“I think you’ll have to prepare for real rough weather in the future, Captain,” he remarked, addressing the financier with a courtesy title that he had fallen in the habit of using.
“What’s the trouble now?” asked Cowperwood.
“No real trouble as yet, but there may be. Some one—I don’t know who—is getting these three old companies together in one. There’s a certificate of incorporation been applied7 for at Springfield for the United Gas and Fuel Company of Chicago, and there are some directors’ meetings now going on at the Douglas Trust Company. I got this from Duniway, who seems to have friends somewhere that know.”
Cowperwood put the ends of his fingers together in his customary way and began to tap them lightly and rhythmically8.
“Let me see—the Douglas Trust Company. Mr. Simms is president of that. He isn’t shrewd enough to organize a thing of that kind. Who are the incorporators?”
The General produced a list of four names, none of them officers or directors of the old companies.
“Dummies, every one,” said Cowperwood, succinctly9. “I think I know,” he said, after a few moments’ reflection, “who is behind it, General; but don’t let that worry you. They can’t harm us if they do unite. They’re bound to sell out to us or buy us out eventually.”
Still it irritated him to think that Schryhart had succeeded in persuading the old companies to combine on any basis; he had meant to have Addison go shortly, posing as an outside party, and propose this very thing. Schryhart, he was sure, had acted swiftly following their interview. He hurried to Addison’s office in the Lake National.
“Have you heard the news?” exclaimed that individual, the moment Cowperwood appeared. “They’re planning to combine. It’s Schryhart. I was afraid of that. Simms of the Douglas Trust is going to act as the fiscal10 agent. I had the information not ten minutes ago.”
“So did I,” replied Cowperwood, calmly. “We should have acted a little sooner. Still, it isn’t our fault exactly. Do you know the terms of agreement?”
“They’re going to pool their stock on a basis of three to one, with about thirty per cent. of the holding company left for Schryhart to sell or keep, as he wants to. He guarantees the interest. We did that for him—drove the game right into his bag.”
“Nevertheless,” replied Cowperwood, “he still has us to deal with. I propose now that we go into the city council and ask for a blanket franchise11. It can be had. If we should get it, it will bring them to their knees. We will really be in a better position than they are with these smaller companies as feeders. We can unite with ourselves.”
“That will take considerable money, won’t it?”
“Not so much. We may never need to lay a pipe or build a plant. They will offer to sell out, buy, or combine before that. We can fix the terms. Leave it to me. You don’t happen to know by any chance this Mr. McKenty, who has so much say in local affairs here—John J. McKenty?”
Cowperwood was referring to a man who was at once gambler, rumored13 owner or controller of a series of houses of prostitution, rumored maker14 of mayors and aldermen, rumored financial backer of many saloons and contracting companies—in short, the patron saint of the political and social underworld of Chicago, and who was naturally to be reckoned with in matters which related to the city and state legislative15 programme.
“I don’t,” said Addison; “but I can get you a letter. Why?”
“Don’t trouble to ask me that now. Get me as strong an introduction as you can.”
“I’ll have one for you to-day some time,” replied Addison, efficiently16. “I’ll send it over to you.”
Cowperwood went out while Addison speculated as to this newest move. Trust Cowperwood to dig a pit into which the enemy might fall. He marveled sometimes at the man’s resourcefulness. He never quarreled with the directness and incisiveness17 of Cowperwood’s action.
The man, McKenty, whom Cowperwood had in mind in this rather disturbing hour, was as interesting and forceful an individual as one would care to meet anywhere, a typical figure of Chicago and the West at the time. He was a pleasant, smiling, bland18, affable person, not unlike Cowperwood in magnetism19 and subtlety20, but different by a degree of animal coarseness (not visible on the surface) which Cowperwood would scarcely have understood, and in a kind of temperamental pull drawing to him that vast pathetic life of the underworld in which his soul found its solution. There is a kind of nature, not artistic22, not spiritual, in no way emotional, nor yet unduly23 philosophical24, that is nevertheless a sphered content of life; not crystalline, perhaps, and yet not utterly25 dark—an agate26 temperament21, cloudy and strange. As a three-year-old child McKenty had been brought from Ireland by his emigrant27 parents during a period of famine. He had been raised on the far South Side in a shanty28 which stood near a maze29 of railroad-tracks, and as a naked baby he had crawled on its earthen floor. His father had been promoted to a section boss after working for years as a day-laborer on the adjoining railroad, and John, junior, one of eight other children, had been sent out early to do many things—to be an errand-boy in a store, a messenger-boy for a telegraph company, an emergency sweep about a saloon, and finally a bartender. This last was his true beginning, for he was discovered by a keen-minded politician and encouraged to run for the state legislature and to study law. Even as a stripling what things had he not learned—robbery, ballot-box stuffing, the sale of votes, the appointive power of leaders, graft30, nepotism31, vice32 exploitation—all the things that go to make up (or did) the American world of politics and financial and social strife33. There is a strong assumption in the upper walks of life that there is nothing to be learned at the bottom. If you could have looked into the capacious but balanced temperament of John J. McKenty you would have seen a strange wisdom there and stranger memories—whole worlds of brutalities, tendernesses, errors, immoralities suffered, endured, even rejoiced in—the hardy34, eager life of the animal that has nothing but its perceptions, instincts, appetites to guide it. Yet the man had the air and the poise35 of a gentleman.
To-day, at forty-eight, McKenty was an exceedingly important personage. His roomy house on the West Side, at Harrison Street and Ashland Avenue, was visited at sundry36 times by financiers, business men, office-holders, priests, saloon-keepers—in short, the whole range and gamut37 of active, subtle, political life. From McKenty they could obtain that counsel, wisdom, surety, solution which all of them on occasion were anxious to have, and which in one deft38 way and another—often by no more than gratitude39 and an acknowledgment of his leadership—they were willing to pay for. To police captains and officers whose places he occasionally saved, when they should justly have been discharged; to mothers whose erring12 boys or girls he took out of prison and sent home again; to keepers of bawdy40 houses whom he protected from a too harsh invasion of the grafting41 propensities42 of the local police; to politicians and saloon-keepers who were in danger of being destroyed by public upheavals43 of one kind and another, he seemed, in hours of stress, when his smooth, genial44, almost artistic face beamed on them, like a heaven-sent son of light, a kind of Western god, all-powerful, all-merciful, perfect. On the other hand, there were ingrates, uncompromising or pharasaical religionists and reformers, plotting, scheming rivals, who found him deadly to contend with. There were many henchmen—runners from an almost imperial throne—to do his bidding. He was simple in dress and taste, married and (apparently) very happy, a professing45 though virtually non-practising Catholic, a suave46, genial Buddha-like man, powerful and enigmatic.
When Cowperwood and McKenty first met, it was on a spring evening at the latter’s home. The windows of the large house were pleasantly open, though screened, and the curtains were blowing faintly in a light air. Along with a sense of the new green life everywhere came a breath of stock-yards.
On the presentation of Addison’s letter and of another, secured through Van Sickle from a well-known political judge, Cowperwood had been invited to call. On his arrival he was offered a drink, a cigar, introduced to Mrs. McKenty—who, lacking an organized social life of any kind, was always pleased to meet these celebrities47 of the upper world, if only for a moment—and shown eventually into the library. Mrs. McKenty, as he might have observed if he had had the eye for it, was plump and fifty, a sort of superannuated48 Aileen, but still showing traces of a former hardy beauty, and concealing49 pretty well the evidences that she had once been a prostitute. It so happened that on this particular evening McKenty was in a most genial frame of mind. There were no immediate51 political troubles bothering him just now. It was early in May. Outside the trees were budding, the sparrows and robins52 were voicing their several moods. A delicious haze53 was in the air, and some early mosquitoes were reconnoitering the screens which protected the windows and doors. Cowperwood, in spite of his various troubles, was in a complacent54 state of mind himself. He liked life—even its very difficult complications—perhaps its complications best of all. Nature was beautiful, tender at times, but difficulties, plans, plots, schemes to unravel55 and make smooth—these things were what made existence worth while.
“Well now, Mr. Cowperwood,” McKenty began, when they finally entered the cool, pleasant library, “what can I do for you?”
“Well, Mr. McKenty,” said Cowperwood, choosing his words and bringing the finest resources of his temperament into play, “it isn’t so much, and yet it is. I want a franchise from the Chicago city council, and I want you to help me get it if you will. I know you may say to me why not go to the councilmen direct. I would do that, except that there are certain other elements—individuals—who might come to you. It won’t offend you, I know, when I say that I have always understood that you are a sort of clearing-house for political troubles in Chicago.”
Mr. McKenty smiled. “That’s flattering,” he replied, dryly.
“Now, I am rather new myself to Chicago,” went on Cowperwood, softly. “I have been here only a year or two. I come from Philadelphia. I have been interested as a fiscal agent and an investor56 in several gas companies that have been organized in Lake View, Hyde Park, and elsewhere outside the city limits, as you may possibly have seen by the papers lately. I am not their owner, in the sense that I have provided all or even a good part of the money invested in them. I am not even their manager, except in a very general way. I might better be called their promoter and guardian57; but I am that for other people and myself.”
Mr. McKenty nodded.
“Now, Mr. McKenty, it was not very long after I started out to get franchises58 to do business in Lake View and Hyde Park before I found myself confronted by the interests which control the three old city gas companies. They were very much opposed to our entering the field in Cook County anywhere, as you may imagine, although we were not really crowding in on their field. Since then they have fought me with lawsuits59, injunctions, and charges of bribery60 and conspiracy61.”
“I know,” put in Mr. McKenty. “I have heard something of it.”
“Quite so,” replied Cowperwood. “Because of their opposition62 I made them an offer to combine these three companies and the three new ones into one, take out a new charter, and give the city a uniform gas service. They would not do that—largely because I was an outsider, I think. Since then another person, Mr. Schryhart”—McKenty nodded—“who has never had anything to do with the gas business here, has stepped in and offered to combine them. His plan is to do exactly what I wanted to do; only his further proposition is, once he has the three old companies united, to invade this new gas field of ours and hold us up, or force us to sell by obtaining rival franchises in these outlying places. There is talk of combining these suburbs with Chicago, as you know, which would allow these three down-town franchises to become mutually operative with our own. This makes it essential for us to do one of several things, as you may see—either to sell out on the best terms we can now, or to continue the fight at a rather heavy expense without making any attempt to strike back, or to get into the city council and ask for a franchise to do business in the down-town section—a general blanket franchise to sell gas in Chicago alongside of the old companies—with the sole intention of protecting ourselves, as one of my officers is fond of saying,” added Cowperwood, humorously.
McKenty smiled again. “I see,” he said. “Isn’t that a rather large order, though, Mr. Cowperwood, seeking a new franchise? Do you suppose the general public would agree that the city needs an extra gas company? It’s true the old companies haven’t been any too generous. My own gas isn’t of the best.” He smiled vaguely64, prepared to listen further.
“Now, Mr. McKenty, I know that you are a practical man,” went on Cowperwood, ignoring this interruption, “and so am I. I am not coming to you with any vague story concerning my troubles and expecting you to be interested as a matter of sympathy. I realize that to go into the city council of Chicago with a legitimate65 proposition is one thing. To get it passed and approved by the city authorities is another. I need advice and assistance, and I am not begging it. If I could get a general franchise, such as I have described, it would be worth a very great deal of money to me. It would help me to close up and realize on these new companies which are entirely66 sound and needed. It would help me to prevent the old companies from eating me up. As a matter of fact, I must have such a franchise to protect my interests and give me a running fighting chance. Now, I know that none of us are in politics or finance for our health. If I could get such a franchise it would be worth from one-fourth to one-half of all I personally would make out of it, providing my plan of combining these new companies with the old ones should go through—say, from three to four hundred thousand dollars.” (Here again Cowperwood was not quite frank, but safe.) “It is needless to say to you that I can command ample capital. This franchise would do that. Briefly67, I want to know if you won’t give me your political support in this matter and join in with me on the basis that I propose? I will make it perfectly68 clear to you beforehand who my associates are. I will put all the data and details on the table before you so that you can see for yourself how things are. If you should find at any time that I have misrepresented anything you are at full liberty, of course, to withdraw. As I said before,” he concluded, “I am not a beggar. I am not coming here to conceal50 any facts or to hide anything which might deceive you as to the worth of all this to us. I want you to know the facts. I want you to give me your aid on such terms as you think are fair and equitable69. Really the only trouble with me in this situation is that I am not a silk stocking. If I were this gas war would have been adjusted long ago. These gentlemen who are so willing to reorganize through Mr. Schryhart are largely opposed to me because I am—comparatively—a stranger in Chicago and not in their set. If I were”—he moved his hand slightly—“I don’t suppose I would be here this evening asking for your favor, although that does not say that I am not glad to be here, or that I would not be glad to work with you in any way that I might. Circumstances simply have not thrown me across your path before.”
As he talked his eye fixed70 McKenty steadily71, almost innocently; and the latter, following him clearly, felt all the while that he was listening to a strange, able, dark, and very forceful man. There was no beating about the bush here, no squeamishness of spirit, and yet there was subtlety—the kind McKenty liked. While he was amused by Cowperwood’s casual reference to the silk stockings who were keeping him out, it appealed to him. He caught the point of view as well as the intention of it. Cowperwood represented a new and rather pleasing type of financier to him. Evidently, he was traveling in able company if one could believe the men who had introduced him so warmly. McKenty, as Cowperwood was well aware, had personally no interest in the old companies and also—though this he did not say—no particular sympathy with them. They were just remote financial corporations to him, paying political tribute on demand, expecting political favors in return. Every few weeks now they were in council, asking for one gas-main franchise after another (special privileges in certain streets), asking for better (more profitable) light-contracts, asking for dock privileges in the river, a lower tax rate, and so forth and so on. McKenty did not pay much attention to these things personally. He had a subordinate in council, a very powerful henchman by the name of Patrick Dowling, a meaty, vigorous Irishman and a true watch-dog of graft for the machine, who worked with the mayor, the city treasurer72, the city tax receiver—in fact, all the officers of the current administration—and saw that such minor73 matters were properly equalized. Mr. McKenty had only met two or three of the officers of the South Side Gas Company, and that quite casually74. He did not like them very well. The truth was that the old companies were officered by men who considered politicians of the McKenty and Dowling stripe as very evil men; if they paid them and did other such wicked things it was because they were forced to do so.
“Well,” McKenty replied, lingering his thin gold watch-chain in a thoughtful manner, “that’s an interesting scheme you have. Of course the old companies wouldn’t like your asking for a rival franchise, but once you had it they couldn’t object very well, could they?” He smiled. Mr. McKenty spoke75 with no suggestion of a brogue. “From one point of view it might be looked upon as bad business, but not entirely. They would be sure to make a great cry, though they haven’t been any too kind to the public themselves. But if you offered to combine with them I see no objection. It’s certain to be as good for them in the long run as it is for you. This merely permits you to make a better bargain.”
“Exactly,” said Cowperwood.
“And you have the means, you tell me, to lay mains in every part of the city, and fight with them for business if they won’t give in?”
“I have the means,” said Cowperwood, “or if I haven’t I can get them.”
Mr. McKenty looked at Mr. Cowperwood very solemnly. There was a kind of mutual63 sympathy, understanding, and admiration76 between the two men, but it was still heavily veiled by self-interest. To Mr. McKenty Cowperwood was interesting because he was one of the few business men he had met who were not ponderous77, pharasaical, even hypocritical when they were dealing78 with him.
“Well, I’ll tell you what I’ll do, Mr. Cowperwood,” he said, finally. “I’ll take it all under consideration. Let me think it over until Monday, anyhow. There is more of an excuse now for the introduction of a general gas ordinance79 than there would be a little later—I can see that. Why don’t you draw up your proposed franchise and let me see it? Then we might find out what some of the other gentlemen of the city council think.”
Cowperwood almost smiled at the word “gentlemen.”
“I have already done that,” he said. “Here it is.”
McKenty took it, surprised and yet pleased at this evidence of business proficiency80. He liked a strong manipulator of this kind—the more since he was not one himself, and most of those that he did know were thin-blooded and squeamish.
“Let me take this,” he said. “I’ll see you next Monday again if you wish. Come Monday.”
Cowperwood got up. “I thought I’d come and talk to you direct, Mr. McKenty,” he said, “and now I’m glad that I did. You will find, if you will take the trouble to look into this matter, that it is just as I represent it. There is a very great deal of money here in one way and another, though it will take some little time to work it out.”
Mr. McKenty saw the point. “Yes,” he said, sweetly, “to be sure.”
They looked into each other’s eyes as they shook hands.
“I’m not sure but you haven’t hit upon a very good idea here,” concluded McKenty, sympathetically. “A very good idea, indeed. Come and see me again next Monday, or about that time, and I’ll let you know what I think. Come any time you have anything else you want of me. I’ll always be glad to see you. It’s a fine night, isn’t it?” he added, looking out as they neared the door. “A nice moon that!” he added. A sickle moon was in the sky. “Good night.”
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courteously
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| adv.有礼貌地，亲切地 | |
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watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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incorporation
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| n.设立，合并，法人组织 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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sickle
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portentously
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applied
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rhythmically
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| adv.有节奏地 | |
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succinctly
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| adv.简洁地；简洁地，简便地 | |
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fiscal
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| adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的 | |
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franchise
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| n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权 | |
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erring
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| 做错事的，错误的 | |
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rumored
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| adj.传说的，谣传的v.传闻( rumor的过去式和过去分词 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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maker
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| n.制造者，制造商 | |
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legislative
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| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
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efficiently
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| adv.高效率地，有能力地 | |
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incisiveness
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bland
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| adj.淡而无味的，温和的，无刺激性的 | |
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magnetism
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| n.磁性，吸引力，磁学 | |
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subtlety
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temperament
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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unduly
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philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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utterly
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agate
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emigrant
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shanty
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maze
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graft
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nepotism
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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strife
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| n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争 | |
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hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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poise
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sundry
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gamut
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deft
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gratitude
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bawdy
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grafting
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| 嫁接法，移植法 | |
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propensities
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upheavals
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genial
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professing
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suave
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celebrities
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superannuated
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concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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robins
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| n.知更鸟，鸫( robin的名词复数 )；（签名者不分先后，以避免受责的）圆形签名抗议书（或请愿书） | |
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53
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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54
complacent
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| adj.自满的；自鸣得意的 | |
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55
unravel
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| v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开 | |
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investor
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| n.投资者，投资人 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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58
franchises
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| n.（尤指选举议员的）选举权( franchise的名词复数 )；参政权；获特许权的商业机构（或服务）；（公司授予的）特许经销权v.给…以特许权，出售特许权( franchise的第三人称单数 ) | |
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59
lawsuits
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| n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 ) | |
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60
bribery
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| n.贿络行为，行贿，受贿 | |
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conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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equitable
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| adj.公平的；公正的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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treasurer
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| n.司库，财务主管 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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casually
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| adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地 | |
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75
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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ordinance
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| n.法令；条令；条例 | |
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proficiency
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| n.精通，熟练，精练 | |
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