galt with every courtesy.”</p> - -<p>He went over every mile of the right of way, inspected every shop and -yard, talked with the agents and work masters and finally scandalized -the department of traffic by going through all the contracts in force -with large shippers. He studied traffic conditions throughout the -territory, had a look at competing lines and conferred with bankers, -merchants and chamber of commerce presidents about improving the Great -Midwestern’s service.</p> - -<p>He returned with a mass of material which we worked on every night -feverishly, for he was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>beginning to be very impatient. The physical -aspect of the property having been treated from an original point -of view, there followed an illuminating discussion of business -policy. Good will had been leaving the Great Midwestern, owing to the -unaccommodating nature of its service. This fact he emphasized brutally -and then outlined the means whereby the road’s former prestige might be -regained.</p> - -<p>Never had a railroad been so intelligently surveyed before. The work as -it lay finished one midnight on Galt’s table represented an incredible -amount of labor. More than that, it represented creative imagination in -three areas,—finance, physical development and business policy. The -financial thesis was that the Great Midwestern should be reorganized -without assessing the stockholders in the usual way. All that was -necessary was to sell them new securities on the basis of dormant -assets. This was a new idea.</p> - -<p>“Have you done all this in collaboration with the bankers?” I asked him.</p> - -<p>“No,” he said. “They have a plan of their own. My next job is to make -them accept this in place of theirs. That’s why I’ve been in such a -sweat to get it done.”</p> - -<p>“What inducement can you offer them?”</p> - -<p>“Mine is the better plan,” he said. “It stands on its merits.”</p> - -<p>“What will you get out of it?” I asked.</p> - -<p>He looked very wise. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span></p> - -<p>“That’s the crow in the pie, Coxey.” He got up, stretched, walked about -a bit, and stood in front of me, saying: “I’ll get a place on the board -of directors. I’ll be one of ten men in a Board Room. Everything else -follows from that.”</p> - -<h3>ii</h3> - -<p>A railroad has its own bankers, just as you have your own dentist or -doctor. They sit on the board of directors as financial experts. They -carry out the company’s fiscal policies, they sell its securities to -the public for a commission, they lend it money while it is solvent, -and when it is insolvent they constitute themselves a protective -committee for the security holders and get all the stocks and bonds -deposited in their hands under a trust agreement. Then in due time they -announce a plan of reorganization.</p> - -<p>Mordecai & Co. were the Great Midwestern’s bankers. They would -naturally control the reorganization. In fact, they had already evolved -a plan and were waiting only for a propitious moment to bring it forth. -To offer them a new plan in place of their own,—for an outsider to -do this,—would be like selling a song to Solomon. I marvelled not so -much at Galt’s audacity as at his self-confidence. It seemed an utterly -impossible thing to do.</p> - -<p>He stopped the next morning at the Great Midwestern office to verify -three figures and to have me fasten the sheets neatly between stiff -cardboards. Then he marched off with it under his arm, his hat<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> slammed -down in front, a slouching, pugnacious figure, blind to obstacles, -dreaming of empire.</p> - -<p>“Good luck!” I called after him.</p> - -<p>He did not hear me.</p> - -<p>The profession of dynamic man is arms. It has never been otherwise. -Only the rules and weapons change. He makes a tilting field of -business. The blood weapon is put away, killing is taboo, but the -struggle is there, if you look, essentially unchanged. Men are the same -as always.</p> - -<p>Wall Street is a modern jousting place. The gates stand open. Anyone -may compete. There is no caste. The prizes are unlimited; the -tournament is continuous. Capital is not essential. One may borrow -that, as the stranger knight of ancient time, bringing only his skill -and daring, might have borrowed lance, horse and armor for a trial of -prowess.</p> - -<p>To this field of combat you must bring courage, subtlety, nerve, -endurance of mind and swift imagination. Given these qualities, then to -gain more wealth and power than any feudal lord you need only one inch -more than the next longest lance of thought. You have only to outreach -the vision of the champions to unhorse them. There is no mercy for the -fallen, no more than ever. The new hero is acclaimed. He may build him -a castle on any hill and with his wealth command the labor of tens of -thousands. But he must still defend his own against all comers in the -market place. In time he will meet one greater than himself. He may -have the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>consolation of knowing, if it is a consolation, that defeat -is never fatal, or seldom ever.</p> - -<p>Now through these gates went Galt. He had a vision of the future longer -than the lance of any knight defending. He needed horse and armor. I -did not see him again that day.</p> - -<h3>iii</h3> - -<p>In the evening I went to the house. Natalie met me.</p> - -<p>“He is in bed,” she said.</p> - -<p>“Is he ill?”</p> - -<p>“He looked very tired and ate no dinner. I was to tell you if you came -that he had to get a big sleep on account of something that will happen -tomorrow.”</p> - -<p>I was holding my hat. Natalie looked at it.</p> - -<p>“My beautiful sister is not at home,” she said.</p> - -<p>“Tell her I was desolate.”</p> - -<p>“And that you did not ask for her?” she suggested, slyly.</p> - -<p>“Now, Natalie, you are teasing me.”</p> - -<p>“Mamma is out. Gram’ma’s gone to bed. There’s nobody to entertain you,” -she said, shaking her head.</p> - -<p>“What a dreary state of things!” I said, laughing at her and putting -down my hat.</p> - -<p>She went ahead of me into the parlor, arranged a heap of pillows at one -end of the sofa, saying, “There!” and sat herself in a small, straight -chair some distance away. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> - -<p>Going on eighteen is an age between maidenhood and womanhood. Innocence -and wisdom have the same naïve guise and change parts so fast that you -cannot be sure which one is acting. The girl herself is not sure. She -doesn’t stop to think. It is a charming masquerade of two mysterious -forces. The part of innocence is to protect and conceal her; the part -of wisdom is to betray and reveal her.</p> - -<p>“I wish I were a man,” she sighed.</p> - -<p>“Every girl says that once. Why do you wish it?” I asked.</p> - -<p>“But it’s so,” she said. “They know so much ... they can do so many -things.”</p> - -<p>“What does a man know that a woman doesn’t?”</p> - -<p>“If I were a man,” she said, “I’d be able to help father. I’d -understand figures and charts and all those things he works with. They -make my silly head ache. I’d study finance. What is it like?”</p> - -<p>“What is finance like?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. Do you think I might understand it a little?”</p> - -<p>For an hour or more we talked finance,—that is, I talked and she -listened, saying, “Yes,” and “Oh,” and bringing her chair closer. -She made a very pretty picture of attention. I’m sure she didn’t -understand a word of it. Then she began to ask me questions about -her father,—what his office was like, how he dealt with Wall Street -people, what he did on the Stock Exchange, and so on.</p> - -<p>“Must you?” she asked, when I rose to go. “I’m<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> afraid you haven’t been -entertained at all. I love to listen.”</p> - -<p>“I just now remember I haven’t had any dinner,” I said. “I stopped late -at the office and came directly here. It’s past ten o’clock.”</p> - -<p>“Dear me! Why didn’t you tell me? I’ll get you something. You didn’t -know I could cook. Come on.”</p> - -<p>Without waiting for yes or no she scurried off in the direction of the -kitchen. I followed to call her back, but when I had reached the dining -room she was out of sight, the pantry door swinging behind her. I -returned to the parlor and waited, thinking she would report what there -was to eat. Then I could make my excuses and depart.</p> - -<p>She did not return. Presently I began to feel embarrassed, as much -for her as for myself; also a little nettled. However, I couldn’t -disappoint her now. It would be too late to stop whatever she was -doing. She had said, “Come on.” Therefore she was expecting me in the -kitchen and was probably by this time in a state of hysterical anxiety, -wondering if I would come, or if perhaps I had gone; and no way out of -the frolic she had started but to see it through.</p> - -<p>I found her beating eggs in a yellow bowl. She had put on an apron and -turned up her sleeves. Her face was flushed, her eyes were bright with -a spirit of fun, and wisps of wavy black hair had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> fallen a little -loose at her temples. I surrendered instantly.</p> - -<p>“You won’t mind eating in the kitchen, will you? It’s cozy,” she said, -almost too busy to give me a look.</p> - -<p>A small table was already spread for one; chairs were placed for two.</p> - -<p>“This is much more interesting than finance,” I said, watching her at -close range.</p> - -<p>“I can make a perfect omelette,” she said. “So light you don’t know you -are eating it. You only taste it.”</p> - -<p>“Not very filling,” I thought.</p> - -<p>“There may be something else, too,” she said.</p> - -<p>There was. She rifled the pantry. The imponderable omelette, -accompanied by bacon, was followed by cold chicken, ham, sausage, -asparagus, salad, cheese of two kinds, jams in fluttering uncertainty, -cake and coffee.</p> - -<p>When she was convinced at last that I couldn’t encompass another bite -and rested upon her achievement she began to giggle.</p> - -<p>“What’s that for?”</p> - -<p>“I’m thinking,” she said, “what my sister would say if she saw us now.”</p> - -<p>As I walked home I could not help contrasting her with Vera, who -never, even at Natalie’s age, would have thought of doing a thing like -that. Why? Yes, why? Well, because she had not that way with a man. -Natalie was born to get what she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> wanted through men. She fed them. -She fed their stomachs with food and their egoes with adoration. She -liked doing it for she liked men. She already knew more about their -simplicities than Vera would ever learn. She knew it all instinctively. -And how lovely she was in that apron!</p> - -<h3>iv</h3> - -<p>Late the next afternoon he appeared at my desk, sat down, fixed me with -a stare and began to whistle Yankee Doodle out of tune.</p> - -<p>“Did they take your plan?” I asked him.</p> - -<p>He went on whistling. I couldn’t guess what had happened. His -expression was unreadable.</p> - -<p>“Did they?” I asked again.</p> - -<p>He stopped for breath.</p> - -<p>“Spit on your hands, Coxey,” he said, as if I were at a distance and -needed some encouragement. “We’ve got her by the tail,—by the tail, -<i>tail!</i> <i>tail!</i> We’ll tie a knot in the end of it and then we’re off.”</p> - -<p>He never told me how he did it. He had no vanity of reminiscence. Long -afterward I got it from a junior partner of the firm of Mordecai & Co.</p> - -<p>They hardly knew him by sight. He appeared in their office on that -hot Summer morning and said simply that he wished to talk Great -Midwestern. He would see nobody but Mordecai himself. At mid-day they -were still talking, and lunch was brought to Mordecai’s room. One by -one the junior members were called in until they were all present.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> -Galt amazed them with his knowledge of the property, its situation and -possibilities; even more with his acute understanding of its finances. -He gave them information on matters they had never heard of. He gave -them original ideas with such frankness and unreserve that at one point -Mordecai interrupted.</p> - -<p>“Ve cannod vorged vad you zay, Mr. Gald. Id iss zo impordand ve mighd -use id. Zare iss no bargain yed. Ve are nod here angels.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t help that,” said Galt. “To sell a tune you have to play it.” -And he went on.</p> - -<p>When Mordecai spoke again the case was lost.</p> - -<p>“Vor uss id iss nod,” he said. “Vor uss id iss nod. Ve are bankers. -To zese heights ov imagination ve cannod vollow, Mr. Gald. Id iss -beautiful. Ve are zorry.”</p> - -<p>In the doorway Galt turned and faced them. No one else had moved.</p> - -<p>“I’m tired,” he said. “I need some sleep. I’ll come tomorrow.”</p> - -<p>The scene was repeated the next day,—Galt talking, the bankers -listening, Mordecai lying back in his chair, gazing at the ceiling, -tapping the ends of his fingers together, blowing his breath through -his short gray beard.</p> - -<p>“Vad iss id vor yourself you vand, Mr. Gald?” he asked without moving.</p> - -<p>It was Galt’s way when he was winning to press<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> his luck. He wanted a -place on the board of directors. But he demanded more.</p> - -<p>“I want to be chairman of the board,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Id vould be strange,” said Mordecai, pensively. “Nobody vould -understand id. Ooo iss zat Mr. Gald? Vy iss he made chairman? Zo ze -people vould talk. Ov ze old directors ooo vould fode vor zat Mr. Gald?”</p> - -<p>“Gates and Valentine will vote for me,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>“You haf asked zem?”</p> - -<p>“I have asked Gates,” said Galt. “I am sure of Valentine.”</p> - -<p>Another way of Galt’s was to stop at the peak of his argument, and -wait. When the other man in his mind is coming over to your side a -word too much will often stop him. Galt knew he was winning. There was -a long silence. They began to wonder if Mordecai was asleep. He was -a man of few but surprising contradictions. Conservative, cautious, -axiomatic, he had on the other side great courage of mind and a latent -capacity for daring. He distrusted intuition as a faculty, yet on rare -occasions he astonished his associates by arriving most unexpectedly at -an intuitive conclusion, knowing it to be such, and acting upon it with -fatalistic intensity. On those occasions he was never wrong.</p> - -<p>Now he sat up slowly and began to toy with a jeweled paper knife.</p> - -<p>“Nobody vill understand id, Mr. Gald.... <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>Nobody vill understand id.... -Ve accepd your plan. Ve promise all our invluence to use zat you vill -be made chairman of ze board,—on one condition. You vill resign iv ve -ask id immediately.”</p> - -<p>Galt unhesitatingly accepted the condition.</p> - -<p>When he was gone Mordecai said to his partners: “Ve haf a gread man -discovered. Id iss only zat ve zhall a liddle manage him.”</p> - -<h3>v</h3> - -<p>In September the plan was brought out. Though it caused a good deal -of dubious comment the verdict of general opinion was ultimately -favorable. The security holders liked it because they were not assessed -in the ordinary way. They received, instead, the “privilege” so-called -of buying new securities.</p> - -<p>When all arrangements were completed the assets of the old Great -Midwestern Railroad Company, meaning the railroad itself and all its -possessions and appurtenances, were put up at auction. Mordecai & Co., -acting as trustees, were the only bidders.</p> - -<p>They delivered the assets to the new Great Midwestern <i>Railway</i> -Company, which had been previously incorporated under the laws of New -Jersey. Afterward there was a stockholders’ meeting in Jersey City, in -one of those corporation tenements where rooms are hired in rotation by -corporations that never live in them but come once a year for an hour -or two to transact some formal business and thereby satisfy the fiction -of legal residence. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span></p> - -<p>A stockholders’ meeting is itself a fiction. The stockholders are -present by proxy. Clerks bring the proxies in suit cases. They are -counted and voted in the name of the stockholders under previous -instructions. Thus directors are elected. Mordecai & Co. held six -tenths of the proxies. Horace Potter, representing himself and the oil -crowd whose investment in the old Great Midwestern had been very large, -held three tenths. There was no contest; Mordecai & Co. and the oil -crowd acted concertedly in all matters. They were allied interests. -With one exception the old board was re-elected. The exception was -Henry M. Galt, elected in place of a very old man who had been induced -by the bankers to withdraw.</p> - -<p>In the afternoon of the same day the directors met in the Board Room -for the first time since their inglorious exit through Harbinger’s -office eleven months before. Valentine was unanimously re-elected -president. There was a pause.</p> - -<p>“I bropose Mr. Gald vor chairman ov ze board,” lisped Mordecai.</p> - -<p>It had all been arranged beforehand. There was no doubt of the outcome. -Yet there was an air of constraint about taking the formal step. -Evidently in the background there had been a struggle of forces.</p> - -<p>Potter said: “Second the nomination.”</p> - -<p>The president called for the vote. Four were silent, including Galt. -Five voted aye. Valentine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> nodded his head and the result was recorded: -“Chairman of the Board, Henry M. Galt.”</p> - -<p>Meanwhile the traffic manager and his three assistants, who had been -summoned from Chicago for a conference, were waiting in Harbinger’s -office. Galt walked directly there from the Board Room, sat on -Harbinger’s desk with his feet in the chair, waived all introductions, -and said:</p> - -<p>“Now for business. Hereafter all contracts with shippers and all -agreements with the traffic managers of other roads will be sent to -this office for my approval and signature. They will not be valid -otherwise.”</p> - -<p>The traffic manager was a florid, contemptuous man who wore costly -Chicago clothes and carried a watch in each waistcoat pocket, very -far apart. He was one of a ring of traffic managers who waxed fat and -arrogant in the exercise of a power that nobody dared or knew how to -wrest from them. They sold favors to shippers. They sold railroad -stocks for a fall in Wall Street and then got up ruinous rate wars -among themselves to make stocks fall. Their ways were predatory, -scandalous and uncontrollable. If one railroad tried to discipline its -traffic manager the others practiced reprisals and the business of -that one railroad would slump; or if a railroad dismissed its traffic -manager his successor would be just as bad, or more greedy in fact, -having to begin at the beginning to get rich.</p> - -<p>At Galt’s speech the traffic manager crossed his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> legs with amazement, -dropped his arms, slid down in his chair, bowed his neck and assumed -the look of an incredulous bull, showing the white under his eyes.</p> - -<p>“And who the hell are you?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Me?” said Galt. “I’m the driver.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll see,” said the traffic manager. He rose, overturning his chair, -and made for the door, meaning of course to see the president.</p> - -<p>“You’d better wait a minute,” said Galt. “I’m not through yet.”</p> - -<p>He waited.</p> - -<p>Then Galt, addressing the assistants, outlined a new policy. What they -were to work for was through freight, passing from one end of the -system to the other. What they were to avoid was anything they wouldn’t -like a railroad to do to them. What they were to believe in was a gang -spirit. What they were to get immediately was a doubling of their pay.</p> - -<p>Getting down on the floor he advanced slowly with a stealthy step at -the traffic manager, who began to quail.</p> - -<p>“You choose whether to resign or be fired,” said Galt. “The first -assistant will take your place.” He added something in a lower tone -that no one else could hear, then stood looking at him fixedly. The -traffic manager started, mopped the back of his neck, wavered, and -stood quite still.</p> - -<p>“Well, it’s damned high time,” he said, at last, by way of mentioning a -basic fact. With that he sat down and wrote his resignation. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p> - -<p>This incident was an omen. Unconsciously Galt worked on the principle -that once a thing has happened it cannot unhappen. The fact of its -having happened is original and irrevocable. Every other fact in the -universe must adjust itself to that one. Something else may happen the -next instant; that is a new happening again.</p> - -<p>Mr. Valentine was violently agitated by the traffic manager’s -dismissal. If he had been consulted he would have made an issue of it. -But there it was. It had happened. The fact created a situation. He -might refuse to accept the situation, but he could not extinguish the -fact. He fumed and let it pass. Nothing was ever the same again.</p> - -<p>Galt consulted nobody. He turned from the traffic man to Harbinger and -ordered that the pay of the whole executive staff from the secretary -down be doubled. Then he put Harbinger out, took the whole of the room -for himself, painted the word “Chairman” on the door and thereafter -the Great Midwestern was managed from his desk. There was never a -moment’s doubt about it. There was no time to debate his authority. It -took all of everybody’s time to keep up with what was happening. He -recast the operating department by telegraph in one hour, according to -a plan already matured in his mind. He changed the accounting system -radically, and much to everyone’s surprise, John Harrier accepted the -change with enthusiasm.</p> - -<p>Having made a flying trip over the road he sent a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> telegram ahead of -him calling a special meeting of the board of directors. It convened at -ten o’clock. Galt came directly from the train, stained, unshaven and a -little weary, until he began to talk.</p> - -<p>What he proposed was that fifty million dollars be raised at once -and spent for new engines, cars, rails and road improvements. -Mordecai alone was prepared for this. All the others were daft with -astonishment. A railroad only a few days out of bankruptcy to find and -spend that sum for improvements! It was preposterous. Not only was the -whole board against him, save Mordecai; it was hostile and struck with -foreboding. As Galt rose to make his argument I remembered what he had -twice said: “I shall be one of ten men in a Board Room. Everything else -follows from that.”</p> - -<h3>vi</h3> - -<p>This was the first true exhibition of his power to move men’s minds,—a -power which nobody understood, which he did not himself understand. -Perhaps it was not their minds he moved. Men of strong will often -turned from their convictions and voted with him or for what he wanted -who afterward, having recovered their own opinions, were unable to say -why they had acted that way. He was not eloquent. When he was excited -his voice became shrill and irritating. He had no felicity of speech -and often lost the grammar of tenses, cases and pronouns. The reasoning -was always clear. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> moulded an argument in the form of a wedge and -then hit it a sledge-hammer blow. But it was not the argument alone -that did it. As time went on he more and more dispensed with argument -and brought the result to pass directly, as a hypnotist with a well -trained subject induces the trance without preparation, seemingly by -an act of mere intention. It was a power that increased with use until -it was like an elemental force and acted at a distance, so that he -had only to send an agent with word that this or that should be done, -and men did it helplessly. You may say of course that all such later -phenomena were owing to a habit of submission, men having accepted the -tyranny of his will, only that would not account for the rise of his -power from nothing, would it?</p> - -<p>In this first case he had back of him no prestige of success. He -was still unknown and distrusted by a majority of the ten directors -who sat at the board table. And they were not men accustomed to be -led. They were themselves leaders. In all Wall Street it would have -been impossible to find a more powerful, self-confident group, cold, -calculating, unsentimental in business, their faces all cruelly scarred -with the marks of success terrifically achieved. Yet as he talked their -chemistries changed. The first visible reaction was one of bothered -surprise. This was followed by efforts of resistance. The last phase -was one of fascination.</p> - -<p>His reasons were these: A flood was about to rise. He adduced evidence -on that point. Money,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> materials and labor were plenty and cheap. -Never again would it be possible to increase the railroad’s capacity -at a cost so low. And a railroad that made itself ready to receive the -flood would reap a rich harvest. Finally, the spending of fifty million -dollars in this way would give business the impulse it was waiting -for,—the little push that sends a great vessel down the ways into the -water. The moment was rare and propitious.</p> - -<p>“Is it true,” asked Mr. Valentine, “that the chairman on his own -responsibility, without consulting the president or the board of -directors, has already placed contracts for engines, cars, rails and -construction work, before the money has been voted for that purpose, -before anybody knows whether it can be raised or not? I have heard so.”</p> - -<p>Everyone was startled by the question. Galt was not expecting it.</p> - -<p>“That is true,” he said, and waited.</p> - -<p>“So we are committed to this expenditure whether we approve it or not?”</p> - -<p>“That’s the predicament,” said Galt, recklessly.</p> - -<p>Valentine, wholly deceived by his manner, came heavily on.</p> - -<p>“Have you any idea what it will cost us to get out of these -contracts,—to cancel them?”</p> - -<p>“The construction contracts,” Galt said very slowly, “are subject to -cancellation without penalty until this midnight. The contracts for -engines, cars and rails cannot be cancelled. I’ve baked this pie for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> -the Great Midwestern. If it doesn’t want it I’ll give the company’s -treasurer my check for one hundred thousand dollars and eat it myself.”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean?” Horace Potter asked.</p> - -<p>“I mean that in consideration of placing the orders when and as I did, -on the equipment makers’ empty stomach, I got a special discount of ten -per cent. The idea was that the news of our buying as it got around -would start a general buying movement. That has happened. Other roads -have placed orders behind ours at full prices. We started a stampede. -Nobody has been buying equipment for two or three years. Everybody -needs some. These contracts can be sold today for at least one hundred -thousand dollars.”</p> - -<p>“Can we sell fifty millions of bonds?” asked Potter, looking at -Mordecai.</p> - -<p>“Ve vill guarantee to zell zem,” said Mordecai. “Mr. Gald iss righd. Iv -ve reap ve musd zow.”</p> - -<p>With no further discussion they voted with Galt, and the feud between -Valentine and Galt was openly established.</p> - -<p>We were torn by the dilemma of allegiance. Everyone was fond of -Valentine. One could not help liking him. And his position was -desperately uncomfortable. Galt had reduced him to a mere figurehead, -not intentionally perhaps, not by any overt act of hostility certainly, -but as an inevitable consequence of his ruthless pursuit of ends. -Valentine became obstructive. Galt grew irritable. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> ceased to have -any working contact whatever. And although the organization to a man -was sorry for Valentine, still there was a turning to Galt, purely as -an instinctive reaction to strength. As a railroad executive Valentine -for all his experience was inefficient. This had been always tolerantly -understood. But now with Galt’s work beginning to produce results -in contrast the fact was openly admitted. Galt’s touch was sure, -propulsive and unhesitating. And besides, in whatever he did there was -an element of fortuity that could not be reasoned about. He not only -did the right things; he did them at precisely the right time.</p> - -<p>“You remember what I told you a long time ago,” said Harbinger. “He -sees things before they happen. My heart breaks for the old man ... but -it’s no use.”</p> - -<p>The sight of inspired craftsmanship is irresistible to men. The -organization wavered between affection for the one and awe of the other -and ended by giving its undivided loyalty to Galt, not for love of his -eyes but for reasons that were obvious.</p> - -<p>One day Mr. Valentine complained that I was unable to serve him and -Galt both, and asked me gently if I did not wish to go entirely to -Galt. He had guessed my inclinations. So we shook hands and parted. -Thereafter my place was in Galt’s room and I attended the board -meetings as his private secretary.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER X</span> <span class="smaller">HEYDAY</span></h2> - -<h3>i</h3> - -<p>His activities were of increasing complexity. A Stock Exchange ticker -was installed, for he meant to keep his eye on the stock market; -then an automatic printing device on which foreign, domestic and -Wall Street news bulletins were flashed by telegraph; then a private -switchboard and a number of direct telephones,—one with the house of -Mordecai & Co., one with the operating department at Chicago, one with -the office of Jonas Gates, several with Stock Exchange brokers and -others designated by code letters the terminals of which were his own -secret. He worked by no schedule, hated to make fixed appointments, -and took people as they came. They waited in the reception room, -which of necessity became his ante-chamber. In a little while it was -crowded with those who asked for Galt, Galt, Galt. Not one in twenty -who entered asked for Valentine, the president. A mixed procession it -was,—engineers, equipment makers, brokers, speculators, inventors, -contractors and persons summoned suddenly out of the sky whose business -one never knew. Never wasting it himself, never permitting anyone<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> else -to waste it, he had time for everything. He received impressions whole -and instantaneously. With people he was abrupt, often rude. He wanted -the point first. If a man with whom he meant to do business insisted -upon talking beside the point he would say: “Go outside to make your -speech and then come back.” He never read a newspaper. He looked at it, -sniffed, crumpled it up and cast it from him, all with one gesture. -Four or five times a day he ran a yard or two of ticker tape through -his fingers and glanced in passing at the news printing machine. -Magazines and books were non-existent matter. Yet within the area of -his own purposes no fact, no implication of fact, was ever lost.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile Great Midwestern stock was slowly rising. One effect of this -was to relieve the tension in the Galt household. Gram’ma Galt’s daily -question was no longer dreaded.</p> - -<p>Having asked it in the usual way at the end of dinner one evening, and -Galt having told her the price, she electrified us all by addressing -some remarks to me.</p> - -<p>“You are with my son a good deal of the time?”</p> - -<p>“All day,” I said.</p> - -<p>I was looking at her. She frowned a little before speaking, wetted her -lips with her tongue, and spoke precisely, in the level, slightly deaf -and utterly detached way of old people.</p> - -<p>“Do you see that he gets a hot lunch every day?”</p> - -<p>“I have never attended to that,” I said. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Does he, though?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“We’ve been very careless about it,” I said. “Sometimes when he’s busy -he doesn’t get any.”</p> - -<p>“Please see that he gets a hot lunch every day,” she said. “Cold -victuals are not good for him. And tea if he will drink it.”</p> - -<p>I promised. An embarrassed silence followed. She was not quite through.</p> - -<p>“Have you any Great Midwestern stock?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“I have a small amount.”</p> - -<p>“You must believe in it,” she said, adding after a pause: “We do.”</p> - -<p>Then she was through.</p> - -<p>Had she alone in that household always believed in Great Midwestern -stock, which was to believe in him? Or had she only of a sudden become -hopeful? Was it perhaps a flash of premonition, some slight exercise of -the power possessed by her son? Long afterward I tried to find out. She -shook her head and seemed not to understand what I was talking about. -She had forgotten the incident.</p> - -<p>The next day I ordered a hot lunch to be sent in and put upon Galt’s -desk. He said, “Huh!” But he was not displeased, and ate it. And this -became thereafter a fixed habit.</p> - -<h3>ii</h3> - -<p>The new equipment had only just begun to move on the new rails when he -went before the board with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> a proposal to raise one hundred millions -for more equipment, more rails, elimination of curves and reduction of -grades.</p> - -<p>“My God, man!” exclaimed Horace Potter. “Do you want to nickel plate -this road?”</p> - -<p>“It will nickel plate itself if we make it flat and straight,” said -Galt.</p> - -<p>He was in a stronger position this time. His predictions were coming -true. The flood tide was beginning. Everybody saw the signs. Great -Midwestern’s earnings were rising faster than those of any competitor, -and at the same time its costs were falling because of the character -of the new equipment. Therefore profits were increasing. On the other -hand, Valentine now was openly hostile, and Jonas Gates whom Galt could -have relied upon, was ill. There were nine at the board table.</p> - -<p>He argued his case skillfully. For the first time he produced his -profile map of the road, showing where the bad grades were and how on -account of them freight was hauled at a loss over two divisions of the -right of way. To flatten here a certain grade,—selected for purposes -of illustration,—would cost five millions of dollars. The cost of -moving freight over that division would be thereby reduced one-tenth -of a cent per ton per mile. This insignificant sum multiplied by the -number of tons moving would mean a saving of a million dollars a year. -That was twenty per cent. on the cost of reducing the grade. It was -certain. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Are the contracts let?” asked Valentine, ironically.</p> - -<p>“They are ready to be let,” said Galt. “That’s how I know for sure what -the cost will be.”</p> - -<p>“Let’s vote,” said Potter, suddenly. “He’ll either make or break us. I -vote aye.”</p> - -<p>The ayes carried it. There were no audible noes. Valentine did not vote.</p> - -<h3>iii</h3> - -<p>At this time Galt was laying the foundation for an undisclosed -structure. It had to be deep and enduring, for the strain would be -tremendous. He poured money into the Great Midwestern with a raging -passion. As the earnings increased he plowed them in. With the -assistance of the pessimistic treasurer he disguised the returns. -Improvements were charged to expenses as if they were repairs. New -property was added in the guise of renewing old. This he did for fear -the stockholders, if they knew the truth, would begin too soon to -clamor for dividends. He spent money only for essential things, that -is, in ways that were productive, and neglected everything else, until -we had at last the finest transportation machine in the country and the -shabbiest general offices. The consequences of this policy, when they -began to be realized, were incredible.</p> - -<p>In the autumn of 1896 a strange event came suddenly to pass. People -were delivered from the Soft Money Plague, not by their own efforts, -as they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> believed, but because maladies of the mind are like those of -the body. If they are not fatal you are bound to get well. Doctors will -take the credit. The Republican party won the election that year on a -gold platform, and this is treated historically as a sacred political -victory for yellow money; the white money people were hopelessly -overturned. But it was wholly a psychic phenomenon still. Why all at -once did a majority of people vote in a certain way? To make a change -in the laws, you say. Yes, but there the mystery deepens. Immediately -after this vote was cast the shape of events began to change with no -change whatever in the laws. The law enthroning gold was not enacted -until four years later, in 1900, and this was a mere formality, a -certificate of cure after the fact. By that time the madness had -entirely passed, for natural reasons.</p> - -<h3>iv</h3> - -<p>After 1896 the flood tide began to swell and roar. Galt was astride of -it,—a colossus emerging from the mist.</p> - -<p>The Great Midwestern was finished. He had rebuilt it from end to end. -And now for that campaign of expansion which was adumbrated on the map -I had studied in his room at home. For these operations he required -the active assistance of Mordecai, Gates and Potter. He persuaded them -privately and bent them to his views.</p> - -<p>I began to notice that he went more frequently to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> the stock ticker. -His ear was attuned to it delicately. A sudden change in the rhythm of -its g-n-i-r-r-r-i-n-g would cause him to leave his desk instantly and -go to look at the tape. He was continually wanted on those telephones -with the unknown terminals. Speaking into them he would say, “Yes,” ... -or ... “No,” ... or ... “How many?” ... or ... “Ten more at once.”</p> - -<p>One afternoon he turned from the ticker and did a grotesque pirouette -in the middle of the floor.</p> - -<p>“Pig in the sack, Coxey. Pig in the sack. Not a squeal out of him.”</p> - -<p>“What pig is that?” I asked.</p> - -<p>He looked at me shrewdly and said no more.</p> - -<p>Under his direction they had been buying control of the Orient & -Pacific Railroad in the open market, so skillfully that no one even -suspected it. He had not been a speculator all his life for nothing. -What set him off at that moment was the sight of the last few thousand -shares passing on the tape.</p> - -<p>Valentine was in Europe for his annual vacation. Galt called a special -meeting of the directors. He talked for an hour on the importance -of controlling railroads that could originate traffic. The Great -Midwestern did not originate its own traffic. The Orient & Pacific was -a far western road with many branches in a rich freight producing area. -The Great Midwestern had been getting only one third of its east bound -freight, and it was a very profitable kind of freight, moving in solid -trains of iced cars<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> at high rates; the other two thirds had been going -to competitive lines.</p> - -<p>It would be worth nearly fifteen million dollars a year for the Great -Midwestern to own the Orient & Pacific and get all of its business. A -syndicate had just acquired a controlling interest in Orient & Pacific -stock and he, Galt, had got an option on it at an average price of -forty dollars a share. The Great Midwestern could buy it at that price. -What was the pleasure of the board?</p> - -<p>The substance was true; the spirit was rhetorical. The formal pleasure -of the board was already prepared. Four members, listening solemnly as -to a new thing, had assisted in the purchase. Galt, Potter, Gates and -Mordecai were the syndicate. Potter as usual called for the vote, and -voted aye. The rest followed.</p> - -<p>A brief statement was issued to the Wall Street news bureaus. It -produced a strange sensation. An operation of great magnitude had been -carried through so adroitly that no one suspected what was taking -place, not even the Orient & Pacific Railroad Company’s own bankers. -They were mortified unspeakably. More than that, they were startled, -and so were all the defenders of wealth and prestige in this field of -combat, for they perceived that a master foeman had cast his gage among -them. And they scarcely knew his name.</p> - -<p>Twenty minutes after our formal statement had been delivered to the -Wall Street news bureaus the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> waiting room was full of newspaper -reporters demanding to see the chairman.</p> - -<p>“But what do they want?” asked Galt, angry and petulant. “We’ve made -all the statement that’s necessary.”</p> - -<p>“They say they must talk to somebody, since it is a matter of public -interest. The bankers have referred them here. There’s nobody but you -to satisfy them.”</p> - -<p>“Tell them there’s nothing more to be said.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve told them that. They want to ask you some questions.”</p> - -<p>It was his first experience and he dreaded it.</p> - -<p>“We’ll have a look at them,” he said. “Let them in.”</p> - -<p>As they poured in he scanned their faces. Picking out one, a keen, -bald, pugnacious trifle, he asked: “Who are you?”</p> - -<p>“I’m from the Evening Post.”</p> - -<p>He put the same question to each of the others, and when they were all -identified he turned to the first one again.</p> - -<p>“Well, Postey, you look so wise, you do the talking. What do you want -to know?”</p> - -<p>Postey stepped out on the mat and went at him hard. Why had control of -the Orient & Pacific been bought? What did it cost? How would it be -paid for? Would the road be absorbed by the Great Midwestern or managed -independently? Had the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> new management been appointed? What were Galt’s -plans for the future?</p> - -<p>To the first question he responded in general terms. To the second he -said: “Is that anybody’s business?”</p> - -<p>“It’s the public’s business,” said Postey.</p> - -<p>“Oh,” said Galt. “Well, I can’t tell you now. It will appear in the -annual report.”</p> - -<p>After that he answered each question respectfully, but really told -very little, and appeared to enjoy the business so long as Postey did -the talking. When he was through the Journal reporter said: “Tell us -something about yourself, Mr. Galt. You are spoken of as one of the -brilliant new leaders in finance.”</p> - -<p>“That’s all,” said Galt, repressing an expletive and turning his back. -When they were gone he said to me: “Don’t ever let that Journal man in -again. Postey, though, he’s all right.”</p> - -<p>All accounts of the interview, so far as that went, were substantially -correct. In some papers there was a good deal of silly speculation -about Galt. The Journal reporter went further with it than anyone else, -described his person and manners vividly, and went out of his way three -times to mention in a spirit of innuendo that there was a stock ticker -in Galt’s private office, with sinister reference to the fact that -before he became chairman of the Great Midwestern he had been a Stock -Exchange speculator.</p> - -<p>I called Galt’s attention to this.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he said. “We’re out in the open now where they can shoot at us.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> - -<h3>v</h3> - -<p>The Orient & Pacific deal brought on the inevitable crisis. Valentine -was in Paris. An American correspondent took the news to him at his -hotel and asked for comment upon it. He blurted his astonishment. He -knew nothing about it, he said, and believed it was untrue. This was -unexpected news. The correspondent cabled it to his New York paper -together with the statement that Valentine would cut his vacation and -return immediately. Wall Street scented a row. It was rumored that -Valentine was coming home to depose Galt; also that the purchase of the -Orient & Pacific would be stopped by injunction proceedings. Comment -unfriendly to Galt began to appear in the financial columns of the -newspapers. Great Midwestern stock now was very active in the market. -This gave the financial editors their daily text. They spoke of its -being manipulated, presumably by insiders, and it filled them with -foreboding to remember that the man now apparently in command of this -important property was formerly a Stock Exchange speculator, with no -railroad experience whatever.</p> - -<p>We easily guessed what all this meant. Galt had no friends among the -financial editors. He did not know one of them by sight or name. But -Valentine knew them well, and so did those bankers who had lost control -of the Orient & Pacific. The seed of prejudice is easily sown. There is -a natural, herd-like <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>predisposition to think ill of a newcomer. That -makes the soil receptive.</p> - -<p>Galt was serene until one day suddenly Jonas Gates died of old age and -sin, and then I noticed symptoms of uneasiness. I wondered if he was -worried about those papers I had witnessed in his private office on the -day the Great Midwestern failed. The executors of course would find -them.</p> - -<p>On reaching New York Valentine’s first act was to call a meeting of the -board of directors. He was blind with humiliation. First he offered -a resolution so defining the duties and limiting the powers of the -chairman of the board as to make that official subordinate to the -president. Then he spoke.</p> - -<p>Owing to the sinister aspect of the situation and to the importance of -the interests involved he felt himself justified in revealing matters -of an extremely confidential character. It had come to his knowledge -that there existed between the chairman and the late Jonas Gates a -formal agreement by the terms of which Gates pledged himself to support -Galt for a place on the board of directors and Galt on his part, <i>in -consideration of a large sum of money</i>, undertook first to gain control -of the company’s affairs and overthrow the authority of its president.</p> - -<p>Would the chairman deny this?</p> - -<p>But wait. There was more. In the same way it had come to his knowledge -that two other agreements existed as of the same date. One provided -that when Galt had gained control of the company’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> policies he would -cause it to buy the Orient & Pacific railroad in which Gates was then a -large stockholder. The third was a stipulation that a certain part of -Gates’ profit on the sale of his Orient & Pacific stock to the Great -Midwestern should apply on Galt’s debt to him. Would the chairman deny -the existence of these agreements?</p> - -<p>Still not waiting for a reply, not expecting one in fact, he offered -a second resolution calling for the resignation of Henry M. Galt as -chairman of the board; his place to be filled at the pleasure of the -directors.</p> - -<p>Galt all this time sat with his back to Valentine gazing out the window -with a bored expression. His onset was dramatic and unexpected.</p> - -<p>With a gesture to circumstances he rose, thrust his hands in his -pockets, and began walking slowly to and fro behind Valentine.</p> - -<p>“I hate to do it,” he said. “I like Old Dog Tray, here. But he won’t -stay off the track. If he wants to get run over I can’t help it.... -Those agreements he speaks of,—without saying how he got hold of -them,—they are true. I had a lot of G. M. stock when the company went -busted. The stock records will show it. I was in a tight place and went -to Gates for money to hold on with. He laughed at me. Didn’t believe -the stock was worth a dollar, he said. I spent hours with him telling -him what I knew about the property, showing him its possibilities. I -had made a study of it. I spoke of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> Orient & Pacific as a road the -G. M. would have to control. ‘That would suit me,’ he said. ‘I’ve just -had to take over a large block of that stock for a bad debt.’ I said, -‘All the better. With your stock accounted for it will be easier to buy -the rest.’ And so it was. But that’s ahead of the story. Gates said one -trouble with the G. M. was Valentine. I knew that, too. The end of it -was that I persuaded him. He took everything I had and loaned me the -money. The agreement was that the stuff I pledged with him for the loan -could be redeemed <i>only</i> provided my plans for the development of the -G. M. were realized and certain results appeared. Otherwise he was to -keep it. It was the devil’s own bargain. I was in a hole, remember, -... had the bear in my arms and couldn’t let go, ... and you all knew -Gates.”</p> - -<p>Valentine interrupted. He spoke without looking around.</p> - -<p>“One of your plans for the development of the Great Midwestern was the -elimination of the president.”</p> - -<p>“Exactly,” said Galt. “The president at that time was not president, -but receiver. He was receiver for a property he had managed into -bankruptcy.... Well, that part of the agreement has been kept. There -ain’t any doubt about who’s running the G. M. I’m running it, subject -to the approval of the directors. Five minutes after I was elected -chairman of this board I took the traffic manager’s <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>resignation in -that room out there under threat of having him indicted for theft. -He was the president’s friend. I did this without the president’s -sanction or knowledge. The place was rotten with graft. We were paying -extortionate prices for equipment and materials because the equipment -makers and the material men were our friends. Our pockets were wide -open. Listen to this!”</p> - -<p>From typewritten sheets he read a wrecking indictment of the old -Valentine management, setting out how money had been lost and wasted -and frittered away, how the company had been overcharged, underpaid and -systematically mulcted. He gave exact figures, names, dates and ledger -references.</p> - -<p>“She’s all right now,” he said. “Clean as a grain of wheat. I’m telling -you what was. I don’t intimate that the president took part in plucking -the old goose. I don’t say that. He was too busy making public speeches -on the miseries of railroads to know what was going on.”</p> - -<p>Valentine was not crushed. He showed no sense of guilt. No one believed -him guilty in fact. What he represented, tragically and with great -dignity, was the crime of obsolence. A stronger man was putting him -aside in a new time. He started to speak, but Potter spoke instead.</p> - -<p>“I move to strike all this stuff off the record,” he said, “and let -matters rest as they are.” He pushed back his chair. Everyone but -Valentine arose. There was no vote. Officially nothing had been<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> -transacted. The president was left sitting there alone, with his -resolutions in front of him.</p> - -<p>All that Galt said was true. It was probably not the whole truth. His -transaction with Gates seemed on the face of it too strange to be so -briefly and plausibly explained. One fact at least he left out, which -was that Gates hated Valentine with a fixation peculiar to cryptic old -age. Nobody knew quite why. He was possibly more interested in revenge -upon Valentine than in the future of the Great Midwestern. It may be -surmised also that he had some intuition of Galt’s latent power, just -as Mordecai had, and placed a bet on him at long, safe odds. It was -Galt who took the risk. And as for the Orient & Pacific deal, that -did not require to be defended on its merits, for there was already a -profit in it for the company.</p> - -<p>After this Valentine should have resigned. Instead he carried the -fight outside, over all persuasion. It became a nasty row. He publicly -attacked the company’s purchase of the Orient & Pacific, denounced -Galt personally, and solicited the stockholders for proxies to be -voted at the annual meeting for directors who would support him. His -acquaintance with the financial editors, several of whom were his warm -friends, gave him an apparent advantage. All the newspapers were on his -side.</p> - -<p>But nobody then knew how Galt loved a fight. He poured his essence -into it and attained to a kind of lustful ecstacy. His methods were -both direct and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> devious. To win by a safe margin did not satisfy him. -It must be a smashing defeat for his opponent. He, too, appealed to -the stockholders. Valentine in one way had played into his hands. His -complaint was that Galt had seized the management. Well, if that were -true, nobody but Galt could claim credit for the results, and they were -beginning to be marvelous. Great Midwestern’s earnings were improving -so fast that Galt’s enemies must resort to malicious innuendo. They -said he was a wizard with figures, which was true enough, and that -possibly the earnings were fictitious, which was not the case at all.</p> - -<p>Long before the day of the annual meeting Galt had a large majority of -the stockholders with him. Nevertheless, he sent me abroad to solicit -the proxies of foreign stockholders. They were easy to get. I was -surprised to find that the foreigners, who are extremely shrewd in -these matters, with an instinct for men who have the money making gift, -had already made up their minds about Galt. They had been watching his -work and they were buying Great Midwestern stock on account of it.</p> - -<p>When it came to the meeting Valentine had not enough support to elect -one director. His humiliation was complete. Then he resigned and Galt -was elected in his place, to be both chairman and president.</p> - -<p>He was not exultant. For an hour he walked about the office with a -brooding, absent air. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> was his invariable mood of projection. He -was not thinking at all of what had happened. He put on his hat and -stood for a minute in the doorway. Looking back he said, “Hold tight, -Coxey,” and slammed the door behind him.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER XI</span> <span class="smaller">HEARTH NOTES</span></h2> - -<h3>i</h3> - -<p>Galt’s overthrow of Valentine was an episode of business which need -not have concerned the outside world. But the conditions of the -struggle were dramatic and personal and the papers made big news of -it. The consequences were beyond control. Henry M. Galt was publicly -discovered. That of course was inevitable, then or later. He was -already high above the horizon and rising fast. The astronomers were -unable to say whether he was a comet or a planet. They were astonished -not more by the suddenness of his coming than by the rate at which he -grew as they observed him.</p> - -<p>The other consequences were abnormal, becoming social and political, -and followed him to the end of his career.</p> - -<p>Valentine was not a man to be smudged out of the picture. He was a -person of power and influence. The loss of his historic position was -of no pecuniary moment, for he was very rich; it was a blow at his -prestige and a hurt to his pride, inflicted in the limelight. His -grievance against Galt was irredressible. Honestly, too, he believed -Galt to be a dangerous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> man. But he was a fair fighter within the rules -and would perhaps never himself have carried the warfare outside of -Wall Street where it belonged.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Valentine was the one to do that. She was the social tyrant of her -time, ruling by fear and might that little herd of human beings who -practice self-worship and exclusion as a mysterious rite, import and -invent manners, learn the supercilious gesture which means “One does -not know them,” and in short get the goat of vulgus. Her favor was the -one magic passport to the inner realm of New York society. Her disfavor -was a writ of execution. She was a turbulent woman, whose tongue knew -no inhibitions. Whom she liked she terrified; whom she disliked she -sacrificed.</p> - -<p>Now she took up the fight in two dimensions. Galt she slandered -outrageously, implanting distrust of him in the minds of men who -would carry it far and high,—to the Senate, even to the heart of the -Administration. Then as you would expect, from her position as social -dictator she struck at the Galt women. That was easy. With one word she -cast them into limbo.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Galt had inalienable rights of caste. She belonged to a family -that had been of the elect for three generations. Her aunt once held -the position now occupied by Mrs. Valentine. Galt’s family, though not -at all distinguished, was yet quite acceptable. Marriage therefore did -not alter Mrs. Galt’s social status. She had voluntarily relinquished -it,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> without prejudice, under pressure of forbidding circumstances. -These were a lack of wealth, a chronic sense of insecurity and Galt’s -unfortunate temperament.</p> - -<p>Gradually she sank into social obscurity, morose and embittered. She -made no effort to introduce her daughters into the society she had -forsaken; and as she was unwilling for them to move on a lower plane -the result was that they were nurtured in exile.</p> - -<p>Vera at a certain time broke through these absurd restraints and began -to make her own contacts with the world. They were irregular. She -spent weekends with people whom nobody knew, went about with casual -acquaintances, got in with a musical set, and then took up art, not -seriously for art’s sake, but because some rebellious longing of -her nature was answered in the free atmosphere of studios and art -classes. In her wake appeared maleness in various aspects, eligible, -and ineligible. Natalie, who was not yet old enough to follow Vera’s -lead, nor so bold as to contemplate it for herself, looked on with -shy excitement. The rule is that the younger sister may have what -caroms off. Vera’s men never caromed off. They called ardently for -a little while and then sank without trace, to Natalie’s horror and -disappointment. What Vera did with them or to them nobody ever knew. -She kept it to herself.</p> - -<p>“You torpedo them,” said Natalie, accusing her.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Galt watched the adventuring Vera with anxiety and foreboding, -which gradually gave way to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> a feeling of relief, not unmingled with a -kind of awe.</p> - -<p>“Thank Heaven I don’t have to worry about Vera!” she said one day, -relevantly to nothing at all. She was thinking out loud.</p> - -<p>“Why not, mamma?” asked Natalie.</p> - -<p>“Don’t ask me, child. And don’t try to be like her.”</p> - -<h3>ii</h3> - -<p>Then all at once they were rich.</p> - -<p>For a while they hardly dared to believe it. The habit of not being -rich is something to break. Galt’s revenge for their unbelief, past and -present, was to overwhelm them with money. First he returned to them -severally all that he had borrowed or taken from them to put into Great -Midwestern. This, he said, was not their principal back. It was the -profit. It was only the beginning of their profit. Their investments -were left whole. Presently they began to receive dividends. Besides, -he settled large sums upon them as gifts, and kept increasing them -continually.</p> - -<p>“What shall we do with it?” asked Natalie.</p> - -<p>“Do with it?” said Galt. “What do people do with money? Anything they -like. Spend it.”</p> - -<p>He encouraged them to be extravagant, especially Natalie. She had a -passion for horses. He gave her a stable full on her birthday, all show -animals, one of which, handled by Natalie, took first prize in its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span> -class at Madison Square Garden the next month. Galt, strutting about -the ring, was absurd with wonder and excitement. He wished to clap the -judge on the back. Mrs. Galt restrained him as much as she could. She -could not keep him from shouting when the ribbon was handed out. It was -more a victory for Natalie than for the horse. She was tremendously -admired. People looked at their cards to find her name, then at her -again, asking, “Who is she?”</p> - -<p>She was nobody. In the papers the next morning her name was mentioned -and that was all, except that one paper referred to her as the daughter -of a Wall Street broker. Other girls, neither so beautiful nor so -expert as Natalie, were daintily praised.</p> - -<p>Galt was furious. Yet he had no suspicion of what was the matter. There -was gloom in his household when he expected gaiety. His efforts to -discover the reasons were met with evasive, cryptic sentences.</p> - -<p>“What have you been doing today?” he asked Natalie one hot June evening -at dinner.</p> - -<p>“Nothing,” she answered.</p> - -<p>This exchange was followed as usual by a despondent silence which -always contained an inaudible accusation of Galt. Everyone would have -denied it sweetly. He couldn’t turn it on them. He could only take it -out in irritability.</p> - -<p>“All fuss and feathers and nothing to do,” he said. “You make me sick. -I can’t see why you don’t do what other girls do. There’s nothing -they’ve got<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span> that you can’t have. Go some place. Go to Newport. That’s -where they all go, ain’t it?”</p> - -<p>“Papa, dear,” said Natalie, “what should we do at Newport?”</p> - -<p>“Do! Do! How the—how do I know? Swim, dance, flirt, whatever the rest -of them do. Take a house ... make a splurge ... cut in with the crowd. -I don’t know. Your mother does. That’s her business. Ask her.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, but you don’t understand,” said Natalie. “We’d not be taken in. -Mother does know.”</p> - -<p>“What does that mean?” Galt asked.</p> - -<p>“You can’t just dress up and go where you want to go,” said Natalie. -“You have to be asked. We’d look nice at Newport with a house, wouldn’t -we?”</p> - -<p>“Go on,” said Galt, in a dazed kind of way.</p> - -<p>“I mean,” said Natalie, ... “oh, you know, papa, dear. Don’t be an old -stupid. Why go on with it?... Of course you can always do things with -people of a sort. They ask you fast enough. But mother says if we do -that we’ll never get anywhere. So we have to wait.”</p> - -<p>“Wait for what?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” said Natalie, on the verge of tears. “Ask mother.”</p> - -<p>“So ho-o-o-o!” said Galt, beginning to see. “I’ll ask her.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Galt and Vera were in a state of crystal passivity. They heard -without listening. Galt pursued the matter no further at dinner. Later -he held<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> a long interview with Mrs. Galt and she told him the truth. -Social ostracism was the price his family paid for the enemies he had -made and continued to make in Wall Street. She had tried. She had -knocked, but no door opened. She had prostrated herself before her -friends. They were sorry and helpless. Nothing could be done,—not at -once. She had better wait quietly, they said, until the storm blew -over. Mrs. Valentine was at her worst, terrible and unapproachable. The -subject couldn’t even be mentioned. Anyone who received the Galts was -damned.</p> - -<h3>iii</h3> - -<p>Galt was unable to get his mind down to work the next day. He would -leave it and walk about in a random manner, emitting strange, -intermittent sounds,—grunts, hissings and shrewd whistlings. Then he -would sit down to it again, but with no relief, and repeat the absent -performance.</p> - -<p>“Come on, Coxey,” he said, taking up his hat. “We’ll show them -something.”</p> - -<p>We went up-town by the L train, got off at 42nd Street, took a cab and -drove slowly up Fifth Avenue.</p> - -<p>“That’s Valentine’s house,” he said, indicating a beautiful old brick -residence. He called to the cabby to put us down and wait. We walked -up and down the block. Almost directly opposite the Valentine house -was a brown stone residence in ill repair, doors and windows boarded -up, marked for sale. Having looked at it several times, measuring the -width of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> the plot with his eye, he crossed over to the Valentine -house, squared his heels with the line of its wall and stepped off the -frontage, counting, “Three, six, nine,” etc. It stretched him to do -an imaginary yard per step. He was as unconscious as a mechanical tin -image and resembled one, his arms limp at his sides, his legs shooting -out in front of him with stiff angular movements. He wore a brown straw -hat, his hair flared out behind, his tie was askew and fallen away from -the collar button.</p> - -<p>Returning he stepped off in the same way the frontage of the property -for sale.</p> - -<p>“About what I thought,” he said. “Twenty feet more.”</p> - -<p>He wrote down the number of the house and the name and address of the -real estate firm from the sign and we were through. An agent was sent -immediately to buy the property. He telephoned before the end of the -day.</p> - -<p>“We’ve got it, Coxey,” said Galt. “The transfer will be made in your -name. This is all a dead secret. Not a word. Find the best architect in -New York and have him down here tomorrow.”</p> - -<p>As luck was, the architect had a set of beautiful plans that had been -abandoned on account of cost. With but few modifications they suited -Galt perfectly. He could hardly wait until everything was settled,—not -only as to the house itself, but as to its equipment, decorations and -furnishings complete, even pictures, linen and plate. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p> - -<p>“When it’s done,” he said, “I want to walk in with a handbag and stay -there.”</p> - -<p>Having signed the contracts he added an extra cumulative per diem -premium for completion in advance of a specified date. Then he put it -away from his mind and returned,—I had almost said,—to his money -making. That would not be true. His mind was not on money, primarily. -He thought in terms of creative achievement.</p> - -<p>There are two regnant passions in the heart of man. One is to tear -down, the other is to build up. Galt’s passion was to build. In his -case the passion to destroy, which complements the other, was satisfied -in removing obstacles. Works enthralled him in right of their own -magic. To see a thing with the mind’s eyes as a vision in space, to -give orders, then in a little while to go and find it there, existing -durably in three dimensions,—that was power! No other form of -experience was comparable to this.</p> - -<p>His theory, had he been able to formulate one, would have been that -any work worth doing must pay. That was the ultimate test. If it -didn’t pay there was something wrong. But profit was what followed as -a vindication or a conclusion in logic. First was the thing itself to -be imagined. The difference between this and the common attitude may be -subtle; it is hard to define; yet it is fundamental. He did not begin -by saying: “How can the Great Midwestern be made to earn a profit of -ten per cent.?” No. He said: “How shall we make the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> Great Midwestern -system the greatest transportation machine in the world?” If that were -done the profit would mind itself. He could not have said this himself. -He never troubled his mind with self-analysis. I think he never knew -how or why he became the greatest money maker of his generation in the -world.</p> - -<h3>iv</h3> - -<p>Nothing happened to betray the secret of the house that rose in Fifth -Avenue opposite Valentine’s. The real estate news reporters all went -wild in their guesses as to its ownership. Galt never interfered -about details; but if the chart of construction progress which he -kept on his desk showed the slightest deviation from ideal he must -know at once what was going wrong. There was a strike of workmen. He -said to give them what they wanted and indemnified the contractors -accordingly. Once it was a matter of transportation. Three car loads of -precious hewn stone got lost in transit. The records of the railroad -that had them last showed they had been handed on. The receiving road -had no record of having received them. They had vanished altogether. -At last they were found in Jersey City. A yard crew had been using -them for three weeks as a make-weight to govern the level of one of -those old-fashioned pontoons across which trains were shunted from -the mainland tracks to car barges in the river. They happened to be -just the right weight for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> the purpose. After that every railroad -with a ferry transfer that the Great Midwestern had anything to say -about installed a new kind of pontoon, raised and lowered by a simple -hydraulic principle.</p> - -<p>As the time drew near Galt swelled with mystery. He could not help -dropping now and then at dinner a hint of something that might be -coming to pass. He addressed it always to Natalie, for the benefit -of the others. He looked at her solemnly one evening and contorted a -nursery rhyme:</p> - -<div class="center"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<div>Who got ’em in?</div> -<div>Little Johnnie Quinn</div> -<div>Who got’ em out?</div> -<div>Big John Stout.</div> -</div></div></div> - -<p>“Old silly,” said Natalie. “You’ve got it wrong. It goes—”</p> - -<p>“Now let me alone,” he said. “I’ve got it the way I want it. What do -you know about it? Poor little outcast! No place to go. Nobody to take -her in.”</p> - -<p>He leaned over to pet her consolingly.</p> - -<p>“Stop it!” she said, attacking him. They scuffled. Some dishes were -overturned. She caught a napkin under his chin and tied it over the top -of his head.</p> - -<p>“All right,” he mumbled. “You’ll be sorry. You wait and see.”</p> - -<p>She held his nose and made him say the rhyme the right way, repeating -it after her, under penalty of being made to take a spoonful of -gooseberry jam which he hated. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p> - - -<h3>v</h3> - -<p>The momentous evening came at last. It had been a particularly hard -day in Wall Street. Galt was cross and easily set off. So the omens -were bad to begin with. Natalie read them from afar and gently let him -alone. He bolted his food, became restless, and asked Mrs. Galt to -order the carriage around.</p> - -<p>“Which one?” she asked. “Who will be going?” She did not ask where.</p> - -<p>“All of us,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>“Gram’ma, too?” Natalie asked.</p> - -<p>He nodded.</p> - -<p>“Come on,” he said, pushing back his dessert. He went into the hall, -got into his coat, and walked to and fro with his hat on, fuming. He -helped Gram’ma down the steps and handed her into the carriage, then -Mrs. Galt, then Vera, Natalie last.</p> - -<p>“Go there,” he said to the coachman, handing him a slip of paper.</p> - -<p>The house, with not a soul inside of it, was brilliantly lighted. -Galt in a fever of anticipation crossed the pavement with his most -egregious, cock-like stride. The entrance was level with the street, -screened with two tall iron gates on enormous hinges. Before inserting -the key he looked around, expecting to see the family at his heels. -What he saw instead threw him into a violent temper. I was still -standing at the carriage door waiting to hand them out. Natalie stood -on the curb with her head inside <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>arguing with her mother. Mrs. Galt -would have to know whom they were calling on. Natalie went to find out.</p> - -<p>“Nobody,” said Galt. “Nobody, tell her.”</p> - -<p>When Natalie returned with this answer Mrs. Galt construed it in the -social sense. She was rigid with horror at the thought that Galt by one -mad impulse might frustrate all her precious plans. For all she knew he -was about to launch them upon a party of upstart nobodies in the very -sight of Mrs. Valentine. Vera now joined with Natalie. They added force -to persuasion and slowly brought her forth. We went straggling across -the pavement toward Galt, who by this time was in a fine rage.</p> - -<p>As he unlocked the gates and pushed them open Mrs. Galt had a flash of -understanding. “Oh!” she exclaimed in a bewildered, contrite tone. It -was almost too late.</p> - -<p>There were two sets of doors after the gates.</p> - -<p>We stood in a vaulted hallway. There was a retiring room on either -side. Further in, where the width of these two rooms was added to that -of the hallway, a grand impression of the house began. We were then in -a magnificently arched space, balanced on four monolith columns. At the -right was a carpeted stone staircase. At the left was a great fireplace -and in front of it a very large velvet-covered divan. Logs were burning -lazily on the andirons. On a table at one side was a cut glass service -and iced water. Beyond, straight ahead, was a view of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> the dining room. -As we walked in that direction there was a sound of tinkling water. -This issued from a fountain suddenly disclosed in an unsuspected space. -A fire was burning in the dining room. The table was decorated. The -sideboard was furnished.</p> - -<p>Galt, silently leading the way, brought us back to the grand staircase. -God knows why,—women must weep in a new house. Possibly it makes them -feel more at home. All the feminine eyes in that party, Vera’s alone -excepted, were red as we mounted the stairs.</p> - -<p>As Galt’s satisfaction increased he began to talk. “This,” he said, “is -where we live.”</p> - -<p>That was a room the whole width of the house and half its depth, second -floor front, full of soft light reflected from the ceiling, dedicated -to complete human comfort. Everything had been thought of. Trifles of -convenience were everywhere at hand. There were flowers on the table, -books in the bookcases, current magazines lying about, pillows on the -rug in front of the fire place and an enormous divan in which six might -lie at once.</p> - -<p>On the same floor was a music room; then a ball room. The chambers were -next above, arranged in suites. This was mother’s, meaning Mrs. Galt; -that was Gram’ma’s, that one Vera’s, that one Natalie’s, those others -for company,—or they could rearrange them as they pleased. Every room -was perfectly dressed, even to towels on the bath room racks and toilet -accessories in the cabinets. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span></p> - -<p>“The help,” he said, “and some other things,” passing the next two -floors without stopping. The top floor was his. One large room was -equipped as an office is. His desk was a large mahogany table with -six telephone instruments on it. Opening off to the right was his -apartment. “And this,” he said, opening a door to the left, “is Coxey’s -when he wants it ... two rooms and bath like mine.”</p> - -<p>On the roof, under glass, was a tennis court. The view of the city from -there at night was apparitional. Galt led us to the front ostensibly -that we might see it to better advantage, but for another reason really.</p> - -<p>“That’s Valentine’s house down there,” he said, “that roof. We are -three stories higher and twenty feet wider.... You could almost spit on -it.”</p> - -<p>Mrs. Galt shuddered.</p> - -<p>Well, that was all to see.</p> - -<p>“She’s built like a locomotive,” said Galt, trying here and there a -door to show how perfectly it fitted. There was no higher word of -praise.</p> - -<p>We went down by an automatic electric elevator and were again in that -vaulted, formal space on the ground floor. Words would not come. Mrs. -Galt stood gazing into the fire, overwhelmed, wondering perhaps how -this would affect her campaign to propitiate Mrs. Valentine. Natalie -sat on the stairway with her chin in her hands. Vera helped herself -to some iced water. Gram’ma Galt sat far off in the corner on a stone -bench.</p> - -<p>Galt surveyed them with incredulous disgust. This<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> was a kind of -situation for which he had no intuition at all. His emotions and -theirs were diametrically different. For him the moment was one of -realization. That which was realized had existed in his thoughts whole, -just as it was, for nearly a year. For them it was a terrific shock, -overturning the way of their lives, and women moreover do not make -their adjustments to a new environment in the free, canine manner of -men, but with a kind of feline diffidence. It is very rash to surprise -them so without elaborate preparation.</p> - -<p>The tension became unbearable. I was expecting Galt to break forth in -weird sounds. Instead, without a word, but with his teeth set and his -hands clenched, he leaped into the middle of the divan with his feet -and bounced up and down, like a man in a circus net, until I thought -he should break the springs. That seemed to be what he was trying to -do. But it was the very best quality of upholstery, as he ought to have -known. Then he came down on his back full length and lay still, the -women all staring at him.</p> - -<p>Vera had a sense of tragedy. It gave her access to his feelings. She -walked over to the divan, knelt down, took his head in her arms and -kissed him. This of all her memorable gestures was the finest. And it -was spoiled. Or was it saved, perhaps? She might not have known how to -end it.</p> - -<p>“Ouch!” said Galt. “A pin sticks me.”</p> - -<p>He got up. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Come on, Coxey, I want to show you something in the office upstairs.”</p> - -<p>That was subterfuge. He only wished to get away. We took the elevator -and left them. He went directly to his bedroom, ripped off his collar -and threw it on the floor, kicked off his shoes, and cast himself -wearily on the bed. There he lay, on the costly lace counterpane, lined -with pink silk, a forlorn and shabby figure.</p> - -<p>Presently Mrs. Galt timidly appeared at the door, followed by Vera -and Natalie. They were a little out of breath, having walked up, not -knowing how to manage the elevator.</p> - -<p>“It’s lovely ... perfectly splendid!” said Mrs. Galt, sitting on the -bed and taking his hand. “I’m only sorry I haven’t words to tell you—” -And she began to weep again.</p> - -<p>“Don’t,” said Galt. “How does Gram’ma like it?”</p> - -<p>“Hadn’t we better start home now?” said Mrs. Galt.</p> - -<p>“Home!” said Galt. “What’s this, I’d like to know? Not a bolt missing. -She’s all fueled ... steam up ... ready to have her throttle pulled -open. Go downstairs and hang up your hat. Telephone over for the -servants.... How does Gram’ma like it?”</p> - -<p>“We haven’t anything here, you know,” Mrs. Galt protested gently. “The -girls haven’t and neither have I.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I’m here for good,” said Galt. “I want my breakfast in that dining -room tomorrow morning.... How does Gram’ma like it?.... What’s the -matter?”</p> - -<p>They couldn’t evade it any longer. Natalie told him.</p> - -<p>“Gram’ma says she won’t live here.”</p> - -<p>“Why not?”</p> - -<p>“She won’t say why not. Just says she won’t.”</p> - -<p>“All right, all right,” said Galt. “Being a woman is something you -can’t help. Tell her we’ll give her a deed to the old house ... all for -her own. We’ll play company when we come to see her.... That reminds -me.”</p> - -<p>He brought a large folded document out of his pocket and handed it to -Mrs. Galt.</p> - -<p>“What’s this?”</p> - -<p>“Deed to this house,” he said. “It’s from Coxey. Thank him. We kept it -all in his name until today. Now it’s in your name.”</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER XII</span> <span class="smaller">A BROKEN SYMBOL</span></h2> - -<h3>i</h3> - -<p>Vera by this time was in high, romantic quest of that which cannot -be found outside oneself. She had a passion to be utterly free. It -was a cold, intellectual phantasy, defeated in every possibility by -some strange, morbid no-saying of her emotional nature. Her delusion -had been that circumstances enthralled her. That refuge now was gone. -Wealth gave her control over the circumstances of her life. She could -do what she pleased. She was free to seek freedom and her mind was -strong and daring.</p> - -<p>She leased an old house in West Tenth Street and had it all made over -into studio apartments, four above to be let by favor to whom she liked -and one very grand on the ground floor for herself. Then she became a -patron of the arts. It is an easy road. Art is hungry for praise and -attention. Artists are democratic. They keep no rules, go anywhere, -have lots of time and love to be entertained by wealth, if only to put -their contempt upon it. The hospitality of a buyer must be bad indeed -if they refuse it. Vera’s hospitality was attractive in itself. Her -teas<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span> were man teas. Her dinners were gay and excellent. They were -popular at once and soon became smart in a special, exotic way. Her -private exhibitions were written up in the art columns.</p> - -<p>She had first a conventional phase and harbored academic art. That -passed. Her taste became more and more radical; so also of course did -her company. I went often to see her there,—to her teas and sometimes -to her dinners, because one could seldom see her anywhere else. But it -was a trial for both of us. She introduced me always with an air which -meant, “He doesn’t belong, as you see, but he is all right.” I was -accepted for her sake. The men were not polite with each other. They -quarrelled and squabbled incessantly, mulishly, pettishly, in terms as -strange to me as the language of my trade would have been to them. They -were polite to me. That was the distinction they made.</p> - -<p>As Vera progressed, her understanding of art becoming higher and -higher, new figures appeared, some of them grossly uncouth, either -naturally so or by affectation. She discovered a sculptor who brought -his things with him to be admired,—small ones in his pockets, larger -ones in his arms. I could not understand them. They resembled the -monstrosities children dream of when they need paregoric. He had been -stoker, prize-fighter, mason, poet, tramp,—heaven knows what!—with -this marvellous gift inside of him all the time. He wore brogans, -trousers that sagged, a shirt open to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> middle of his hairy chest, a -red handkerchief around his neck and often no hat at all.</p> - -<p>Vera seemed quite mad about him. She took me one day to his studio, -saying particularly that she had never been there. It was a small -room at the top of a palsied fire trap near Gramercy Park, reached by -many turnings through dark hallways with sudden steps up and down. In -it, besides the sculptor in a gunny-sack smock, there was nothing but -some planks laid over the tops of barrels, some heaps of clay, and -his things, which he called pieces of form. On the walls, scrawled in -pencil, were his social engagements, all with women. Vera’s name was -there.</p> - -<p>Once he came to tea with nothing of his own to show, but from under his -coat he produced and held solemnly aloft an object which proved to be a -stuffed toy beast,—dog, cow, bear or what you couldn’t tell, it was so -battered. One of its shoe-button eyes, one ear and the tail were gone. -Its hide was cotton flannel, now the color of grimy hands.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” everybody asked.</p> - -<p>He wouldn’t tell until he had found something to stand it on. A book -would serve. Then he held it out at arm’s length.</p> - -<p>“I found it on the East Side in a rag picker’s place!” he said. “I seem -to see something in it ... what?... a force ... something elemental ... -something.”</p> - -<p>The respect with which this twaddle was received<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> by a sane company, -some of it distinguished, even by Vera herself, filled me with -indignation.</p> - -<p>Later the sculptor sat by me and asked ingratiatingly how matters were -in Wall Street.</p> - -<p>“You are the third man who has asked me that question today,” I said. -“Why are artists so much interested in Wall Street?”</p> - -<p>“I’m not,” he said. “I only thought it was a proper question to ask. -Some of them are. I hear them talking about it. Pictures sell better -when people are making money in Wall Street. Sculpture never sells -anyway. Mine won’t.”</p> - -<p>I said men were doing very well in Wall Street. Times were prosperous -again.</p> - -<p>“So I understand,” he replied. “It seems very easy to make money there -if you get in right. Do you know of anything sure?”</p> - -<p>I said I didn’t.</p> - -<p>“You are with Mr. Galt?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“He is a great money maker, isn’t he? What is he like?”</p> - -<p>“He’s an elemental force,” I said, leaving him.</p> - -<h3>ii</h3> - -<p>But Vera was shrewd and purposeful, having always her ends in view. -Manifestations such as the sculptor person were kept in their place. -They were not permitted to dominate the scene. They played against a -background that was at once <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>exquisite and reassuring. In a mysterious -way she created an atmosphere of pagan, metaphysical tranquillity, -which rejects nothing and refines whatever it accepts. No thought, no -representation of fact or experience, however extreme, was forbidden. -But you must perceive all things æsthetically. Vulgarity was the only -sin. Emotions were objects. You might enjoy them in any way you liked -save one. You must not touch them. For this was the higher sensuality, -ethereal and philosophical,—a sensuality of the mind alone.</p> - -<p>All of this was the unconscious expression of herself. Eros -intellectualized! It can be done.</p> - -<p>Her achievement became known in a cultish way. She made admission to -her circle more and more difficult and the harder it was the more -anxious people were to get in. On Mrs. Valentine’s world she turned the -tables. She flouted society and it began to knock at her door. She had -something it wanted and sold it dear.</p> - -<p>There are always those who seek in art that which they have lost or -used up or never dared take in life. There are those whose desires -are projected upon the mind and obsess it long after the capacity for -direct experience is ruined. There are those to whom anything esoteric -and new is irresistible. There were those, besides, who sought Vera, -notably among them a tall blond animal of the golden series.</p> - -<p>He was the man I saw bring Vera home that evening I waited to have -it out with her. I met him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> again in London on Galt’s business while -soliciting proxies among our foreign stockholders. At that time he -was acting for his father’s estate with an English syndicate that had -large investments in American railroads. Since then, by the will of -Providence, he had come into possession of the estate together with an -hereditary title of great social distinction.</p> - -<p>Enter, as he pleases, Lord Porteous. With a thin, cynical head, a -definite simplicity of outline and an exaggerated, voluptuous grace -of body, he remarkably resembled an old Greek drawing. How he had -found Vera in the first place I never knew. That happened, at any -rate, before she was rich. He had the trained British instinct -for putting money with the right people, and it was true that the -English discovered Galt from afar while he was yet almost unknown in -Wall Street. But when I saw him that first time with Vera the Great -Midwestern was on its way to bankruptcy and Galt’s interest in it was -extremely precarious.</p> - -<p>Well, no matter. It was inevitable however it happened. When he -returned to this country as Lord Porteous he found her again and -immediately added his prestige to her circle. Art bored him. He -played the part of beguiled Philistine and amused himself by uttering -bourgeoise comments of the most astonishing banality. Whether he -truly meant them or not nobody knew for sure. He never by any chance -betrayed his form. If satire, it was art; if<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> not, it was incredible. -Sensitive victims were reduced to a state of grinning horror. One who -committed suicide was believed to have been driven to it by something -Lord Porteous said to him in a moment of their being accidentally alone -at the sideboard. The artist dropped his glass in a gibbering rage -and went headlong forth. He was never seen alive again, and as m’lord -couldn’t be asked we never knew what it was.</p> - -<p>For all that, Lord Porteous was a capital social asset, and a valiant -protagonist. He carried Vera’s name with him wherever he went, even -to Mrs. Valentine’s table,—there especially, in fact, because he -discovered how much it annoyed her. He disliked her; and she was -helpless.</p> - -<h3>iii</h3> - -<p>Like her father, Vera was adventurous with success. No measure was -enough. She began to import art objects that were bound to be talked -about,—not old masters, nothing so trite as that, but daring, -controversial things, the latest word of a modern school or the most -authentic fetich of a new movement in thought. Her grand stroke was -the purchase in London of the rarest piece of antique negro sculpture -then known to exist in the world. It had been miraculously discovered -in Africa and was brought to England for sale. Its importance lay -in the fact that a certain self-advertised cult, leading a revolt -against classic Greek tradition, acclaimed it on sight<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> as the perfect -demonstration of some theory which only artists could pretend to -understand. Modern sculpture, these people said, was pure in but two of -its three dimensions. This African thing, wrought by savages in a time -of great antiquity, was pure also in the third dimension. Therefore -it excelled anything that was Greek or derived therefrom. A storm of -controversy broke upon the absurd little idol’s head. Photographs of it -were printed in hundreds of magazines and newspapers in Europe and the -United States. And when it came to be sold at auction it was one of the -most notorious objects on earth.</p> - -<p>The British Museum retired after the second bid. Agents acting for -private collectors ran the price up rapidly. The bidding, according to -the news reports cabled to this country the next morning, was “very -spirited,” and the treasure passed at a fabulous price to the agent of -“Miss Vera Galt, the well known American collector.” She had engaged -the assistance of a dealer who knew how to get publicity in these high -matters. English art critics politely regretted that an object of such -rare æsthetic interest should leave Europe; American critics exulted -accordingly and praised Miss Galt’s enterprise.</p> - -<p>I was at the studio the day the thing arrived and was unpacked. Besides -the initiates, votaries and friends, a number of art critics were -present by invitation. Vera, as usual, was detached and tentative, with -no air of proprietorship whatever. She was like one of the spectators. -Yet every detail of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> ceremony had been rigidly ordained. The place -prepared to receive the idol was not too conspicuous. It was to be -important but not paramount. It must not dominate the scene.</p> - -<p>As one not entitled to participate in the chatter I was free to listen. -There were <i>oh’s</i> and <i>ah’s</i> and guttural sounds, meant in each case to -express that person’s whole unique comprehension and theory of art. The -more articulate had almost done better, I thought, to limit themselves -to similar exclamations. What they said was quite meaningless, to me -at least. With the enthusiasm of original discovery one declared that -it was wholly free of any representational quality. Another said with -profound wisdom that it was neither the symbol nor the representation -of anything, but purely and miraculously a thing in itself. Its -unrepresentationalness and thing-in-itselfness were thereupon asserted -over and over, everyone perceiving that to be the safe slant of -opinion. They were wonderfully excited. No lay person may hope to -understand these commotions of æsthetic feeling. The idea was to me -grotesque that this strange, discolored figure, not more than fifteen -inches high, with its upturned nose, its cylindrical trunk, cylindrical -arms not pertaining to the trunk, cylindrical legs pertaining to -neither the trunk nor the arms, terminating in block feet, should be an -august event in the world of art.</p> - -<p>Lord Porteous came in. He helped himself to tea and sat down with Vera -at some distance from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> the murmuring group that surrounded the idol. -Voices kept calling him to come. He went, holding his tea and munching -his cake, and gave it one casual look.</p> - -<p>“How very ugly,” he said, and returned to Vera’s side.</p> - -<p>I hated him for having the assurance to say it. No one else would -have dared. I hated him for his possessive ways. I hated him for all -the reasons there were. A malicious spirit invaded me. I sat near -them, wishing my proximity to be disagreeable. He was very polite and -friendly, which gave me extra reasons. He made some reference to a -recent occurrence in Wall Street. He asked me what I made of the negro -carving.</p> - -<p>“I don’t understand it,” I said.</p> - -<p>“We are the barbarians here,” he said. “They understand it. Look at -them.”</p> - -<p>Vera was silent.</p> - -<h3>iv</h3> - -<p>Gradually the party dispersed, everyone stopping on the way forth to -inform Vera of her greatness, her service to art, her hold upon their -adoration and affection. At length only Lord Porteous and I remained. -The tea things were removed, twilight passed, lights were made, and -still we lingered, making artificial conversation. Suddenly, with a -subtle air of declining the competition, he took his leave.</p> - -<p>Vera lay in a great black, ivory-mounted chair, her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> head far back, her -feet on a hassock, smoking a cigarette in a long shell holder, staring -into the smoke as a man does. The presence of Lord Porteous seemed to -linger between us long after his corporeal entity was gone.</p> - -<p>“He says he thinks it very ugly,” I remarked.</p> - -<p>“Yes?” she said with that unresolved, rising inflexion which provokes a -man to open the quarrel.</p> - -<p>“No one else could have carried off that audacity,” I said.</p> - -<p>She let that pass.</p> - -<p>“I wonder what your archaic sculptor man would think of it?” I said. -“He wasn’t here.... We haven’t seen him for a long time.”</p> - -<p>She shrugged her shoulders and continued to gaze into the smoke of her -cigarette.</p> - -<p>“So you are bored,” I said. “A world of your own, a lord at your feet, -and still you are bored.”</p> - -<p>“Do you mean to pick a quarrel with me?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“I wish to cancel our bargain,” I said. “The one we made that time long -ago in the tea shop.”</p> - -<p>“Very well,” she said. “It is cancelled.”</p> - -<p>“Is that all?”</p> - -<p>“What more could there be?” she asked, looking at me for the first -time, with that naïve expression of blameless innocence which was Eve’s -fig leaf.</p> - -<p>“You have nothing to say?”</p> - -<p>“No,” she said. “Women are not as vocal about these things as men seem -to be.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p> - -<p>“You were vocal enough when we were making the bargain,” I said. “Have -you no curiosity to know why I wish to cancel it?”</p> - -<p>“Friendship does not satisfy a man,” she said.</p> - -<p>“Have you made the same bargain with others? ... with Lord Porteous?” I -asked.</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“Why not?”</p> - -<p>“Please don’t be stupid,” she said, lighting another cigarette and -beginning to toy with the smoke. “Are you staying for dinner?”</p> - -<p>“I’m going,” I said, “but not until I have told you.”</p> - -<p>“What?”</p> - -<p>“Why I ask to cancel our bargain.”</p> - -<p>“Oh,” she said. “I thought that was quite done with.”</p> - -<p>“Well, then, why you are bored.”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” she said, “why I am bored. You will tell me that?”</p> - -<p>Her profile was in silhouette against the black of the chair. She was -smiling derisively.</p> - -<p>“It is because you have imprisoned yourself in a lonely castle,” I -said. “You used that figure of speech yourself when we were making -the bargain. ‘It is my castle,’ you said. Therefore you know it. The -name of that castle is Selfishness. The name of your jailer is Vera -Afraid. What you fear is life, for its pain and scars. You hail it from -afar. You call it inside the walls under penalities. It must be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> good. -It shall not bite or scratch or kiss you. You are too precious to be -touched.”</p> - -<p>“You haven’t named the prisoner,” she said, slowly.</p> - -<p>“She is Vera Desireful,” I said. “She is starved for life, for the -bread of participation.... She lives upon the poisonous crusts of -phantasy. She is probably in danger of going mad. Her dreams are -terrible.”</p> - -<p>“You cannot be saying these things to me!” she exclaimed, with a -startled, incredulous face.</p> - -<p>“Long ago I might have said them just as well,” I answered. “I have -known always what an unnatural, self-saving woman you are, how -treacherous you are to the impulse which brings you again and again -to the verge of experience. There, in the act of embracing life, you -suddenly freeze with selfish fear. Do you think life can be so cheated? -If it cannot burn you it will wither you. When it is too late you may -realize that to have one must give. Well, it is impossible of course. -You cannot give yourself. The impulse is betrayed on the threshold. I -knew it when I was fool enough to ask you to marry me.”</p> - -<p>“You never asked me,” she said, thoughtfully, as reviewing a state of -facts. “You only said you wanted to marry me.”</p> - -<p>I construed it as a challenge. No, that is as I think of it now. -What happened to me then was beyond any process of thought. It -occurred outside<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> of me, if that means anything. There was a sense of -dissolving. Objects, ideas, place, planes, dimensions, my own egoistic -importance, all seemed to dissolve in one significant sensation. There -is a recollection that at this moment something became extremely vivid. -What it was that became vivid I do not know. The word that comprehends -without defining it is completion. In the whole world there was nothing -else of consequence or meaning.</p> - -<p>“I ask you now,” I said.</p> - -<p>I heard my own words from afar. They were uttered by someone who had -been sitting where I sat and for all I knew or cared might be sitting -there still. <i>I</i> was a body moving through space, with a single -anxiety, which was to meet another body in space for a purpose I could -not stop to examine. I remember thinking, “I may. I may. The bargain is -cancelled.”</p> - -<p>She leaped to her feet, evading me, and laughed with her head tossed -back,—an icy, brilliant laugh that made me rigid. I could not -interpret it. I do not know yet what it meant. Nor do I comprehend the -astonishing gesture that followed.</p> - -<p>Slowly she moved to the African idol, picked it up, brought it to the -mantel under a strong light and began to examine it carefully. She -explored every plane of its surface and became apparently quite lost -in contemplation of its hideous beauty. Holding it at arm’s length and -still looking at it she spoke. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Lord Porteous thinks it very ugly?”</p> - -<p>“So he said,” I replied.</p> - -<p>“He may be right,” she said. “Perhaps it is. So many things turn ugly -when you look at them closely ... friendship even.”</p> - -<p>Then she dropped it.</p> - -<p>As it crashed on the hearthstone she turned, without a glance at the -fragments or at me, and walked out of the room.</p> - -<p>Three days later her engagement to Lord Porteous was announced.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER XIII</span> <span class="smaller">SUCCESS</span></h2> - -<h3>i</h3> - -<p>The ready explanation of Galt’s rise in a few years to the rôle of Wall -Street monarch is that he was a master profit maker. The way of it -was phenomenal. His touch was that of genius, daring, unaccountable, -mysteriously guided by an inner mentality. And when the results -appeared they were so natural, inevitable, that men wondered no less at -their own stupidity than at his prescience. Why had they not seen the -same opportunity?</p> - -<p>His associates made money by no effort of their own. They had only -to put their talents with the mighty steward. He took them, employed -them as he pleased, and presently returned them two-fold, five-fold, -sometimes twenty-fold.</p> - -<p>But this explanation only begs the secret. The nature of his unique -power is still hidden. It was in the first manifestation a power -to persuade men. It became a power to command them, in virtue of -the ability he had to reward them. This ability was the consummate -power,—a power to imagine and create wealth. As it grew and as the -respect for it became a superstition among his associates and a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> terror -to all adversaries he passed into the dictatorial phase of his career.</p> - -<p>Mordecai’s thought,—“Id iss only zat ve zhall manage him a -liddle,”—was rudely shattered. He was unmanageable. He gave Mordecai -& Co. peremptory orders, and they were obeyed, as they well might be, -since Galt’s star had lifted the house of Mordecai from third to first -rank in the financial world. It had become richer and more powerful -than any other house in Wall Street save one and that one was its -ancient enemy.</p> - -<p>Mordecai’s courage had fainting fits. To “zese heights” he was often -unable to follow without a good deal of forcible assistance. Frequently -he would come to wrestle prayerfully with Galt, begging him in vain to -scale down some particularly audacious plan, whatever it was. One day -they had been at this for an hour. Galt was pugnacious and oppressive. -They stood up to it. Mordecai, retreating step by step, had come to bay -in a corner, gazing upward, the tips of his fingers together; Galt was -passing to and fro in front of him, laying down his will, stopping now -and then to emphasize the point by shaking his fist under Mordecai’s -nose.</p> - -<p>Just then the boy from the reception room came to my desk with the -name of Horace Potter. That was awkward. Potter was a tempestuous -man, easily moved to high anger, himself an autocrat, unaccustomed -to wait upon the pleasure of others. He was personally one of Galt’s -most powerful <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>supporters and brought to him besides the whole -strength of the puissant oil crowd, which controlled at that time -more available wealth than any other group in Wall Street. It was an -unusual concession for him to call upon anyone. People always came to -him. And there he was outside, waiting. He had come to keep a definite -appointment. There was no excuse. I tried to tell Galt, but he waved me -away fiercely.</p> - -<p>“Don’t bother me now, Coxey.”</p> - -<p>Five minutes passed. Of a sudden Potter bolted in. “What is this?” he -roared. “Am I one to cool my heels in your outer office?”</p> - -<p>Galt turned round and stared at him, blankly at first and then with -blazing anger.</p> - -<p>“How did you get in here?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“By God, I walked in,” said Potter.</p> - -<p>“Then, by God, walk out again,” said Galt, turning his back.</p> - -<p>I followed him out, thinking to find some mollifying word to say; he -was unapproachable. The reception room was empty but for Potter and -the friend he had with him, an important banker who was to have been -presented to Galt in a special way. They talked with no heed of me.</p> - -<p>“He’s in one of his damned tantrums,” said Potter. “We’ll have to chuck -it or try again.”</p> - -<p>The other man got very red.</p> - -<p>“Why do you stand it?” he asked. “You!”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you why,” said Potter. “We make more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> with him than with any -other man who ever handled our money. That’s a very good reason.”</p> - -<p>“I couldn’t help it,” I said to Galt, afterward.</p> - -<p>“All right,” he said. “He won’t do it again.”</p> - -<p>He never did. And so one by one they learned to take him as he was, to -swallow their pride and submit to his moods, all for the same reason. -He had the power to make them rich, richer, richest.</p> - -<p>A meeting of the board of directors became a perfunctory formality, -serving only to verify and approve Galt’s acts for purposes of record. -On his own responsibility he committed the company to policies, -investments, vast undertakings, and informed the board later. Success -was his whole justification. If once that failed him his authority -would collapse instantly.</p> - -<p>In a rare moment of self-inspection, after one of his darling visions -had come true, he said:</p> - -<p>“After all, Coxey, it’s the Lord makes the tide rise. We don’t control -it. We only ride it.”</p> - -<p>It was an amazing tide. Never was one like it before. It floated old -hulks that had been lying helpless and bankrupt on the sands for years. -And when men began to say it was high enough, that it was time to -prepare for the ebb, Galt said it was yet beginning. On the day Great -Midwestern stock sold at one hundred dollars a share,—par!—he said to -Mordecai: “That’s nothing. It will sell at two hundred. Buy me twenty -thousand shares at this price.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I belief you, Mr. Gald,” said Mordecai in an awe-struck whisper.</p> - -<h3>ii</h3> - -<p>Proceeds of the incessant enormous issues of new securities had been -invested first in the reconstruction of the Great Midwestern itself -and then in the shares of other railroads, beginning with the Orient -& Pacific. That was the first of a series of transactions. We now -owned outright or controlled by stock ownership no fewer than fifteen -other railroad properties, besides lake and ocean steamship lines, -docks, terminals, belt lines, trolley systems, forests, oil fields -and coal mines. The Great Midwestern was the vertebra of an organism, -ramifying east, west, north and south; it reached from the Atlantic -to the Pacific, with antennæ to Asia and Europe. Its treasury was -inexhaustible, fed by so many streams.</p> - -<p>Not only did our own earnings increase amazingly as all those other -properties poured their traffic into us, but the Great Midwestern -treasury received dividends on the shares by which it controlled -those traffic bringers. Thus we garnered twice. There was yet a third -source of profit. As the Great Midwestern acquired new properties Galt -rebuilt them out of their own earnings or by use of their own credit, -so that their value increased. Thus, they brought us traffic, they -paid dividends into our treasury and at the same time they were so -enhanced in physical value by Galt’s methods of development that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> they -were soon worth three or four times what they had cost. All this was -in each case so obvious, once it had happened, and yet so remarkable -in the aggregate, that people could scarcely believe it. A writer in -one of the financial papers exclaimed: “If these figures are true, -then the Great Midwestern Railway Company could go out of the railroad -business entirely and live richly on the profits that appear from its -investments in the securities of other railroads.”</p> - -<p>And the figures <i>were</i> true.</p> - -<h3>iii</h3> - -<p>Galt’s name rose to impersonal eminence. The properties embraced in -the Great Midwestern organism were referred to as Galt properties. -Their securities were Galt bonds or Galt stocks. The acts of the -Great Midwestern were not its own; they were Galt’s. There was a Galt -influence which reached beyond his own domain. Once an important -railroad system in which neither he nor the Great Midwestern had any -direct interest was about to reduce its rate of dividend. The directors -on their way to the meeting said they would vote to reduce it. But they -didn’t. When the meeting was over they were asked why they had changed -their minds. The explanation was that Galt had sent word to them that -he wished them not to do it. He said it would be a shock to public -confidence, and that he would divert enough traffic to the road to -enable it to earn the dividend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> it had been paying. And presently Wall -Street people were talking of a Galt crowd or a Galt party, meaning all -that group of men associated with him in his undertakings.</p> - -<p>The magazines discovered him. For a long time he would not be -interviewed. There was nothing to talk about, he said; why did they -pester him? They wrote articles about him, notwithstanding, because -he was a new power in the land, and so much of the information they -put forth was garbled or immature that he was persuaded at last to -submit to a regular interview. The writer assigned to the task was -at that time a famous interviewer. He came one evening to the house -by appointment and waited in the great drawing room. I was with him, -giving him some advice, when Galt came in, wearing slippers the heels -of which slapped the floor at every step. He sat in a large chair, -crouched himself, stared for a full minute at the interviewer through -large shell spectacles, justifying, I afterward remembered, the -interviewer’s impression of him as a huge, predatory, not unfriendly -spider. Suddenly he spoke, saying:</p> - -<p>“Ain’t you ashamed to be in this business?”</p> - -<p>“Everybody has something to be ashamed of,” said the interviewer. “What -are you ashamed of?”</p> - -<p>That pleased Galt. He loved a straight hit on the nose. And it turned -out to be a very successful interview.</p> - -<p>What the public knew about him was already enough to dazzle the -imagination. What it didn’t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> know, not yet at least, was more -surprising. His private fortune became so great that he was obliged -to think what to do with it. Unerringly he employed it in means to -greater power. Hitherto he had relied mainly upon the support of -individuals and groups of men who put their money with him. Now he -began on his own account to buy heavily into financial institutions and -before anybody knew what he was doing he had got working control of -several great reservoirs of liquid capital, such as chartered banks and -insurance companies. The use of this was that he could influence them -to invest their funds in the securities of the Great Midwestern and -its collateral properties. That made it easier for him to sell the new -stocks and bonds which he was endlessly creating to provide money for -his projects.</p> - -<p>His passion to build burned higher and higher. Any spectacle of -construction fascinated him. We stood for an hour one morning at the -corner of Broadway and Exchange Place watching a new way of putting -down the foundation for a steel building. Wooden caissons were sunk in -the ground by a pneumatic principle to a great depth and then filled -with concrete. The building was to be twenty stories high.</p> - -<p>“Have you noticed,” I asked him, “how the skyline of New York has -changed since steel construction began? If you haven’t seen it from -down the bay or across the river for several years you wouldn’t know -it.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I haven’t,” he said. “Yes ... of course. It must be so.”</p> - -<p>An hour later in the office he called me to the window. “See that -handful of old brick rookeries down there?... Fine place to build.... -Let’s do something for your skyline.”</p> - -<p>In his mind’s eye was the mirage of a skyscraper thirty stories tall -with the Great Midwestern’s executive offices luxuriously established -on the top floors. A year later it was there, and we were there.</p> - -<p>Most men are superstitious about leaving the environment in which -success has been bearded and made docile. Was he? I never quite knew. -All this time we had remained in those dark, awkward old offices with -their funny walnut furniture. Not a desk had been changed. A new rug -was bought for the president’s room when Valentine left and Galt moved -in; and Harbinger, restored to the room Galt had moved him out of, -asked for some new linoleum on the floor. Nothing else had been done to -improve our quarters. Where Cæsar sits, there his empire is. What he -sits on does not matter at all.</p> - -<p>His last act in this setting was dramatic. Word came one Saturday -morning that the dæmonic Missouri River was on a wild rampage, with a -sudden mind to change its way. Three towns that lay in its path were -waiting helplessly to be devoured, and there was no telling what would -happen after that. The government’s engineers were frantic, calling -for<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> help, with no idea where it was to come from. Galt got Chicago on -the wire and spoke to the chief of his engineer corps, a man to whom -mountains were technical obstacles and rivers a petty nuisance.</p> - -<p>“The Missouri River is cavorting around again,” said Galt. “Now, -listen.... Yes!... Take everything we’ve got, men, materials and -equipment—hello!—anything you need, including the right of way. I -don’t care what it costs, but put a ring in her nose and lead her back -to her trough. This order is unlimited. It takes precedence over mail, -business and acts of Providence. Go like hell.... Hello!... That’s all.”</p> - -<p>Then he walked out for the last time and never once looked back. On -Monday morning he walked into our ornate new offices without appearing -to notice them. He was impatient for something that should be on his -desk. It was there,—a message from the engineer:</p> - -<p>“Will have her stopped by 6 p. m., Monday. Get her back to bed in a few -days.”</p> - -<p>It was a memorable feat, a triumph of daring and skill, and cost the -Great Midwestern several millions of dollars.</p> - -<h3>iv</h3> - -<p>At about this time, quite accidentally, there shaped in his thoughts -that ultimate project which lies somewhere near the heart of every -instinctive builder.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> One evening at dinner Natalie said: “I wonder why -we have no country place? Everyone else has.”</p> - -<p>Galt stopped eating and looked at her slowly.</p> - -<p>“Why of course, that’s it,” he said. “I’ve been wondering what it was -we didn’t have, ... looking at it all the time, like the man at the -giraffe.... Huh!”</p> - -<p>He approached it in a characteristic manner at once. There was -somewhere a topographic map of New Jersey. It was searched for and -found and he and Natalie lay on the floor with their heads together -exploring it. First he explained to her how one got the elevations by -following the brown contour lines and what the signs and figures meant.</p> - -<p>“Then this must be a mountain,” she exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“Right,” he said. “You get the idea. Here’s a better one. Look here.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, but see this one,” she said. “Look! All by itself.”</p> - -<p>He examined her discovery thoughtfully. It was a mountain in northern -New Jersey, the tallest one, two small rivers flowing at its feet, a -view unobstructed in all directions.</p> - -<p>“You’ve found the button,” he said. “I believe you have ... wild -country ... not much built up.... What’s that railroad, can you see?... -All right. We can get anything at all we want from them.”</p> - -<p>The whole family went the next day on a voyage of verification and -discovery. It was all they had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> hoped for. Natalie was ecstatic in -the rôle of Columbus. Fancy! She had found it on a map, no bigger -than that!—and here it was. Mrs. Galt was acquiescent and a little -bewildered. Vera was conservative. They imagined a large house on top -of the mountain, with a road up, more or less following the trail they -had ascended to get the view, which took the breath out of you, Natalie -said. You could see the Hudson River for many miles up, New York City, -the Catskills possibly on a very clear day,—most of the world, in -fact. Mrs. Galt and Vera perceived the difficulties and had no sense of -how they were to be overcome. Galt imagined an estate of fifty thousand -acres of which this mountain should be the paramount feature; miles of -concrete roads, a power dam and electric light plant large enough to -serve a town, a branch railroad to the base of the mountain, a private -station to be named Galt, and finally,—the most impossible thing he -could conceive,—a swift electric elevator up the mountain.</p> - -<p>The business of acquiring the land began at once. The mountain itself -was easy to buy. Many old farm holders in the valley were obstinate. -But he got the heart of what he wanted to begin with, the rest would -come in time, and construction plans of great magnitude were soon under -way. The house in Fifth Avenue was in one sense a failure. It had not -reduced Mrs. Valentine. It only made her worse. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> social feud was -unending. Well, now he would show them a country place.</p> - -<p>And this, though he knew it not, was to be his castle on a hill, -inaccessible and grand, a place of refuge, the feudal, immemorial -symbol of power and conquest.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER XIV</span> <span class="smaller">THE COMBAT</span></h2> - -<h3>i</h3> - -<p>Meanwhile Galt’s enemies had been drawing together secretly. Hatred, -fear and envy resolved all other emotions. Men who had nothing else in -common were joined in a conspiracy to destroy him. The leviathans of -this deep move slowly and take their time. Besides, it was a fearsome -undertaking. There was bound to be a terrific struggle. One false move -and the dragon would escape.</p> - -<p>The plan was to attack him from two sides at once.</p> - -<p>Several of the railroad properties acquired by the Great Midwestern -were in some sense competitive,—though Galt had not bought them -primarily for that reason,—and as the law was never clear as to how -far the merging of separate railroads might go, it would be possible -to attack the Galt system under the Anti-Trust Act. If the government -could be moved to do this and if then at the same time his Wall Street -enemies concertedly attacked his credit his downfall might be foretold.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span></p> - -<p>This plan required elaborate preparation. The government could not be -directly solicited to act. It would have to be moved by suggestion, and -with such finesse as to conceal the fact that it was being influenced -at all, elsewise than by its own convictions of right. There are those -who know how to effect these Machiavellian results. Intrigue is still -man’s sovereign art. That is why he makes so much of politics.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Valentine, pursuing vengeance in her own way, had made Galt’s name -anathema throughout her precious principality. If you were anybody at -all, or aspired to be, you were obliged to think and speak ill of him, -for he represented vulgarity raised by its own audacity to a wicked -and sinister eminence, if he had been born so one could understand -it, she said. But he knew better. That made it all the worse. He had -betrayed the decencies. His one passion was to amass wealth. Those who -had helped him to rise he trampled down. He made his money dishonestly. -A Stock Exchange gambler with a Napoleonic obsession! Well, she -invariably said at the end, his time would come and then people would -see what she meant.</p> - -<p>Her own power she employed in a reckless manner. She visited disfavor -upon those who were lukewarm in malignity, going so far as to make a -scene with Lord Porteous, for that he dared to speak in defense of the -monster. She took in people whose only recommendation was zealotry in -her cause. Her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> subjects going to and fro carried the evangel to other -realms, especially to official society in Washington, which heard in -this way every scandalous thing Galt had ever said about politicians in -power.</p> - -<p>The extent and character of her information could be explained only -on the assumption that somewhere in our organization, probably on the -board of directors, was a masked enemy who continually gave Galt up -to Valentine. He had not disappeared from the field of action. All -this time he was working in the background with a single passion,—a -righteous one, as he believed,—which was to assist in the overthrow of -Galt. It was natural that he should join the conspirators. He brought -them much information; he had political resources and access to the -means of publicity.</p> - -<p>A fortuitous time arrived. For several years the public, now restored -to high prosperity, observed with interest, awe, even with pride the -appearance of those vast anonymous shapes which capital by a headlong -impulse had been raising up to control production and transportation. -Mergers, combines, trusts,—they came in endless succession. Hardly a -day passed without a new sensation in phantasmic millions. People were -seized with a gambling mania. Each day promoters threw an enormous -mass of new and unseasoned securities upon the market, and they were -frantically bought, as if the supply were in imminent danger of -failing. Astonishing excesses were committed. The Stock Exchange was -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>overwhelmed. For many weeks the lights never went out in Wall Street -because clerks worked all day and all night to keep the brokers’ books -straight.</p> - -<p>The cauldron boiled over badly at last, and there was a silly panic, -more theatrical than serious. It served, however, to break a dream -and awaken the critical faculty. The public all at once became deeply -alarmed. There arose a great clamor about trusts. Those shapes which -had been viewed with pride, as symbols of the nation’s progress and -strength, were now perceived in the light of fear.</p> - -<p>Radical thought had been held in disesteem since the collapse of -the Soft Money Plague. Here was a new bogey. Trusts were human evil -objectified. They were swallowing the country up. In a little while all -business would be in their hands. There would come to be only two kinds -of people,—those few who owned the trusts and the many who worked for -them, and freedom would perish in the land. Something would have to -be done about it. Why had nothing been done? Were the trusts already -more powerful than the state? Suddenly the trust vs. the state was -the paramount political issue. There was an onset of books, essays, -speeches, magazine and newspaper articles. Sense and folly, wisdom -and demagoguery were hopelessly entangled. This kind of outburst is -characteristic of a roaring, busy democracy, whose interest in its -collective self is spasmodic and hysterical. The horse is stolen before -anybody thinks of minding the barn. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span></p> - -<p>Gradually the force of this anti-trust feeling, baffled by the -complexity of the subject and seeking all the more for that reason a -personal victim, began to focus upon Galt. You could see it taking -place. The Galt Railroad System, formerly treated with respect and -wonder, now was represented to be an octopus, oppressive, arrogant, -holding power of life and death over helpless communities.</p> - -<p>And all the time there were men at Washington who whispered into the -official ear: “Of course a lot of this outcry is senseless. There are -good trusts and bad trusts. Most of them have the economic welfare -of the country at heart and are willing to submit to any reasonable -regulation. The public is undiscriminating. Its mind becomes fixed on -what is bad. It happens to be fixed on this Galt Railroad Trust. Well, -as to that, we must say there is reason for the public’s prejudice. -You would find very few even in Wall Street to defend his methods. The -danger is that unless the evils justly complained of are torn away -by those who understand how to do it our entire structure will be -destroyed in a fit of popular passion.”</p> - -<p>Galt was warned of what was going on at Washington; but he was so -contemptuous of politics and so sure of his own way that he sneered. -Who knew what the law was? It had never been construed. The legality of -his acts had been attended to by the most eminent counsel, including -a former Attorney General of the United States. What could happen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> to -him that wasn’t just as likely to happen to everybody else? He had only -done what everyone was doing, only better, more of it, and perhaps to -greater profit. If he was vulnerable, then so were all the others who -had combined lesser into greater things, and they would have to find -a way out together. No wealth would be destroyed. And so he reasoned -himself into a state of indifference.</p> - -<p>He greatly underestimated the force of public opinion. He knew nothing -about it, for it had never touched him really. Mass psychology in Wall -Street he understood perfectly. Social and political phenomena he did -not comprehend at all.</p> - -<p>One day Great Midwestern stock turned suddenly very weak, falling from -220 to 210 in half an hour. He watched it, annoyed and frowning, and -sent for Mordecai, who could not explain it. That afternoon news came -that the minority stockholders of the Orient & Pacific had brought a -suit in equity against the Great Midwestern, alleging that Galt, by -arbitrary exercise of the power of a majority stockholder, had reduced -the Orient & Pacific to a state of utter subservience, had thereby -destroyed its independent and competitive value, and had mulcted it -heavily for the benefit of the Great Midwestern’s treasury. This, they -represented, was a grievous injury to them as minority stockholders and -also contrary to public interest.</p> - -<p>That old Orient & Pacific sore had never healed. The bankers who -controlled the road by sacred right<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> for many years before Galt -snatched it out of their hands had all this time ominously retained -a minority interest in the property. Galt did intend from the -beginning to make the Orient & Pacific wholly subordinate to the Great -Midwestern. It was an essential part of his plan. Therefore minority -stockholders, in good faith, would have had a proper grievance. But -these were not minority stockholders in good faith. They were private -bankers, biding their time to take revenge. Galt had been willing at -any time to buy them out handsomely; they wouldn’t sell because the -minority interest was a weapon which some day they would be able to use -against him.</p> - -<p>Although the name never appeared in the proceedings, dummies having -been put forward to act as complainants in the case, everybody knew -that Bullguard & Co. inspired the suit. They were the bankers who owned -the minority interest in Orient & Pacific shares. Everybody knew, -too, that they bore Galt an implacable enmity. What nobody knew until -afterward was that the conspiracy to destroy Galt was organized by -Jerome Bullguard himself.</p> - -<p>He was a man of tremendous character. His authority in Wall Street -was pontifical. Men accepted it as a natural fact. Until the rise -of Mordecai & Co., under Galt’s ægis, his house occupied a place of -solitary eminence. Its traditions were fixed. Their consequences were -astronomical. Bullguard was the house. His partners were insignificant, -not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> actually if you took them as individuals, but relatively, -in contrast with him. His imperious will he imposed upon men and -events,—upon men by force of a personality that inspired dread and -obedience, and upon events by the dynamic quality of his intelligence. -His mind seemed to act in an omnipotent manner with no effort whatever. -His sanctions and influence pervaded the whole scheme of things, yet -he himself was as remote as a Japanese emperor. A good deal of the awe -that surrounded him was owing to the fact that he worked invisibly. The -hand that shaped the thunderbolts was almost never seen. There was a -saying in Wall Street that his name appeared nowhere but over the door -of his banking house. In a community where men must be lynx-eyed and -seven-sensed, able to see the unseeable and deduce the unknowable, his -objects were so elaborately concealed that nobody ever knew for sure -what he was doing until it was done, and then it couldn’t be proved, -for he would have had perhaps no actual contact with it at any point. -There were times when he held the stock market in his two hands, doing -with it as he pleased, yet never could anyone say, “He is here,” or -“There he is.”</p> - -<p>Bullguard’s attitude toward Galt was natural, quite fair and regular -according to the law of conquest. Galt was an invader, a financial -Attila, who had followed the conqueror’s star to that place at which -the issue is joined for all or none. Nothing short of supremacy would -satisfy him. Therefore, he should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> fight for it. Did he think the crown -might be surrendered peaceably?</p> - -<p>Galt perfectly understood this philosophy of combat. He would not have -wished it otherwise. Fighting he loved. His fight with Valentine, -because it was petty, had been personal in spite of him. His contest -with Bullguard was impersonal and epic, a meeting of champions in the -heroic sense.</p> - -<p>The Orient & Pacific suit was but the opening of a barrage. An -important stockholder in the Security Life Insurance Company, which -was one of the capital reservoirs Galt had got control of, brought -suit to compel him to take back all the Great Midwestern stocks and -bonds owned by that institution, on the ground that as a member of its -finance committee he had improperly influenced it to invest its funds -in securities in which he was interested as a seller. The purpose -of this suit was three-fold: firstly, to advertise the fact that he -dominated the fiscal policies of the Security Life Insurance Company; -secondly, to create the suspicion that his motive in gaining control -of institutions in which people kept their savings was to unload his -stocks and bonds upon them; thirdly, to cast discredit upon Great -Midwestern securities as investments.</p> - -<p>It produced an enormous popular sensation. Galt was denounced and -caricatured bitterly in the newspapers. One cartoon, with a caption, -“The Milkman,” represented the Security Life as a cow eating<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> his -stocks and bonds and giving down policyholders’ money as milk into his -private pail.</p> - -<p>Next he was sued on account of some land which, according to the -complaint, he had cheapened by withholding railroad facilities, only in -order to buy it, whereupon he enhanced its value an hundred times by -making it the site of a large railroad development, thereby enriching -himself to the extent of several millions. That, like so many other -things alleged about him, was both true and untrue.</p> - -<p>Ten private suits were brought against him within three months, each -one adroitly contrived to disclose in a biased, damaging manner some -phase of his complex and universal activities hitherto unknown or -unobserved by the public. Each one was preceded by an attack on Great -Midwestern stock and by increasingly hostile comment in the press. The -cumulative effect was disastrous. Public sentiment became hysterical.</p> - -<h3>ii</h3> - -<p>Law suits, as such, never worried Galt. He was continually engaged in -litigation and kept a staff of lawyers busy. His way with lawyers was -to tell them baldly what he wanted to do and leave it to them to evolve -the legal technique of doing it. Then if difficulties followed he would -say: “That’s your own bacon. Now cure it.” Only, they were always to -fight, never to settle.</p> - -<p>But now he became silent and brooding. He paced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> his office for -hours together. When spoken to his eyes looked out of a mist. It was -necessary to bring his attention to matters requiring decision. He had -Mordecai in two or three times a day. They conferred endlessly in low -tones and watched the ticker anxiously. So far as I could see he did -nothing to support the pride of Great Midwestern stock. I wondered -why. Later I knew. At this juncture he was selling it himself. He was -selling not only his stock but enormous amounts of his own bonds, -thereby converting his wealth into cash. That is to say, he was -stripping for the fray.</p> - -<p>For three days Great Midwestern stock had been falling in a leaden -manner and Wall Street was distraught with a sense of foreboding when -one morning the big shell burst. First the news tickers flashed this -bulletin:</p> - -<blockquote><p>“The recent extraordinary weakness of Great Midwestern is -explained by the rumor that the Government is about to bring suit -under the Anti-Trust Act against the Galt Railroad System. There -is talk also of criminal proceedings against Mr. Galt.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>Galt read it with no sign of emotion. Evidently he was expecting it.</p> - -<p>Events now were moving rapidly. Half an hour later the news tickers -produced a bulletin as follows:</p> - -<blockquote><p>“Washington—It is announced at the Attorney General’s office -that the government has filed suit against the Galt Railroad -Trust praying for its dissolution on the ground of its being an -oppressive conspiracy in restraint of trade....<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> No confirmation -of rumors that criminal proceedings will be brought against Henry -M. Galt as a person.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>Details followed. They ran for an hour on the news printing machines, -to the exclusion of everything else, while at the same time on the -quotation tickers the price of Great Midwestern was falling headlong -under terrific selling.</p> - -<p>The government’s complaint set out the history of the Galt Railway -System, discussed at length its unique power for evil, examined a large -number of its acts, pronounced adverse judgment upon them, and ended -with an impassioned arraignment of Galt as a man who set his will above -the law. Wherefore, it prayed the court to find all his work illegal -and wicked and to decree that the Galt Railway System be broken up into -its component parts, to the end that competition, peace and happiness -might be restored on earth.</p> - -<p>The outer office was soon in the possession of reporters clamoring -to see Galt. He obstinately refused to meet them. They demanded a -statement, and while they waited we prepared one as follows:</p> - -<blockquote><p>“No step in the formation of the Great Midwestern Railway -System was taken without the approval of eminent counsel. If, -as it stands, it is repugnant to the law, as the law shall be -construed, then of course it will have to be dissolved. If that -comes to pass all those securities in the Great Midwestern’s -treasury, representing ownership and control of other properties, -will have to be distributed pro rata among Great Midwestern -stockholders—either the securities as such or the proceeds of -their sale. In either case<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> the profit will amount to a dividend -of not less than $150 a share for Great Midwestern stockholders. -That is the extent to which these securities have increased in -value since the Great Midwestern bought them.</p> - -<p class="right">“(Signed) Henry M. Galt.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>All of that was obvious, only nobody had thought of it. The statement -was received with utter amazement. On the strength of it Great -Midwestern stock advanced suddenly ten points.</p> - -<p>Now occurred the strangest incident of the chapter. To imagine it you -have to remember that public feeling was extremely inflamed. That -afternoon a New York Grand Jury indicted Galt under an old forgotten -statute making it a crime to circulate false statements calculated to -advance or depress the price of shares on the Stock Exchange.</p> - -<p>A huge broad-toe came to our office with the warrant. Galt was under -arrest. His lawyers were summoned. They communicated with the District -Attorney. Couldn’t they appear for Mr. Galt and arrange bail? No. The -District Attorney believed in social equality. Mr. Galt would have to -appear like any other criminal.</p> - -<p>Though it was a very hot afternoon and Galt was tired he insisted that -we should walk.</p> - -<p>“Do you want to handcuff me?” he asked.</p> - -<p>Broad-toe was ashamed and silent.</p> - -<p>So we went, Galt and the officer leading,—past the house of Bullguard -& Co., up Nassau Street, dodging trucks, bumping people, sometimes in -the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> traffic way, sometimes on the pavement; to the Criminal Courts -Building in City Hall Park, up a winding stairway because Galt would -not wait for the elevator, and to the court room where the District -Attorney was waiting. There was some delay. The judge could not be -found at once.</p> - -<p>Galt sat on the extreme edge of a chair, one hand in his trouser’s -pocket, the other fiddling with his watch chain, staring at the clock -over the judge’s bench as if he had never seen one before. The searing -emotions of chagrin and humiliation had not come through. Word of our -presence there spread swiftly and the court room began to fill up with -reporters and spectators.</p> - -<p>The court arrived, adjusting its gown, read the paper that was handed -up by the District Attorney, then looked down upon us, asking: “Where -is the defendant?”</p> - -<p>Galt stood up. The court eyed him curiously until the lawyers began to -speak. The District Attorney wanted bail fixed at one million dollars. -The court shook its head. Galt’s lawyers asked that he be released on -his own recognizance. The court shook its head again. After a long -wrangle it was fixed at $100,000, which the lawyers were prepared to -provide on the spot.</p> - -<p>Getting out was an ordeal. By this time the court room was stuffed -with morbid humanity. Reporters surrounded Galt, adhered to him, laid -hands upon him to get his attention. He made continually the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> gesture -of brushing away flies from his face. The stairway and corridors were -jammed. As we emerged on the street screaming newsboys offered us the -evening papers with eight-column headlines: “Galt Indicted”—“Galt -Arrested”—“Galt May Go To Jail.” From the steps across the pavement to -a cab I had in waiting an open aisle had been broken through the mob -by photographers, who had their cameras trained to catch Galt as we -passed. He looked straight ahead, walking rapidly, but not in haste.</p> - -<p>“Where to?” he asked, as the door of the cab slammed behind us.</p> - -<p>“Anywhere first, to get out of this,” I said.</p> - -<p>“Let’s go to the club,” he said.</p> - -<p>I knew which one he meant. Though he was a member of several clubs he -went always to one.</p> - -<p>As we entered the big, quiet red lounging room, five bankers, three of -whom had been counted among Galt’s supporters, were seated in various -postures of ease, their minds absorbed in the evening papers. Galt’s -emotions were those of a boy who, having outrun the cops, lands with a -whoop in the arms of his gang. He tossed his hat aside and shouted:</p> - -<p>“Wh-e-e-e! Wo-o-ow!”</p> - -<p>The five bankers looked up, rose as one, and stalked out of the room.</p> - -<p>For a minute Galt did not understand what had happened. He saw them -rise as he sat down and evidently thought they were coming to him. -When<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> they did not arrive he turned his head casually, then with a -start he looked all around at the empty space. His eyes had a startled -expression when they met mine again and his face was an ashen color. He -made as if to ring the bell, hesitated, looked all around once more, -and said:</p> - -<p>“Well, Coxey, let’s go home.”</p> - -<h3>iii</h3> - -<p>I began to fear he might collapse. The strain was telling. At the house -a servant admitted us. There was no one else in sight. We went directly -to his apartment. He tore off his collar and lay for some time quite -still staring straight ahead.</p> - -<p>“We are the goat,” he said. “They put it on us, Coxey. That’s all.... -They will, eh?... Valentine and his newspaper friends ... those magpies -at Washington ... we’ll give them something to set their teeth. Now -take down what I’m going to say. Put it in the form of a signed -statement to the press. Are you ready?”</p> - -<p>He dictated:</p> - -<blockquote><p>“On the evening of July seventeen the question of proceeding -against the Great Midwestern Railway System was the occasion -of a special Cabinet meeting at the White House. Besides the -President and the gentlemen of the Cabinet, several members of the -Interstate Commerce Commission were present. The President asked -each one for his opinion. The Attorney General spoke for half an -hour to this effect ... that the Great Midwestern Railway System -was not a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>combination in restraint of trade, that its methods -were not illegal, that it was necessary for the proper development -of the country that railroads should combine into great systems, a -process that had been going on since the first two railroads were -built, and, finally, that a suit for its dissolution, if brought, -would be lost in the courts. Others spoke in turn. Then someone -said: ‘Where is the Secretary of War. He is a great jurist. What -does he think?’ The Secretary of War was asleep in a corner. -They roused him. He came into the circle and said, ‘Well, Mr. -President, Galt is the —— —— — —— we are after, isn’t he?’ -Then the President announced his decision that proceedings should -be taken. Thereupon the Attorney General spoke again, saying: -‘Since that is the decision, I will outline the plan of action. -First let the Interstate Commerce Commission prepare a brief upon -the facts, showing that the Great Midwestern Railway System is -a combination in restraint of trade, that its ways are illegal -and oppressive and that its existence is inimical to public -welfare. Upon this the Attorney General’s office will prepare -the legal case.’ That is how a suit for the dissolution of the -Great Midwestern Railway System came to be brought. That is how -politicians conduct government.”</p></blockquote> - -<p>“Have you got all that down? Read it to me.” When I came to the -offensive epithet uttered by the Secretary of War I read,—“dash, dash, -dash.”</p> - -<p>“What’s that?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“We can’t use the term itself. It’s unprintable,” I said.</p> - -<p>“Can’t we?” he said. “But we can. It was applied to me without any -dash, dash. Spell it out. Anyhow, it’s history.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p> - -<h3>iv</h3> - -<p>Natalie, who had come in on tip-toe, noiselessly, was standing just -inside the door. Galt seemed suddenly to feel her presence. When he -looked at her tears started in his eyes and he turned his face away. -She rushed to his side, knelt, and put her arms around him. No word was -spoken.</p> - -<p>I left them, telephoned for the family physician to come and stay in -the house, and then acted on an impulse which had been rising in me for -an hour. I wished to see Vera.</p> - -<p>She was alone in the studio. I had not seen her informally since the -cataclysmic evening that wrecked the African image.</p> - -<p>“Oh,” she said, looking up. “I thought you might come. Excuse me while -I finish this.”</p> - -<p>She was writing a note. When she had signed it with a firm hand, and -blotted it, she handed it to me to read. It was a very brief note to -Lord Porteous, breaking their engagement.</p> - -<p>“He won’t accept it,” I said.</p> - -<p>“You can be generous,” she replied. “However, it doesn’t matter. I -accept it.”</p> - -<p>“These things are all untrue that people are saying about your father. -It’s a kind of hysteria. The indictment, if that’s what you are -thinking of, is preposterous. Nothing will come of it. There will be a -sudden reaction in public feeling.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p> - -<p>“I know,” she said. “That isn’t all.... I suppose you have come to take -me home?”</p> - -<p>“But what else?” I asked.</p> - -<p>She shook her head. As we were leaving the studio she paused on -the threshold to look back. I was watching her face. It expressed -a premonition of farewell. Once before I had seen that look. When? -Ah, yes. That night long ago when she told me the old house had been -mortgaged. Then I understood.</p> - -<p>To her, and indeed to all the family, this crisis in Galt’s affairs -meant another smash. The only difference between this time and others -was that they would fall from a greater height, and probably for the -last time.</p> - -<p>We drove home in a taxi.</p> - -<p>“How I loathe it!” she whispered as we were going in, saying it to -herself.</p> - -<p>Natalie appeared.</p> - -<p>“You’re in for it,” she said to me. “Father wants to know who brought -the doctor in.”</p> - -<p>“I was worried about him,” I said.</p> - -<p>“So is the doctor. But it’s no use. He can’t do a thing. Father sent -him away in a hurry.”</p> - -<p>Gram’ma Galt came in for dinner. So we were five. Galt did not come -down. Conversation was oblique and thin. One wondered what the servants -were thinking, and wished the service were not so noiseless. If only -they would rattle the plates, or break something, or sneeze, instead -of moving about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> with that oiled and faultless precision. The tinkling -of water in the fountain room was a silly, exasperating sound, and for -minutes together the only sound there was. Mrs. Galt was off her form. -She tried and failed. Nobody else tried at all.</p> - -<p>Natalie, as I believed, was the only one whose thoughts were outside -of herself. Several times our eyes met in a lucid, sympathetic manner. -This had not happened between us before. What we understood was that -both of us were thinking of the same object,—of a frail, ill kept -little figure with ragged hair and a mist in its eyes, wounded by the -destiny that controlled it,—of Galt lying in his clothes on a bed -upstairs, and nothing to be done for his ease or comfort. She was -grateful to me that my thoughts were with him, and when I was not -looking at her I was thinking how different these four women were. -Yet one indefinable thing they had all in common. It brought and held -them together in any crisis affecting Galt. It was not devotion, not -loyalty, not faith. Perhaps it was an inborn fatalistic clan spirit. -But whatever it was, I knew that each of them would surrender to -him again, if need were, the whole of all she possessed. They were -expecting to do it.</p> - -<p>“What is the price of Great Midwestern stock to-day?” asked Gram’ma -Galt in a firm, clear voice. Everybody started a little, even one of -the servants who happened to stand in the line of my vision.</p> - -<p>“One hundred and seventy,” I said.</p> - -<p>To those of us who had just seen it fall in a few<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> weeks from -two-hundred-and-twenty this price of one-hundred-and-seventy seemed -calamitous. That shows how soon we lose the true perspective and how -myopically we regard the nearest contrast.</p> - -<p>“When my son took charge of it eight years ago it was one-and-a-half -... one-and-a-half,” said Gram’ma Galt in the same clear voice.</p> - -<p>For this I rose and saluted her with a kiss on the forehead. She didn’t -mind. Natalie gave me a splendid look. Then I excused myself and went -to see Galt.</p> - -<p>The door of his apartment was ajar. I could see him. He was in his -pajamas now, apparently asleep. So I closed the door and sat at his -desk in the work room outside to call up Mordecai, who had asked me to -communicate with him, and attend to some other matters. Presently the -hall door opened and closed gently. I looked around. It was Gram’ma -Galt. In her hand she carried a large envelope tied around with a blue -ribbon. She walked straight to the door of Galt’s apartment and went in -without knocking. I could see her from where I sat. She left the door -open behind her.</p> - -<p>“What’s this?” Galt asked, as she put the envelope on the bed beside -him. She did not answer his question, but leaned over, laid one hand on -his forehead and spoke in this delphic manner:</p> - -<p>“Fast ye for strife and smite with the fist of wickedness.”</p> - -<p>Then she turned, came straight out, closed the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> door carefully, passed -me without a glance, and was gone. Never again did I wonder whence Galt -derived his thirst for combat. When he emerged some ten minutes later -the mist had fallen from his eyes. The right doctor had been there. He -handed me the envelope tied around with blue ribbon.</p> - -<p>“That’s Gram’ma Galt’s little fortune ... everything she has received -out of Great Midwestern. Keep it in the safe for a few days so she will -think we needed it.... Did you give out that statement?”</p> - -<p>“Not yet. There is plenty of time,” I said.</p> - -<p>“Tear it up. That isn’t the way we fight, ... is it?”</p> - -<p>Gram’ma Galt never got her envelope back. Two weeks later she died.</p> - -<h3>v</h3> - -<p>The Galt panic was one of those episodes that can never be fully -explained. Elemental forces were loose. Those that derived from human -passion were answerable to the will; there were others of a visitant -nature fortuitous and uncontrollable. What man cannot control he may -sometimes conduct. You cannot command the lightning, but if it is about -to strike you may lure it here instead of there.</p> - -<p>Weather is so often the accomplice of dark enterprise! The financial -weather at this time was very bad and favored the Bullguard conspiracy. -Confidence, which in this case means the expectation of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> profit, was in -decline. It had never recovered from the shock of that first accident -to greed’s cauldron three months before when an ignorant popular mania -for speculation came all at once to grief. Since then the rise of -feeling against trusts, and the certainty that it would be translated -into political action, had filled Wall Street with confusion and alarm.</p> - -<p>Bullguard’s part was to focus all this distrust and fear upon Galt. -Each day the papers reported the weakness of Galt securities, how they -fell under the selling of uneasy holders, and what the latest and most -sinister rumors were. That was news. Nobody could help printing it. -The financial editors each day repeated what eminent bankers said: “We -pray to be delivered from this Jonah. His ways are not our ways, yet he -bringeth wrath upon all alike.” That was true. They said it; they even -believed it. The financial editors could not be blamed for writing it.</p> - -<p>So many winds running their feet together, like people in a mob, -create a storm; and when it is over and they are themselves again, -sane little winds, they wonder at what was done. The Wall Street news -tickers reported that certain banks were refusing to lend money on Galt -securities. This may have been a stroke of the conspiracy or merely a -reaction to the prevailing fear, or both interacting. One never knows. -But it was true, and Great Midwestern securities suffered another -frightful fall.</p> - -<p>This went on for three weeks with scarcely an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> interruption. Day after -day Galt stood at the ticker watching Great Midwestern fall,—</p> - -<p>to 150,</p> - -<p>to 140,</p> - -<p>to 130,</p> - -<p>to 120, and did nothing. For the first time in his life he was on the -defensive. That made the strain much worse. His normal relief was in -action. He loved to carry the fight to the enemy, even rashly; but -foolhardy he was not. He had foreseen that at the crucial moment he -should stand alone against the field. Nobody believed he could win. The -odds were too great. Therefore he could rely only upon himself.</p> - -<p>One by one, by twos and threes, then by groups, his supporters fell -away. Those who had submitted to his rule from fear were the first to -go over to the other side, surreptitiously at first, lest they should -have guessed wrong, then openly as they saw how the fight seemed to be -going against him. Several bankers publicly renounced their relations -with him. Others whose allegiance was for profit only, whose gains were -wet with the sweat of their pride, forsook him as fast as they were -convinced that his career as a money maker was at an end. Potter was -one of these, and the last to go. He did it handsomely according to his -way. One day he came in.</p> - -<p>“Galt,” he said, “I know you are in a hell of a fix and I have done not -one damn thing to help. I’m not that kind of person. I hate to quit a -man in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> trouble. So I’ve come to tell you why. There are two reasons. -One reason is I’ve got so much of this Great Midwestern stuff that it’s -all I can do to take care of myself. I didn’t get out in time, and now -I can’t get out at all.... The other reason is ... well, I’ll say it -... why not?... You have trampled on my pride until I have no liking -for you left. You’re the most hateful man I ever did business with. -That’s why.”</p> - -<p>The impulse to come and have it out in this manner was big-man-like, -I thought, even though the root was self-justification. No one else -had done so much. All the others had gone slinking away. If Galt had -responded differently a real friendship might have blazed there, for -instinctively they liked and admired each other. Their antagonism was -not essential. And, besides, the real reason, as we afterward knew, was -the one he gave first. Potter, with all his wealth, was himself in a -tight place. Bullguard was pressing the oil crowd, too.</p> - -<p>“That’s understood,” said Galt, in his worst manner. “I didn’t buy your -pride. I only rented it. Now you’ve got it back, look it over, see how -much it’s damaged, and send me a bill.”</p> - -<p>Potter went out roaring oaths.</p> - -<p>A change was taking place in Galt. I saw it in sudden, unexpected -glimpses. The movements of his body were slower. Anger and irritation -no longer found outlet in tantrums, but in sneering, terrible sarcasms, -uttered in a cold voice. He looked <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>without seeing and spoke as from a -great distance, high up. His mind, when he revealed it, was the same -as ever. Nothing had happened to his mind. His soul lived in torment. -His greatest sin had been to hold public opinion in contempt. Now it -was paying him back. To have deserved the opprobrium and suspicion -with which he was overwhelmed would perhaps have killed him then; but -to suffer disgrace undeservedly was in one way worse. He reacted by -suspecting those who suspected him, and some who didn’t. I believe at -one time he almost suspected Mordecai, whose loyalty never for one -moment wavered.</p> - -<p>However, Mordecai knew, as no one else did, that Galt was still in -a very strong position. He had not begun to strike. Thanks to the -intuition which moved him at the onset to convert two thirds of his -fortune into cash he could, when the moment came, strike hard.</p> - -<p>Now came the day of days,—the time when Bullguard did his utmost. -Fastenings gave way. Walls rocked. Strong men lost their rational -faculties and retained only the power of primitive vocal utterance. -The sounds that issued from the Stock Exchange were appalling. The ear -would think a demented menagerie was devouring itself. Thousands of -small craft disappeared that day and left no trace.</p> - -<p>Great Midwestern, spilling out on the tape in five and ten-thousand -share blocks, fell twenty points in two hours. Galt was in his office -at the ticker.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> Mordecai was with him, holding his hands reverently -together, gazing at the tape in a state of fascination. On one headlong -impulse Great Midwestern touched one hundred dollars a share,—par! It -had fallen from two-hundred-and-twenty in three months.</p> - -<p>“It’s over,” said Galt, turning away. I once saw a great prizefighter, -on giving the knock-out blow at the end of a hard battle, turn his back -with the same gesture and walk to his own corner.</p> - -<p>“Vhat iss id you zay?” asked Mordecai, following.</p> - -<p>“It’s over,” Galt repeated. “They haven’t got me and they can’t go any -further without breaking themselves. Get your house on the wire. That’s -the direct telephone ... that one. I want to give an order.”</p> - -<p>Mordecai picked up the telephone and asked for one of his partners, who -instantly responded.</p> - -<p>“Vhat iss ze order?” asked Mordecai, holding the telephone and looking -at Galt.</p> - -<p>“Buy all the Great Midwestern there is for sale up to -one-hundred-and-f-i-f-t-y!” said Galt.</p> - -<p>Mordecai transmitted this extraordinary order, put the telephone down -softly, and lisped, “My Gott!”</p> - -<p>Just then the door burst open. Thirty or forty reporters had been -waiting in the outer office all day. Their excitement at last broke -bounds; they simply came in. The Evening Post man was at their head. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Mr. Galt,” he shouted, “you have got to make some kind of statement. -Public opinion demands it.”</p> - -<p>I expected Galt to explode with rage.</p> - -<p>“Postey,” he said, “I don’t know a damn thing about public opinion. -That’s your trade. Tell me something about it.”</p> - -<p>“It wants to know what all this means,” said Postey.</p> - -<p>“Well, tell it this for me,” said Galt. “Tell it just as I tell you. -The panic is over.”</p> - -<p>“But, Mr.—”</p> - -<p>“Now, that’s all,” said Galt. “Ain’t it enough?”</p> - -<p>I had been to look at the tape.</p> - -<p>“Great Midwestern is a hundred and thirty,” I announced at large.</p> - -<p>The reporters stared at me wide-eyed.</p> - -<p>Postey ran to look for himself, bumping Mordecai aside.</p> - -<p>“That’s right,” he said, making swiftly for the door. The others -followed him in a trampling rush.</p> - -<p>The sensation now to be accounted for was not the weakness but the -sudden recovery of Great Midwestern and Galt’s statement explained it. -So they were anxious to spread their news.</p> - -<p>It was true. Galt had timed his stroke unerringly.</p> - -<p>Everyone was amazed to see how little Great Midwestern stock was -actually for sale when a buying hand appeared. That was because so -much of the selling had been fictitious. The stock closed that day at -one-hundred-and-fifty and never while Galt lived<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> was it so low again. -The feet of many winds ran rapidly apart and the storm collapsed.</p> - -<h3>vi</h3> - -<p>That evening, for the first time in many weeks, Galt had dinner with -the family.</p> - -<p>We do not see each other change and grow old as a continuous process. -It is imperceptible that way. But as one looks at a tree that has been -in one’s eye all the time and says with surprise, “Why, the leaves have -turned!” so suddenly we look at a person we have seen every day and -say, “How he has changed!” some association of place or act causing a -vivid recollection to arise in contrast.</p> - -<p>We had all seen Galt coming and going. I had been with him constantly. -Yet now as he sat there at table we remembered him only as he was the -last time before this at dinner, making a scene because there was never -anything he liked to eat and the cook put cheese in the potatoes. -The difference was distressing. He was old and world-weary. He ate -sparingly, complained of nothing and was so absent that when anyone -spoke to him he started and must have the words repeated.</p> - -<p>Natalie alone succeeded in drawing his interest. She had spent the -day at Moonstool. This name had been provisionally bestowed upon -the country place, because it happened to be the local name of the -mountain, and then became permanent in default of agreement on any -other. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p> - -<p>Work there had been progressing rapidly. The house itself was finished; -the principal apartments were ready to be occupied. The surroundings -of course were in confusion. Steam drills were going all the time. -Roadways were blasting through solid rock. The landscape was in turmoil.</p> - -<p>“But you could live there now,” said Natalie, “if you didn’t mind the -noise,” closing a long recital, to which Galt had listened thoughtfully.</p> - -<p>“We might have the wedding there,” he said.</p> - -<p>His suggestion produced a ghastly silence. Mrs. Galt tried to turn it -away. Galt was alert.</p> - -<p>“What have I stepped on now?” he wanted to know. “Suffering Moses! It -ain’t safe for me to walk around in my own house. What’s the matter?”</p> - -<p>“Nothing,” said Natalie.</p> - -<p>“Yes, there is. What is it?”</p> - -<p>When he couldn’t be put off any longer Vera said, quietly: “My -engagement to Lord Porteous is broken.”</p> - -<p>“Why?” asked Galt, astonished. “That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”</p> - -<p>“No matter why,” said Vera. “Let’s not talk about it.”</p> - -<p>He looked into their faces severally. His expression was utterly -wretched and they avoided it. He guessed the reason why,—made it -perhaps even worse than it was.</p> - -<p>In his own household he was on the defensive. There was always that -inaudible accusation he could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> never get hold of. In the old days it -was that he stretched them on the rack of insecurity and was not like -other men. Then it was the way he had made them rich. Now it was that -dreadful sense of insecurity again. They did not know whether they -were rich or poor. They thought he was heading for a last spectacular -smash-up. And suppose he had told them there was happily no danger -of that. Their thoughts would accuse him still. Why couldn’t they be -rich as other people were, decently, quietly and in good taste? The -Valentines were rich and no obloquy pursued them. Their privacy was not -besieged by newspaper reporters. The finger of scorn never pointed at -them.</p> - -<p>Vera’s broken engagement was a harrowing symbol. Galt was extremely -miserable. One could imagine what he was thinking. The Galt fortune -was saved. The Galt power had survived. But the Galt name was a sound -of reproach. The public opinion that had so devastated his spirit did -not leave his family unwhipped. These women had suffered for being his. -Though they might not believe the things that were said of him, still -they could not help feeling ashamed of the wealth he had brought them. -They were defenseless. He was clothed with a sense of justification -that he could not impart. They were naked to the scourge.</p> - -<p>His day of victory ended in gloom and dumb wretchedness.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER XV</span> <span class="smaller">THE HEIGHTS</span></h2> - -<h3>i</h3> - -<p>Then with one swift intention the sun broke through,—and there were -the heights!... directly in front of him. The rest of the way was -enchanted. All its difficulties were illusions. They vanished as he -approached.</p> - -<p>His Wall Street enemies were scattered in the night. It was as he had -said. They had been unable to destroy him and they did not dare carry -the fight any further for fear of involving themselves in ruin. His -amazing counter stroke, delivered at the very moment when their utmost -effort had failed, threw them into a panic. It took the stock market -out of their hands and turned it squarely against them. The conspiracy -was not abandoned. It collapsed. After that it was every man for -himself, with the fear of Galt in his heart.</p> - -<p>The penitential procession started early the next day. Those who -had deserted him returned with gestures of humility, begging to be -chastised and forgiven. The vanquished sat patiently in his outer -office, bearing tokens of amity and proposals of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> alliance. For he was -Galt, the one, unique and indestructible.</p> - -<p>He treated the spectacle as it deserved, cynically, with a saving salt -of humor.</p> - -<p>“They make their beds fast,” he said.</p> - -<p>Among the first to come was one of Bullguard’s partners,—a -peasant-minded, ingratiating person whose use to Bullguard was his -ability to face the devil smirk for smirk. His errand was to say that -Bullguard & Co. would entertain any reasonable offer for the purchase -of their minority interest in Orient & Pacific shares, and if they -could be of service to Mr. Galt at any time, why, etc., he had only to -oblige them by letting them know how. Galt was cool as to the services, -etc., but he made an offer for the minority Orient & Pacific shares -which was accepted a few hours later. That was Bullguard’s way of -declaring war at an end. It was the grand salute.</p> - -<p>Horace Potter was the only man who never came back. He could not sneak -back and there was no other way. They had mortally wounded each other’s -pride.</p> - -<h3>ii</h3> - -<p>Meanwhile Congress, like the old woman of the story book, heavy-footed, -slow to be amazed, always late but never <i>never</i>, heard of Galt, became -much alarmed and solemnly resolved to investigate him. He was summoned -to appear before a Committee<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> of the House with all his papers and -books. The Committee felt incompetent to conduct the examination. -Finance is a language politicians must not know. It is not the language -of the people. So it engaged counsel,—a notorious lawyer named Samuel -Goldfuss.</p> - -<p>He was a man who knew all the dim and secret pathways of the law, and -charged Wall Street clients enormous fees for leading them past the -spirit to the letter. He charged them more when he caught them alone -in the dark, or lost in the hands of a bungling guide, for then he -could threaten to expose them to the light if they declined to accept -his saving services at his own price. Having got very rich by this -profession he put his money beyond reach of the predacious and became -public spirited, or pretended to have done so, and proceeded to sell -out Satan to the righteous. It became his avocation to plead the cause -of people against mammon, and where or whensoever a malefactor of great -wealth was haled to court or brought to appear before a committee of -Congress, Goldfuss thrust himself in to act as prosecuting attorney, -with or without fees; and his name was dread to any such, for he -knew their devious ways and all the wickedness that had ever been -practiced in or about the Stock Exchange. His motives were never quite -understood. Some said he attended to Satan’s business still, never -sold him out completely, but put the hounds on the wrong scent by some -subtle turn at the end. Others said his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> motive was to terrorize the -great malefactors so that when they were in trouble he could extort big -fees simply for undertaking not to appear on the people’s side.</p> - -<p>And this sinister embodiment of public opinion was the man whom Galt -was to face, who had never before faced public opinion in any manner at -all. It was likely to be a stiff ordeal. Counsel warned him accordingly.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got a straight story to tell,” he said. “I don’t need any help.”</p> - -<p>However, they insisted on standing by. We arrived in Washington one hot -August morning, left all our eminent counsel in their favorite hotel, -and went empty handed to the Capitol, where neither of us had been -before. We wandered about for half an hour, trying to find the place -where the Committee sat. It was a special Committee with no room of its -own. We were directed at last to the Rivers and Harbors Committee room. -It was full of smoke, electric fans and men in attitudes of waiting. -Six, looking very significant, sat around a long table covered with -green cloth. Others to the number of thirty or forty sat on chairs -against the walls. At a smaller table were the reporters with reams of -paper in front of them.</p> - -<p>“Is this the Committee that wants to see Henry M. Galt?” he asked, -standing on the threshold.</p> - -<p>“It is,” said the man at the head of the table. He was the chairman. -He sat with one leg over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> arm of his chair, his back to the door, -and did not turn or so much as move a hair. He spoke in that loud, -disembodied voice which makes the people’s business seem so impressive -to the multitude and glared at us through the back of his head.</p> - -<p>“I am that person,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>“You have delayed us a quarter of an hour,” said the chairman, still -with his back to us.</p> - -<p>“You were hard to find,” said Galt, very simply, looking about for a -place to sit. A chair was placed for him at the opposite end of the -table. There was no place for me, so I stood a little aside. Goldfuss, -whom I had never seen and had not yet identified, sat beside the -chairman. They had their heads together, whispering. The chairman spoke.</p> - -<p>“The question is raised as to whether witness may be permitted to -appear with counsel. It is decided in the negative. Counsel will be -excused.”</p> - -<p>Silence. Nothing happened.</p> - -<p>“Counsel will be excused,” said the chairman again.</p> - -<p>Still nothing happened.</p> - -<p>“If you are talking at me,” said Galt, “I have no counsel. I didn’t -bring any,—that is, I left them at the hotel.”</p> - -<p>“Who is the gentleman with you?” the chairman asked.</p> - -<p>“Oh,” said Galt, looking at me. “That’s all right. He’s my secretary. -He doesn’t know any more law than I do.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p> - -<p>There was a formal pause. The official stenographer leaned toward Galt, -speaking quietly, and took his name, age, address and occupation. The -chairman said, “Proceed.”</p> - -<p>Goldfuss poised himself for theatrical effect. He was a small, -body-conscious man with a coarse, loose skin, very close shaven, -powdered, sagging at the jowls; a tiny wire mustache, unblinking blue -eyes close together and a voice like the sound of a file in the teeth -of a rusty saw.</p> - -<p>“So this is the great Galt,” he said, sardonically, slowly bobbing his -head.</p> - -<p>“And you,” said Galt, “are the Samuel Goldfuss who once tried to -blackmail me for a million dollars.”</p> - -<p>Oh, famous beginning! The crowd was tense with delight.</p> - -<p>Goldfuss, looking aggrieved and disgusted, turned to the chairman, -saying: “Will the Committee admonish the witness?”</p> - -<p>The chairman took his leg down, carefully relighted a people’s cigar, -and said: “Strike that off the record.... I will inform the witness -that this is a Committee of Congress, with power to punish contumacious -and disrespectful conduct.... The witness is warned to answer questions -without any irrelevant remarks of his own.”</p> - -<p>“I beg your pardon,” said Galt. “What was the question?”</p> - -<p>The official stenographer read from his notes,—“So this is the great -Galt.” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span></p> - -<p>“That ain’t a question,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>The round was his. The audience tittered. The chairman put his leg back -and glared wearily into space.</p> - -<p>“I withdraw it,” said Goldfuss. “Start the record new from here.... Mr. -Galt, you were directed to produce before this Committee all your books -and papers. Have you brought them?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“No? Why not, please?”</p> - -<p>“They would fill this whole room,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>Mr. Goldfuss started again.</p> - -<p>“Your occupation, Mr. Galt,—you said it was what?”</p> - -<p>“Farmer,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>“Yes? What do you farm?”</p> - -<p>“The country,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>“Do you consider that a nice expression?”</p> - -<p>“Nicest I know, depending on how you take it,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>“Well, now tell this Committee, please, how you farm the country, using -your own expression.”</p> - -<p>“I fertilize it,” said Galt. “I sow and reap, improve the soil and keep -adding new machinery and buildings.”</p> - -<p>“What do you fertilize it with, Mr. Galt?”</p> - -<p>“Money.”</p> - -<p>“What do you sow, Mr. Galt?”</p> - -<p>“More money.”</p> - -<p>“And what do you reap?” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Profit.”</p> - -<p>“A great deal of that?”</p> - -<p>“Plenty,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>“And what do you do with the profit, Mr. Galt?”</p> - -<p>“Sow it again.”</p> - -<p>“A lovely parable, Mr. Galt. Is it not true, however, that you are also -a speculator?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, that’s true,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>“To put it plainly, is it not true that you are a gambler?”</p> - -<p>“That’s part of my trade,” said Galt. “Every farmer is a gambler. He -gambles in weather, worms, bugs, acts of Congress and the price of his -produce.”</p> - -<p>“You gamble in securities, Mr. Galt?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“In the securities of the railroad properties you control?”</p> - -<p>“Heavily,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>“If, for example, you are going to increase the dividend on Great -Midwestern stock you first go into the market and buy it for a -rise,—buy it before either the public or the other stockholders know -that you are going to increase the dividend?”</p> - -<p>“That’s the case,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>“As a matter of fact, you did some time ago increase the dividend on -Great Midwestern from four to eight per cent., and the stock had a big -rise for that reason. Tell this Committee, please, when and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> how and at -what prices you bought the stock in anticipation of that event?”</p> - -<p>“In anticipation of that eight per cent. dividend,” said Galt -reminiscently, “I began to buy Great Midwestern stock ... let me see -... nine years ago at ten dollars a share. It went down, and I bought -it at five dollars a share, at two dollars, at a dollar-and-a-half. The -road went into the hands of a receiver, and I stuck to it. I bought it -all the way up again, at fifteen dollars a share, at fifty dollars, at -a hundred-and-fifty, and I’m buying still.”</p> - -<p>Goldfuss was bored. He seemed to be saying to the audience: “Well, -so much for fun. Now we get down to the hard stuff.” He took time to -think, stirred about in his papers and produced a certain document.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Galt, I show you a certified list of the investments of -the Security Life Insurance Company. You are a director of that -institution, are you not?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“You used some of your farming profits to buy a large interest in the -Security Life Insurance Company?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“You are chairman of its finance committee?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“In fact, Mr. Galt, you control the investments of the Security Life. -You recommend what securities the policy holders’ money shall be -invested<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> in and your suggestions are acted upon. Is that true?”</p> - -<p>“Something like that,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>“Now, Mr. Galt, look at this certified statement, please. The -investments amount to more than four hundred millions. I call your -attention to the fact that nearly one quarter of that enormous total -consists of what are known as Galt securities, that is, the stocks -and bonds of railroad companies controlled by Henry M. Galt. Is that -correct?”</p> - -<p>“Substantially,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>“Did you, as chairman of the finance committee of the Security Life, -recommend the purchase of those securities?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“And at the same time, as head of the Great Midwestern railway system, -you were interested in selling those securities, were you not?”</p> - -<p>“We need a great deal of capital,” said Galt. “We are selling new -securities all the time. We sell all we can and wish we could sell -more. There is always more work to do than we can find the money for.”</p> - -<p>“So, Mr. Galt, it comes to this: As head of a great railroad system you -create securities which you are anxious to sell. In that rôle you are a -seller. Then as chairman of the finance committee of the Security Life -Insurance Company, acting as trustee for the policy holders, you are a -buyer of securities. In that position of trust, with power to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> say how -the policy holders’ money shall be invested, you recommend the purchase -of securities in which you are interested as a seller. Is that true?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t like the way you put it, but let it stand,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>“How can you justify that, Mr. Galt? Is it right, do you think, that a -trustee should buy with one hand what he sells with the other?”</p> - -<p>Galt leaned over, beating the table slowly with his fist.</p> - -<p>“I justify it this way,” he said. “I know all about the securities of -the Great Midwestern. I don’t know of anything better for the Security -Life to put its money into. If you can tell me of anything better I -will advise the finance committee at its next meeting to sell all of -its Great Midwestern stuff and buy that, whatever it is. I’ll do more. -If you can tell me of anything better I will sell all of my own Great -Midwestern stocks and bonds and buy that instead. I have my own money -in Great Midwestern. There’s another Galt you left out. As head of -a great railway system I am a seller of securities to investors all -over the world. That is how we find the capital to build our things. -But as an individual I am a buyer of those same securities. I sell to -everybody with one hand and buy for myself all that I can with the -other hand. Do you see the point? I buy them because I know what they -are worth. I recommend them to the Security Life because I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> know what -they are worth. That is how I justify it, sir.”</p> - -<p>Enough of that. Goldfuss had meant to go from the Security Life to each -of the other financial institutions controlled by Galt, meaning to show -how he had been unloading Galt securities upon them. But what was the -use? What could he do with an answer like that? He passed instead to -the Orient & Pacific matter. Galt admitted that he had used the power -of majority stockholder to make the property subservient to the Great -Midwestern because that was the efficient thing to do.</p> - -<p>“And that, you think, is a fair way to treat minority stockholders?” -Goldfuss asked.</p> - -<p>“We were willing at any time to buy them out at the market price,” said -Galt. “However, that’s now an academic matter. The Great Midwestern has -acquired all that minority interest in Orient & Pacific.”</p> - -<p>This was news. There was a stir at the reporters’ table. Several rose -and went out to telegraph Galt’s statement to Wall Street, where nobody -yet knew how Bullguard & Co. had made peace with him.</p> - -<p>So they went from one thing to another. They came to that notorious -land transaction on account of which he had been sued.</p> - -<p>“We needed that land for an important piece of railroad development,” -said Galt. “Some land traders got wind of our plans, formed a -syndicate, bought up all the ground around, and then tried to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> make -us buy it through the nose. We simply sat tight until they went -broke. Then we took it off their hands. There was more than the Great -Midwestern needed because they were hogs. The Great Midwestern took -what it wanted and I took the rest. The directors knew all about it.”</p> - -<p>“And it was very profitable to you personally, this outcome?”</p> - -<p>“Incidentally it was,” said Galt. “Somebody would get it. It fell into -my hands. What would you have done?”</p> - -<p>“Strike that off the record,—‘What would you have done?’” said -Goldfuss. “Counsel is not being examined.”</p> - -<p>After lunch he took a new line.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Galt,” he asked, “what are you worth?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>“You don’t know how rich you are?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>Goldfuss lay back in his chair with an exaggerated air of astonishment.</p> - -<p>“But you will admit you are very rich?” he said, having recovered -slowly.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” said Galt. “I suppose I am.”</p> - -<p>“Well, as briefly as possible, will you tell this Committee how you -made it?”</p> - -<p>“Now you’ve asked me something,” said Galt, leaning forward again. -“I’ll tell you. I made it buying things nobody else wanted. I bought -Great Midwestern when it was bankrupt and people<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> thought no railroad -was worth its weight as junk. When I took charge of the property I -bought equipment when it was cheap because nobody else wanted it and -the equipment makers were hungry, and rails and ties and materials -and labor to improve the road with, until everybody thought I was -crazy. When the business came we had a railroad to handle it. I’ve -done that same thing with every property I have taken up. No railroad -I’ve ever touched has depreciated in value. I’m doing it still. You -may know there has been an upset in Wall Street recently, a panic in -fact. Everybody is uneasy and business is worried because a financial -disturbance has always been followed by commercial depression. There -are signs of that already. But we’ll stop it. In the next twelve -months the Great Midwestern properties will spend five hundred million -dollars for double tracking, grade reductions, new equipment and larger -terminals.”</p> - -<p>This was news. Again there was a stir at the reporters’ table as -several rose to go out and flash Galt’s statement to Wall Street.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Galt,” said Goldfuss, “do you realize what it means for one man -to say he will spend five hundred millions in a year? That is half the -national debt.”</p> - -<p>“I know exactly what it means,” said Galt. “It means for once a -Wall Street panic won’t be followed by unemployment and industrial -depression. Our orders for materials and labor now going out will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> -start everything up again at full speed. Others will act on our -example. You’ll see.”</p> - -<p>“You will draw upon the financial institutions you control, the -Security Life and others, for a good deal of that money,—the five -hundred millions?”</p> - -<p>“You get the idea,” said Galt. “That’s what financial institutions are -for. There’s no better use for their money.”</p> - -<p>“You have great power, Mr. Galt.”</p> - -<p>“Some,” he said.</p> - -<p>“If it goes on increasing at this rate you will soon be the economic -dictator of the country.”</p> - -<p>No answer.</p> - -<p>“I say you will be the economic dictator of the whole country.”</p> - -<p>“I heard you say it,” said Galt. “It ain’t a question.”</p> - -<p>“But do you think it desirable that one man should have so much -power,—that one man should run the country?”</p> - -<p>“Somebody ought to run it,” said Galt.</p> - -<p>“Is it your ambition to run it?”</p> - -<p>“It is my idea,” said Galt, “that the financial institutions of the -country,—I mean the insurance companies and the banks,—instead of -lending themselves out of funds in times of high prosperity ought -then to build up great reserves of capital to be loaned out in hard -times. That would keep people from going crazy with prosperity at one -time and committing suicide at another time. But they won’t do it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> by -themselves. Somebody has to see to it,—somebody who knows not only how -not to spend money when everybody is wild to buy, but how to spend it -courageously when there is a surplus of things that nobody else wants. -Every financial institution that I have anything to do with will be -governed by that idea, and the Great Midwestern properties, while I -run them, will decrease their capital expenditures as prices rise and -increase them as prices fall. When we show them the whole trick and how -it pays everybody will do it. We won’t have any more depressions and -Coxey’s armies. We won’t have any more unemployment. In a country like -this unemployment is economic lunacy.”</p> - -<p>The hearing continued for three days. The newspapers printed almost -nothing else on their first three pages. Galt’s testimony produced -everywhere a monumental effect. Public opinion went over by a -somersault.</p> - -<p>He denied nothing. He admitted everything. He was invincible because he -believed in himself.</p> - -<p>“Mr. Galt,” said Goldfuss, rising, “that will be all. You are the most -remarkable witness I have ever examined.”</p> - -<p>They shook hands all around.</p> - -<h3>iii</h3> - -<p>As we were going down the Capitol steps Galt stumbled and clutched -my arm. The sustaining excitement was at an end and the reaction was -sudden.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> Solicitude made him peevish. He insisted irritably, and we -went on walking, though it was above his strength. When we were half -way back to the hotel, a mile yet to go, he stopped and said: “You’re -right, Coxey. Ain’t it hot! Let’s call a cab.”</p> - -<p>He wouldn’t rest. A strange uneasiness was upon him. We took the next -train for New York.</p> - -<p>“I want to go to Moonstool,” he said. The idea seized him after we were -aboard the train.</p> - -<p>“Fine. Let’s take a holiday tomorrow and go all over it,” I said.</p> - -<p>“Now. I want to go there now,” he said.</p> - -<p>“Directly there ... and not go home?”</p> - -<p>“That’s home, ain’t it?” he said, becoming irritable. “Let’s go -straight there.”</p> - -<p>He had a fixation upon it.</p> - -<p>From Baltimore I got off an urgent telegram to Mrs. Galt, telling her -Galt was very tired and insisted on going directly to the country -place. Could she meet us at Newark with a motor car? That would be the -easiest way.</p> - -<p>Automobiles were just then coming into general use. Galt with his -ardent interest in all means of mechanical locomotion was enthusiastic -about them. The family had four, besides Natalie’s, which was her own. -She drove it herself.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Galt met us at Newark. Galt greeted her with no sign of surprise. -He could not have been expecting her. I had told him nothing about the -arrangements. He slept all the way up from <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>Washington and did not know -where we were when we got off the train. She helped him into the car. -When they were seated he took her hand and went to sleep again.</p> - -<p>There was a second motor behind us, with a cook, three servants, some -luggage and provisions. Mrs. Galt was a very efficient woman. She had -thought of everything the situation required.</p> - -<p>It was nearly midnight when we arrived at Moonstool and stopped in -front of the iron gates. They were closed and locked. And there was -Natalie who had been sent ahead to announce our coming. She drove -out alone, got lost on the way, and had not yet succeeded in raising -anybody when we came up. The place was dark, except for red lanterns -here and there on piles of construction material. The outside watchmen -were shirking duty, and those inside, if not doing likewise, were -beyond hearing.</p> - -<p>Nearby was the railroad station of Galt, a black little pile with not -a light anywhere. It had not yet been opened for use. We could hear -the water spilling over the private Galt dam in the river. There was -enough electricity in the Galt power house to illuminate a town. On the -mountain top, half a mile distant, the Galt castle stood in massive -silhouette against the starry sky. And here was Galt, in the dark, an -unwelcome night-time stranger, forbidden at the gate. He was still -asleep. We were careful not to wake him. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p> - -<p>A watchman with a bull’s eye lantern and a billy stick exuded from the -darkness.</p> - -<p>“Wha’d’ye want?”</p> - -<p>We wanted to go in.</p> - -<p>“Y’can’t go in,” he said. “Can’t y’ see it’s private? Nobody lives -there.”</p> - -<p>It is very difficult to account for the improbable on the plane of a -night watchman’s intelligence. First he stolidly disbelieved us. Then -he took refuge in limited responsibility.</p> - -<p>“M’orders is t’let nobody in,” he said. “D’ye know anybody aroun’ here?”</p> - -<p>It seemed quite possible that no human being around here would know -us. By an inspiration Natalie remembered the superintendent of -construction. He lived not far away. She knew where. Once when she was -spending a day on the job he had taken her home with him to lunch. It -was not more than ten minutes’ drive, she said.</p> - -<p>It was further than she thought. We were more than three quarters of -an hour returning with the superintendent. It took twenty minutes more -to wake the crew at the power house and get the electricity turned on. -Then we drove slowly up the main concrete road now lighted on each side -by clusters of three ground glass globes in fluted columns fifty feet -apart. Although it was finished the road was still cluttered with heaps -of sand and debris.</p> - -<p>Galt all this time was fast asleep, his head resting on Mrs. Galt’s -shoulder. We could scarcely wake<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> him when we tried. He seemed drunk -with weariness. As we helped him out he opened his eyes once and -startled us by saying to the superintendent: “Fire that watchman -... down below,” as if he had been conscious of everything that -happened. His eyes closed again, he tottered, and we caught him. The -superintendent supported him on one side, I on the other, and so he -entered, dragging his feet.</p> - -<p>Natalie knew more about the house than anyone else. She led the way to -the apartment that was Galt’s, and then left us to place the servants -and show them their way around. I helped Mrs. Galt undress him and get -him to bed. I was amazed to see how thin and shrunken his body was. He -was inert, like a child asleep. Mrs. Galt, very pale, was strong and -deft.</p> - -<p>“We must have a doctor at once,” she said. “I thought of bringing one -and then didn’t because he minds so awfully to have a doctor in.”</p> - -<p>Still we were not really alarmed.</p> - -<p>The telephone system had been installed. Natalie knew that. She knew -also where the big switchboard was. I telephoned the family physician -to meet us at the Hoboken ferry and then Natalie and I set out to fetch -him, a drive of nearly seventy miles there and back.</p> - -<p>“We ought to do it in two hours,” she said, as we coasted freely,—very -freely,—down the lighted cement road and plunged through the gates -into darkness. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p> - -<p>“The doctor must be in his right mind when we deliver him.”</p> - -<p>I meant it lightly. Her reckless driving was a household topic and she -was incorrigible. But she answered me thoughtfully.</p> - -<p>“We’ll make the time going.”</p> - -<p>She pulled her gloves tighter, took the time, inspected the -instruments, switched off the dash light, cut out the muffler, -settled herself in the seat and opened the throttle wide. It was a -four-cylinder, high-power engine. The sound we made was that of an -endless rip through a linen sheet. Road side trees turned white, uneasy -faces to our headlights. The highway seemed to lay itself down in front -of us as we needed it; and there was a feeling that it vanished or fell -away into black space behind us. Giddy things such as fences, buildings -and stone walls were tossed right and left in streaming glimpses. Good -motor roads were yet unbuilt. There were short, sharp grades like humps -on the roller coaster at the fair. Taking them at fifty miles an hour, -at night, when you cannot see the top as you start up, nor all the way -down as you begin the plunge, is a wild, liberating sensation. Sense of -level is lost. One’s center of gravity rises and falls momentously, the -heart sloshes around, and you don’t care what happens, not even if you -should run off the world. It doesn’t matter.</p> - -<p>Natalie was in a trance-like rapture. She never spoke. Her eyes were -fixed ahead; her body was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> static. Only her head and arms moved, -sometimes her feet to slip the clutch or apply the brake. All that -pertains to the pattern of consciousness,—seeing, hearing, attention, -will and willing,—were strained outward beyond the windshield, as if -externalized, acting outside of her. What remained on the seat, besides -the thrill at the core of her, was her automatic self controlling this -lunging, roaring mechanism without the slightest effort of thought. -The restrained impulses of her nature apparently found their escape -in this form of excitement. It was one thing she could do better than -anyone else. She did it superbly and adored doing it. I could not help -thinking how Vera would drive, if she drove at all.</p> - -<p>There was no traffic at that hour of night until we fell in with the -milk and truck wagons crossing the Hackensack Meadows toward the Hudson -River ferries. Natalie cut in and out of that rumbling procession with -skill and ease. Her calculations were tight and daring, but never -foolhardy.</p> - -<p>“Very accomplished driving,” I said, as she pulled up at the ferry with -the engine idling softly.</p> - -<p>“Fifty minutes,” she said, a little down, on looking at her watch. “I -thought we should have done it in forty-five. Don’t you love it at -night?”</p> - -<h3>iv</h3> - -<p>Dawn was breaking when we returned. It gave us a start of apprehension -to see the lights still burning in Galt’s apartment. We found Mrs. Galt -sitting at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> the side of his bed. Her face was distorted with horror and -anxiety. Galt lay just as I had seen him last.</p> - -<p>“He hasn’t moved,” said Mrs. Galt. “I can’t arouse him. I’m not sure he -is breathing.”</p> - -<p>Neither was the doctor. The pulse was imperceptible. A glass held at -his nostrils showed no trace of moisture. All the bodily functions were -in a state of suspense. The only presumption of life lay in the general -arbitrary fact that he was not dead. The doctor had never seen anything -like this before. He was afraid to act without a consultation. Motors -were sent off for four other doctors, two in New Jersey and two in New -York. They would bring nurses with them.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Galt could not be moved from the bedside.</p> - -<p>Natalie telephoned Vera to come. I telephoned Mordecai. Then we walked -up and down the eastern terrace and watched the sun come up. She -stopped and leaned over the parapet, looking down. Her eyes were dry; -her body shook with convulsive movements. My heart went forth. I put my -arm around her. She stood up, gazed at me with a stricken expression, -then dropped her head on my shoulder and wept, whispering, “Coxey, -Coxey, oh, what shall we do?... what shall we do?”</p> - -<p>Gangs of workmen were appearing below. The day of labor was about to -begin. I left her to get the superintendent on the telephone and tell -him to suspend work. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p> - -<h3>v</h3> - -<p>The consultation began at nine o’clock. Mordecai arrived while it was -taking place. Somehow on the way he had picked up Vera. They came -together. We waited in the library room of Galt’s apartment. At the end -of an hour the five doctors came to us, looking very grave. The Galts’ -family doctor announced the consensus. It was a stroke, with some -very unusual aspects. Life persisted; the thread of it was extremely -fine, almost invisible. It might snap at any moment, and they wouldn’t -know it until some time afterward. Thin as it was, however, it might -pull him back. There was a bare possibility that he would recover -consciousness. Meanwhile there was very little that could be done.</p> - -<p>Mordecai rose from his chair with a colossal, awful gesture. His eyes -were staring. His face was like a mask. His head turned slowly right -and left through half a circle with a weird, mechanical movement, as a -thing turning on a pivot in a fixed plane.</p> - -<p>“Zey haf kilt him!” he whispered. “All ov you I gall upon to vitness, -zey haf kilt him. Zey could nod ruin him. Zat zey tried to do. But ... -zey haf kilt him!... Ve are vonce more in ze dark ages.”</p> - -<p>The physicians were astonished and ill at ease. They did not know what -he was talking about. They did not know who he was. I was the only one -who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> could know what he meant and for a minute I was bewildered. Then -it broke upon me.</p> - -<p>The combat reconstructed itself in my mind. I recalled those days of -strain and anguish when all the forces of Wall Street were acting to -destroy him and he fought alone. He withstood them. In the might of -his own strength, in that moment which it had been torture almost -unendurable to bide the coming of, he smote his enemies “with the fist -of wickedness” and scattered them away. Yes, all that. He had won the -fight. Yet there he lay. His death would leave them in possession of -the field, with a victory unawares. They meant only to break his power, -to unloose his hands, to overthrow him as an upstart dynast. But the -blood weapon which we think is put away, which they never meant and -would not have dared to use,—it had done its work in spite of them. -They could not break him. They had only killed him.</p> - -<p>That was what Mordecai meant.</p> - -<h3>vi</h3> - -<p>Well, we had to wait. Life must wait upon death because it can. There -was much to think about. Mordecai spent two hours with me making -precise arrangements against any contingency. It was very important -that Wall Street should know nothing about Galt’s condition. The news -might cause a panic. I was to call him up at regular intervals by a -direct telephone wire on which no one could listen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> in. If any rumor -got out it should be met with blank silence.</p> - -<p>“Zey vill vind id zoon oud no matter,” he said.</p> - -<p>What he needed was a little time to prepare the financial structure -for the imminent shock. He would inform his associates and such others -as were entitled to know and together they would agree upon protective -measures. Galt’s death was bound to produce a terrific convulsion. -There is no line of succession in Wall Street, no hereditary prince to -receive the crown. When the monarch falls the wail is, “The king is -dead! There is no king!”</p> - -<p>About 10 o’clock in the morning of the second day Galt opened his eyes. -He could neither move nor speak, but he was vividly conscious. Mrs. -Galt came to the room where I had established a work station to tell me -this.</p> - -<p>“He wants something,” she said. “He says so with his eyes. I think it -is you he wants.”</p> - -<p>His eyes expressed pleasure at seeing me. Not a muscle moved. He could -see and hear and think, and that was all. He did want something. I -guessed a number of things and he looked them all away. It wasn’t -Mordecai. It wasn’t anything in relation to business. In this dilemma I -remembered a game we played in childhood. It was for one of the players -to hold in his mind any object on earth and for the other to identify -it by asking questions up to twenty that had to be answered yes or no. -Galt’s eyes could say yes and no and he could hear. Therefore <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>anything -he was thinking of could be found out. I explained the game to him, he -instantly understood, and we began. Was the thing a mineral substance? -He did not answer. Was it vegetable? He did not answer. Was it animal -then? Still no answer, but a bothered look in his eyes. I stopped to -wonder why he hadn’t answered yes or no to one of the three. Was it -perhaps something mineral, vegetable and animal combined? His eyes -lighted, saying yes. Was it in this room? No. Was it far away? No. Was -it just outside? Yes.</p> - -<p>I went to the window and looked out. In every direction below the level -of the finished terrace was the sight of construction work in a state -of suspense, heaps of materials, tools where they had fallen, power -machinery idle. A thought occurred to me. I went back and looked in his -eyes.</p> - -<p>“We’ve had all the work stopped because of the noise. Do you wish it to -go on? Is that what you want?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he answered, with a flash of his eyes.</p> - -<p>Two hours later the air was vibrant with the clank-clank of many steam -drills, the screech of taut hoisting cables, the throb of donkey -engines, the roar of rock blasting, and he was happy.</p> - -<p>Incidentally the resumption of work served Mordecai’s purpose in an -unexpected way. Rumor of Galt’s illness did get out. The newspapers -began to telephone. Unable to get information in that way they thought -it must be serious and sent reporters<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> out in haste. They returned -to their offices saying they couldn’t get a word out of us, but Galt -couldn’t be very ill so long as all that uproar was permitted to go on.</p> - -<p>A week passed in this way. One evening on my return from an urgent trip -to New York Natalie came racing down the great hall to meet me, with a -flying slide at the end, as in the old days she was wont to meet Galt, -and whether she meant it quite, or miscalculated the distance, I do not -know; but anyhow I had either to let her go by off her balance or catch -her, and she landed in my arms.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Coxey, he’s asking for you,” she said, getting her feet and -dragging me along at a run. “He’s better all at once. He can talk.”</p> - -<p>The faculty of speech was gradually restored. When he could talk freely -he told us that he had been conscious all the while, day and night. He -heard every word that was spoken at the consultation. Therefore he had -more expert opinion on his condition than we had. He had kept count of -time. He knew what day it was when he first opened his eyes, and since -then in his sleep he had been continuously conscious. He felt no pain.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER XVI</span> <span class="smaller">GATE OF ENIGMA</span></h2> - -<h3>i</h3> - -<p>And now began the last phase of his career. Lying there in that state, -unable so much as to raise his hand, with a mind all but disembodied, -he intended his thoughts to the passion that ruled him still. The -doctors warned him that it would be extremely dangerous to exercise -his mind. It would cause the thread of life to part. That made no -difference. What was the thread of life for?</p> - -<p>Three times a week Mordecai came to talk with him. These visits, -beginning naturally as between friends, soon became conferences -of a consequential character between principal and banker. They -examined problems, discussed measures, evolved policies, and spent -hours, sometimes whole days, together. Mordecai became Galt’s self -objectified. He executed his will, promulgated his ideas, represented -him in all situations. He sat for him at board meetings and in general -Wall Street councils. This became soon an institutional fact. No -business of a high nature proceeded far in Wall Street until Mordecai -was asked, “What does Mr. Galt say?” or “What would Mr. Galt think?” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span></p> - -<p>A paralyzed hand ruled the world of finance.</p> - -<p>Galt’s mind was clear and insatiable. It comprehended both details and -principles. He directed minutely the expenditure of that five hundred -millions and verified his own prophecy. The outlay of this vast sum -upon railroad works averted a period of industrial depression.</p> - -<p>I remained permanently at Moonstool. The room in which at first I had -established merely a point of contact with the outside world to meet -such emergencies as might arise became a regular office. We installed -news printing machines and direct telephones. Stock Exchange quotations -were received by a private telegraph wire. We had presently a staff of -clerks, typists and statisticians, all living in the house and keeping -hours. The personnel of this singular organization included one fresco -painter.</p> - -<p>More than anything else Galt missed his maps and charts. A map of any -portion of the earth’s surface enthralled him. The act of gazing at it -stimulated his thoughts. And statistical charts,—those diagrams in -which quantities, ratios and velocities are symbolized by lines that -rise and fall in curves,—these were to him what mathematical symbols -are to an astronomer. He could not think easily without them. We had -tried various devices for getting maps and charts before him, and they -were all unsatisfactory. One day he said: “I can look at the ceiling -and walls without effort. Why not put them there?” </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span></p> - -<p>But we could not get maps large enough to show from the ceiling and -there was a similar difficulty about charts, even though we drew them -ourselves. Then we thought of painting them. We found a fresco painter -possessing the rudiments of the peculiar kind of intelligence required -for such work and then trained him to it.</p> - -<p>We painted a map of the world in two hemispheres on the ceiling. The -United States had to be carefully put in, with the Great Midwestern -system showing in bold red lines. On the walls we painted statistical -charts to the number of eight. Several were permanent, such as the -one showing the combined earnings of the Galt railroad properties and -another the state of general business. They had only to be touched up -from time to time as new statistics came in. Others were ephemeral, -serving to illustrate some problem his mind was working on. They were -frequently painted out and new ones put in their place.</p> - -<p>Under these conditions, gazing for hours at the world map, he conceived -a project which was destined to survive him in the form of an idea. -If he had lived it might have been realized. This was a pan-American -railroad,—a vertical system of land transportation articulating the -North and South American continents. It was painted there on the -ceiling. Mordecai saw it and wept.</p> - -<p>How easily the mind accommodates itself to any situation! In a short -time all of this seemed quite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> natural because it was taking place. -Having accepted Galt as a dynast in the flesh, Wall Street now accepted -him as an invisible force pervading all its affairs, as if it might -go on that way forever. Through Mordecai it solicited his advice and -opinion on matters that were not his. Once Mordecai brought him the -problem of a railroad that was in trouble; he bought the railroad to -save it from bankruptcy. People, seeing this, began to think he was -not ill at all, but preferred to work in a mysterious manner. Great -Midwestern stock meanwhile was rising, always rising, and touched at -last the fabulous price of three hundred dollars a share. Faith in it -now was as unreasoning as distrust of it had once been.</p> - -<h3>ii</h3> - -<p>Galt entertained no thought of malice toward his old enemies. Proof of -this was dramatic and unexpected. A servant came up one afternoon with -the name of Bullguard. I could hardly believe it. I found him standing -in the middle of the hall, just inside the door, a large, impenetrable -figure, giving one the impression of immovable purpose. I had never -seen him before.</p> - -<p>“I wish to see Mr. Galt,” he said, in a voice like a tempered north -wind.</p> - -<p>“Nobody sees him, you know.”</p> - -<p>“I must see him,” he replied.</p> - -<p>“I will ask him. Is it a matter of business?”</p> - -<p>“It is very personal,” he said. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p> - -<p>The way he said this gave me suddenly a glimpse of his hidden -character. Beneath that terrifying aspect, back of that glowering under -which strong men quailed, lay more shy, human gentleness than would be -easily imagined.</p> - -<p>Galt received him. They were alone together for a full hour. What -passed between them will never be known. I waited in the library room, -one removed from Galt’s bedchamber, and saw Bullguard leave. He passed -me unawares, looking straight ahead of him, as one in a hypnotic -trance. Outside he forgot his car and went stalking down the drive in -that same unseeing manner, grasping a great thick walking stick at -the middle and waving it slowly before his face. His car followed and -picked him up somewhere out of sight.</p> - -<h3>iii</h3> - -<p>One of the minor triumphs of this time was the collapse of the social -feud. Mrs. Valentine’s subjects began to revolt. Society made definite -overtures to the Galt women. But nobody now cared. Mrs. Galt and -Natalie lived only for Galt, and they were the two who would in any -case be interested. Mrs. Galt was his silent companion. Natalie was his -mercury, going errands swiftly between his bedchamber and the office. -She was absorbed in what went on and a good deal of it she understood -in an imaginative manner. Coming with a message from Galt, perhaps a -request for information or data, she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> would often sit at my desk to -hear or see the results, saying, “I feel so stupid when I don’t know -what it means.” In the evening, as we might be walking or driving -together, she would review the transactions of the day and get them all -explained.</p> - -<p>Vera lived in New York at her studio, but came often to Moonstool. Her -engagement to Lord Porteous was renewed. She spoke to me about it one -evening on the west terrace, after sunset.</p> - -<p>“You were right about Lord Porteous,” she said. “He refused from the -beginning to consider our engagement broken.”</p> - -<p>“Of course,” I said.</p> - -<p>That was evidently not what she expected me to say. She gave me a slow, -sidewise look.</p> - -<p>“I’m very glad,” I added, making it worse.</p> - -<p>We took several turns in silence.</p> - -<p>“Why are you glad?” she asked, in a tone she seldom used.</p> - -<p>“Isn’t that what I should say?... I was thinking ... I don’t know what -I was thinking ... nor why I am glad.”</p> - -<p>We stood for a long time, a little apart, watching the afterglow. She -shivered.</p> - -<p>“I am cold,” she said. “Let’s go in, please.”</p> - -<h3>iv</h3> - -<p>The next day in the midst of a conference with Mordecai Galt’s eyes -closed. The doctor was in the house. He shook his head knowingly. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p> - -<p>There followed a fortnight of horrible suspense. Most of the time we -did not know at a given moment whether he was alive or dead. Once for -three days he did not open his eyes and we thought it was over. Then -he looked at us again and we knew he had been conscious all the time. -The faculty of speech never returned. There would be a rumor that he -was dead and prices would fall on the Stock Exchange; then a rumor that -he wasn’t, and prices would rise again. The newspapers established a -death watch in the private Galt station and kept reporters there day -and night to flash the news away. To keep them from the house I had -to promise them solemnly that I would send word down promptly if the -fatality happened.</p> - -<p>Mrs. Galt and Natalie watched alternately. One or the other sat at -his bedside all the time. One evening about 8 o’clock I was sharing -the vigil with Natalie when Galt opened his eyes. We were sitting -on opposite sides of his bed. He looked from one of us to the other -slowly, several times, and then fixed a wanting expression on me.</p> - -<p>I knew what he wanted without asking. Natalie knew also. It concerned -us deeply, uniting our lives, yet at that moment we were hardly -conscious of ourselves. What thrilled us was the thought of something -we should do for him, because he wanted it.</p> - -<p>I put out my hand to her across the bed. She clasped it firmly.</p> - -<p>“That is what you mean,” I said. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span></p> - -<p>“Yes,” he answered.</p> - -<p>A flood of recollection swept through me. I saw Natalie all the way -back to girlhood, to that night of our first meeting in her father’s -house. I could not remember when I had not loved her. I saw everything -that had happened between us, saw it in sunlight, and wondered how -I could have been so unaware. Trifling incidents, almost forgotten, -became suddenly luminous, precious and significant. And this instant -had been from the beginning appointed!</p> - -<p>Natalie, still clasping my hand, leaned far over and gazed intently -into his eyes.</p> - -<p>“You want me to marry Coxey?” she asked, in a tone of caressing -anxiety, which seemed wholly unconscious of me, almost excluding.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” he answered, repeating it several times, if that may be -understood. The answer lingered in his eyes. Then they closed, slowly, -as ponderous gates swing to, against his utmost will, and they never -opened again.</p> - -<p>He was buried in the side of Moonstool. All of his great enemies came -to assist at the obsequies. Bullguard was one of the pallbearers.</p> - -<hr /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span></p> - -<h2><span>CHAPTER XVII</span> <span class="smaller">NATALIE</span></h2> - -<p>After the funeral the family returned to the Fifth Avenue house. Though -I took up a permanent abode elsewhere, my apartment was still there, -and I came and went almost as one of the household.</p> - -<p>The more I saw of Natalie the stranger and more distant she was. Her -behavior was incomprehensible. She was friendly, often tender, always -solicitous, but kept a wall of constraint between us. She positively -refused to talk of our engagement, and came to the point where -she denied there was any such thing. When I proposed to cure that -difficulty in a very obvious way she took refuge in fits of perverse -and wilful unreasonableness. She would spend a whole evening in some -inaccessible mood and become herself only for an instant at the last. -Suddenly they resolved to travel. She persuaded her mother to it.</p> - -<p>“Then we won’t see Coxey for a long, long time,” she said, one evening -at dinner; “and maybe he will miss us.”</p> - -<p>They went around the world. Her letters were friendly, sprightly, -teasing, and very unsatisfactory. She would not be serious. </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span></p> - -<p>At last Galt’s posthumous affairs began to settle, so that I could -leave them, and I immediately set out in a westerly direction, -intending to meet Mrs. Galt and Natalie in the Orient on surprise. -I missed them in China, because they had revised their schedule and -gone to Japan. In Japan I missed them again because they were suddenly -homesick and cut their sojourn short. We crossed the Pacific a week -apart. They stopped only four days in San Francisco, so I missed them -there. Then I telegraphed Natalie what I had been doing. Four months -had passed without a word of news between us.</p> - -<p>On arriving in New York I went directly to the Fifth Avenue house. As I -rang the bell a feeling of desolation assailed me. The absurd thought -rose that she somehow knew of my pursuit and had purposely defeated it.</p> - -<p>She was downstairs, sitting alone before the fireplace in the reception -hall, reading. She dropped her book and ran toward me, rather at me, -slid the last ten feet of it with her head down, her arms flung wide, -and welcomed me with a hearty hug.</p> - -<p>“Are we?” I asked, holding her.</p> - -<p>“Coxey, silly dear! All this time we have been.”</p> - -<p> </p> -<hr /> -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<div class="mynote"><p class="center">Transcriber’s Note:<br /><br /> -Obvious typographic errors have been corrected.<br /></p></div> - - -<p> </p> -<p> </p> -<hr class="pgx" /> -<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DRIVER***</p> -<p>******* This file should be named 65853-h.htm or 65853-h.zip *******</p> -<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> -<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/6/5/8/5/65853">http://www.gutenberg.org/6/5/8/5/65853</a></p> -<p> -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed.</p> - -<p>Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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