Meanwhile be it admitted that the local elements in finance which had brought about this terrific onslaught on Cowperwood were not a little disturbed as to the eventual31 character of the child of their own creation. Here at last was a public opinion definitely inimical to Cowperwood; but here also were they themselves, tremendous profit-holders, with a desire for just such favors as Cowperwood himself had exacted, deliberately32 setting out to kill the goose that could lay the golden egg. Men such as Haeckelheimer, Gotloeb, Fishel, tremendous capitalists in the East and foremost in the directorates of huge transcontinental lines, international banking-houses, and the like, were amazed that the newspapers and the anti-Cowperwood element should have gone so far in Chicago. Had they no respect for capital? Did they not know that long-time franchises were practically the basis of all modern capitalistic prosperity? Such theories as were now being advocated here would spread to other cities unless checked. America might readily become anti-capitalistic—socialistic. Public ownership might appear as a workable theory—and then what?
“Those men out there are very foolish,” observed Mr. Haeckelheimer at one time to Mr. Fishel, of Fishel, Stone & Symons. “I can’t see that Mr. Cowperwood is different from any other organizer of his day. He seems to me perfectly33 sound and able. All his companies pay. There are no better investments than the North and West Chicago railways. It would be advisable, in my judgment34, that all the lines out there should be consolidated35 and be put in his charge. He would make money for the stockholders. He seems to know how to run street-railways.”
“You know,” replied Mr. Fishel, as smug and white as Mr. Haeckelheimer, and in thorough sympathy with his point of view, “I have been thinking of something like that myself. All this quarreling should be hushed up. It’s very bad for business—very. Once they get that public-ownership nonsense started, it will be hard to stop. There has been too much of it already.”
Mr. Fishel was stout36 and round like Mr. Haeckelheimer, but much smaller. He was little more than a walking mathematical formula. In his cranium were financial theorems and syllogisms of the second, third, and fourth power only.
And now behold37 a new trend of affairs. Mr. Timothy Arneel, attacked by pneumonia38, dies and leaves his holdings in Chicago City to his eldest39 son, Edward Arneel. Mr. Fishel and Mr. Haeckelheimer, through agents and then direct, approach Mr. Merrill in behalf of Cowperwood. There is much talk of profits—how much more profitable has been the Cowperwood regime over street-railway lines than that of Mr. Schryhart. Mr. Fishel is interested in allaying40 socialistic excitement. So, by this time, is Mr. Merrill. Directly hereafter Mr. Haeckelheimer approaches Mr. Edward Arneel, who is not nearly so forceful as his father, though he would like to be so. He, strange to relate, has come rather to admire Cowperwood and sees no advantage in a policy that can only tend to municipalize local lines. Mr. Merrill, for Mr. Fishel, approaches Mr. Hand. “Never! never! never!” says Hand. Mr. Haeckelheimer approaches Mr. Hand. “Never! never! never! To the devil with Mr. Cowperwood!” But as a final emissary for Mr. Haeckelheimer and Mr. Fishel there now appears Mr. Morgan Frankhauser, the partner of Mr. Hand in a seven-million-dollar traction41 scheme in Minneapolis and St. Paul. Why will Mr. Hand be so persistent42? Why pursue a scheme of revenge which only stirs up the masses and makes municipal ownership a valid43 political idea, thus disturbing capital elsewhere? Why not trade his Chicago holdings to him, Frankhauser, for Pittsburg traction stock—share and share alike—and then fight Cowperwood all he pleases on the outside?
Mr. Hand, puzzled, astounded44, scratching his round head, slaps a heavy hand on his desk. “Never!” he exclaims. “Never, by God—as long as I am alive and in Chicago!” And then he yields. Life does shifty things, he is forced to reflect in a most puzzled way. Never would he have believed it! “Schryhart,” he declared to Frankhauser, “will never come in. He will die first. Poor old Timothy—if he were alive—he wouldn’t either.”
“Leave Mr. Schryhart out of it, for Heaven’s sake,” pleaded Mr. Frankhauser, a genial45 American German. “Haven’t I troubles enough?”
Mr. Schryhart is enraged46. Never! never! never! He will sell out first—but he is in a minority, and Mr. Frankhauser, for Mr. Fishel or Mr. Haeckelheimer, will gladly take his holdings.
Now behold in the autumn of 1897 all rival Chicago street-railway lines brought to Mr. Cowperwood on a platter, as it were—a golden platter.
“Ve haff it fixed,” confidentially48 declared Mr. Gotloeb to Mr. Cowperwood, over an excellent dinner in the sacred precincts of the Metropolitan49 Club in New York. Time, 8.30 P.M. Wine—sparkling burgundy. “A telegram come shusst to-day from Frankhauser. A nice man dot. You shouldt meet him sometime. Hant—he sells out his stock to Frankhauser. Merrill unt Edward Arneel vork vit us. Ve hantle efferyt’ing for dem. Mr. Fishel vill haff his friends pick up all de local shares he can, unt mit dees tree ve control de board. Schryhart iss out. He sess he vill resign. Very goot. I don’t subbose dot vill make you veep any. It all hintges now on vether you can get dot fifty-year-franchise ordinance50 troo de city council or not. Haeckelheimer sess he prefers you to all utters to run t’ings. He vill leef everytink positifely in your hands. Frankhauser sess de same. Vot Haeckelheimer sess he doess. Now dere you are. It’s up to you. I vish you much choy. It is no small chop you haff, beating de newspapers, unt you still haff Hant unt Schryhart against you. Mr. Haeckelheimer askt me to pay his complimends to you unt to say vill you dine vit him next veek, or may he dine vit you—vicheffer iss most conveniend. So.”
In the mayor’s chair of Chicago at this time sat a man named Walden H. Lucas. Aged47 thirty-eight, he was politically ambitious. He had the elements of popularity—the knack51 or luck of fixing public attention. A fine, upstanding, healthy young buck52 he was, subtle, vigorous, a cool, direct, practical thinker and speaker, an eager enigmatic dreamer of great political honors to come, anxious to play his cards just right, to make friends, to be the pride of the righteous, and yet the not too uncompromising foe53 of the wicked. In short, a youthful, hopeful Western Machiavelli, and one who could, if he chose, serve the cause of the anti-Cowperwood struggle exceedingly well indeed.
Cowperwood, disturbed, visits the mayor in his office.
“Mr. Lucas, what is it you personally want? What can I do for you? Is it future political preferment you are after?”
“Mr. Cowperwood, there isn’t anything you can do for me. You do not understand me, and I do not understand you. You cannot understand me because I am an honest man.”
“Ye gods!” replied Cowperwood. “This is certainly a case of self-esteem and great knowledge. Good afternoon.”
Shortly thereafter the mayor was approached by one Mr. Carker, who was the shrewd, cold, and yet magnetic leader of Democracy in the state of New York. Said Carker:
“You see, Mr. Lucas, the great money houses of the East are interested in this local contest here in Chicago. For example, Haeckelheimer, Gotloeb & Co. would like to see a consolidation54 of all the lines on a basis that will make them an attractive investment for buyers generally and will at the same time be fair and right to the city. A twenty-year contract is much too short a term in their eyes. Fifty is the least they could comfortably contemplate55, and they would prefer a hundred. It is little enough for so great an outlay56. The policy now being pursued here can lead only to the public ownership of public utilities, and that is something which the national Democratic party at large can certainly not afford to advocate at present. It would antagonize the money element from coast to coast. Any man whose political record was definitely identified with such a movement would have no possible chance at even a state nomination57, let alone a national one. He could never be elected. I make myself clear, do I not?”
“You do.”
“A man can just as easily be taken from the mayor’s office in Chicago as from the governor’s office at Springfield,” pursued Mr. Carker. “Mr. Haeckelheimer and Mr. Fishel have personally asked me to call on you. If you want to be mayor of Chicago again for two years or governor next year, until the time for picking a candidate for the Presidency58 arrives, suit yourself. In the mean time you will be unwise, in my judgment, to saddle yourself with this public-ownership idea. The newspapers in fighting Mr. Cowperwood have raised an issue which never should have been raised.”
After Mr. Carker’s departure, arrived Mr. Edward Arneel, of local renown59, and then Mr. Jacob Bethal, the Democratic leader in San Francisco, both offering suggestions which if followed might result in mutual60 support. There were in addition delegations61 of powerful Republicans from Minneapolis and from Philadelphia. Even the president of the Lake City Bank and the president of the Prairie National—once anti-Cowperwood—arrived to say what had already been said. So it went. Mr. Lucas was greatly nonplussed62. A political career was surely a difficult thing to effect. Would it pay to harry63 Mr. Cowperwood as he had set out to do? Would a steadfast64 policy advocating the cause of the people get him anywhere? Would they be grateful? Would they remember? Suppose the current policy of the newspapers should be modified, as Mr. Carker had suggested that it might be. What a mess and tangle65 politics really were!
“Well, Bessie,” he inquired of his handsome, healthy, semi-blonde wife, one evening, “what would you do if you were I?”
She was gray-eyed, gay, practical, vain, substantially connected in so far as family went, and proud of her husband’s position and future. He had formed the habit of talking over his various difficulties with her.
“Well, I’ll tell you, Wally,” she replied. “You’ve got to stick to something. It looks to me as though the winning side was with the people this time. I don’t see how the newspapers can change now after all they’ve done. You don’t have to advocate public ownership or anything unfair to the money element, but just the same I’d stick to my point that the fifty-year franchise is too much. You ought to make them pay the city something and get their franchise without bribery66. They can’t do less than that. I’d stick to the course you’ve begun on. You can’t get along without the people, Wally. You just must have them. If you lose their good will the politicians can’t help you much, nor anybody else.”
Plainly there were times when the people had to be considered. They just had to be!
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1 doughty | |
adj.勇猛的,坚强的 | |
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2 sundry | |
adj.各式各样的,种种的 | |
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3 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
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4 stratum | |
n.地层,社会阶层 | |
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5 phlegmatic | |
adj.冷静的,冷淡的,冷漠的,无活力的 | |
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6 materialist | |
n. 唯物主义者 | |
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7 defiance | |
n.挑战,挑衅,蔑视,违抗 | |
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8 justification | |
n.正当的理由;辩解的理由 | |
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9 palaver | |
adj.壮丽堂皇的;n.废话,空话 | |
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10 anarchists | |
无政府主义者( anarchist的名词复数 ) | |
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11 socialists | |
社会主义者( socialist的名词复数 ) | |
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12 fabulous | |
adj.极好的;极为巨大的;寓言中的,传说中的 | |
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13 franchises | |
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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14 franchise | |
n.特许,特权,专营权,特许权 | |
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15 toll | |
n.过路(桥)费;损失,伤亡人数;v.敲(钟) | |
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16 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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17 parlor | |
n.店铺,营业室;会客室,客厅 | |
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18 defrauded | |
v.诈取,骗取( defraud的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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19 bribe | |
n.贿赂;v.向…行贿,买通 | |
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20 degradation | |
n.降级;低落;退化;陵削;降解;衰变 | |
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21 succumb | |
v.屈服,屈从;死 | |
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22 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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23 proffered | |
v.提供,贡献,提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24 briber | |
n.行贿者 | |
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25 scuttle | |
v.急赶,疾走,逃避;n.天窗;舷窗 | |
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26 seducer | |
n.诱惑者,骗子,玩弄女性的人 | |
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27 throttling | |
v.扼杀( throttle的现在分词 );勒死;使窒息;压制 | |
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28 maiden | |
n.少女,处女;adj.未婚的,纯洁的,无经验的 | |
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29 cape | |
n.海角,岬;披肩,短披风 | |
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30 literally | |
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实 | |
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31 eventual | |
adj.最后的,结局的,最终的 | |
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32 deliberately | |
adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地 | |
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33 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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34 judgment | |
n.审判;判断力,识别力,看法,意见 | |
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35 consolidated | |
a.联合的 | |
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37 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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38 pneumonia | |
n.肺炎 | |
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39 eldest | |
adj.最年长的,最年老的 | |
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40 allaying | |
v.减轻,缓和( allay的现在分词 ) | |
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41 traction | |
n.牵引;附着摩擦力 | |
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42 persistent | |
adj.坚持不懈的,执意的;持续的 | |
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43 valid | |
adj.有确实根据的;有效的;正当的,合法的 | |
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44 astounded | |
v.使震惊(astound的过去式和过去分词);愕然;愕;惊讶 | |
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45 genial | |
adj.亲切的,和蔼的,愉快的,脾气好的 | |
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46 enraged | |
使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 ); 歜; 激愤 | |
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47 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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48 confidentially | |
ad.秘密地,悄悄地 | |
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49 metropolitan | |
adj.大城市的,大都会的 | |
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50 ordinance | |
n.法令;条令;条例 | |
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51 knack | |
n.诀窍,做事情的灵巧的,便利的方法 | |
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52 buck | |
n.雄鹿,雄兔;v.马离地跳跃 | |
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53 foe | |
n.敌人,仇敌 | |
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54 consolidation | |
n.合并,巩固 | |
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55 contemplate | |
vt.盘算,计议;周密考虑;注视,凝视 | |
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56 outlay | |
n.费用,经费,支出;v.花费 | |
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57 nomination | |
n.提名,任命,提名权 | |
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58 presidency | |
n.总统(校长,总经理)的职位(任期) | |
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59 renown | |
n.声誉,名望 | |
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60 mutual | |
adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的 | |
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61 delegations | |
n.代表团( delegation的名词复数 );委托,委派 | |
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62 nonplussed | |
adj.不知所措的,陷于窘境的v.使迷惑( nonplus的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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63 harry | |
vt.掠夺,蹂躏,使苦恼 | |
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64 steadfast | |
adj.固定的,不变的,不动摇的;忠实的;坚贞不移的 | |
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65 tangle | |
n.纠缠;缠结;混乱;v.(使)缠绕;变乱 | |
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66 bribery | |
n.贿络行为,行贿,受贿 | |
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