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diff --git a/old/8phlp10.txt b/old/8phlp10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9a90a47 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/8phlp10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6776 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Philip Dru: Administrator, by Edward Mandell House + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Philip Dru: Administrator + +Author: Edward Mandell House + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6711] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on January 17, 2003] +[Date last updated: July 17, 2006] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, PHILIP DRU: ADMINISTRATOR *** + + + + +Curtis A. Weyant, David Maddock, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + +PHILIP DRU: ADMINISTRATOR + +A STORY OF TOMORROW + +1920-1935 + + +"No war of classes, no hostility to existing wealth, no wanton or unjust +violation of the rights of property, but a constant disposition to +ameliorate the condition of the classes least favored by fortune." +--MAZZINI. + +This book is dedicated to the unhappy many who have lived and died +lacking opportunity, because, in the starting, the world-wide social +structure was wrongly begun. + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I GRADUATION DAY + II THE VISION OF PHILIP DRU + III LOST IN THE DESERT + IV THE SUPREMACY OF MIND + V THE TRAGEDY OF THE TURNERS + VI THE PROPHET OF A NEW DAY + VII THE WINNING OF A MEDAL + VIII THE STORY OF THE LEVINSKYS + IX PHILIP BEGINS A NEW CAREER + X GLORIA DECIDES TO PROSELYTE THE RICH + XI SELWYN PLOTS WITH THOR + XII SELWYN SEEKS A CANDIDATE + XIII DRU AND SELWYN MEET + XIV THE MAKING OF A PRESIDENT + XV THE EXULTANT CONSPIRATORS + XVI THE EXPOSURE + XVII SELWYN AND THOR DEFEND THEMSELVES + XVIII GLORIA'S WORK BEARS FRUIT + XIX WAR CLOUDS HOVER + XX CIVIL WAR BEGINS + XXI UPON THE EVE OF BATTLE + XXII THE BATTLE OF ELMA + XXIII ELMA'S AFTERMATH + XXIV UNCROWNED HEROES + XXV THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE REPUBLIC + XXVI DRU OUTLINES HIS INTENTIONS + XXVII A NEW ERA AT WASHINGTON + XXVIII AN INTERNATIONAL CRISIS + XXIX THE REFORM OF THE JUDICIARY + XXX A NEW CODE OF LAWS + XXXI THE QUESTION OF TAXATION + XXXII A FEDERAL INCORPORATION ACT + XXXIII THE RAILROAD PROBLEM + XXXIV SELWYN'S STORY + XXXV SELWYN'S STORY, CONTINUED + XXXVI SELWYN'S STORY, CONTINUED + XXXVII THE COTTON CORNER +XXXVIII UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE + XXXIX A NEGATIVE GOVERNMENT + XL A DEPARTURE IN BATTLESHIPS + XLI THE NEW NATIONAL CONSTITUTION + XLII NEW STATE CONSTITUTIONS + XLIII THE RULE OF THE BOSSES + XLIV ONE CAUSE OF THE HIGH COST OF LIVING + XLV BURIAL REFORM + XLVI THE WISE DISPOSITION OF A FORTUNE + XLVII THE WISE DISPOSITION OF A FORTUNE, CONTINUED + XLVIII AN INTERNATIONAL COALITION + XLIX UNEVEN ODDS + L THE BROADENING OF THE MONROE DOCTRINE + LI THE BATTLE OF LA TUNA + LII THE UNITY OF THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE WESTERN + HEMISPHERE UNDER THE NEW REPUBLIC + LIII THE EFFACEMENT OF PHILIP DRU + + WHAT CO-PARTNERSHIP CAN DO + + + + +PHILIP DRU: ADMINISTRATOR + + + +CHAPTER I + +GRADUATION DAY + + +In the year 1920, the student and the statesman saw many indications +that the social, financial and industrial troubles that had vexed the +United States of America for so long a time were about to culminate in +civil war. + +Wealth had grown so strong, that the few were about to strangle the +many, and among the great masses of the people, there was sullen and +rebellious discontent. + +The laborer in the cities, the producer on the farm, the merchant, the +professional man and all save organized capital and its satellites, saw +a gloomy and hopeless future. + +With these conditions prevailing, the graduation exercises of the class +of 1920 of the National Military Academy at West Point, held for many a +foreboding promise of momentous changes, but the 12th of June found the +usual gay scene at the great institution overlooking the Hudson. The +President of the Republic, his Secretary of War and many other +distinguished guests were there to do honor to the occasion, together +with friends, relatives and admirers of the young men who were being +sent out to the ultimate leadership of the Nation's Army. The scene had +all the usual charm of West Point graduations, and the usual +intoxicating atmosphere of military display. + +There was among the young graduating soldiers one who seemed depressed +and out of touch with the triumphant blare of militarism, for he alone +of his fellow classmen had there no kith nor kin to bid him God-speed in +his new career. + +Standing apart under the broad shadow of an oak, he looked out over long +stretches of forest and river, but what he saw was his home in distant +Kentucky--the old farmhouse that the sun and the rain and the lichens +had softened into a mottled gray. He saw the gleaming brook that wound +its way through the tangle of orchard and garden, and parted the distant +blue-grass meadow. + +He saw his aged mother sitting under the honeysuckle trellis, book in +hand, but thinking, he knew, of him. And then there was the perfume of +the flowers, the droning of the bees in the warm sweet air and the +drowsy hound at his father's feet. + +But this was not all the young man saw, for Philip Dru, in spite of his +military training, was a close student of the affairs of his country, +and he saw that which raised grave doubts in his mind as to the outcome +of his career. He saw many of the civil institutions of his country +debased by the power of wealth under the thin guise of the +constitutional protection of property. He saw the Army which he had +sworn to serve faithfully becoming prostituted by this same power, and +used at times for purposes of intimidation and petty conquests where the +interests of wealth were at stake. He saw the great city where luxury, +dominant and defiant, existed largely by grace of exploitation-- +exploitation of men, women and children. + +The young man's eyes had become bright and hard, when his day-dream was +interrupted, and he was looking into the gray-blue eyes of Gloria +Strawn--the one whose lot he had been comparing to that of her sisters +in the city, in the mills, the sweatshops, the big stores, and the +streets. He had met her for the first time a few hours before, when his +friend and classmate, Jack Strawn, had presented him to his sister. No +comrade knew Dru better than Strawn, and no one admired him so much. +Therefore, Gloria, ever seeking a closer contact with life, had come to +West Point eager to meet the lithe young Kentuckian, and to measure him +by the other men of her acquaintance. + +She was disappointed in his appearance, for she had fancied him almost +god-like in both size and beauty, and she saw a man of medium height, +slender but toughly knit, and with a strong, but homely face. When he +smiled and spoke she forgot her disappointment, and her interest +revived, for her sharp city sense caught the trail of a new experience. + +To Philip Dru, whose thought of and experience with women was almost +nothing, so engrossed had he been in his studies, military and economic, +Gloria seemed little more than a child. And yet her frank glance of +appraisal when he had been introduced to her, and her easy though +somewhat languid conversation on the affairs of the commencement, +perplexed and slightly annoyed him. He even felt some embarrassment in +her presence. + +Child though he knew her to be, he hesitated whether he should call her +by her given name, and was taken aback when she smilingly thanked him +for doing so, with the assurance that she was often bored with the +eternal conventionality of people in her social circle. + +Suddenly turning from the commonplaces of the day, Gloria looked +directly at Philip, and with easy self-possession turned the +conversation to himself. + +"I am wondering, Mr. Dru, why you came to West Point and why it is you +like the thought of being a soldier?" she asked. "An American soldier +has to fight so seldom that I have heard that the insurance companies +regard them as the best of risks, so what attraction, Mr. Dru, can a +military career have for you?" + +Never before had Philip been asked such a question, and it surprised +him that it should come from this slip of a girl, but he answered her in +the serious strain of his thoughts. + +"As far back as I can remember," he said, "I have wanted to be a +soldier. I have no desire to destroy and kill, and yet there is within +me the lust for action and battle. It is the primitive man in me, I +suppose, but sobered and enlightened by civilization. I would do +everything in my power to avert war and the suffering it entails. Fate, +inclination, or what not has brought me here, and I hope my life may not +be wasted, but that in God's own way, I may be a humble instrument for +good. Oftentimes our inclinations lead us in certain directions, and it +is only afterwards that it seems as if fate may from the first have so +determined it." + +The mischievous twinkle left the girl's eyes, and the languid tone of +her voice changed to one a little more like sincerity. + +"But suppose there is no war," she demanded, "suppose you go on living +at barracks here and there, and with no broader outlook than such a life +entails, will you be satisfied? Is that all you have in mind to do in +the world?" + +He looked at her more perplexed than ever. Such an observation of life, +his life, seemed beyond her years, for he knew but little of the women +of his own generation. He wondered, too, if she would understand if he +told her all that was in his mind. + +"Gloria, we are entering a new era. The past is no longer to be a guide +to the future. A century and a half ago there arose in France a giant +that had slumbered for untold centuries. He knew he had suffered +grievous wrongs, but he did not know how to right them. He therefore +struck out blindly and cruelly, and the innocent went down with the +guilty. He was almost wholly ignorant for in the scheme of society as +then constructed, the ruling few felt that he must be kept ignorant, +otherwise they could not continue to hold him in bondage. For him the +door of opportunity was closed, and he struggled from the cradle to the +grave for the minimum of food and clothing necessary to keep breath +within the body. His labor and his very life itself was subject to the +greed, the passion and the caprice of his over-lord. + +"So when he awoke he could only destroy. Unfortunately for him, there +was not one of the governing class who was big enough and humane enough +to lend a guiding and a friendly hand, so he was led by weak, and +selfish men who could only incite him to further wanton murder and +demolition. + +"But out of that revelry of blood there dawned upon mankind the hope of +a more splendid day. The divinity of kings, the God-given right to rule, +was shattered for all time. The giant at last knew his strength, and +with head erect, and the light of freedom in his eyes, he dared to +assert the liberty, equality and fraternity of man. Then throughout the +Western world one stratum of society after another demanded and +obtained the right to acquire wealth and to share in the government. +Here and there one bolder and more forceful than the rest acquired great +wealth and with it great power. Not satisfied with reasonable gain, they +sought to multiply it beyond all bounds of need. They who had sprung +from the people a short life span ago were now throttling individual +effort and shackling the great movement for equal rights and equal +opportunity." + +Dru's voice became tense and vibrant, and he talked in quick sharp +jerks. + +"Nowhere in the world is wealth more defiant, and monopoly more +insistent than in this mighty republic," he said, "and it is here that +the next great battle for human emancipation will be fought and won. And +from the blood and travail of an enlightened people, there will be born +a spirit of love and brotherhood which will transform the world; and +the Star of Bethlehem, seen but darkly for two thousand years, will +shine again with a steady and effulgent glow." + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE VISION OF PHILIP DRU + + +Long before Philip had finished speaking, Gloria saw that he had +forgotten her presence. With glistening eyes and face aflame he had +talked on and on with such compelling force that she beheld in him the +prophet of a new day. + +She sat very still for a while, and then she reached out to touch his +sleeve. + +"I think I understand how you feel now," she said in a tone different +from any she had yet used. "I have been reared in a different atmosphere +from you, and at home have heard only the other side, while at school +they mostly evade the question. My father is one of the 'bold and +forceful few' as perhaps you know, but he does not seem to me to want +to harm anyone. He is kind to us, and charitable too, as that word is +commonly used, and I am sure he has done much good with his money." + +"I am sorry, Gloria, if I have hurt you by what I said," answered Dru. + +"Oh! never mind, for I am sure you are right," answered the girl, but +Philip continued-- + +"Your father, I think, is not to blame. It is the system that is at +fault. His struggle and his environment from childhood have blinded him +to the truth. To those with whom he has come in contact, it has been the +dollar and not the man that counted. He has been schooled to think that +capital can buy labor as it would machinery, the human equation not +entering into it. He believes that it would be equivalent to +confiscation for the State to say 'in regard to a corporation, labor, +the State and capital are important in the order named.' Good man that +he means to be, he does not know, perhaps he can never know, that it is +labor, labor of the mind and of the body, that creates, and not +capital." + +"You would have a hard time making Father see that," put in Gloria, with +a smile. + +"Yes!" continued Philip, "from the dawn of the world until now, it has +been the strong against the weak. At the first, in the Stone Age, it was +brute strength that counted and controlled. Then those that ruled had +leisure to grow intellectually, and it gradually came about that the +many, by long centuries of oppression, thought that the intellectual +few had God-given powers to rule, and to exact tribute from them to the +extent of commanding every ounce of exertion of which their bodies were +capable. It was here, Gloria, that society began to form itself wrongly, +and the result is the miserable travesty of to-day. Selfishness became +the keynote, and to physical and mental strength was conceded everything +that is desirable in life. Later, this mockery of justice, was partly +recognized, and it was acknowledged to be wrong for the physically +strong to despoil and destroy the physically weak. _Even so, the time +is now measurably near when it will be just as reprehensible for the +mentally strong to hold in subjection the mentally weak, and to force +them to bear the grievous burdens which a misconceived civilization has +imposed upon them."_ + +Gloria was now thoroughly interested, but smilingly belied it by saying, +"A history professor I had once lost his position for talking like +that." + +The young man barely recognized the interruption. + +"The first gleam of hope came with the advent of Christ," he continued. +"So warped and tangled had become the minds of men that the meaning of +Christ's teaching failed utterly to reach human comprehension. They +accepted him as a religious teacher only so far as their selfish desires +led them. They were willing to deny other gods and admit one Creator of +all things, but they split into fragments regarding the creeds and forms +necessary to salvation. In the name of Christ they committed atrocities +that would put to blush the most benighted savages. Their very excesses +in cruelty finally caused a revolution in feeling, and there was +evolved the Christian religion of to-day, a religion almost wholly +selfish and concerned almost entirely in the betterment of life after +death." + +The girl regarded Philip for a second in silence, and then quietly +asked, "For the betterment of whose life after death?" + +"I was speaking of those who have carried on only the forms of religion. +Wrapped in the sanctity of their own small circle, they feel that their +tiny souls are safe, and that they are following the example and +precepts of Christ. + +"The full splendor of Christ's love, the grandeur of His life and +doctrine is to them a thing unknown. The infinite love, the sweet +humility, the gentle charity, the subordination of self that the Master +came to give a cruel, selfish and ignorant world, mean but little more +to us to-day than it did to those to whom He gave it." + +"And you who have chosen a military career say this," said the girl as +her brother joined the pair. + +To Philip her comment came as something of a shock, for he was +unprepared for these words spoken with such a depth of feeling. + +Gloria and Philip Dru spent most of graduation day together. He did not +want to intrude amongst the relatives and friends of his classmates, and +he was eager to continue his acquaintance with Gloria. To the girl, this +serious-minded youth who seemed so strangely out of tune with the +blatant military fanfare, was a distinct novelty. At the final ball she +almost ignored the gallantries of the young officers, in order that she +might have opportunity to lead Dru on to further self-revelation. + +The next day in the hurry of packing and departure he saw her only for +an instant, but from her brother he learned that she planned a visit to +the new Post on the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass where Jack Strawn and +Philip were to be stationed after their vacation. + +Philip spent his leave, before he went to the new Post, at his Kentucky +home. He wanted to be with his father and mother, and he wanted to read +and think, so he declined the many invitations to visit. + +His father was a sturdy farmer of fine natural sense, and with him +Philip never tired of talking when both had leisure. + +Old William Dru had inherited nothing save a rundown, badly managed, +heavily mortgaged farm that had been in the family for several +generations. By hard work and strict economy, he had first built it up +into a productive property and had then liquidated the indebtedness. So +successful had he been that he was able to buy small farms for four of +his sons, and give professional education to the other three. He had +accumulated nothing, for he had given as fast as he had made, but his +was a serene and contented old age because of it. What was the hoarding +of money or land in comparison to the satisfaction of seeing each son +happy in the possession of a home and family? The ancestral farm he +intended for Philip, youngest and best beloved, soldier though he was to +be. + +All during that hot summer, Philip and his father discussed the ever- +growing unrest of the country, and speculated when the crisis would +come, and how it would end. + +Finally, he left his home, and all the associations clustered around it, +and turned his face towards imperial Texas, the field of his new +endeavor. + +He reached Fort Magruder at the close of an Autumn day. He thought he +had never known such dry sweet air. Just as the sun was sinking, he +strolled to the bluff around which flowed the turbid waters of the Rio +Grande, and looked across at the gray hills of old Mexico. + + + +CHAPTER III + +LOST IN THE DESERT + + +Autumn drifted into winter, and then with the blossoms of an early +spring, came Gloria. + +The Fort was several miles from the station, and Jack and Philip were +there to meet her. As they paced the little board platform, Jack was +nervously happy over the thought of his sister's arrival, and talked of +his plans for entertaining her. Philip on the other hand held himself +well in reserve and gave no outward indication of the deep emotion which +stirred within him. At last the train came and from one of the long +string of Pullmans, Gloria alighted. She kissed her brother and greeted +Philip cordially, and asked him in a tone of banter how he enjoyed army +life. Dru smiled and said, "Much better, Gloria, than you predicted I +would." The baggage was stored away in the buck-board, and Gloria got in +front with Philip and they were off. It was early morning and the dew +was still on the soft mesquite grass, and as the mustang ponies swiftly +drew them over the prairie, it seemed to Gloria that she had awakened in +fairyland. + +At the crest of a hill, Philip held the horses for a moment, and Gloria +caught her breath as she saw the valley below. It looked as if some +translucent lake had mirrored the sky. It was the countless blossoms of +the Texas blue-bonnet that lifted their slender stems towards the +morning sun, and hid the earth. + +Down into the valley they drove upon the most wonderfully woven carpet +in all the world. Aladdin and his magic looms could never have woven a +fabric such as this. A heavy, delicious perfume permeated the air, and +with glistening eyes and parted lips, Gloria sat dumb in happy +astonishment. + +They dipped into the rocky bed of a wet weather stream, climbed out of +the canyon and found themselves within the shadow of Fort Magruder. + +Gloria soon saw that the social distractions of the place had little +call for Philip. She learned, too, that he had already won the profound +respect and liking of his brother officers. Jack spoke of him in terms +even more superlative than ever. "He is a born leader of men," he +declared, "and he knows more about engineering and tactics than the +Colonel and all the rest of us put together." Hard student though he +was, Gloria found him ever ready to devote himself to her, and their +rides together over the boundless, flower studded prairies, were a +never ending joy. "Isn't it beautiful--Isn't it wonderful," she would +exclaim. And once she said, "But, Philip, happy as I am, I oftentimes +think of the reeking poverty in the great cities, and wish, in some way, +they could share this with me." Philip looked at her questioningly, but +made no reply. + +A visit that was meant for weeks transgressed upon the months, and still +she lingered. One hot June morning found Gloria and Philip far in the +hills on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande. They had started at dawn +with the intention of breakfasting with the courtly old haciendado, who +frequently visited at the Post. + +After the ceremonious Mexican breakfast, Gloria wanted to see beyond the +rim of the little world that enclosed the hacienda, so they rode to the +end of the valley, tied their horses and climbed to the crest of the +ridge. She was eager to go still further. They went down the hill on the +other side, through a draw and into another valley beyond. + +Soldier though he was, Philip was no plainsman, and in retracing their +steps, they missed the draw. + +Philip knew that they were not going as they came, but with his months +of experience in the hills, felt sure he could find his way back with +less trouble by continuing as they were. The grass and the shrubs +gradually disappeared as they walked, and soon he realized that they +were on the edge of an alkali desert. Still he thought he could swing +around into the valley from which they started, and they plunged +steadily on, only to see in a few minutes that they were lost. + +"What's the matter, Philip?" asked Gloria. "Are we lost?" + +"I hope not, we only have to find that draw." + +The girl said no more, but walked on side by side with the young +soldier. Both pulled their hats far down over their eyes to shield them +from the glare of the fierce rays of the sun, and did what they could to +keep out the choking clouds of alkali dust that swirled around them at +every step. + +Philip, hardened by months of Southwestern service, stood the heat +well, except that his eyes ached, but he saw that Gloria was giving out. + +"Are you tired?" he asked. + +"Yes, I am very tired," she answered, "but I can go on if you will let +me rest a moment." Her voice was weak and uncertain and indicated +approaching collapse. And then she said more faintly, "I am afraid, +Philip, we are hopelessly lost." + +"Do not be frightened, Gloria, we will soon be out of this if you will +let me carry you." + +Just then, the girl staggered and would have fallen had he not caught +her. + +He was familiar with heat prostration, and saw that her condition was +not serious, but he knew he must carry her, for to lay her in the +blazing sun would be fatal. + +His eyes, already overworked by long hours of study, were swollen and +bloodshot. Sharp pains shot through his head. To stop he feared would be +to court death, so taking Gloria in his arms, he staggered on. + +In that vast world of alkali and adobe there was no living thing but +these two. No air was astir, and a pitiless sun beat upon them +unmercifully. Philip's lips were cracked, his tongue was swollen, and +the burning dust almost choked him. He began to see less clearly, and +visions of things he knew to be unreal came to him. With Spartan courage +and indomitable will, he never faltered, but went on. Mirages came and +went, and he could not know whether he saw true or not. Then here and +there he thought he began to see tufts of curly mesquite grass, and in +the distance surely there were cacti. He knew that if he could hold out +a little longer, he could lay his burden in some sort of shade. + +With halting steps, with eyes inflamed and strength all but gone, he +finally laid Gloria in the shadow of a giant prickly pear bush, and fell +beside her. He fumbled for his knife and clumsily scraped the needles +from a leaf of the cactus and sliced it in two. The heavy sticky liquid +ran over his hand as he placed the cut side of the leaf to Gloria's +lips. The juice of the plant together with the shade, partially revived +her. Philip, too, sucked the leaf until his parched tongue and throat +became a little more pliable. + +"What happened?" demanded Gloria. "Oh! yes, now I remember. I am sorry I +gave out, Philip. I am not acclimated yet. What time is it?" + +After pillowing her head more comfortably upon his riding coat, Philip +looked at his watch. "I--I can't just make it out, Gloria," he said. "My +eyes seem blurred. This awful glare seems to have affected them. They'll +be all right in a little while." + +Gloria looked at the dial and found that the hands pointed to four +o'clock. They had been lost for six hours, but after their experiences, +it seemed more like as many days. They rested a little while longer +talking but little. + +"You carried me," said Gloria once. "I'm ashamed of myself for letting +the heat get the best of me. You shouldn't have carried me, Philip, but +you know I understand and appreciate. How are your eyes now?" + +"Oh, they'll be all right," he reiterated, but when he took his hand +from them to look at her, and the light beat upon the inflamed lids, he +winced. + +After eating some of the fruit of the prickly pear, which they found too +hot and sweet to be palatable, Philip suggested at half after five that +they should move on. They arose, and the young officer started to lead +the way, peeping from beneath his hand. First he stumbled over a +mesquite bush directly in his path, and next he collided with a giant +cactus standing full in front of him. + +"It's no use, Gloria," he said at last. "I can't see the way. You must +lead." + +"All right, Philip, I will do the best I can." + +For answer, he merely took her hand, and together they started to +retrace their steps. Over the trackless waste of alkali and sagebrush +they trudged. They spoke but little but when they did, their husky, +dust-parched voices made a mockery of their hopeful words. + +Though the horizon seemed bounded by a low range of hills, the girl +instinctively turned her steps westward, and entered a draw. She +rounded one of the hills, and just as the sun was sinking, came upon the +valley in which their horses were peacefully grazing. + +They mounted and followed the dim trail along which they had ridden that +morning, reaching the hacienda about dark. With many shakings of the +hand, voluble protestations of joy at their delivery from the desert, +and callings on God to witness that the girl had performed a miracle, +the haciendado gave them food and cooling drinks, and with gentle +insistence, had his servants, wife and daughters show them to their +rooms. A poultice of Mexican herbs was laid across Philip's eyes, but +exhausted as he was he could not sleep because of the pain they caused +him. + +In the morning, Gloria was almost her usual self, but Philip could see +but faintly. As early as was possible they started for Fort Magruder. +His eyes were bandaged, and Gloria held the bridle of his horse and led +him along the dusty trail. A vaquero from the ranch went with them to +show the way. + +Then came days of anxiety, for the surgeon at the Post saw serious +trouble ahead for Philip. He would make no definite statement, but +admitted that the brilliant young officer's eyesight was seriously +menaced. + +Gloria read to him and wrote for him, and in many ways was his hands and +eyes. He in turn talked to her of the things that filled his mind. The +betterment of man was an ever-present theme with them. It pleased him to +trace for her the world's history from its early beginning when all was +misty tradition, down through the uncertain centuries of early +civilization to the present time. + +He talked with her of the untrustworthiness of the so-called history of +to-day, although we had every facility for recording facts, and he +pointed out how utterly unreliable it was when tradition was the only +means of transmission. Mediocrity, he felt sure, had oftentimes been +exalted into genius, and brilliant and patriotic exclamations attributed +to great men, were never uttered by them, neither was it easy he +thought, to get a true historic picture of the human intellectual giant. +As a rule they were quite human, but people insisted upon idealizing +them, consequently they became not themselves but what the popular mind +wanted them to be. + +He also dwelt on the part the demagogue and the incompetents play in +retarding the advancement of the human race. Some leaders were honest, +some were wise and some were selfish, but it was seldom that the people +would be led by wise, honest and unselfish men. + +"There is always the demagogue to poison the mind of the people against +such a man," he said, "and it is easily done because wisdom means +moderation and honesty means truth. To be moderate and to tell the truth +at all times and about all matters seldom pleases the masses." + +Many a long day was spent thus in purely impersonal discussions of +affairs, and though he himself did not realize it, Gloria saw that +Philip was ever at his best when viewing the large questions of State, +rather than the narrower ones within the scope of the military power. + +The weeks passed swiftly, for the girl knew well how to ease the young +Officer's chafing at uncertainty and inaction. At times, as they droned +away the long hot summer afternoons under the heavily leafed fig trees +in the little garden of the Strawn bungalow, he would become impatient +at his enforced idleness. Finally one day, after making a pitiful +attempt to read, Philip broke out, "I have been patient under this as +long as I can. The restraint is too much. Something must be done." + +Somewhat to his surprise, Gloria did not try to take his mind off the +situation this time, but suggested asking the surgeon for a definite +report on his condition. + +The interview with the surgeon was unsatisfactory, but his report to his +superior officers bore fruit, for in a short time Philip was told that +he should apply for an indefinite leave of absence, as it would be +months, perhaps years, before his eyes would allow him to carry on his +duties. + +He seemed dazed at the news, and for a long time would not talk of it +even with Gloria. After a long silence one afternoon she softly asked, +"What are you going to do, Philip?" + +Jack Strawn, who was sitting near by, broke out--"Do! why there's no +question about what he is going to do. Once an Army man always an Army +man. He's going to live on the best the U.S.A. provides until his eyes +are right. In the meantime Philip is going to take indefinite sick +leave." + +The girl only smiled at her brother's military point of view, and asked +another question. "How will you occupy your time, Philip?" + +Philip sat as if he had not heard them. + +"Occupy his time!" exclaimed Jack, "getting well of course. Without +having to obey orders or do anything but draw his checks, he can have +the time of his life, there will be nothing to worry about." + +"That's just it," slowly said Philip. "No work, nothing to think about." + +"Exactly," said Gloria. + +"What are you driving at, Sister. You talk as if it was something to be +deplored. I call it a lark. Cheer the fellow up a bit, can't you?" + +"No, never mind," replied Philip. "There's nothing to cheer me up about. +The question is simply this: Can I stand a period of several years' +enforced inactivity as a mere pensioner?" + +"Yes!" quickly said Gloria, "as a pensioner, and then, if all goes well, +you return to this." "What do you mean, Gloria? Don't you like Army Post +life?" asked Jack. + +"I like it as well as you do, Jack. You just haven't come to realize +that Philip is cut out for a bigger sphere than--that." She pointed out +across the parade ground where a drill was going on. "You know as well +as I do that this is not the age for a military career." + +Jack was so disgusted with this, that with an exclamation of impatience, +he abruptly strode off to the parade ground. + +"You are right, Gloria," said Philip. "I cannot live on a pension +indefinitely. I cannot bring myself to believe that it is honest to +become a mendicant upon the bounty of the country. If I had been injured +in the performance of duty, I would have no scruples in accepting +support during an enforced idleness, but this disability arose from no +fault of the Government, and the thought of accepting aid under such +circumstances is too repugnant." + +"Of course," said Gloria. + +"The Government means no more to me than an individual," continued +Philip, "and it is to be as fairly dealt with. I never could understand +how men with self-respect could accept undeserving pensions from the +Nation. To do so is not alone dishonest, but is unfair to those who need +help and have a righteous claim to support. If the unworthy were +refused, the deserving would be able to obtain that to which they are +entitled." + +Their talk went on thus for hours, the girl ever trying more +particularly to make him see a military career as she did, and he more +concerned with the ethical side of the situation. + +"Do not worry over it, Philip," cried Gloria, "I feel sure that your +place is in the larger world of affairs, and you will some day be glad +that this misfortune came to you, and that you were forced to go into +another field of endeavor. + +"With my ignorance and idle curiosity, I led you on and on, over first +one hill and then another, until you lost your way in that awful desert +over there, but yet perhaps there was a destiny in that. When I was +leading you out of the desert, a blind man, it may be that I was leading +you out of the barrenness of military life, into the fruitful field of +labor for humanity." + +After a long silence, Philip Dru arose and took Gloria's hand. + +"Yes! I will resign. You have already reconciled me to my fate." + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE SUPREMACY OF MIND + + +Officers and friends urged Philip to reconsider his determination of +resigning, but once decided, he could not be swerved from his purpose. +Gloria persuaded him to go to New York with her in order to consult one +of the leading oculists, and arrangements were made immediately. On the +last day but one, as they sat under their favorite fig tree, they talked +much of Philip's future. Gloria had also been reading aloud Sir Oliver +Lodge's "Science and Immortality," and closing the book upon the final +chapter, asked Philip what he thought of it. + +"Although the book was written many years ago, even then the truth had +begun to dawn upon the poets, seers and scientific dreamers. The +dominion of mind, but faintly seen at that time, but more clearly now, +will finally come into full vision. The materialists under the +leadership of Darwin, Huxley and Wallace, went far in the right +direction, but in trying to go to the very fountainhead of life, they +came to a door which they could not open and which no materialistic key +will ever open." + +"So, Mr. Preacher, you're at it again," laughed Gloria. "You belong to +the pulpit of real life, not the Army. Go on, I am interested." + +"Well," went on Dru, "then came a reaction, and the best thought of the +scientific world swung back to the theory of mind or spirit, and the +truth began to unfold itself. Now, man is at last about to enter into +that splendid kingdom, the promise of which Christ gave us when he said, +'My Father and I are one,' and again, 'When you have seen me you have +seen the Father.' He was but telling them that all life was a part of +the One Life--individualized, but yet of and a part of the whole. + +"We are just learning our power and dominion over ourselves. When in the +future children are trained from infancy that they can measurably +conquer their troubles by the force of mind, a new era will have come +to man." + +"There," said Gloria, with an earnestness that Philip had rarely heard +in her, "is perhaps the source of the true redemption of the world." + +She checked herself quickly, "But you were preaching to me, not I to +you. Go on." + +"No, but I want to hear what you were going to say." + +"You see I am greatly interested in this movement which is seeking to +find how far mind controls matter, and to what extent our lives are +spiritual rather than material," she answered, "but it's hard to talk +about it to most people, so I have kept it to myself. Go on, Philip, I +will not interrupt again." + +"When fear, hate, greed and the purely material conception of Life +passes out," said Philip, "as it some day may, and only wholesome +thoughts will have a place in human minds, mental ills will take flight +along with most of our bodily ills, and the miracle of the world's +redemption will have been largely wrought." + +"Mental ills will take flight along with bodily ills. We should be +trained, too, not to dwell upon anticipated troubles, but to use our +minds and bodies in an earnest, honest endeavor to avert threatened +disaster. We should not brood over possible failure, for in the great +realm of the supremacy of mind or spirit the thought of failure should +not enter." + +"Yes, I know, Philip." + +"Fear, causes perhaps more unhappiness than any one thing that we have +let take possession of us. Some are never free from it. They awake in +the morning with a vague, indefinite sense of it, and at night a +foreboding of disaster hands over the to-morrow. Life would have for us +a different meaning if we would resolve, and keep the resolution, to do +the best we could under all conditions, and never fear the result. Then, +too, we should be trained not to have such an unreasonable fear of +death. The Eastern peoples are far wiser in this respect than we. They +have learned to look upon death as a happy transition to something +better. And they are right, for that is the true philosophy of it. At +the very worst, can it mean more than a long and dreamless sleep? Does +not the soul either go back to the one source from which it sprung, and +become a part of the whole, or does it not throw off its material +environment and continue with individual consciousness to work out its +final destiny? + +"If that be true, there is no death as we have conceived it. It would +mean to us merely the beginning of a more splendid day, and we should be +taught that every emotion, every effort here that is unselfish and soul +uplifting, will better fit us for that spiritual existence that is to +come." + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE TRAGEDY OF THE TURNERS + + +The trip north from Fort Magruder was a most trying experience for +Philip Dru, for although he had as traveling companions Gloria and Jack +Strawn, who was taking a leave of absence, the young Kentuckian felt his +departure from Texas and the Army as a portentous turning point in his +career. In spite of Gloria's philosophy, and in spite of Jack's +reassurances, Philip was assailed by doubts as to the ultimate +improvement of his eyesight, and at the same time with the feeling that +perhaps after all, he was playing the part of a deserter. + +"It's all nonsense to feel cut up over it, you know, Philip," insisted +Jack. "You can take my word for it that you have the wrong idea in +wanting to quit when you can be taken care of by the Government. You +have every right to it." + +"No, Jack, I have no right to it," answered Dru, "but certain as I am +that I am doing the only thing I could do, under the circumstances, it's +a hard wrench to leave the Army, even though I had come to think that I +can find my place in the world out of the service." + +The depression was not shaken off until after they had reached New York, +and Philip had been told by the great specialist that his eyesight +probably never again would pass the Army tests. Once convinced that an +Army career was impossible, he resigned, and began to reconstruct his +life with new hope and with a new enthusiasm. While he was ordered to +give his eyes complete rest for at least six months and remain a part +of every day in a darkened room, he was promised that after several +months, he probably would be able to read and write a little. + +As he had no relatives in New York, Philip, after some hesitation, +accepted Jack Strawn's insistent invitation to visit him for a time, at +least. Through the long days and weeks that followed, the former young +officer and Gloria were thrown much together. + +One afternoon as they were sitting in a park, a pallid child of ten +asked to "shine" their shoes. In sympathy they allowed him to do it. The +little fellow had a gaunt and hungry look and his movements were very +sluggish. He said his name was Peter Turner and he gave some squalid +east side tenement district as his home. He said that his father was +dead, his mother was bedridden, and he, the oldest of three children, +was the only support of the family. He got up at five and prepared their +simple meal, and did what he could towards making his mother comfortable +for the day. By six he left the one room that sheltered them, and +walked more than two miles to where he now was. Midday meal he had none, +and in the late afternoon he walked home and arranged their supper of +bread, potatoes, or whatever else he considered he could afford to buy. +Philip questioned him as to his earnings and was told that they varied +with the weather and other conditions, the maximum had been a dollar and +fifteen cents for one day, the minimum twenty cents. The average seemed +around fifty cents, and this was to shelter, clothe and feed a family of +four. + +Already Gloria's eyes were dimmed with tears. Philip asked if they might +go home with him then. The child consented and led the way. + +They had not gone far, when Philip, noticing how frail Peter was, hailed +a car, and they rode to Grand Street, changed there and went east. +Midway between the Bowery and the river, they got out and walked south +for a few blocks, turned into a side street that was hardly more than an +alley, and came to the tenement where Peter lived. + +It had been a hot day even in the wide, clean portions of the city. +Here the heat was almost unbearable, and the stench, incident to a +congested population, made matters worse. + +Ragged and dirty children were playing in the street. Lack of food and +pure air, together with unsanitary surroundings, had set its mark upon +them. The deathly pallor that was in Peter's face was characteristic of +most of the faces around them. + +The visitors climbed four flights of stairs, and went down a long, dark, +narrow hall reeking with disagreeable odors, and finally entered ten- +year-old Peter Turner's "home." + +"What a travesty on the word 'home,'" murmured Dru, as he saw for the +first time the interior of an East Side tenement. Mrs. Turner lay +propped in bed, a ghost of what was once a comely woman. She was barely +thirty, yet poverty, disease and the city had drawn their cruel lines +across her face. Gloria went to her bedside and gently pressed the +fragile hand. She dared not trust herself to speak. And this, she +thought, is within the shadow of my home, and I never knew. "Oh, God," +she silently prayed, "forgive us for our neglect of such as these." + +Gloria and Philip did all that was possible for the Turners, but their +helping hands came too late to do more than to give the mother a measure +of peace during the last days of her life. The promise of help for the +children lifted a heavy load from her heart. Poor stricken soul, Zelda +Turner deserved a better fate. When she married Len Turner, life seemed +full of joy. He was employed in the office of a large manufacturing +concern, at what seemed to them a munificent salary, seventy-five +dollars a month. + +Those were happy days. How they saved and planned for the future! The +castle that they built in Spain was a little home on a small farm near a +city large enough to be a profitable market for their produce. Some +place where the children could get fresh air, wholesome food and a place +in which to grow up. Two thousand dollars saved, would, they thought, be +enough to make the start. With this, a farm costing four thousand +dollars could be bought by mortgaging it for half. Twenty-five dollars a +month saved for six years, would, with interest, bring them to their +goal. + +Already more than half the sum was theirs. Then came disaster. One +Sunday they were out for their usual walk. It had been sleeting and the +pavements here and there were still icy. In front of them some children +were playing, and a little girl of eight darted into the street to avoid +being caught by a companion. She slipped and fell. A heavy motor was +almost upon her, when Len rushed to snatch her from the on-rushing car. +He caught the child, but slipped himself, succeeding however in pushing +her beyond danger before the cruel wheels crushed out his life. The +dreary days and nights that followed need not be recited here. The cost +of the funeral and other expenses incident thereto bit deep into their +savings, therefore as soon as she could pull herself together, Mrs. +Turner sought employment and got it in a large dressmaking establishment +at the inadequate wage of seven dollars a week. She was skillful with +her needle but had no aptitude for design, therefore she was ever to be +among the plodders. One night in the busy season of overwork before the +Christmas holidays, she started to walk the ten blocks to her little +home, for car-fare was a tax beyond her purse, and losing her weary +footing, she fell heavily to the ground. By the aid of a kindly +policeman she was able to reach home, in great suffering, only to faint +when she finally reached her room. Peter, who was then about seven years +old, was badly frightened. He ran for their next door neighbor, a kindly +German woman. She lifted Zelda into bed and sent for a physician, and +although he could find no other injury than a badly bruised spine, she +never left her bed until she was borne to her grave. + +The pitiful little sum that was saved soon went, and Peter with his +blacking box became the sole support of the family. + +When they had buried Zelda, and Gloria was kneeling by her grave softly +weeping, Philip touched her shoulder and said, "Let us go, she needs us +no longer, but there are those who do. This experience has been my +lesson, and from now it is my purpose to consecrate my life towards the +betterment of such as these. Our thoughts, our habits, our morals, our +civilization itself is wrong, else it would not be possible for just +this sort of suffering to exist." + +"But you will let me help you, Philip?" said Gloria. + +"It will mean much to me, Gloria, if you will. In this instance Len +Turner died a hero's death, and when Mrs. Turner became incapacitated, +society, the state, call it what you will, should have stepped in and +thrown its protecting arms around her. It was never intended that she +should lie there day after day month after month, suffering, starving, +and in an agony of soul for her children's future. She had the right to +expect succor from the rich and the strong." + +"Yes," said Gloria, "I have heard successful men and women say that they +cannot help the poor, that if you gave them all you had, they would soon +be poor again, and that your giving would never cease." "I know," Philip +replied, "that is ever the cry of the selfish. They believe that they +merit all the blessings of health, distinction and wealth that may come +to them, and they condemn their less fortunate brother as one deserving +his fate. The poor, the weak and the impractical did not themselves +bring about their condition. Who knows how large a part the mystery of +birth and heredity play in one's life and what environment and +opportunity, or lack of it, means to us? Health, ability, energy, +favorable environment and opportunity are the ingredients of success. +Success is graduated by the lack of one or all of these. If the powerful +use their strength merely to further their own selfish desires, in what +way save in degree do they differ from the lower animals of creation? +And how can man under such a moral code justify his dominion over land +and sea? + +"Until recently this question has never squarely faced the human race, +but it does face it now and to its glory and honor it is going to be +answered right. The strong will help the weak, the rich will share with +the poor, and it will not be called charity, but it will be known as +justice. And the man or woman who fails to do his duty, not as he sees +it, but as society at large sees it, will be held up to the contempt of +mankind. A generation or two ago, Gloria, this mad unreasoning scramble +for wealth began. Men have fought, struggled and died, lured by the +gleam of gold, and to what end? The so-called fortunate few that succeed +in obtaining it, use it in divers ways. To some, lavish expenditure and +display pleases their swollen vanity. Others, more serious minded, +gratify their selfishness by giving largess to schools of learning and +research, and to the advancement of the sciences and arts. But here and +there was found a man gifted beyond his fellows, one with vision clear +enough to distinguish things worth while. And these, scorning to acquire +either wealth or power, labored diligently in their separate fields of +endeavor. One such became a great educator, the greatest of his day and +generation, and by his long life of rectitude set an example to the +youth of America that has done more good than all the gold that all the +millionaires have given for educational purposes. Another brought to +success a prodigious physical undertaking. For no further reason than +that he might serve his country where best he could, he went into a +fever-laden land and dug a mighty ditch, bringing together two great +oceans and changing the commerce of the world." + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE PROPHET OF A NEW DAY + + +Philip and Mr. Strawn oftentimes discussed the mental and moral upheaval +that was now generally in evidence. + +"What is to be the outcome, Philip?" said Mr. Strawn. "I know that +things are not as they should be, but how can there be a more even +distribution of wealth without lessening the efficiency of the strong, +able and energetic men and without making mendicants of the indolent and +improvident? If we had pure socialism, we could never get the highest +endeavor out of anyone, for it would seem not worth while to do more +than the average. The race would then go backward instead of lifting +itself higher by the insistent desire to excel and to reap the rich +reward that comes with success." + +"In the past, Mr. Strawn, your contention would be unanswerable, but the +moral tone and thought of the world is changing. You take it for granted +that man must have in sight some material reward in order to bring forth +the best there is within him. I believe that mankind is awakening to the +fact that material compensation is far less to be desired than spiritual +compensation. This feeling will grow, it is growing, and when it comes +to full fruition, the world will find but little difficulty in attaining +a certain measure of altruism. I agree with you that this much-to-be +desired state of society cannot be altogether reached by laws, however +drastic. Socialism as dreamed of by Karl Marx cannot be entirely brought +about by a comprehensive system of state ownership and by the leveling +of wealth. If that were done without a spiritual leavening, the result +would be largely as you suggest." + +And so the discussion ran, Strawn the embodiment of the old order of +thought and habit, and Philip the apostle of the new. And Gloria +listened and felt that in Philip a new force had arisen. She likened him +to a young eagle who, soaring high above a slumbering world, sees first +the gleaming rays of that onrushing sun that is soon to make another +day. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE WINNING OF A MEDAL + + +It had become the practice of the War Department to present to the army +every five years a comprehensive military problem involving an imaginary +attack upon this country by a powerful foreign foe, and the proper line +of defense. The competition was open to both officers and men. A medal +was given to the successful contestant, and much distinction came with +it. + +There had been as yet but one contest; five years before the medal had +been won by a Major General who by wide acclaim was considered the +greatest military authority in the Army. That he should win seemed to +accord with the fitness of things, and it was thought that he would +again be successful. + +The problem had been given to the Army on the first of November, and six +months were allowed to study it and hand in a written dissertation +thereon. It was arranged that the general military staff that considered +the papers should not know the names of the contestants. + +Philip had worked upon the matter assiduously while he was at Fort +Magruder, and had sent in his paper early in March. Great was his +surprise upon receiving a telegram from the Secretary of War announcing +that he had won the medal. For a few days he was a national sensation. +The distinction of the first winner, who was again a contestant, and +Philip's youth and obscurity, made such a striking contrast that the +whole situation appealed enormously to the imagination of the people. +Then, too, the problem was one of unusual interest, and it, as well as +Philip's masterly treatment of it, was published far and wide. + +The Nation was clearly treating itself to a sensation, and upon Philip +were focused the eyes of all. From now he was a marked man. The +President, stirred by the wishes of a large part of the people, +expressed by them in divers ways, offered him reinstatement in the Army +with the rank of Major, and indicated, through the Secretary of War, +that he would be assigned as Secretary to the General Staff. It was a +gracious thing to do, even though it was prompted by that political +instinct for which the President had become justly famous. + +In an appreciative note of thanks, Philip declined. Again he became the +talk of the hour. Poor, and until now obscure, it was assumed that he +would gladly seize such an opportunity for a brilliant career within his +profession. His friends were amazed and urged him to reconsider the +matter, but his determination was fixed. + +Only Gloria understood and approved. + +"Philip," said Mr. Strawn, "do not turn this offer down lightly. Such an +opportunity seldom comes twice in any man's life." + +"I am deeply impressed with the truth of what you say, Mr. Strawn, and I +am not putting aside a military career without much regret. However, I +am now committed to a life work of a different character, one in which +glory and success as the world knows it can never enter, but which +appeals to every instinct that I possess. I have turned my face in the +one direction, and come what may, I shall never change." + +"I am afraid, Philip, that in the enthusiasm of youth and inexperience +you are doing a foolish thing, one that will bring you many hours of +bitter regret. This is the parting of the ways with you. Take the advice +of one who loves you well and turn into the road leading to honor and +success. The path which you are about to choose is obscure and difficult, +and none may say just where it leads." + +"What you say is true, Mr. Strawn, only we are measuring results by +different standards. If I could journey your road with a blythe heart, +free from regret, when glory and honor came, I should revel in it and +die, perhaps, happy and contented. But constituted as I am, when I began +to travel along that road, from its dust there would arise to haunt me +the ghosts of those of my fellowmen who had lived and died without +opportunity. The cold and hungry, the sick and suffering poor, would +seem to cry to me that I had abandoned them in order that I might +achieve distinction and success, and there would be for me no peace." + +And here Gloria touched his hand with hers, that he might know her +thoughts and sympathy were at one with his. + +Philip was human enough to feel a glow of satisfaction at having +achieved so much reputation. A large part of it, he felt, was undeserved +and rather hysterical, but that he had been able to do a big thing made +him surer of his ground in his new field of endeavor. He believed, too, +that it would aid him largely in obtaining the confidence of those with +whom he expected to work and of those he expected to work for. + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE STORY OF THE LEVINSKYS + + +As soon as public attention was brought to Philip in such a generous +way, he received many offers to write for the press and magazines, and +also to lecture. + +He did not wish to draw upon his father's slender resources, and yet he +must needs do something to meet his living expenses, for during the +months of his inactivity, he had drawn largely upon the small sum which +he had saved from his salary. + +The Strawns were insistent that he should continue to make their home +his own, but this he was unwilling to do. So he rented an inexpensive +room over a small hardware store in the East Side tenement district. He +thought of getting in one of the big, evil-smelling tenement houses so +that he might live as those he came to help lived, but he abandoned this +because he feared he might become too absorbed in those immediately +around him. + +What he wanted was a broader view. His purpose was not so much to give +individual help as to formulate some general plan and to work upon those +lines. + +And yet he wished an intimate view of the things he meant to devote his +life to bettering. So the clean little room over the quiet hardware +store seemed to suit his wants. + +The thin, sharp-featured Jew and his fat, homely wife who kept it had +lived in that neighborhood for many years, and Philip found them a mine +of useful information regarding the things he wished to know. + +The building was narrow and but three stories high, and his landlord +occupied all of the second story save the one room which was let to +Philip. + +He arranged with Mrs. Levinsky to have his breakfast with them. He soon +learned to like the Jew and his wife. While they were kind-hearted and +sympathetic, they seldom permitted their sympathy to encroach upon their +purse, but this Philip knew was a matter of environment and early +influence. He drew from them one day the story of their lives, and it +ran like this: + +Ben Levinsky's forebears had long lived in Warsaw. From father to son, +from one generation to another, they had handed down a bookshop, which +included bookbinding in a small way. They were self-educated and widely +read. Their customers were largely among the gentiles and for a long +time the anti-semitic waves passed over them, leaving them untouched. +They were law-abiding, inoffensive, peaceable citizens, and had been for +generations. + +One bleak December day, at a market place in Warsaw, a young Jew, baited +beyond endurance, struck out madly at his aggressors, and in the general +mêlée that followed, the son of a high official was killed. No one knew +how he became involved in the brawl, for he was a sober, high-minded +youngster, and very popular. Just how he was killed and by whom was +never known. But the Jew had struck the first blow and that was all +sufficient for the blood of hate to surge in the eyes of the race-mad +mob. + +Then began a blind, unreasoning massacre. It all happened within an +hour. It was as if after nightfall a tornado had come out of the west, +and without warning had torn and twisted itself through the city, +leaving ruin and death in its wake. No Jew that could be found was +spared. Saul Levinsky was sitting in his shop looking over some books +that had just come from the binder. He heard shots in the distance and +the dull, angry roar of the hoarse-voiced mob. He closed his door and +bolted it, and went up the little stairs leading to his family quarters. +His wife and six-year-old daughter were there. Ben, a boy of ten, had +gone to a nobleman's home to deliver some books, and had not returned. + +Levinsky expected the mob to pass his place and leave it unmolested. It +stopped, hesitated and then rammed in the door. It was all over in a +moment. Father, mother and child lay dead and torn almost limb from +limb. The rooms were wrecked, and the mob moved on. + +The tempest passed as quickly as it came, and when little Ben reached +his home, the street was as silent as the grave. + +With quivering lip and uncertain feet he picked his way from room to +room until he came to what were once his father, mother and baby sister, +and then he swooned away. When he awoke he was shivering with cold. For +a moment he did not realize what had happened, then with a heartbreaking +cry he fled the place, nor did he stop until he was a league away. + +He crept under the sheltering eaves of a half-burned house, and cold +and miserable he sobbed himself to sleep. In the morning an itinerant +tinker came by and touched by the child's distress, drew from him his +unhappy story. He was a lonely old man, and offered to take Ben with +him, an offer which was gladly accepted. + +We will not chronicle the wanderings of these two in pursuit of food and +shelter, for it would take too long to tell in sequence how they finally +reached America, of the tinker's death, and of the evolution of the +tinker's pack to the well ordered hardware shop over which Philip lived. + + + +CHAPTER IX + +PHILIP BEGINS A NEW CAREER + + +After sifting the offers made him, Philip finally accepted two, one from +a large New York daily that syndicated throughout the country, and one +from a widely read magazine, to contribute a series of twelve articles. +Both the newspaper and the magazine wished to dictate the subject matter +about which he was to write, but he insisted upon the widest latitude. +The sum paid, and to be paid, seemed to him out of proportion to the +service rendered, but he failed to take into account the value of the +advertising to those who had secured the use of his pen. + +He accepted the offers not alone because he must needs do something for +a livelihood, but largely for the good he thought he might do the cause +to which he was enlisted. He determined to write upon social subjects +only, though he knew that this would be a disappointment to his +publishers. He wanted to write an article or two before he began his +permanent work, for if he wrote successfully, he thought it would add to +his influence. So he began immediately, and finished his first +contribution to the syndicate newspapers in time for them to use it the +following Sunday. + +He told in a simple way, the story of the Turners. In conclusion he said +the rich and the well-to-do were as a rule charitable enough when +distress came to their doors, but the trouble was that they were +unwilling to seek it out. They knew that it existed but they wanted to +come in touch with it as little as possible. + +They smothered their consciences with the thought that there were +organized societies and other mediums through which all poverty was +reached, and to these they gave. They knew that this was not literally +true, but it served to make them think less badly of themselves. + +_In a direct and forceful manner, he pointed out that our civilization +was fundamentally wrong inasmuch as among other things, it restricted +efficiency; that if society were properly organized, there would be none +who were not sufficiently clothed and fed; that the laws, habits and +ethical training in vogue were alike responsible for the inequalities in +opportunity and the consequent wide difference between the few and the +many; that the result of such conditions was to render inefficient a +large part of the population, the percentage differing in each country +in the ratio that education and enlightened and unselfish laws bore to +ignorance, bigotry and selfish laws._ But little progress, he said, +had been made in the early centuries for the reason that opportunity +had been confined to a few, and it was only recently that any +considerable part of the world's population had been in a position to +become efficient; and mark the result. Therefore, he argued, as an +economical proposition, divorced from the realm of ethics, the far- +sighted statesmen of to-morrow, if not of to-day, will labor to the end +that every child born of woman may have an opportunity to accomplish +that for which it is best fitted. Their bodies will be properly clothed +and fed at the minimum amount of exertion, so that life may mean +something more than a mere struggle for existence. Humanity as a whole +will then be able to do its share towards the conquest of the complex +forces of nature, and there will be brought about an intellectual and +spiritual quickening that will make our civilization of to-day seem as +crude, as selfish and illogical as that of the dark ages seem now to us. + +Philip's article was widely read and was the subject of much comment, +favorable and otherwise. There were the ever-ready few, who want to re- +make the world in a day, that objected to its moderation, and there were +his more numerous critics who hold that to those that have, more should +be given. These considered his doctrine dangerous to the general +welfare, meaning their own welfare. But upon the greater number it made +a profound impression, and it awakened many a sleeping conscience as was +shown by the hundreds of letters which he received from all parts of the +country. All this was a tremendous encouragement to the young social +worker, for the letters he received showed him that he had a definite +public to address, whom he might lead if he could keep his medium for a +time at least. Naturally, the publishers of the newspaper and magazine +for which he wrote understood this, but they also understood that it was +usually possible to control intractable writers after they had acquired +a taste for publicity, and their attitude was for the time being one of +general enthusiasm and liberality tempered by such trivial attempts at +control as had already been made. + +No sooner had he seen the first story in print than he began formulating +his ideas for a second. This, he planned, would be a companion piece to +that of the Turners which was typical of the native American family +driven to the East Side by the inevitable workings of the social order, +and would take up the problem of the foreigner immigrating to this +country, and its effect upon our national life. In this second article +he incorporated the story of the Levinskys as being fairly +representative of the problem he wished to treat. + +In preparing these articles, Philip had used his eyes for the first time +in such work, and he was pleased to find no harm came of it. The oculist +still cautioned moderation, but otherwise dismissed him as fully +recovered. + + + +CHAPTER X + +GLORIA DECIDES TO PROSELYTE THE RICH + + +While Philip was establishing himself in New York, as a social worker +and writer, Gloria was spending more and more of her time in settlement +work, in spite of the opposition of her family. Naturally, their work +brought them much into each other's society, and drew them even closer +together than in Philip's dark days when Gloria was trying to aid him in +the readjustment of his life. They were to all appearances simply +comrades in complete understanding, working together for a common cause. + +However, Strawn's opposition to Gloria's settlement work was not all +impersonal, for he made no secret of his worry over Gloria's evident +admiration for Dru. Strawn saw in Philip a masterly man with a +prodigious intellect, bent upon accomplishing a revolutionary adjustment +of society, and he knew that nothing would deter him from his purpose. +The magnitude of the task and the uncertainties of success made him fear +that Gloria might become one of the many unhappy women who suffer +martyrdom through the greatness of their love. + +Gloria's mother felt the same way about her daughter's companion in +settlement work. Mrs. Strawn was a placid, colorless woman, content to +go the conventional way, without definite purpose, further than to avoid +the rougher places in life. + +She was convinced that men were placed here for the sole purpose of +shielding and caring for women, and she had a contempt for any man who +refused or was unable to do so. + +Gloria's extreme advanced views of life alarmed her and seemed +unnatural. She protested as strongly as she could, without upsetting her +equanimity, for to go beyond that she felt was unladylike and bad for +both nerves and digestion. It was a grief for her to see Gloria actually +working with anyone, much less Philip, whose theories were quite +upsetting, and who, after all, was beyond the pale of their social +sphere and was impossible as a son-in-law. + +Consequently, Philip was not surprised when one day in the fall, he +received a disconsolate note from Gloria who was spending a few weeks +with her parents at their camp in the hills beyond Tuxedo, saying that +her father had flatly refused to allow her to take a regular position +with one of the New York settlements, which would require her living on +the East Side instead of at home. The note concluded: + +"Now, Philip, do come up for Sunday and let's talk it over, for I am +sadly at variance with my family, and I need your assistance and advice. + +"Your very sincere, + +"GLORIA." + +The letter left Dru in a strangely disturbed state of mind, and all +during the trip up from New York his thoughts were on Gloria and what +the future would bring forth to them both. + +On the afternoon following his arrival at the camp, as he and the young +woman walked over the hills aflame with autumnal splendor, Gloria told +of her bitter disappointment. The young man listened in sympathy, but +after a long pause in which she saw him weighing the whole question in +his mind, he said: "Well, Gloria, so far as your work alone is +concerned, there is something better that you can do if you will. The +most important things to be done now are not amongst the poor but +amongst the rich. There is where you may become a forceful missionary +for good. All of us can reach the poor, for they welcome us, but there +are only a few who think like you, who can reach the rich and powerful. + +"Let that be your field of endeavor. Do your work gently and with +moderation, so that some at least may listen. If we would convince and +convert, we must veil our thoughts and curb our enthusiasm, so that +those we would influence will think us reasonable." + +"Well, Philip," answered Gloria, "if you really think I can help the +cause, of course--" + +"I'm sure you can help the cause. A lack of understanding is the chief +obstacle, but, Gloria, you know that this is not an easy thing for me to +say, for I realize that it will largely take you out of my life, for my +path leads in the other direction. + +"It will mean that I will no longer have you as a daily inspiration, and +the sordidness and loneliness will press all the harder, but we have +seen the true path, and now have a clearer understanding of the meaning +and importance of our work." + +"And so, Philip, it is decided that you will go back to the East Side to +your destiny, and I will remain here, there and everywhere, Newport, +New York, Palm Beach, London, carrying on my work as I see it." + +They had wandered long and far by now, and had come again to the edge of +the lofty forest that was a part of her father's estate. They stood for +a moment in that vast silence looking into each other's eyes, and then +they clasped hands over their tacit compact, and without a word, walked +back to the bungalow. + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SELWYN PLOTS WITH THOR + + +For five years Gloria and Philip worked in their separate fields, but, +nevertheless, coming in frequent touch with one another. Gloria +proselyting the rich by showing them their selfishness, and turning +them to a larger purpose in life, and Philip leading the forces of those +who had consecrated themselves to the uplifting of the unfortunate. It +did not take Philip long to discern that in the last analysis it would +be necessary for himself and co-workers to reach the results aimed at +through politics. Masterful and arrogant wealth, created largely by +Government protection of its profits, not content with its domination +and influence within a single party, had sought to corrupt them both, +and to that end had insinuated itself into the primaries, in order that +no candidates might be nominated whose views were not in accord with +theirs. + +By the use of all the money that could be spent, by a complete and +compact organization and by the most infamous sort of deception +regarding his real opinions and intentions, plutocracy had succeeded in +electing its creature to the Presidency. There had been formed a league, +the membership of which was composed of one thousand multi-millionaires, +each one contributing ten thousand dollars. This gave a fund of ten +million dollars with which to mislead those that could be misled, and to +debauch the weak and uncertain. + +This nefarious plan was conceived by a senator whose swollen fortune had +been augmented year after year through the tributes paid him by the +interests he represented. He had a marvelous aptitude for political +manipulation and organization, and he forged a subtle chain with which +to hold in subjection the natural impulses of the people. His plan was +simple, but behind it was the cunning of a mind that had never known +defeat. There was no man in either of the great political parties that +was big enough to cope with him or to unmask his methods. + +Up to the advent of Senator Selwyn, the interests +had not successfully concealed their hands. Sometimes +the public had been mistaken as to the true +character of their officials, but sooner or later the truth had +developed, for in most instances, wealth was openly for or against +certain men and measures. But the adroit Selwyn moved differently. + +His first move was to confer with John Thor, the high priest of finance, +and unfold his plan to him, explaining how essential was secrecy. It was +agreed between them that it should be known to the two of them only. + +Thor's influence throughout commercial America was absolute. His wealth, +his ability and even more the sum of the capital he could control +through the banks, trust companies and industrial organizations, which +he dominated, made his word as potent as that of a monarch. + +He and Selwyn together went over the roll and selected the thousand that +were to give each ten thousand dollars. Some they omitted for one +reason or another, but when they had finished they had named those who +could make or break within a day any man or corporation within their +sphere of influence. Thor was to send for each of the thousand and +compliment him by telling him that there was a matter, appertaining to +the general welfare of the business fraternity, which needed twenty +thousand dollars, that he, Thor, would put up ten, and wanted him to put +up as much, that sometime in the future, or never, as the circumstances +might require, would he make a report as to the expenditure and purpose +therefor. + +There were but few men of business between the Atlantic and Pacific, or +between Canada and Mexico, who did not consider themselves fortunate in +being called to New York by Thor, and in being asked to join him in a +blind pool looking to the safe-guarding of wealth. Consequently, the +amassing of this great corruption fund in secret was simple. If +necessity had demanded it twice the sum could have been raised. The +money when collected was placed in Thor's name in different banks +controlled by him, and Thor, from time to time, as requested by Selwyn, +placed in banks designated by him whatever sums were needed. Selwyn then +transferred these amounts to the private bank of his son-in-law, who +became final paymaster. The result was that the public had no chance of +obtaining any knowledge of the fund or how it was spent. + +The plan was simple, the result effective. Selwyn had no one to +interfere with him. The members of the pool had contributed blindly to +Thor, and Thor preferred not to know what Selwyn was doing nor how he +did it. It was a one man power which in the hands of one possessing +ability of the first class, is always potent for good or evil. + +Not only did Selwyn plan to win the Presidency, but he also planned to +bring under his control both the Senate and the Supreme Court. He +selected one man in each of thirty of the States, some of them belonging +to his party and some to the opposition, whom he intended to have run +for the Senate. + +If he succeeded in getting twenty of them elected, he counted upon +having a good majority of the Senate, because there were already +thirty-eight Senators upon whom he could rely in any serious attack upon +corporate wealth. + +As to the Supreme Court, of the nine justices there were three that were +what he termed "safe and sane," and another that could be counted upon +in a serious crisis. + +Three of them, upon whom he could not rely, were of advanced age, and it +was practically certain that the next President would have that many +vacancies to fill. Then there would be an easy working majority. + +His plan contemplated nothing further than this. His intention was to +block all legislation adverse to the interests. He would have no new +laws to fear, and of the old, the Supreme Court would properly interpret +them. + +He did not intend that his Senators should all vote alike, speak alike, +or act from apparently similar motives. Where they came from States +dominated by corporate wealth, he would have them frankly vote in the +open, and according to their conviction. + +When they came from agricultural States, where the sentiment was known +as "progressive," they could cover their intentions in many ways. One +method was by urging an amendment so radical that no honest progressive +would consent to it, and then refusing to support the more moderate +measure because it did not go far enough. Another was to inject some +clause that was clearly unconstitutional, and insist upon its adoption, +and refusing to vote for the bill without its insertion. + +Selwyn had no intention of letting any one Senator know that he +controlled any other senator. There were to be no caucuses, no +conferences of his making, or anything that looked like an organization. +He was the center, and from him radiated everything appertaining to +measures affecting "the interests." + + + +CHAPTER XII + +SELWYN SEEKS A CANDIDATE + + +Selwyn then began carefully scrutinizing such public men in the States +known as Presidential cradles, as seemed to him eligible. By a process +of elimination he centered upon two that appeared desirable. + +One was James R. Rockland, recently elected Governor of a State of the +Middle West. The man had many of the earmarks of a demagogue, which +Selwyn readily recognized, and he therefore concluded to try him first. + +Accordingly he went to the capital of the State ostensibly upon private +business, and dropped in upon the Governor in the most casual way. +Rockland was distinctly flattered by the attention, for Selwyn was, +perhaps, the best known figure in American politics, while he, himself, +had only begun to attract attention. They had met at conventions and +elsewhere, but they were practically unacquainted, for Rockland had +never been permitted to enter the charmed circle which gathered around +Selwyn. + +"Good morning, Governor," said Selwyn, when he had been admitted to +Rockland's private room. "I was passing through the capital and I +thought I would look in on you and see how your official cares were +using you." + +"I am glad to see you, Senator," said Rockland effusively, "very glad, +for there are some party questions coming up at the next session of the +Legislature about which I particularly desire your advice." + +"I have but a moment now, Rockland," answered the Senator, "but if you +will dine with me in my rooms at the Mandell House to-night it will be a +pleasure to talk over such matters with you." + +"Thank you, Senator, at what hour?" + +"You had better come at seven for if I finish my business here to-day, I +shall leave on the 10 o'clock for Washington," said Selwyn. + +Thus in the most casual way the meeting was arranged. As a matter of +fact, Rockland had no party matters to discuss, and Selwyn knew it. He +also knew that Rockland was ambitious to become a leader, and to get +within the little group that controlled the party and the Nation. + +Rockland was a man of much ability, but he fell far short of measuring +up with Selwyn, who was in a class by himself. The Governor was a good +orator, at times even brilliant, and while not a forceful man, yet he +had magnetism which served him still better in furthering his political +fortunes. He was not one that could be grossly corrupted, yet he was +willing to play to the galleries in order to serve his ambition, and he +was willing to forecast his political acts in order to obtain potential +support. + +When he reached the Mandell House, he was at once shown to the Senator's +rooms. Selwyn received him cordially enough to be polite, and asked him +if he would not look over the afternoon paper for a moment while he +finished a note he was writing. He wrote leisurely, then rang for a boy +and ordered dinner to be served. + +Selwyn merely tasted the wine (he seldom did more) but Rockland drank +freely though not to excess. After they had talked over the local +matters which were supposed to be the purpose of the conference, much +to Rockland's delight, the Senator began to discuss national politics. + +"Rockland," began Selwyn, "can you hold this state in line at next +year's election?" + +"I feel sure that I can, Senator, why do you ask?" + +"Since we have been talking here," he replied, "it has occurred to me +that if you could be nominated and elected again, the party might do +worse than to consider you for the presidential nomination the year +following. + +"No, my dear fellow, don't interrupt me," continued Selwyn +mellifluously. + +"It is strange how fate or chance enters into the life of man and even +of nations. A business matter calls me here, I pass your office and +think to pay my respects to the Governor of the State. Some political +questions are perplexing you, and my presence suggests that I may aid +in their solution. This dinner follows, your personality appeals to me, +and the thought flits through my mind, why should not Rockland, rather +than some other man, lead the party two years from now? + +"And the result, my dear Rockland, may be, probably will be, your +becoming chief magistrate of the greatest republic the sun has ever +shone on." + +Rockland by this time was fairly hypnotized by Selwyn's words, and by +their tremendous import. For a moment he dared not trust himself to +speak. + +"Senator Selwyn," he said at last, "it would be idle for me to deny that +you have excited within me an ambition that a moment ago would have +seemed worse than folly. Your influence within the party and your +ability to conduct a campaign, gives to your suggestion almost the +tender of the presidency. To tell you that I am deeply moved does scant +justice to my feelings. If, after further consideration, you think me +worthy of the honor, I shall feel under lasting obligations to you which +I shall endeavor to repay in every way consistent with honor and with a +sacred regard for my oath of office." + +"I want to tell you frankly, Rockland," answered Selwyn, "that up to now +I have had someone else in mind, but I am in no sense committed, and we +might as well discuss the matter to as near a conclusion as is possible +at this time." + +Selwyn's voice hardened a little as he went on. "You would not want a +nomination that could not carry with a reasonable certainty of election, +therefore I would like to go over with you your record, both public and +private, in the most open yet confidential way. It is better that you +and I, in the privacy of these rooms, should lay bare your past than +that it should be done in a bitter campaign and by your enemies. What we +say to one another here is to be as if never spoken, and the grave +itself must not be more silent. Your private life not only needs to be +clean, but there must be no public act at which any one can point an +accusing finger." + +"Of course, of course," said Rockland, with a gesture meant to convey +the complete openness of his record. + +"Then comes the question of party regularity," continued Selwyn, without +noticing. "Be candid with me, for, if you are not, the recoil will be +upon your own head." + +"I am sure that I can satisfy you on every point, Senator. I have never +scratched a party ticket nor have I ever voted against any measure +endorsed by a party caucus," said Governor Rockland. + +"That is well," smiled the Senator. "I assume that in making your +important appointments you will consult those of us who have stood +sponsor for you, not only to the party but to the country. It would be +very humiliating to me if I should insist upon your nomination and +election and then should for four years have to apologize for what I had +done." + +Musingly, as if contemplating the divine presence in the works of man, +Selwyn went on, while he closely watched Rockland from behind his half- +closed eyelids. + +"Our scheme of Government contemplates, I think, a diffuse +responsibility, my dear Rockland. While a president has a constitutional +right to act alone, he has no moral right to act contrary to the tenets +and traditions of his party, or to the advice of the party leaders, for +the country accepts the candidate, the party and the party advisers as a +whole and not severally. + +"It is a natural check, which by custom the country has endorsed as +wise, and which must be followed in order to obtain a proper +organization. Do you follow me, Governor, and do you endorse this +unwritten law?" + +If Rockland had heard this at second hand, if he had read it, or if it +had related to someone other than himself, he would have detected the +sophistry of it. But, exhilarated by wine and intoxicated by ambition, +he saw nothing but a pledge to deal squarely by the organization. + +"Senator," he replied fulsomely, "gratitude is one of the tenets of my +religion, and therefore inversely ingratitude is unknown to me. You and +the organization can count on my loyalty from the beginning to the end, +for I shall never fail you. + +"I know you will not ask me to do anything at which my conscience will +rebel, nor to make an appointment that is not entirely fit." + +"That, Rockland, goes without saying," answered the Senator with +dignity. "I have all the wealth and all the position that I desire. I +want nothing now except to do my share towards making my native land +grow in prosperity, and to make the individual citizen more contented. +To do this we must cease this eternal agitation, this constant proposal +of half-baked measures, which the demagogues are offering as a panacea +to all the ills that flesh is heir to. + +"We need peace, legislative and political peace, so that our people may +turn to their industries and work them to success, in the wholesome +knowledge that the laws governing commerce and trade conditions will +not be disturbed over night." + +"I agree with you there, Senator," said Rockland eagerly. + +"We have more new laws now than we can digest in a decade," continued +Selwyn, "so let us have rest until we do digest them. In Europe the +business world works under stable conditions. There we find no proposal +to change the money system between moons, there we find no uncertainty +from month to month regarding the laws under which manufacturers are to +make their products, but with us, it is a wise man who knows when he can +afford to enlarge his output. + +"A high tariff threatens to-day, a low one to-morrow, and a large part +of the time the business world lies in helpless perplexity. + +"I take it, Rockland, that you are in favor of stability, that you will +join me in my endeavors to give the country a chance to develop itself +and its marvelous natural resources." + +As a matter of fact, Rockland's career had given no evidence of such +views. He had practically committed his political fortunes on the side +of the progressives, but the world had turned around since then, and he +viewed things differently. + +"Senator," he said, his voice tense in his anxiety to prove his +reliability, "I find that in the past I have taken only a cursory view +of conditions. I see clearly that what you have outlined is a high order +of statesmanship. You are constructive: I have been on the side of those +who would tear down. I will gladly join hands with you and build up, so +that the wealth and power of this country shall come to equal that of +any two nations in existence." + +Selwyn settled back in his chair, nodding his approval and telling +himself that he would not need to seek further for his candidate. + +At Rockland's earnest solicitation he remained over another day. The +Governor gave him copies of his speeches and messages, so that he could +assure himself that there was no serious flaw in his public record. + +Selwyn cautioned him about changing his attitude too suddenly. "Go on, +Rockland, as you have done in the past. It will not do to see the light +too quickly. You have the progressives with you now, keep them, and I +will let the conservatives know that you think straight and may be +trusted. + +"We must consult frequently together," he continued, "but cautiously. +There is no need for any one to know that we are working together +harmoniously. I may even get some of the conservative papers to attack +you judiciously. It will not harm you. But, above all, do nothing of +importance without consulting me. + +"I am committing the party and the Nation to you, and my responsibility +is a heavy one, and I owe it to them that no mistakes are made." + +"You may trust me, Senator," said Rockland. "I understand perfectly." + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +DRU AND SELWYN MEET + + +The roads of destiny oftentimes lead us in strange and unlooked for +directions and bring together those whose thoughts and purposes are as +wide as space itself. When Gloria Strawn first entered boarding school, +the roommate given her was Janet Selwyn, the youngest daughter of the +Senator. They were alike in nothing, except, perhaps, in their fine +perception of truth and honor. But they became devoted friends and had +carried their attachment for one another beyond their schoolgirl days. +Gloria was a frequent visitor at the Selwyn household both in +Washington and Philadelphia, and was a favorite with the Senator. He +often bantered her concerning her "socialistic views," and she in turn +would declare that he would some day see the light. Now and then she let +fall a hint of Philip, and one day Senator Selwyn suggested that she +invite him over to Philadelphia to spend the week end with them. +"Gloria, I would like to meet this paragon of the ages," said he +jestingly, "although I am somewhat fearful that he may persuade me to +'sell all that I have and give it to the poor.'" + +"I will promise to protect you during this one visit, Senator," said +Gloria, "but after that I shall leave you to your fate." + +"Dear Philip," wrote Gloria, "the great Senator Selwyn has expressed a +wish to know you, and at his suggestion, I am writing to ask you here to +spend with us the coming week end. I have promised that you will not +denude him of all his possessions at your first meeting, but beyond that +I have refused to go. Seriously, though, I think you should come, for if +you would know something of politics, then why not get your lessons from +the fountain head? + +"Your very sincere, + +"GLORIA." + +In reply Philip wrote: + +"Dear Gloria: You are ever anticipating my wishes. In the crusade we are +making I find it essential to know politics, if we are to reach the +final goal that we have in mind, and you have prepared the way for the +first lesson. I will be over to-morrow on the four o'clock. Please do +not bother to meet me. + +"Faithfully yours, + +"PHILIP." + +Gloria and Janet Strawn were at the station to meet him. "Janet, this is +Mr. Dru," said Gloria. "It makes me very happy to have my two best +friends meet." As they got in her electric runabout, Janet Strawn said, +"Since dinner will not be served for two hours or more, let us drive in +the park for a while." Gloria was pleased to see that Philip was +interested in the bright, vivacious chatter of her friend, and she was +glad to hear him respond in the same light strain. However, she was +confessedly nervous when Senator Selwyn and Philip met. Though in +different ways, she admired them both profoundly. Selwyn had a +delightful personality, and Gloria felt sure that Philip would come +measurably under the influence of it, even though their views were so +widely divergent. And in this she was right. Here, she felt, were two +great antagonists, and she was eager for the intellectual battle to +begin. But she was to be disappointed, for Philip became the listener, +and did but little of the talking. He led Senator Selwyn into a +dissertation upon the present conditions of the country, and the bearing +of the political questions upon them. Selwyn said nothing indiscreet, +yet he unfolded to Philip's view a new and potential world. Later in the +evening, the Senator was unsuccessful in his efforts to draw from his +young guest his point of view. Philip saw the futility of such a +discussion, and contented Selwyn by expressing an earnest appreciation +of his patience in making clear so many things about which he had been +ignorant. Next morning, Senator Selwyn was strolling with Gloria in the +rose garden, when he said, "Gloria, I like your friend Dru. I do not +recall ever having met any one like him." "Then you got him to talk +after we left last night. I am so glad. I was afraid he had on one of +his quiet spells." + +"No, he said but little, but the questions he asked gave me glimpses of +his mind that sometimes startled me. He was polite, modest but elusive, +nevertheless, I like him, and shall see more of him." Far sighted as +Selwyn was, he did not know the full extent of this prophecy. + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +THE MAKING OF A PRESIDENT + + +Selwyn now devoted himself to the making of enough conservative senators +to control comfortably that body. The task was not difficult to a man +of his sagacity with all the money he could spend. + +Newspapers were subsidized in ways they scarcely recognized themselves. +Honest officials who were in the way were removed by offering them +places vastly more remunerative, and in this manner he built up a +strong, intelligent and well constructed machine. It was done so sanely +and so quietly that no one suspected the master mind behind it all. +Selwyn was responsible to no one, took no one into his confidence, and +was therefore in no danger of betrayal. + +It was a fascinating game to Selwyn. It appealed to his intellectual +side far more than it did to his avarice. He wanted to govern the Nation +with an absolute hand, and yet not be known as the directing power. He +arranged to have his name appear less frequently in the press and he +never submitted to interviews, laughingly ridding himself of reporters +by asserting that he knew nothing of importance. He had a supreme +contempt for the blatant self-advertised politician, and he removed +himself as far as possible from that type. + +In the meantime his senators were being elected, the Rockland sentiment +was steadily growing and his nomination was finally brought about by the +progressives fighting vigorously for him and the conservatives +yielding a reluctant consent. It was done so adroitly that Rockland +would have been fooled himself, had not Selwyn informed him in advance +of each move as it was made. + +After the nomination, Selwyn had trusted men put in charge of the +campaign, which he organized himself, though largely under cover. The +opposition party had every reason to believe that they would be +successful, and it was a great intellectual treat to Selwyn to overcome +their natural advantages by the sheer force of ability, plus what money +he needed to carry out his plans. He put out the cry of lack of funds, +and indeed it seemed to be true, for he was too wise to make a display +of his resources. To ward heelers, to the daily press, and to +professional stump speakers, he gave scant comfort. It was not to such +sources that he looked for success. + +He began by eliminating all states he knew the opposition party would +certainly carry, but he told the party leaders there to claim that a +revolution was brewing, and that a landslide would follow at the +election. This would keep his antagonists busy and make them less +effective elsewhere. + +He also ignored the states where his side was sure to win. In this way +he was free to give his entire thoughts to the twelve states that were +debatable, and upon whose votes the election would turn. He divided +each of these states into units containing five thousand voters, and, at +the national headquarters, he placed one man in charge of each unit. Of +the five thousand, he roughly calculated there would be two thousand +voters that no kind of persuasion could turn from his party and two +thousand that could not be changed from the opposition. This would +leave one thousand doubtful ones to win over. So he had a careful poll +made in each unit, and eliminated the strictly unpersuadable party men, +and got down to a complete analysis of the debatable one thousand. +Information was obtained as to their race, religion, occupation and +former political predilection. It was easy then to know how to reach +each individual by literature, by persuasion or perhaps by some more +subtle argument. No mistake was made by sending the wrong letter or the +wrong man to any of the desired one thousand. + +In the states so divided, there was, at the local headquarters, one man +for each unit just as at the national headquarters. So these two had +only each other to consider, and their duty was to bring to Rockland a +majority of the one thousand votes within their charge. The local men +gave the conditions, the national men gave the proper literature and +advice, and the local man then applied it. The money that it cost to +maintain such an organization was more than saved from the waste that +would have occurred under the old method. + +The opposition management was sending out tons of printed matter, but +they sent it to state headquarters that, in turn, distributed it to the +county organizations, where it was dumped into a corner and given to +visitors when asked for. Selwyn's committee used one-fourth as much +printed matter, but it went in a sealed envelope, along with a cordial +letter, direct to a voter that had as yet not decided how he would vote. + +The opposition was sending speakers at great expense from one end of +the country to the other, and the sound of their voices rarely fell on +any but friendly and sympathetic ears. Selwyn sent men into his units to +personally persuade each of the one thousand hesitating voters to +support the Rockland ticket. + +The opposition was spending large sums upon the daily press. Selwyn used +the weekly press so that he could reach the fireside of every farmer and +the dweller in the small country towns. These were the ones that would +read every line in their local papers and ponder over it. + +The opposition had its candidates going by special train to every part +of the Union, making many speeches every day, and mostly to voters that +could not be driven from him either by force or persuasion. The leaders +in cities, both large and small, would secure a date and, having in mind +for themselves a postmastership or collectorship, would tell their +followers to turn out in great force and give the candidate a big +ovation. They wanted the candidate to remember the enthusiasm of these +places, and to leave greatly pleased and under the belief that he was +making untold converts. As a matter of fact his voice would seldom +reach any but a staunch partisan. + +Selwyn kept Rockland at home, and arranged to have him meet by special +appointment the important citizens of the twelve uncertain states. He +would have the most prominent party leader, in a particular state, go to +a rich brewer or large manufacturer, whose views had not yet been +crystallized, and say, "Governor Rockland has expressed a desire to know +you, and I would like to arrange a meeting." The man approached would be +flattered to think he was of such importance that a candidate for the +presidency had expressed a desire to meet him. He would know it was his +influence that was wanted but, even so, there was a subtle flattery in +that. An appointment would be arranged. Just before he came into +Rockland's presence, his name and a short epitome of his career would be +handed to Rockland to read. When he reached Rockland's home he would at +first be denied admittance. His sponsor would say,--"this is Mr. Munting +of Muntingville." "Oh, pardon me, Mr. Munting, Governor Rockland +expects you." + +And in this way he is ushered into the presence of the great. His fame, +up to a moment ago, was unknown to Rockland, but he now grasps his hand +cordially and says,--"I am delighted to know you, Mr. Munting. I recall +the address you made a few years ago when you gave a library to +Muntingville. It is men of your type that have made America what it is +to-day, and, whether you support me or not, if I am elected President it +is such as you that I hope will help sustain my hands in my effort to +give to our people a clean, sane and conservative government." + +When Munting leaves he is stepping on air. He sees visions of visits to +Washington to consult the President upon matters of state, and perhaps +he sees an ambassadorship in the misty future. He becomes Rockland's +ardent supporter, and his purse is open and his influence is used to the +fullest extent. + +And this was Selwyn's way. It was all so simple. The opposition was +groaning under the thought of having one hundred millions of people to +reach, and of having to persuade a majority of twenty millions of voters +to take their view. + +Selwyn had only one thousand doubtful voters in each of a few units on +his mind, and he knew the very day when a majority of them had decided +to vote for Rockland, and that his fight was won. The pay-roll of the +opposition was filled with incompetent political hacks, that had been +fastened upon the management by men of influence. Selwyn's force, from +end to end, was composed of able men who did a full day's work under the +eye of their watchful taskmaster. + +And Selwyn won and Rockland became the keystone of the arch he had set +out to build. + +There followed in orderly succession the inauguration, the selection of +cabinet officers and the new administration was launched. + +Drunk with power and the adulation of sycophants, once or twice Rockland +asserted himself, and acted upon important matters without having first +conferred with Selwyn. But, after he had been bitterly assailed by +Selwyn's papers and by his senators, he made no further attempts at +independence. He felt that he was utterly helpless in that strong man's +hands, and so, indeed, he was. + +One of the Supreme Court justices died, two retired because of age, and +all were replaced by men suggested by Selwyn. + +He now had the Senate, the Executive and a majority of the Court of +last resort. The government was in his hands. He had reached the summit +of his ambition, and the joy of it made all his work seem worth while. + +But Selwyn, great man that he was, did not know, could not know, that +when his power was greatest it was most insecure. He did not know, could +not know, what force was working to his ruin and to the ruin of his +system. + +Take heart, therefore, you who had lost faith in the ultimate destiny of +the Republic, for a greater than Selwyn is here to espouse your cause. +He comes panoplied in justice and with the light of reason in his eyes. +He comes as the advocate of equal opportunity and he comes with the +power to enforce his will. + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE EXULTANT CONSPIRATORS + + + +It was a strange happening, the way the disclosure was made and the +Nation came to know of the Selwyn-Thor conspiracy to control the +government. + +Thor, being without any delicate sense of honor, was in the habit of +using a dictagraph to record what was intended to be confidential +conversations. He would take these confidential records, clearly mark +them, and place them in his private safe within the vault. When the +transaction to which they related was closed he destroyed them. + +The character of the instrument was carefully concealed. It was a part +of a massive piece of office furniture, which answered for a table as +well. In order to facilitate his correspondence, he often used it for +dictating, and no one but Thor knew that it was ever put into commission +for other purposes. + +He had never, but once, had occasion to use a record that related to a +private conversation or agreement. Then it concerned a matter involving +a large sum, a demand having been made upon him that smacked of +blackmail. He arranged a meeting, which his opponent regarded as an +indication that he was willing to yield. There were present the +contestant, his lawyer, Thor's counsel and Thor himself. + +"Before discussing the business that is before us," said Thor, "I think +you would all enjoy, more or less, a record which I have in my +dictagraph, and which I have just listened to with a great deal of +pleasure." + +He handed a tube to each and started the machine. It is a pity that +Hogarth could not have been present to have painted the several +expressions that came upon the faces of those four. A quiet but amused +satisfaction beamed from Thor, and his counsel could not conceal a broad +smile, but the wretched victim was fairly sick from mortification and +defeated avarice. He finally could stand no more and took the tube from +his ear, reached for his hat and was gone. + +Thor had not seen Selwyn for a long time, but one morning, when he was +expecting another for whom he had his dictagraph set, Selwyn was +announced. He asked him in and gave orders that they were not to be +disturbed. When Selwyn had assured himself that they were absolutely +alone he told Thor his whole story. + +It was of absorbing interest, and Thor listened fairly hypnotized by the +recital, which at times approached the dramatic. It was the first time +that Selwyn had been able to unbosom himself, and he enjoyed the +impression he was making upon the great financier. When he told how +Rockland had made an effort for freedom and how he brought him back, +squirming under his defeat, they laughed joyously. + +Rich though he was beyond the dreams of avarice, rich as no man had ever +before been, Thor could not refrain from a mental calculation of how +enormously such a situation advanced his fortune. There was to be no +restriction now, he could annihilate and absorb at will. He had grown so +powerful that his mental equilibrium was unbalanced upon the question +of accretion. He wanted more, he must have more, and now, by the aid of +Selwyn, he would have more. He was so exultant that he gave some +expression to his thoughts, and Selwyn, cynical as he was, was shocked +and began to fear the consequences of his handiwork. + +He insisted upon Selwyn's lunching with him in order to celebrate the +triumph of "their" plan. Selwyn was amused at the plural. They went to a +near-by club and remained for several hours talking of things of general +interest, for Selwyn refused to discuss his victory after they had left +the protecting walls of Thor's office. + +Thor had forgotten his other engagement, and along with it he forgot the +dictagraph that he had set. When he returned to his office he could not +recall whether or not he had set the dictagraph. He looked at it, saw +that it was not set, but that there was an unused record in it and +dismissed it from his mind. He wanted no more business for the day. He +desired to get out and walk and think and enjoy the situation. And so he +went, a certain unholy joy within his warped and money-soddened heart. + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +THE EXPOSURE + + +Long after Thor had gone, long after the day had dwindled into twilight +and the twilight had shaded into dusk, Thomas Spears, his secretary, sat +and pondered. After Thor and Selwyn had left the office for luncheon he +had gone to the dictagraph to see whether there was anything for him to +take. He found the record, saw it had been used, removed it to his +machine and got ready to transmit. He was surprised to find that it was +Selwyn's voice that came to him, then Thor's, and again Selwyn's. He +knew then that it was not intended for dictation, that there was some +mistake and yet he held it until he had gotten the whole of the mighty +conspiracy. Pale and greatly agitated he remained motionless for a long +time. Then he returned to Thor's office, placed a new record in the +machine and closed it. + +Spears came from sturdy New England stock and was at heart a patriot. He +had come to New York largely by accident of circumstances. + +Spears had a friend named Harry Tracy, with whom he had grown up in the +little Connecticut village they called home, and who was distantly +related to Thor, whose forebears also came from that vicinity. They had +gone to the same commercial school, and were trained particularly in +stenography and typing. Tracy sought and obtained a place in Thor's +office. He was attentive to his duties, very accurate, and because of +his kinship and trustworthiness, Thor made him his confidential +secretary. The work became so heavy that Tracy got permission to employ +an assistant. He had Spears in mind for the place, and, after +conferring with Thor, offered it to him. + +Thor consented largely because he preferred some one who had not lived +in New York, and was in no way entangled with the life and sentiment of +the city. Being from New England himself, he trusted the people of that +section as he did no others. + +So Thomas Spears was offered the place and gladly accepted it. He had +not been there long before he found himself doing all the stenographic +work and typing. + +Spears was a man of few words. He did his work promptly and well. Thor +had him closely shadowed for a long while, and the report came that he +had no bad habits and but few companions and those of the best. But Thor +could get no confidential report upon the workings of his mind. He did +not know that his conscience sickened at what he learned through the +correspondence and from his fellow clerks. He did not know that his +every heart beat was for the unfortunates that came within the reach of +Thor's avarice, and were left the merest derelicts upon the financial +seas. + +All the clerks were gone, the lights were out and Spears sat by the +window looking out over the great modern Babylon, still fighting with +his conscience. His sense of loyalty to the man who gave him his +livelihood rebelled at the thought of treachery. It was not unlike +accepting food and shelter and murdering your benefactor, for Spears +well knew that in the present state of the public mind if once the truth +were known, it would mean death to such as Thor. For with a fatuous +ignorance of public feeling the interests had gone blindly on, conceding +nothing, stifling competition and absorbing the wealth and energies of +the people. + +Spears knew that the whole social and industrial fabric of the nation +was at high tension, and that it needed but a spark to explode. He held +within his hand that spark. Should he plunge the country, his country, +into a bloody internecine war, or should he let the Selwyns and the +Thors trample the hopes, the fortunes and the lives of the people under +foot for still another season. If he held his peace it did but postpone +the conflict. + +The thought flashed through his mind of the bigness of the sum any one +of the several great dailies would give to have the story. And then +there followed a sense of shame that he could think of such a thing. + +He felt that he was God's instrument for good and that he should act +accordingly. He was aroused now, he would no longer parley with his +conscience. What was best to do? That was the only question left to +debate. + +He looked at an illuminated clock upon a large white shaft that lifted +its marble shoulders towards the stars. It was nine o'clock. He turned +on the lights, ran over the telephone book until he reached the name of +what he considered the most important daily. He said: "Mr. John Thor's +office desires to speak with the Managing Editor." This at once gave him +the connection he desired. + +"This is Mr. John Thor's secretary, and I would like to see you +immediately upon a matter of enormous public importance. May I come to +your office at once?" + +There was something in the voice that startled the newspaper man, and he +wondered what Thor's office could possibly want with him concerning any +matter, public or private. However, he readily consented to an interview +and waited with some impatience for the quarter of an hour to go by that +was necessary to cover the distance. He gave orders to have Spears +brought in as soon as he arrived. + +When Spears came he told the story with hesitation and embarrassment. +The Managing Editor thought at first that he was in the presence of a +lunatic, but after a few questions he began to believe. He had a +dictagraph in his office and asked for the record. He was visibly +agitated when the full import of the news became known to him. Spears +insisted that the story be given to all the city papers and to the +Associated Press, which the Managing Editor promised to do. + +When the story was read the next morning by America's millions, it was +clear to every far-sighted person that a crisis had come and that +revolution was imminent. Men at once divided themselves into groups. +Now, as it has ever been, the very poor largely went with the rich and +powerful. The reason for this may be partly from fear and partly from +habit. They had seen the struggle going on for centuries and with but +one result. + +A mass meeting was called to take place the day following at New York's +largest public hall. The call was not inflammatory, but asked "all good +citizens to lend their counsel and influence to the rectification of +those abuses that had crept into the Government," and it was signed by +many of the best known men in the Nation. + +The hall was packed to its limits an hour before the time named. A +distinguished college president from a nearby town was given the chair, +and in a few words he voiced the indignation and the humiliation which +they all felt. Then one speaker after another bitterly denounced the +administration, and advocated the overthrow of the Government. One, more +intemperate than the rest, urged an immediate attack on Thor and all +his kind. This was met by a roar of approval. + +Philip had come early and was seated well in front. In the pandemonium +that now prevailed no speaker could be heard. Finally Philip fought his +way to the stage, gave his name to the chairman, and asked to be heard. + +When the white-haired college president arose there was a measure of +quiet, and when he mentioned Philip's name and they saw his splendid, +homely face there was a curious hush. He waited for nearly a minute +after perfect quiet prevailed, and then, in a voice like a deep-toned +bell, he spoke with such fervor and eloquence that one who was present +said afterwards that he knew the hour and the man had come. Philip +explained that hasty and ill-considered action had ruined other causes +as just as theirs, and advised moderation. He suggested that a committee +be named by the chairman to draw up a plan of procedure, to be +presented at another meeting to be held the following night. This was +agreed to, and the chairman received tremendous applause when he named +Philip first. + +This meeting had been called so quickly, and the names attached to the +call were so favorably known, that the country at large seemed ready to +wait upon its conclusions. + +It was apparent from the size and earnestness of the second gathering +that the interest was growing rather than abating. + +Philip read the plan which his committee had formulated, and then +explained more at length their reasons for offering it. Briefly, it +advised no resort to violence, but urged immediate organization and +cooperation with citizens throughout the United States who were in +sympathy with the movement. He told them that the conscience of the +people was now aroused, and that there would be no halting until the +Government was again within their hands to be administered for the good +of the many instead of for the good of a rapacious few. + +The resolutions were sustained, and once more Philip was placed at the +head of a committee to perfect not only a state, but a national +organization as well. Calls for funds to cover preliminary expenses +brought immediate and generous response, and the contest was on. + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +SELWYN AND THOR DEFEND THEMSELVES + + +In the meantime Selwyn and Thor had issued an address, defending their +course as warranted by both the facts and the law. + +They said that the Government had been honeycombed by irresponsible +demagogues, that were fattening upon the credulity of the people to the +great injury of our commerce and prosperity, that no laws unfriendly to +the best interests had been planned, and no act had been contemplated +inconsistent with the dignity and honor of the Nation. They contended +that in protecting capital against vicious assaults, they were serving +the cause of labor and advancing the welfare of all. + +Thor's whereabouts was a mystery, but Selwyn, brave and defiant, pursued +his usual way. + +President Rockland also made a statement defending his appointments of +Justices of the Supreme Court, and challenged anyone to prove them +unfit. He said that, from the foundation of the Government, it had +become customary for a President to make such appointments from amongst +those whose views were in harmony with his own, that in this case he had +selected men of well known integrity, and of profound legal ability, +and, because they were such, they were brave enough to stand for the +right without regard to the clamor of ill-advised and ignorant people. +He stated that he would continue to do his duty, and that he would +uphold the constitutional rights of all the people without distinction +to race, color or previous condition. + +Acting under Selwyn's advice, Rockland began to concentrate quietly +troops in the large centers of population. He also ordered the fleets +into home waters. A careful inquiry was made regarding the views of the +several Governors within easy reach of Washington, and, finding most of +them favorable to the Government, he told them that in case of disorder +he would honor their requisition for federal troops. He advised a +thorough overlooking of the militia, and the weeding out of those likely +to sympathize with the "mob." If trouble came, he promised to act +promptly and forcefully, and not to let mawkish sentiment encourage +further violence. + +He recalled to them that the French Revolution was caused, and +continued, by the weakness and inertia of Louis Fifteenth and his +ministers and that the moment the Directorate placed Bonaparte in +command of a handful of troops, and gave him power to act, by the use of +grape and ball he brought order in a day. It only needed a quick and +decisive use of force, he thought, and untold suffering and bloodshed +would be averted. + +President Rockland believed what he said. He seemed not to know that +Bonaparte dealt with a ragged, ignorant mob, and had back of him a +nation that had been in a drunken and bloody orgy for a period of years +and wanted to sober up. He seemed not to know that in this contest, the +clear-brained, sturdy American patriot was enlisted against him and what +he represented, and had determined to come once more into his own. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +GLORIA'S WORK BEARS FRUIT + + +In her efforts towards proselyting the rich, Gloria had not neglected +her immediate family. By arguments and by bringing to the fore concrete +examples to illustrate them, she had succeeded in awakening within her +father a curious and unhappy frame of mind. That shifting and illusive +thing we call conscience was beginning to assert itself in divers ways. + +The first glimpse that Gloria had of his change of heart was at a dinner +party. The discussion began by a dyspeptic old banker declaring that +before the business world could bring the laboring classes to their +senses it would be necessary to shut down the factories for a time and +discontinue new enterprises in order that their dinner buckets and +stomachs might become empty. + +Before Gloria could take up the cudgels in behalf of those seeking a +larger share of the profits of their labor, Mr. Strawn had done so. The +debate between the two did not last long and was not unduly heated, but +Gloria knew that the Rubicon had been crossed and that in the future she +would have a powerful ally in her father. + +Neither had she been without success in other directions, and she was, +therefore, able to report to Philip very satisfactory progress. In one +of their many conferences she was glad to be able to tell him that in +the future abundant financial backing was assured for any cause +recommended by either of them as being worthy. This was a long step +forward, and Philip congratulated Gloria upon her efficient work. + +"Do you remember, Gloria," he said, "how unhappy you were over the +thought of laboring among the rich instead of the poor? And yet, +contemplate the result. You have not only given some part of your social +world an insight into real happiness, but you are enabling the balance +of us to move forward at a pace that would have been impossible without +your aid." Gloria flushed with pleasure at his generous praise and +replied: "It is good of you, Philip, to give me so large a credit, and I +will not deny that I am very happy over the outcome of my endeavors, +unimportant though they be. I am so glad, Philip, that you have been +given the leadership of our side in the coming struggle, for I shall now +feel confident of success." + +"Do not be too sure, Gloria. We have the right and a majority of the +American people with us; yet, on the other hand, we have opposed to us +not only resourceful men but the machinery of a great Government +buttressed by unlimited wealth and credit." + +"Why could not I 'try out' the sincerity of my rich converts and get +them to help finance your campaign?" + +"Happy thought! If you succeed in doing that, Gloria, you will become +the Joan d'Arc of our cause, and unborn generations will hold you in +grateful remembrance." + +"How you do enthuse one, Philip. I feel already as if my name were +written high upon the walls of my country's Valhalla. Tell me how great +a fund you will require, and I will proceed at once to build the golden +ladder upon which I am to climb to fame." + +"You need not make light of your suggestion in this matter, Gloria, for +the lack of funds with which to organize is essentially our weakest +point. With money we can overthrow the opposition, without it I am +afraid they may defeat us. As to the amount needed, I can set no limit. +The more you get the more perfectly can we organize. Do what you can and +do it quickly, and be assured that if the sum is considerable and if our +cause triumphs, you will have been the most potent factor of us all." + +And then they parted; Gloria full of enthusiasm over her self-appointed +task, and Philip with a silent prayer for her success. + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +WAR CLOUDS HOVER + + +Gloria was splendidly successful in her undertaking and within two +weeks she was ready to place at Philip's disposal an amount far in +excess of anything he had anticipated. + +"It was so easy that I have a feeling akin to disappointment that I did +not have to work harder," she wrote in her note to Philip announcing the +result. "When I explained the purpose and the importance of the outcome, +almost everyone approached seemed eager to have a share in the +undertaking." + +In his reply of thanks, Philip said, "The sum you have realized is far +beyond any figure I had in mind. With what we have collected throughout +the country, it is entirely sufficient, I think, to effect a preliminary +organization, both political and military. If the final result is to be +civil war, then the states that cast their fortunes with ours, will, of +necessity, undertake the further financing of the struggle." + +Philip worked assiduously upon his organization. It was first intended +to make it political and educational, but when the defiant tone of +Selwyn, Thor and Rockland was struck, and their evident intention of +using force became apparent, he almost wholly changed it into a military +organization. His central bureau was now in touch with every state, and +he found in the West a grim determination to bring matters to a +conclusion as speedily as possible. + +On the other hand, he was sparring for time. He knew his various groups +were in no condition to be pitted against any considerable number of +trained regulars. He hoped, too, that actual conflict would be avoided, +and that a solution could be arrived at when the forthcoming election +for representatives occurred. + +It was evident that a large majority of the people were with them: the +problem was to get a fair and legal expression of opinion. As yet, there +was no indication that this would not be granted. + +The preparations on both sides became so open, that there was no longer +any effort to work under cover. Philip cautioned his adherents against +committing any overt act. He was sure that the administration forces +would seize the slightest pretext to precipitate action, and that, at +this time, would give them an enormous advantage. + +He himself trained the men in his immediate locality, and he also had +the organization throughout the country trained, but without guns. The +use of guns would not have been permitted except to regular authorized +militia. The drilling was done with wooden guns, each man hewing out a +stick to the size and shape of a modern rifle. At his home, carefully +concealed, each man had his rifle. + +And then came the election. Troops were at the polls and a free ballot +was denied. It was the last straw. Citizens gathering after nightfall in +order to protest were told to disperse immediately, and upon refusal, +were fired upon. The next morning showed a death roll in the large +centers of population that was appalling. + +Wisconsin was the state in which there was the largest percentage of the +citizenship unfavorable to the administration and to the interests. +Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska were closely following. + +Philip concluded to make his stand in the West, and he therefore ordered +the men in every organization east of the Mississippi to foregather at +once at Madison, and to report to him there. He was in constant touch +with those Governors who were in sympathy with the progressive or +insurgent cause, and he wired the Governor of Wisconsin, in cipher, +informing him of his intentions. + +As yet travel had not been seriously interrupted, though business was +largely at a standstill, and there was an ominous quiet over the land. +The opposition misinterpreted this, and thought that the people had been +frightened by the unexpected show of force. Philip knew differently, and +he also knew that civil war had begun. He communicated his plans to no +one, but he had the campaign well laid out. It was his intention to +concentrate in Wisconsin as large a force as could be gotten from his +followers east and south of that state, and to concentrate again near +Des Moines every man west of Illinois whom he could enlist. It was his +purpose then to advance simultaneously both bodies of troops upon +Chicago. + +In the south there had developed a singular inertia. Neither side +counted upon material help or opposition there. + +The great conflict covering the years from 1860 to 1865 was still more +than a memory, though but few living had taken part in it. The victors +in that mighty struggle thought they had been magnanimous to the +defeated but the well-informed Southerner knew that they had been made +to pay the most stupendous penalty ever exacted in modern times. At one +stroke of the pen, two thousand millions of their property was taken +from them. A pension system was then inaugurated that taxed the +resources of the Nation to pay. By the year 1927 more than five thousand +millions had gone to those who were of the winning side. Of this the +South was taxed her part, receiving nothing in return. + +Cynical Europe said that the North would have it appear that a war had +been fought for human freedom, whereas it seemed that it was fought for +money. It forgot the many brave and patriotic men who enlisted because +they held the Union to be one and indissoluble, and were willing to +sacrifice their lives to make it so, and around whom a willing and +grateful government threw its protecting arms. And it confused those +deserving citizens with the unworthy many, whom pension agents and +office seekers had debauched at the expense of the Nation. Then, too, +the South remembered that one of the immediate results of emancipation +was that millions of ignorant and indigent people were thrown upon the +charity and protection of the Southern people, to care for and to +educate. In some states sixty per cent. of the population were negroes, +and they were as helpless as children and proved a heavy burden upon the +forty per cent. of whites. + +In rural populations more schoolhouses had to be maintained, and more +teachers employed for the number taught, and the percentage of children +per capita was larger than in cities. Then, of necessity, separate +schools had to be maintained. So, altogether, the load was a heavy one +for an impoverished people to carry. + +The humane, the wise, the patriotic thing to have done, was for the +Nation to have assumed the responsibility of the education of the +negroes for at least one generation. + +What a contrast we see in England's treatment of the Boers. After a long +and bloody war, which drew heavily upon the lives and treasures of the +Nation, England's first act was to make an enormous grant to the +conquered Boers, that they might have every facility to regain their +shattered fortunes, and bring order and prosperity to their distracted +land. + +We see the contrast again in that for nearly a half century after the +Civil War was over, no Southerner was considered eligible for the +Presidency. + +On the other hand, within a few years after the African Revolution +ended, a Boer General, who had fought throughout the war with vigor and +distinction, was proposed and elected Premier of the United Colonies. + +Consequently, while sympathizing with the effort to overthrow Selwyn's +government, the South moved slowly and with circumspection. + + + +CHAPTER XX + +CIVIL WAR BEGINS + + +General Dru brought together an army of fifty thousand men at Madison +and about forty thousand near Des Moines, and recruits were coming in +rapidly. + +President Rockland had concentrated twenty thousand regulars and thirty +thousand militia at Chicago, and had given command to Major General +Newton, he who, several years previously, won the first medal given by +the War Department for the best solution of the military problem. + +The President also made a call for two hundred thousand volunteers. The +response was in no way satisfactory, so he issued a formal demand upon +each state to furnish its quota. + +The states that were in sympathy with his administration responded, the +others ignored the call. + +General Dru learned that large reinforcements had been ordered to +Chicago, and he therefore at once moved upon that place. He had a fair +equipment of artillery, considering he was wholly dependent upon that +belonging to the militia of those states that had ranged themselves upon +his side, and at several points in the West, he had seized factories and +plants making powder, guns, clothing and camp equipment. He ordered the +Iowa division to advance at the same time, and the two forces were +joined at a point about fifty miles south of Chicago. + +General Newton was daily expecting reënforcements, but they failed to +reach him before Dru made it impossible for them to pass through. + +Newton at first thought to attack the Iowa division and defeat it, and +then meet the Wisconsin division, but he hesitated to leave Chicago lest +Dru should take the place during his absence. + +With both divisions united, and with recruits constantly arriving, Dru +had an army of one hundred and fifty thousand men. + +Failing to obtain the looked-for reënforcements and seeing the +hopelessness of opposing so large a force, Newton began secretly to +evacuate Chicago by way of the Lakes, Dru having completely cut him off +by land. + +He succeeded in removing his army to Buffalo, where President Rockland +had concentrated more than one hundred thousand troops. + +When Dru found General Newton had evacuated Chicago, he occupied it, and +then moved further east, in order to hold the states of Michigan, +Indiana and Western Ohio. + +This gave him the control of the West, and he endeavored as nearly as +possible to cut off the food supply of the East. In order to tighten +further the difficulty of obtaining supplies, he occupied Duluth and all +the Lake ports as far east as Cleveland, which city the Government held, +and which was their furthest western line. + +Canada was still open as a means of food supply to the East, as were all +the ports of the Atlantic seaboard as far south as Charleston. + +So the sum of the situation was that the East, so far west as the middle +of Ohio, and as far south as West Virginia, inclusive of that state, was +in the hands of the Government. + +Western Ohio, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois, while occupied by General +Dru, were divided in their sympathies. Wisconsin, Minnesota, and every +state west of the Mississippi, were strongly against the Government. + +The South, as a whole, was negligible, though Virginia, Kentucky, +Tennessee and Missouri were largely divided in sentiment. That part of +the South lying below the border states was in sympathy with the +insurgents. + +The contest had come to be thought of as a conflict between Senator +Selwyn on the one hand, and what he represented, and Philip Dru on the +other, and what he stood for. These two were known to be the dominating +forces on either side. + +The contestants, on the face of things, seemed not unevenly matched, +but, as a matter of fact, the conscience of the great mass of the +people, East and West, was on Dru's side, for it was known that he was +contending for those things which would permit the Nation to become +again a land of freedom in its truest and highest sense, a land where +the rule of law prevailed, a land of equal opportunity, a land where +justice would be meted out alike to the high and low with a steady and +impartial hand. + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +UPON THE EVE OF BATTLE + + +Neither side seemed anxious to bring matters to a conclusion, for both +Newton and Dru required time to put their respective armies in fit +condition before risking a conflict. By the middle of July, Dru had more +than four hundred thousand men under his command, but his greatest +difficulty was to properly officer and equip them. The bulk of the +regular army officers had remained with the Government forces, though +there were some notable exceptions. Among those offering their services +to Dru was Jack Strawn. He resigned from the regular army with many +regrets and misgivings, but his devotion to Philip made it impossible +for him to do otherwise. And then there was Gloria whom he loved dearly, +and who made him feel that there was a higher duty than mere +professional regularity. + +None of Dru's generals had been tried out in battle and, indeed, he +himself had not. It was much the same with the Government forces, for +there had been no war since that with Spain in the nineties, and that +was an affair so small that it afforded but little training for either +officers or men. + +Dru had it in mind to make the one battle decisive, if that were +possible of accomplishment, for he did not want to weaken and distract +the country by such a conflict as that of 1861 to 1865. + +The Government forces numbered six hundred thousand men under arms, but +one hundred thousand of these were widely scattered in order to hold +certain sections of the country in line. + +On the first of September General Dru began to move towards the enemy. +He wanted to get nearer Washington and the northern seaboard cities, so +that if successful he would be within striking distance of them before +the enemy could recover. + +He had in mind the places he preferred the battle to occur, and he used +all his skill in bringing about the desired result. As he moved slowly +but steadily towards General Newton, he was careful not to tax the +strength of his troops, but he desired to give them the experience in +marching they needed, and also to harden them. + +The civilized nations of the world had agreed not to use in war +aeroplanes or any sort of air craft either as engines of destruction or +for scouting purposes. This decision had been brought about by the +International Peace Societies and by the self-evident impossibility of +using them without enormous loss of life. Therefore none were being used +by either the Government or insurgent forces. + +General Newton thought that Dru was planning to attack him at a point +about twenty miles west of Buffalo, where he had his army stretched from +the Lake eastward, and where he had thrown up entrenchments and +otherwise prepared for battle. + +But Dru had no thought of attacking then or there, but moved slowly and +orderly on until the two armies were less than twenty miles apart due +north and south from one another. + +When he continued marching eastward and began to draw away from General +Newton, the latter for the first time realized that he himself would be +compelled to pursue and attack, for the reason that he could not let +Dru march upon New York and the other unprotected seaboard cities. He +saw, too, that he had been outgeneraled, and that he should have thrown +his line across Dru's path and given battle at a point of his own +choosing. + +The situation was a most unusual one even in the complex history of +warfare, because in case of defeat the loser would be forced to retreat +into the enemies' country. It all the more surely emphasized the fact +that one great battle would determine the war. General Dru knew from the +first what must follow his movement in marching by General Newton, and +since he had now reached the ground that he had long chosen as the place +where he wished the battle to occur, he halted and arranged his troops +in formation for the expected attack. + +There was a curious feeling of exultation and confidence throughout the +insurgent army, for Dru had conducted every move in the great game with +masterly skill, and no man was ever more the idol of his troops, or of +the people whose cause he was the champion. + +It was told at every camp fire in his army how he had won the last medal +that had been given by the War Department and for which General Newton +had been a contestant, and not one of his men doubted that as a military +genius, Newton in no way measured up to Dru. It was plain that Newton +had been outmaneuvered and that the advantage lay with the insurgent +forces. + +The day before the expected battle, General Dru issued a stirring +address, which was placed in the hands of each soldier, and which +concluded as follows:--"It is now certain that there will be but one +battle, and its result lies with you. If you fight as I know you will +fight, you surely will be successful, and you soon will be able to +return to your homes and to your families, carrying with you the +assurance that you have won what will be perhaps the most important +victory that has ever been achieved. It is my belief that human liberty +has never more surely hung upon the outcome of any conflict than it does +upon this, and I have faith that when you are once ordered to advance, +you will never turn back. If you will each make a resolution to conquer +or die, you will not only conquer, but our death list will not be nearly +so heavy as if you at any time falter." + +This address was received with enthusiasm, and comrade declared to +comrade that there would be no turning back when once called upon to +advance, and it was a compact that in honor could not be broken. This, +then, was the situation upon the eve of the mighty conflict. + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +THE BATTLE OF ELMA + + +General Dru had many spies in the enemies' camp, and some of these +succeeded in crossing the lines each night in order to give him what +information they had been able to gather. + +Some of these spies passed through the lines as late as eleven o'clock +the night before the battle, and from them he learned that a general +attack was to be made upon him the next day at six o'clock in the +morning. + +As far as he could gather, and from his own knowledge of the situation, +it was General Newton's purpose to break his center. The reason Newton +had this in mind was that he thought Dru's line was far flung, and he +believed that if he could drive through the center, he could then throw +each wing into confusion and bring about a crushing defeat. + +As a matter of fact, Dru's line was not far flung, but he had a few +troops strung out for many miles in order to deceive Newton, because he +wanted him to try and break his center. + +Up to this time, he had taken no one into his confidence, but at +midnight, he called his division commanders to his headquarters and told +them his plan of battle. + +They were instructed not to impart any information to the commanders of +brigades until two o'clock. The men were then to be aroused and given a +hasty breakfast, after which they were to be ready to march by three +o'clock. + +Recent arrivals had augmented his army to approximately five hundred +thousand men. General Newton had, as far as he could learn, +approximately six hundred thousand, so there were more than a million of +men facing one another. + +Dru had a two-fold purpose in preparing at three in the morning. First, +he wanted to take no chances upon General Newton's time of attack. His +information as to six o'clock he thought reliable, but it might have +been given out to deceive him and a much earlier engagement might be +contemplated. + +His other reason was that he intended to flank Newton on both wings. + +It was his purpose to send, under cover of night, one hundred and +twenty-five thousand men to the right of Newton and one hundred and +twenty-five thousand to his left, and have them conceal themselves +behind wooded hills until noon, and then to drive in on him from both +sides. + +He was confident that with two hundred and fifty thousand determined +men, protected by the fortifications he had been able to erect, and +with the ground of his own choosing, which had a considerable elevation +over the valley through which Newton would have to march, he could hold +his position until noon. He did not count upon actual fighting before +eight o'clock, or perhaps not before nine. + +Dru did not attempt to rest, but continued through the night to instruct +his staff officers, and to arrange, as far as he could, for each +contingency. Before two o'clock, he was satisfied with the situation and +felt assured of victory. + +He was pleased to see the early morning hours develop a fog, for this +would cover the march of his left and right wings, and they would not +have to make so wide a detour in order that their movements might be +concealed. It would also delay, he thought, Newton's attack. + +His army was up and alert at three, and by four o'clock those that were +to hold the center were in position, though he had them lie down again +on their arms, so that they might get every moment of rest. Three +o'clock saw the troops that were to flank the enemy already on the +march. + +At six-thirty his outposts reported Newton's army moving, but it was +nine o'clock before they came within touch of his troops. + +In the meantime, his men were resting, and he had food served them again +as late as seven o'clock. + +Newton attacked the center viciously at first, but making no headway and +seeing that his men were being terribly decimated, he made a detour to +the right, and, with cavalry, infantry and artillery, he drove Dru's +troops in from the position which they were holding. + +Dru recognized the threatened danger and sent heliograph messages to his +right and left wings to begin their attack, though it was now only +eleven o'clock. He then rode in person to the point of danger, and +rallied his men to a firmer stand, upon which Newton could make no +headway. + +In that hell storm of lead and steel Dru sat upon his horse unmoved. +With bared head and eyes aflame, with face flushed and exultant, he +looked the embodiment of the terrible God of War. His presence and his +disregard of danger incited his soldiers to deeds of valor that would +forever be an "inspiration and a benediction" to the race from which +they sprung. + +Newton, seeing that his efforts were costing him too dearly, decided to +withdraw his troops and rest until the next day, when he thought to +attack Dru from the rear. + +The ground was more advantageous there, and he felt confident he could +dislodge him. When he gave the command to retreat, he was surprised to +find Dru massing his troops outside his entrenchments and preparing to +follow him. He slowly retreated and Dru as slowly followed. Newton +wanted to get him well away from his stronghold and in the open plain, +and then wheel and crush him. Dru was merely keeping within striking +distance, so that when his two divisions got in touch with Newton they +would be able to attack him on three sides. + +Just as Newton was about to turn, Dru's two divisions poured down the +slopes of the hills on both sides and began to charge. And when Dru's +center began to charge, it was only a matter of moments before Newton's +army was in a panic. + +He tried to rally them and to face the on-coming enemy, but his efforts +were in vain. His men threw down their guns, some surrendering, but most +of them fleeing in the only way open, that towards the rear and the +Lake. + +Dru's soldiers saw that victory was theirs, and, maddened by the lust of +war, they drove the Government forces back, killing and crushing the +seething and helpless mass that was now in hopeless confusion. + +Orders were given by General Dru to push on and follow the enemy until +nightfall, or until the Lake was reached, where they must surrender or +drown. + +By six o'clock of that fateful day, the splendid army of Newton was a +thing for pity, for Dru had determined to exhaust the last drop of +strength of his men to make the victory complete, and the battle +conclusive. + +At the same time, as far as he was able, he restrained his men from +killing, for he saw that the enemy were without arms, and thinking only +of escape. His order was only partially obeyed, for when man is in +conflict with either beast or fellowman, the primitive lust for blood +comes to the fore, and the gentlest and most humane are oftentimes the +most bloodthirsty. + +Of the enemy forty thousand were dead and two hundred and ten thousand +were wounded with seventy-five thousand missing. Of prisoners Dru had +captured three hundred and seventy-five thousand. + +General Newton was killed in the early afternoon, soon after the rout +began. + +Philip's casualties were twenty-three thousand dead and one hundred and +ten thousand wounded. + +It was a holocaust, but the war was indeed ended. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +ELMA'S AFTERMATH + + +After General Dru had given orders for the care of the wounded and the +disposition of the prisoners, he dismissed his staff and went quietly +out into the starlight. He walked among the dead and wounded and saw +that everything possible was being done to alleviate suffering. Feeling +weary he sat for a moment upon a dismembered gun. + +As he looked over the field of carnage and saw what havoc the day had +made, he thought of the Selwyns and the Thors, whose selfishness and +greed were responsible for it all, and he knew that they and their kind +would have to meet an awful charge before the judgment seat of God. +Within touch of him lay a boy of not more than seventeen, with his white +face turned towards the stars. One arm was shattered and a piece of +shell had torn a great red wound in the side of his chest. Dru thought +him dead, but he saw him move and open his eyes. He removed a coat from +a soldier that lay dead beside him and pillowed the boy's head upon it, +and gave him some water and a little brandy. + +"I am all in, Captain," said he, "but I would like a message sent home." +He saw that Dru was an officer but he had no idea who he was. "I only +enlisted last week. I live in Pennsylvania--not far from here." Then +more faintly--"My mother tried to persuade me to remain at home, but I +wanted to do my share, so here I am--as you find me. Tell her--tell +her," but the message never came--for he was dead. + +After he had covered the pain-racked, ghastly face, Dru sat in silent +meditation, and thought of the shame of it, the pity of it all. +Somewhere amongst that human wreckage he knew Gloria was doing what she +could to comfort the wounded and those that were in the agony of death. + +She had joined the Red Cross Corps of the insurgent army at the +beginning of hostilities, but Dru had had only occasional glimpses of +her. He was wondering now, in what part of that black and bloody field +she was. His was the strong hand that had torn into fragments these +helpless creatures; hers was the gentle hand that was softening the +horror, the misery of it all. Dru knew there were those who felt that +the result would never be worth the cost and that he, too, would come in +for a measurable share of their censure. But deep and lasting as his +sympathy was for those who had been brought into this maelstrom of war, +yet, pessimism found no lodgment within him, rather was his great soul +illuminated with the thought that with splendid heroism they had died in +order that others might live the better. Twice before had the great +republic been baptized in blood and each time the result had changed the +thought and destiny of man. And so would it be now, only to greater +purpose. Never again would the Selwyns and the Thors be able to fetter +the people. + +Free and unrestrained by barriers erected by the powerful, for selfish +purposes, there would now lie open to them a glorious and contented +future. He had it in his thoughts to do the work well now that it had +been begun, and to permit no misplaced sentiment to deter him. He knew +that in order to do what he had in mind, he would have to reckon with +the habits and traditions of centuries, but, seeing clearly the task +before him he must needs become an iconoclast and accept the +consequences. For two days and nights he had been without sleep and +under a physical and mental strain that would have meant disaster to +any, save Philip Dru. But now he began to feel the need of rest and +sleep, so he walked slowly back to his tent. + +After giving orders that he was not to be disturbed, he threw himself as +he was upon his camp bed, and, oblivious of the fact that the news of +his momentous victory had circled the globe and that his name was upon +the lips of half the world, he fell into a dreamless, restful sleep. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +UNCROWNED HEROES + + +When Dru wakened in the morning after a long and refreshing sleep, his +first thoughts were of Gloria Strawn. Before leaving his tent he wrote +her an invitation to dine with him that evening in company with some of +his generals and their wives. All through that busy day Dru found +himself looking forward to the coming evening. When Gloria came Dru was +standing at the door of his tent to meet her. As he helped her from the +army conveyance she said: + +"Oh, Philip, how glad I am! How glad I am!" + +Dru knew that she had no reference to his brilliant victory, but that it +was his personal welfare that she had in mind. + +During the dinner many stories of heroism were told, men who were least +suspected of great personal bravery had surprised their comrades by +deeds that would follow the coming centuries in both song and story. +Dru, who had been a silent listener until now, said: + +"Whenever my brother soldier rises above self and gives or offers his +life for that of his comrade, no one rejoices more than I. But, my +friends, the highest courage is not displayed upon the battlefield. The +soldier's heroism is done under stress of great excitement, and his +field of action is one that appeals to the imagination. It usually also +touches our patriotism and self-esteem. The real heroes of the world are +oftentimes never known. I once knew a man of culture and wealth who +owned a plantation in some hot and inaccessible region. Smallpox in its +most virulent form became prevalent among the negroes. Everyone fled the +place save this man, and those that were stricken. Single-handed and +alone, he nursed them while they lived and buried them when they died. +And yet during all the years I knew him, never once did he refer to it. +An old negro told me the story and others afterwards confirmed it. This +same man jumped into a swollen river and rescued a poor old negro who +could not swim. There was no one to applaud him as he battled with the +deadly eddies and currents and brought to safety one of the least of +God's creatures. To my mind the flag of no nation ever waved above a +braver, nobler heart." + +There was a moment's silence, and then Gloria said: + +"Philip, the man you mention is doubtless the most splendid product of +our civilization, for he was perhaps as gentle as he was brave, but +there is still another type of hero to whom I would call attention. I +shall tell you of a man named Sutton, whom I came to know in my +settlement work and who seemed to those who knew him wholly bad. He was +cruel, selfish, and without any sense of honor, and even his personality +was repulsive, and yet this is what he did. + +"One day, soon after dark, the ten story tenement building in which he +lived caught fire. Smoke was pouring from the windows, at which many +frightened faces were seen. + +"But what was holding the crowd's breathless attention, was the daring +attempt of a man on the eighth floor to save a child of some five or six +years. + +"He had gotten from his room to a small iron balcony, and there he took +his handkerchief and blindfolded the little boy. He lifted the child +over the railing, and let him down to a stone ledge some twelve inches +wide, and which seemed to be five or six feet below the balcony. + +"The man had evidently told the child to flatten himself against the +wall, for the little fellow had spread out his arms and pressed his body +close to it. + +"When the man reached him, he edged him along in front of him. It was a +perilous journey, and to what end? + +"No one could see that he was bettering his condition by moving further +along the building, though it was evident he had a well-defined purpose +from the beginning. + +"When he reached the corner, he stopped in front of a large flagpole +that projected out from the building some twenty or more feet. + +"He shouted to the firemen in the street below, but his voice was lost +in the noise and distance. He then scribbled something on an envelope +and after wrapping his knife inside, dropped it down. He lost no time by +seeing whether he was understood, but he took the child and put his arms +and legs about the pole in front of him and together they slid along to +the golden ball at the end. + +"What splendid courage! What perfect self-possession! He then took the +boy's arm above the hand and swung him clear. He held him for a moment +to see that all was ready below, and turned him loose. + +"The child dropped as straight as a plummet into the canvas net that was +being held for him. + +"The excitement had been so tense up to now, that in all that vast crowd +no one said a word or moved a muscle, but when they saw the little +fellow unhurt, and perched high on the shoulders of a burly fireman, +such cheers were given as were never before heard in that part of New +York. + +"The man, it seemed, knew as well as those below, that his weight made +impossible his escape in a like manner, for he had slid back to the +building and was sitting upon the ledge smoking a cigarette. + +"At first it was the child in which the crowd was interested, but now it +was the man. He must be saved; but could he be? The heat was evidently +becoming unbearable and from time to time a smother of smoke hid him +from view. Once when it cleared away he was no longer there, it had +suffocated him and he had fallen, a mangled heap, into the street below. + +"That man was Sutton, and the child was not his own. He could have saved +himself had he not stayed to break in a door behind which the screams of +the child were heard." + +There was a long silence when Gloria had ended her story, and then the +conversation ran along more cheerful lines. + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE ADMINISTRATOR OF THE REPUBLIC + + +General Dru began at once the reorganization of his army. The Nation +knew that the war was over, and it was in a quiver of excitement. + +They recognized the fact that Dru dominated the situation and that a +master mind had at last arisen in the Republic. He had a large and +devoted army to do his bidding, and the future seemed to lie wholly in +his hands. + +The great metropolitan dailies were in keen rivalry to obtain some +statement from him, but they could not get within speaking distance. The +best they could do was to fill their columns with speculations and +opinions from those near, or at least pretending to be near him. He had +too much to do to waste a moment, but he had it in mind to make some +statement of a general nature within a few days. + +The wounded were cared for, the dead disposed of and all prisoners +disarmed and permitted to go to their homes under parole. Of his own men +he relieved those who had sickness in their families, or pressing duties +to perform. Many of the prisoners, at their urgent solicitation, he +enlisted. The final result was a compact and fairly well organized army +of some four hundred thousand men who were willing to serve as long as +they were needed. + +During the days that Dru was reorganizing, he now and then saw Gloria. +She often wondered why Philip did not tell her something of his plans, +and at times she felt hurt at his reticence. She did not know that he +would have trusted her with his life without hesitation, but that his +sense of duty sealed his lips when it came to matters of public policy. + +He knew she would not willingly betray him, but he never took chances +upon the judgment she, or any friend, might exercise as to what was or +what was not important. When a thought or plan had once gone from him to +another it was at the mercy of the other's discretion, and good +intention did not avail if discretion and judgment were lacking. He +consulted freely with those from whom he thought he could obtain help, +but about important matters no one ever knew but himself his +conclusions. + +Dru was now ready to march upon Washington, and he issued an address to +his soldiers which was intended, in fact, for the general public. He did +not want, at this time, to assume unusual powers, and if he had spoken +to the Nation he might be criticised as assuming a dictatorial attitude. + +He complimented his army upon their patriotism and upon their bravery, +and told them that they had won what was, perhaps, the most important +victory in the history of warfare. He deplored the fact that, of +necessity, it was a victory over their fellow countrymen, but he +promised that the breach would soon be healed, for it was his purpose to +treat them as brothers. He announced that no one, neither the highest +nor the lowest, would be arrested, tried, or in any way disturbed +provided they accepted the result of the battle as final, and as +determining a change in the policy of government in accordance with the +views held by those whom he represented. Failure to acquiesce in this, +or any attempt to foster the policies of the _late government,_ +would be considered seditious, and would be punished by death. He was +determined upon immediate peace and quietude, and any individual, +newspaper or corporation violating this order would be summarily dealt +with. + +The words "late government" caused a sensation. + +It pointed very surely to the fact that as soon as Dru reached +Washington, he would assume charge of affairs. But in what way? That was +the momentous question. + +President Rockwell, the Vice-President and the Cabinet, fearful of the +result of Dru's complete domination, fled the country. Selwyn urged, +threatened, and did all he could to have them stand their ground, and +take the consequences of defeat, but to no avail. Finally, he had the +Secretary of State resign, so that the President might appoint him to +that office. This being done, he became acting President. + +There were some fifty thousand troops at Washington and vicinity, and +Dru wired Selwyn asking whether any defense of that city was +contemplated. Upon receiving a negative answer, he sent one of his staff +officers directly to Washington to demand a formal surrender. Selwyn +acquiesced in this, and while the troops were not disbanded, they were +placed under the command of Dru's emissary. + +After further negotiations it was arranged for such of the volunteers as +desired to do so, to return to their homes. This left a force of thirty +thousand men at Washington who accepted the new conditions, and declared +fealty to Dru and the cause he represented. There was now requisitioned +all the cars that were necessary to convey the army from Buffalo to New +York, Philadelphia and Washington. A day was named when all other +traffic was to be stopped, until the troops, equipment and supplies had +been conveyed to their destinations. One hundred thousand men were sent +to New York and one hundred thousand to Philadelphia, and held on the +outskirts of those cities. Two hundred thousand were sent to Washington +and there Dru went himself. + +Selwyn made a formal surrender to him and was placed under arrest, but +it was hardly more than a formality, for Selwyn was placed under no +further restraint than that he should not leave Washington. His arrest +was made for its effect upon the Nation; in order to make it clear that +the former government no longer existed. + +General Dru now called a conference of his officers and announced his +purpose of assuming the powers of a dictator, distasteful as it was to +him, and, as he felt it might also be, to the people. He explained that +such a radical step was necessary, in order to quickly purge the +Government of those abuses that had arisen, and give to it the form and +purpose for which they had fought. They were assured that he was free +from any personal ambition, and he pledged his honor to retire after the +contemplated reforms had been made, so that the country could again have +a constitutional government. Not one of them doubted his word, and they +pledged themselves and the men under them, to sustain him loyally. He +then issued an address to his army proclaiming himself _"Administrator +of the Republic."_ + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +DRU OUTLINES HIS INTENTIONS + + +The day after this address was issued, General Dru reviewed his army and +received such an ovation that it stilled criticism, for it was plain +that the new order of things had to be accepted, and there was a thrill +of fear among those who would have liked to raise their voices in +protest. + +It was felt that the property and lives of all were now in the keeping +of one man. + +Dru's first official act was to call a conference of those, throughout +the Union, who had been leaders in the movement to overthrow the +Government. + +The gathering was large and representative, but he found no such +unanimity as amongst the army. A large part, perhaps a majority, were +outspoken for an immediate return to representative government. + +They were willing that unusual powers should be assumed long enough to +declare the old Government illegal, and to issue an immediate call for a +general election, state and national, to be held as usual in November. +The advocates of this plan were willing that Dru should remain in +authority until the duly constituted officials could be legally +installed. + +Dru presided over the meeting, therefore he took no part in the early +discussion, further than to ask for the fullest expression of opinion. +After hearing the plan for a limited dictatorship proposed, he arose, +and, in a voice vibrant with emotion, addressed the meeting as follows: + +"My fellow countrymen:--I feel sure that however much we may differ as +to methods, there is no one within the sound of my voice that does not +wish me well, and none, I believe, mistrusts either my honesty of +purpose, my patriotism, or my ultimate desire to restore as soon as +possible to our distracted land a constitutional government. + +"We all agreed that a change had to be brought about even though it +meant revolution, for otherwise the cruel hand of avarice would have +crushed out from us, and from our children, every semblance of freedom. +If our late masters had been more moderate in their greed we would have +been content to struggle for yet another period, hoping that in time we +might again have justice and equality before the law. But even so we +would have had a defective Government, defective in machinery and +defective in its constitution and laws. To have righted it, a century of +public education would have been necessary. The present opportunity has +been bought at fearful cost. If we use it lightly, those who fell upon +the field of Elma will have died in vain, and the anguish of mothers, +and the tears of widows and orphans will mock us because we failed in +our duty to their beloved dead. + +"For a long time I have known that this hour would come, and that there +would be those of you who would stand affrighted at the momentous change +from constitutional government to despotism, no matter how pure and +exalted you might believe my intentions to be. + +"But in the long watches of the night, in the solitude of my tent, I +conceived a plan of government which, by the grace of God, I hope to be +able to give to the American people. My life is consecrated to our +cause, and, hateful as is the thought of assuming supreme power, I can +see no other way clearly, and I would be recreant to my trust if I +faltered in my duty. Therefore, with the aid I know each one of you will +give me, there shall, in God's good time, be wrought 'a government of +the people, by the people and for the people.'" + +When Dru had finished there was generous applause. At first here and +there a dissenting voice was heard, but the chorus of approval drowned +it. It was a splendid tribute to his popularity and integrity. When +quiet was restored, he named twelve men whom he wanted to take charge of +the departments and to act as his advisors. + +They were all able men, each distinguished in his own field of endeavor, +and when their names were announced there was an outburst of +satisfaction. + +The meeting adjourned, and each member went home a believer in Dru and +the policy he had adopted. They, in turn, converted the people to their +view of the situation, so that Dru was able to go forward with his great +work, conscious of the support and approval of an overwhelming majority +of his fellow countrymen. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +A NEW ERA AT WASHINGTON + + +When General Dru assumed the responsibilities of Government he saw +that, unless he arranged it otherwise, social duties would prove a tax +upon his time and would deter him from working with that celerity for +which he had already become famous. He had placed Mr. Strawn at the head +of the Treasury Department and he offered him the use of the White +House as a place of residence. His purpose was to have Mrs. Strawn and +Gloria relieve him of those social functions that are imposed upon the +heads of all Governments. Mrs. Strawn was delighted with such an +arrangement, and it almost compensated her for having been forced by her +husband and Gloria into the ranks of the popular or insurgent party. Dru +continued to use the barracks as his home, though he occupied the +offices in the White House for public business. It soon became a +familiar sight in Washington to see him ride swiftly through the streets +on his seal-brown gelding, Twilight, as he went to and from the barracks +and the White House. Dru gave and attended dinners to foreign +ambassadors and special envoys, but at the usual entertainments given to +the public or to the official family he was seldom seen. He and Gloria +were in accord, regarding the character of entertainments to be given, +and all unnecessary display was to be avoided. This struck a cruel blow +at Mrs. Strawn, who desired to have everything in as sumptuous a way as +under the old régime, but both Dru and Gloria were as adamant, and she +had to be content with the new order of things. + +"Gloria," said Dru, "it pleases me beyond measure to find ourselves so +nearly in accord concerning the essential things, and I am glad to +believe that you express your convictions candidly and are not merely +trying to please me." + +"That, Philip, is because we are largely striving for the same purposes. +We both want, I think, to take the selfish equation out of our social +fabric. We want to take away the sting from poverty, and we want envy to +have no place in the world of our making. Is it not so?" + +"That seems to me, Gloria, to be the crux of our endeavors. But when we +speak of unselfishness, as we now have it in mind, we are entering a +hitherto unknown realm. The definition of selfishness yesterday or to- +day is quite another thing from the unselfishness that we have in view, +and which we hope and expect will soon leaven society. I think, perhaps, +we may reach the result quicker if we call it mankind's new and higher +pleasure or happiness, for that is what it will mean." + +"Philip, it all seems too altruistic ever to come in our lifetime; but, +do you know, I am awfully optimistic about it. I really believe it will +come so quickly, after it once gets a good start, that it will astound +us. The proverbial snowball coming down the mountain side will be as +nothing to it. Everyone will want to join the procession at once. No +one will want to be left out for the finger of Scorn to accuse. And, +strangely enough, I believe it will be the educated and rich, in fact +the ones that are now the most selfish, that will be in the vanguard of +the procession. They will be the first to realize the joy of it all, and +in this way will they redeem the sins of their ancestors." + +"Your enthusiasm, Gloria, readily imparts itself to me, and my heart +quickens with hope that what you say may be prophetic. But, to return to +the immediate work in hand, let us simplify our habits and customs to as +great a degree as is possible under existing circumstances. One of the +causes for the mad rush for money is the desire to excel our friends and +neighbors in our manner of living, our entertainments and the like. +Everyone has been trying to keep up with the most extravagant of his +set: the result must, in the end, be unhappiness for all and disaster +for many. What a pitiful ambition it is! How soul-lowering! How it +narrows the horizon! We cannot help the poor, we cannot aid our +neighbor, for, if we do, we cannot keep our places in the unholy +struggle for social equality within our little sphere. Let us go, +Gloria, into the fresh air, for it stifles me to think of this phase of +our civilization. I wish I had let our discussion remain upon the high +peak where you placed it and from which we gazed into the promised +land." + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +AN INTERNATIONAL CRISIS + + +The Administrator did nothing towards reducing the army which, +including those in the Philippines and elsewhere, totalled five hundred +thousand. He thought this hardly sufficient considering international +conditions, and one of his first acts was to increase the number of men +to six hundred thousand and to arm and equip them thoroughly. + +For a long period of years England had maintained relations with the +United States that amounted to an active alliance, but there was +evidence that she had under discussion, with her old-time enemy, +Germany, a treaty by which that nation was to be allowed a free hand in +South America. + +In return for this England was to be conceded all German territory in +Africa, and was to be allowed to absorb, eventually, that entire +continent excepting that part belonging to France. + +Japan, it seemed, was to be taken into the agreement and was to be given +her will in the East. If she desired the Philippines, she might take +them as far as European interference went. Her navy was more powerful +than any the United States could readily muster in the far Pacific, and +England would, if necessary, serve notice upon us that her gunboats were +at Japan's disposal in case of war. + +In return, Japan was to help in maintaining British supremacy in India, +which was now threatened by the vigorous young Republic of China. + +The latter nation did not wish to absorb India herself, but she was +committed to the policy of "Asia for the Asiatics," and it did not take +much discernment to see that some day soon this would come about. + +China and Japan had already reached an agreement concerning certain +matters of interest between them, the most important being that Japan +should maintain a navy twice as powerful as that of China, and that the +latter should have an army one-third more powerful than that of Japan. +The latter was to confine her sphere of influence to the Islands of the +Sea and to Korea, and, in the event of a combined attack on Russia, +which was contemplated, they were to acquire Siberia as far west as +practicable, and divide that territory. China had already by purchase, +concessions and covert threats, regained that part of her territory once +held by England, Germany and France. She had a powerful array and a navy +of some consequence, therefore she must needs to be reckoned with. + +England's hold upon Canada was merely nominal, therefore, further than +as a matter of pride, it was of slight importance to her whether she +lost it or not. Up to the time of the revolution, Canada had been a +hostage, and England felt that she could at no time afford a rupture +with us. But the alluring vision that Germany held out to her was +dazzling her statesmen. Africa all red from the Cape to the +Mediterranean and from Madagascar to the Atlantic was most alluring. And +it seemed so easy of accomplishment. Germany maintained her military +superiority, as England, even then, held a navy equal to any two powers. + +Germany was to exploit South America without reference to the Monroe +Doctrine, and England was to give her moral support, and the support of +her navy, if necessary. If the United States objected to the extent of +declaring war, they were prepared to meet that issue. Together, they +could put into commission a navy three times as strong as that of the +United States, and with Canada as a base, and with a merchant marine +fifty times as large as that of the United States, they could convey +half a million men to North America as quickly as Dru could send a like +number to San Francisco. If Japan joined the movement, she could occupy +the Pacific Slope as long as England and Germany were her allies. + +The situation which had sprung up while the United States was putting +her own house in order, was full of peril and General Dru gave it his +careful and immediate attention. + +None of the powers at interest knew that Dru's Government had the +slightest intimation of what was being discussed. The information had +leaked through one of the leading international banking houses, that had +been approached concerning a possible loan for a very large amount, and +the secret had reached Selwyn through Thor. + +Selwyn not only gave General Dru this information, but much else that +was of extreme value. Dru soon came to know that at heart Selwyn was not +without patriotism, and that it was only from environment and an +overweening desire for power that had led him into the paths he had +heretofore followed. Selwyn would have preferred ruling through the +people rather than through the interests and the machinations of corrupt +politics, but he had little confidence that the people would take enough +interest in public affairs to make this possible, and to deviate from +the path he had chosen, meant, he thought, disaster to his ambitions. + +Dru's career proved him wrong, and no one was quicker to see it than +Selwyn. Dru's remarkable insight into character fathomed the real man, +and, in a cautious and limited way, he counseled with him as the need +arose. + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE REFORM OF THE JUDICIARY + + +Of his Council of Twelve, the Administrator placed one member in charge +of each of the nine departments, and gave to the other three special +work that was constantly arising. + +One of his advisers was a man of distinguished lineage, but who, in his +early youth, had been compelled to struggle against those unhappy +conditions that followed reconstruction in the South. His intellect and +force of character had brought him success in his early manhood, and he +was the masterful head of a university that, under his guidance, was +soon to become one of the foremost in the world. He was a trained +political economist, and had rare discernment in public affairs, +therefore Dru leaned heavily upon him when he began to rehabilitate the +Government. + +Dru used Selwyn's unusual talents for organization and administration, +in thoroughly overhauling the actual machinery of both Federal and State +Governments. There was no doubt but that there was an enormous waste +going on, and this he undertook to stop, for he felt sure that as much +efficiency could be obtained at two-thirds the cost. One of his first +acts as Administrator was to call together five great lawyers, who had +no objectionable corporate or private practice, and give to them the +task of defining the powers of all courts, both State and Federal. + +They were not only to remodel court procedure, but to eliminate such +courts as were unnecessary. To this board he gave the further task of +reconstructing the rules governing lawyers, their practice before the +courts, their relations to their clients and the amount and character of +their fees under given conditions. + +Under Dru's instruction the commission was to limit the power of the +courts to the extent that they could no longer pass upon the +constitutionality of laws, their function being merely to decide, as +between litigants, what the law was, as was the practice of all other +civilized nations. + +Judges, both Federal and State, were to be appointed for life, subject +to compulsory retirement at seventy, and to forced retirement at any +time by a two-thirds vote of the House and a majority vote of the +Senate. Their appointment was to be suggested by the President or +Governor, as the case might be, and a majority vote of the House and a +two-third vote of the Senate were necessary for confirmation. + +High salaries were to be paid, but the number of judges was to be +largely decreased, perhaps by two-thirds. This would be possible, +because the simplification of procedure and the curtailment of their +powers would enormously lessen the amount of work to be done. Dru called +the Board's attention to the fact that England had about two hundred +judges of all kinds, while there were some thirty-six hundred in the +United States, and that the reversals by the English Courts were only +about three per cent. of the reversals by the American Courts. + +The United States had, therefore, the most complicated, expensive and +inadequate legal machinery of any civilized nation. Lawyers were no +longer to be permitted to bring suits of doubtful character, and without +facts and merit to sustain them. Hereafter it would be necessary for the +attorney, and the client himself, to swear to the truth of the +allegations submitted in their petitions of suits and briefs. + +If they could not show that they had good reason to believe that their +cause was just, they would be subject to fines and imprisonment, besides +being subject to damages by the defendant. Dru desired the Board on +Legal Procedure and Judiciary to work out a fair and comprehensive +system, based along the fundamental lines he had laid down, so that the +people might be no longer ridden by either the law or the lawyer. It was +his intention that no man was to be suggested for a judgeship or +confirmed who was known to drink to excess, either regularly or +periodically, or one who was known not to pay his personal debts, or had +acted in a reprehensible manner either in private or in his public +capacity as a lawyer. + +Any of these habits or actions occurring after appointment was to +subject him to impeachment. Moreover, any judge who used his position to +favor any individual or corporation, or who deviated from the path of +even and exact justice for all, or who heckled a litigant, witness or +attorney, or who treated them in an unnecessarily harsh or insulting +manner, was to be, upon complaint duly attested to by reliable +witnesses, tried for impeachment. + +The Administrator was positive in his determination to have the +judiciary a most efficient bureau of the people, and to have it +sufficiently well paid to obtain the best talent. He wanted it held in +the highest esteem, and to have an appointment thereon considered one of +the greatest honors of the Republic. To do this he knew it was necessary +for its members to be able, honest, temperate and considerate. + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +A NEW CODE OF LAWS + + +Dru selected another board of five lawyers, and to them he gave the task +of reforming legal procedure and of pruning down the existing laws, both +State and National, cutting out the obsolete and useless ones and +rewriting those recommended to be retained, in plain and direct language +free from useless legal verbiage and understandable to the ordinary lay +citizen. + +He then created another board, of even greater ability, to read, digest +and criticise the work of the other two boards and report their findings +directly to him, giving a brief summary of their reasons and +recommendations. To assist in this work he engaged in an advisory +capacity three eminent lawyers from England, Germany and France +respectively. + +The three boards were urged to proceed with as much despatch as +possible, for Dru knew that it would take at least several years to do +it properly, and afterwards he would want to place the new code of laws +in working order under the reformed judiciary before he would be content +to retire. The other changes he had in mind he thought could be +accomplished much more quickly. + +Among other things, Dru directed that the States should have a +simplification of land titles, so that transfers of real estate could be +made as easy as the transfer of stocks, and with as little expense, no +attorneys' fees for examination of titles, and no recording fees being +necessary. The title could not be contested after being once registered +in a name, therefore no litigation over real property could be possible. +It was estimated by Dru's statisticians that in some States this would +save the people annually a sum equal to the cost of running their +governments. + +A uniform divorce law was also to be drawn and put into operation, so +that the scandals arising from the old conditions might no longer be +possible. + +It was arranged that when laws affecting the States had been written, +before they went into effect they were to be submitted to a body of +lawyers made up of one representative from each State. This body could +make suggestions for such additions or eliminations as might seem to +them pertinent, and conforming with conditions existing in their +respective commonwealths, but the board was to use its judgment in the +matter of incorporating the suggestions in the final draft of the law. +It was not the Administrator's purpose to rewrite at that time the +Federal and State Constitutions, but to do so at a later date when the +laws had been rewritten and decided upon; he wished to first satisfy +himself as to them and their adaptability to the existing conditions, +and then make a constitution conforming with them. This would seem to be +going at things backward, but it recommended itself to Dru as the sane +and practical way to have the constitutions and laws in complete +harmony. + +The formation of the three boards created much disturbance among judges, +lawyers and corporations, but when the murmur began to assume the +proportions of a loud-voiced protest, General Dru took the matter in +hand. He let it be known that it would be well for them to cease to +foment trouble. He pointed out that heretofore the laws had been made +for the judges, for the lawyers and for those whose financial or +political influence enabled them to obtain special privileges, but that +hereafter the whole legal machinery was to be run absolutely in the +interest of the people. The decisive and courageous manner in which he +handled this situation, brought him the warm and generous approval of +the people and they felt that at last their day had come. + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +THE QUESTION OF TAXATION + + +The question of taxation was one of the most complex problems with which +the Administrator had to deal. As with the legal machinery he formed a +board of five to advise with him, and to carry out his very well-defined +ideas. Upon this board was a political economist, a banker, who was +thought to be the ablest man of his profession, a farmer who was a very +successful and practical man, a manufacturer and a Congressman, who for +many years had been the consequential member of the Ways and Means +Committee. All these men were known for their breadth of view and their +interest in public affairs. + +Again, Dru went to England, France and Germany for the best men he could +get as advisers to the board. He offered such a price for their services +that, eminent as they were, they did not feel that they could refuse. He +knew the best were the cheapest. + +At the first sitting of the Committee, Dru told them to consider every +existing tax law obliterated, to begin anew and to construct a revenue +system along the lines he indicated for municipalities, counties, +states and the Nation. He did not contemplate, he said, that the new law +should embrace all the taxes which the three first-named civil divisions +could levy, but that it should apply only where taxes related to the +general government. Nevertheless, Dru was hopeful that such a system +would be devised as would render it unnecessary for either +municipalities, counties or states to require any further revenue. Dru +directed the board to divide each state into districts for the purpose +of taxation, not making them large enough to be cumbersome, and yet not +small enough to prohibit the employment of able men to form the +assessment and collecting boards. He suggested that these boards be +composed of four local men and one representative of the Nation. + +He further directed that the tax on realty both in the country and the +city should be upon the following basis:--Improvements on city property +were to be taxed at one-fifth of their value, and the naked property +either in town or country at two-thirds of its value. The fact that +country property used for agricultural purposes was improved, should not +be reckoned. In other words, if A had one hundred acres with eighty +acres of it in cultivation and otherwise improved, and B had one hundred +acres beside him of just as good land, but not in cultivation or +improved, B's land should be taxed as much as A's. + +In cities and towns taxation was to be upon a similar basis. For +instance, when there was a lot, say, one hundred feet by one hundred +feet with improvements upon it worth three hundred thousand dollars, and +there was another lot of the same size and value, the improved lot +should be taxed only sixty thousand more than the unimproved lot; that +is, both lots should be taxed alike, and the improvement on the one +should be assessed at sixty thousand dollars or one-fifth of its actual +value. + +This, Dru pointed out, would deter owners from holding unimproved +realty, for the purpose of getting the unearned increment made possible +by the thrift of their neighbors. In the country it would open up land +for cultivation now lying idle, provide homes for more people, cheapen +the cost of living to all, and make possible better schools, better +roads and a better opportunity for the successful cooperative marketing +of products. + +In the cities and towns, it would mean a more homogeneous population, +with better streets, better sidewalks, better sewerage, more convenient +churches and cheaper rents and homes. As it was at that time, a poor man +could not buy a home nor rent one near his work, but must needs go to +the outskirts of his town, necessitating loss of time and cost of +transportation, besides sacrificing the obvious comforts and +conveniences of a more compact population. + +The Administrator further directed the tax board to work out a graduated +income tax exempting no income whatsoever. Incomes up to one thousand +dollars a year, Dru thought, should bear a merely nominal tax of one- +half of one per cent.; those of from one to two thousand, one per cent.; +those of from two to five thousand, two per cent.; those of from five to +ten thousand, three per cent.; those of from ten to twenty thousand, six +per cent. The tax on incomes of more than twenty thousand dollars a +year, Dru directed, was to be rapidly increased, until a maximum of +seventy per cent. was to be reached on those incomes that were ten +million dollars, or above. + +False returns, false swearing, or any subterfuge to defraud the +Government, was to be punished by not less than six months or more than +two years in prison. The board was further instructed to incorporate in +their tax measure, an inheritance tax clause, graduated at the same rate +as in the income tax, and to safeguard the defrauding of the Government +by gifts before death and other devices. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +A FEDERAL INCORPORATION ACT + + +Along with the first board on tax laws, Administrator Dru appointed yet +another commission to deal with another phase of this subject. The +second board was composed of economists and others well versed in +matters relating to the tariff and Internal Revenue, who, broadly +speaking, were instructed to work out a tariff law which would +contemplate the abolishment of the theory of protection as a +governmental policy. A tariff was to be imposed mainly as a supplement +to the other taxes, the revenue from which, it was thought, would be +almost sufficient for the needs of the Government, considering the +economies that were being made. + +Dru's father had been an ardent advocate of State rights, and the +Administrator had been reared in that atmosphere; but when he began to +think out such questions for himself, he realized that density of +population and rapid inter-communication afforded by electric and steam +railroads, motors, aeroplanes, telegraphs and telephones were, to all +practical purposes, obliterating State lines and molding the country +into a homogeneous nation. + +Therefore, after the Revolution, Dru saw that the time had come for this +trend to assume more definite form, and for the National Government to +take upon itself some of the functions heretofore exclusively within the +jurisdiction of the States. Up to the time of the Revolution a state of +chaos had existed. For instance, laws relating to divorces, franchises, +interstate commerce, sanitation and many other things were different in +each State, and nearly all were inefficient and not conducive to the +general welfare. Administrator Dru therefore concluded that the time had +come when a measure of control of such things should be vested in the +Central Government. He therefore proposed enacting into the general laws +a Federal Incorporation Act, and into his scheme of taxation a franchise +tax that would not be more burdensome than that now imposed by the +States. He also proposed making corporations share with the Government +and States a certain part of their net earnings, public service +corporations to a greater extent than others. Dru's plan contemplated +that either the Government or the State in which the home or +headquarters of any corporation was located was to have representation +upon the boards of such corporation, in order that the interests of the +National, State, or City Government could be protected, and so as to +insure publicity in the event it was needful to correct abuses. + +He had incorporated in the Franchise Law the right of Labor to have one +representative upon the boards of corporations and to share a certain +percentage of the earnings above their wages, after a reasonable per +cent, upon the capital had been earned. [Footnote: See WHAT CO-PARTNERSHIP +CAN DO below.] In turn, it was to be obligatory upon them not to strike, +but to submit all grievances to arbitration. The law was to stipulate +that if the business prospered, wages should be high; if times were dull, +they should be reduced. + +The people were asked to curb their prejudice against corporations. It +was promised that in the future corporations should be honestly run, and +in the interest of the stockholders and the public. Dru expressed the +hope that their formation would be welcomed rather than discouraged, for +he was sure that under the new law it would be more to the public +advantage to have business conducted by corporations than by individuals +in a private capacity. In the taxation of real estate, the unfair +practice of taxing it at full value when mortgaged and then taxing the +holder of the mortgage, was to be abolished. The same was to be true of +bonded indebtedness on any kind of property. The easy way to do this was +to tax property and not tax the evidence of debt, but Dru preferred the +other method, that of taxing the property, less the debt, and then +taxing the debt wherever found. + +His reason for this was that, if bonds or other forms of debt paid no +taxes, it would have a tendency to make investors put money into that +kind of security, even though the interest was correspondingly low, in +order to avoid the trouble of rendering and paying taxes on them. This, +he thought, might keep capital out of other needful enterprises, and +give a glut of money in one direction and a paucity in another. Money +itself was not to be taxed as was then done in so many States. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +THE RAILROAD PROBLEM + + +While the boards and commissions appointed by Administrator Dru were +working out new tax, tariff and revenue laws, establishing the judiciary +and legal machinery on a new basis and revising the general law, it was +necessary that the financial system of the country also should be +reformed. Dru and his advisers saw the difficulties of attacking this +most intricate question, but with the advice and assistance of a +commission appointed for that purpose, they began the formulation of a +new banking law, affording a flexible currency, bottomed largely upon +commercial assets, the real wealth of the nation, instead of upon debt, +as formerly. + +This measure was based upon the English, French and German plans, its +authors taking the best from each and making the whole conform to +American needs and conditions. Dru regarded this as one of his most +pressing reforms, for he hoped that it would not only prevent panics, as +formerly, but that its final construction would completely destroy the +credit trust, the greatest, the most far reaching and, under evil +direction, the most pernicious trust of all. + +While in this connection, as well as all others, he was insistent that +business should be honestly conducted, yet it was his purpose to throw +all possible safeguards around it. In the past it had been not only +harassed by a monetary system that was a mere patchwork affair and +entirely inadequate to the needs of the times, but it had been +constantly threatened by tariff, railroad and other legislation +calculated to cause continued disturbance. The ever-present demagogue +had added to the confusion, and, altogether, legitimate business had +suffered more during the long season of unrest than had the law-defying +monopolies. + +Dru wanted to see the nation prosper, as he knew it could never have +done under the old order, where the few reaped a disproportionate reward +and to this end he spared no pains in perfecting the new financial +system. In the past the railroads and a few industrial monopolies had +come in for the greatest amount of abuse and prejudice. This feeling +while largely just, in his opinion, had done much harm. The railroads +were the offenders in the first instance, he knew, and then the people +retaliated, and in the end both the capitalists who actually furnished +the money to build the roads and the people suffered. + +"In the first place," said Administrator Dru to his counsel during the +discussion of the new financial system, "the roads were built +dishonestly. Money was made out of their construction by the promoters +in the most open and shameless way, and afterwards bonds and stocks were +issued far in excess of the fraudulent so-called cost. Nor did the +iniquity end there. Enterprises were started, some of a public nature +such as grain elevators and cotton compresses, in which the officials of +the railroads were financially interested. These favored concerns +received rebates and better shipping facilities than their competitors +and competition was stifled. + +"Iron mines and mills, lumber mills and yards, coal mines and yards, +etc., etc., went into their rapacious maw, and the managers considered +the railroads a private snap and 'the public be damned.' + +"These things," continued Dru, "did not constitute their sole offense, +for, as you all know, they lobbied through legislatures the most +unconscionable bills, giving them land, money and rights to further +exploit the public. + +"But the thing that, perhaps, aroused resentment most was their failure +to pay just claims. The idea in the old days, as you remember, was to +pay nothing, and make it so expensive to litigate that one would prefer +to suffer an injustice rather than go to court. From this policy was +born the claim lawyer, who financed and fought through the courts +personal injury claims, until it finally came to pass that in loss or +damage suits the average jury would decide against the railroad on +general principles. In such cases the litigant generally got all he +claimed and the railroad was mulcted. There is no estimating how much +this unfortunate policy cost the railroads of America up to the time of +the Revolution. The trouble was that the ultimate loss fell, not on +those who inaugurated it but upon the innocent stock and bondholder of +the roads. + +"While the problem is complicated," he continued, "its solution lies in +the new financial system, together with the new system of control of +public utilities." + +To this end, Dru laid down his plans by which public service +corporations should be honestly, openly and efficiently run, so that the +people should have good service at a minimum cost. + +Primarily the general Government, the state or the city, as the case +might be, were to have representation on the directorate, as previously +indicated. They were to have full access to the books, and semi-annually +each corporation was to be compelled to make public a full and a clear +report, giving the receipts and expenditures, including salaries paid to +high officials. These corporations were also to be under the control of +national and state commissions. + +While the Nation and State were to share in the earnings, Dru demanded +that the investor in such corporate securities should have reasonable +profits, and the fullest protection, in the event states or +municipalities attempted to deal unfairly with them, as had heretofore +been the case in many instances. + +The Administrator insisted upon the prohibition of franchise to "holding +companies" of whatsoever character. In the past, he declared, they had +been prolific trust breeders, and those existing at that time, he +asserted, should be dissolved. + +Under the new law, as Dru outlined it, one company might control +another, but it would have to be with the consent of both the state and +federal officials having jurisdiction in the premises, and it would have +to be clear that the public would be benefited thereby. There was to be +in the future no hiding under cover, for everything was to be done in +the open, and in a way entirely understandable to the ordinary layman. + +Certain of the public service corporations, Dru insisted, should be +taken over bodily by the National Government and accordingly the +Postmaster General was instructed to negotiate with the telegraph and +telephone companies for their properties at a fair valuation. They were +to be under the absolute control of the Postoffice Department, and the +people were to have the transmission of all messages at cost, just as +they had their written ones. A parcel post was also inaugurated, so that +as much as twelve pounds could be sent at cost. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +SELWYN'S STORY + + +The further Administrator Dru carried his progress of reform, the more +helpful he found Selwyn. Dru's generous treatment of him had brought in +return a grateful loyalty. + +One stormy night, after Selwyn had dined with Dru, he sat contentedly +smoking by a great log fire in the library of the small cottage which +Dru occupied in the barracks. + +"This reminds me," he said, "of my early boyhood, and of the fireplace +in the old tavern where I was born." + +General Dru had long wanted to know of Selwyn, and, though they had +arranged to discuss some important business, Dru urged the former +Senator to tell him something of his early life. + +Selwyn consented, but asked that the lights be turned off so that there +would be only the glow from the fire, in order that it might seem more +like the old days at home when his father's political cronies gathered +about the hearth for their confidential talks. + +And this was Selwyn's story:-- + +My father was a man of small education and kept a tavern on the outer +edge of Philadelphia. I was his only child, my mother dying in my +infancy. There was a bar connected with the house, and it was a +rendezvous for the politicians of our ward. I became interested in +politics so early that I cannot remember the time when I was not. My +father was a temperate man, strong-willed and able, and I have often +wondered since that he was content to end his days without trying to get +beyond the environments of a small tavern. + +He was sensitive, and perhaps his lack of education caused him to +hesitate to enter a larger and more conspicuous field. + +However, he was resolved that I should not be hampered as he was, and I +was, therefore, given a good common school education first, and +afterwards sent to Girard College, where I graduated, the youngest of my +class. + +Much to my father's delight, I expressed a desire to study law, for it +seemed to us both that this profession held the best opportunity open to +me. My real purpose in becoming a lawyer was to aid me in politics, for +it was clear to both my father and me that I had an unusual aptitude +therefor. + +My study of law was rather cursory than real, and did not lead to a +profound knowledge of the subject, but it was sufficient for me to +obtain admittance to the bar, and it was not long, young as I was, +before my father's influence brought me a practice that was lucrative +and which required but little legal lore. + +At that time the ward boss was a man by the name of Marx. While his +father was a German, he was almost wholly Irish, for his father died +when he was young, and he was reared by a masculine, masterful, though +ignorant Irish mother. + +He was my father's best friend, and there were no secrets between them. +They seldom paid attention to me, and I was rarely dismissed even when +they had their most confidential talks. In this way, I early learned how +our great American cities are looted, not so much by those actually in +power, for they are of less consequence than the more powerful men +behind them. + +If any contract of importance was to be let, be it either public or +private, Marx and his satellites took their toll. He, in his turn, had +to account to the man above, the city boss. + +If a large private undertaking was contemplated, the ward boss had to be +seen and consulted as to the best contractors, and it was understood +that at least five per cent. more than the work was worth had to be +paid, otherwise, there would be endless trouble and delay. The inspector +of buildings would make trouble; complaints would be made of obstructing +the streets and sidewalks, and injunctions would be issued. So it was +either to pay, or not construct. Marx provided work for the needy, +loaned money to the poor, sick and disabled, gave excursions and picnics +in the summer: for all of this others paid, but it enabled him to hold +the political control of the ward in the hollow of his hand. The boss +above him demanded that the councilmen from his ward should be men who +would do his bidding without question. + +The city boss, in turn, trafficked with the larger public contracts, and +with the granting and extensions of franchises. It was a fruitful field, +for there was none above him with whom he was compelled to divide. + +The State boss treated the city bosses with much consideration, for he +was more or less dependent upon them, his power consisting largely of +the sum of their power. + +The State boss dealt in larger things, and became a national figure. He +was more circumspect in his methods, for he had a wider constituency and +a more intelligent opposition. + +The local bosses were required to send to the legislature "loyal" party +men who did not question the leadership of the State boss. + +The big interests preferred having only one man to deal with, which +simplified matters; consequently they were strong aids in helping him +retain his power. Any measure they desired passed by the legislature was +first submitted to him, and he would prune it until he felt he could put +it through without doing too great violence to public sentiment. The +citizens at large do not scrutinize measures closely; they are too busy +in their own vineyards to bother greatly about things which only +remotely or indirectly concern them. + +This selfish attitude and indifference of our people has made the boss +and his methods possible. The "big interests" reciprocate in many and +devious ways, ways subtle enough to seem not dishonest even if exposed +to public view. + +So that by early education I was taught to think that the despoliation +of the public, in certain ways, was a legitimate industry. + +Later, I knew better, but I had already started my plow in the furrow, +and it was hard to turn back. I wanted money and I wanted power, and I +could see both in the career before me. + +It was not long, of course, before I had discernment enough to see that +I was not being employed for my legal ability. My income was practically +made from retainers, and I was seldom called upon to do more than to use +my influence so that my client should remain undisturbed in the pursuit +of his business, be it legitimate or otherwise. Young as I was, Marx +soon offered me a seat in the Council. It was my first proffer of +office, but I declined it. I did not want to be identified with a body +for which I had such a supreme contempt. My aim was higher. Marx, +though, was sincere in his desire to further my fortunes, for he had no +son, and his affection for my father and me was genuine. + +I frankly told him the direction in which my ambition lay, and he +promised me his cordial assistance. I wanted to get beyond ward +politics, and in touch with the city boss. + +It was my idea that, if I could maintain myself with him, I would in +time ask him to place me within the influence of the State boss, where +my field of endeavor would be as wide as my abilities would justify. + +I did not lose my identity with my ward, but now my work covered all +Philadelphia, and my retainers became larger and more numerous, for I +was within the local sphere of the "big interests." + +At that time the boss was a man by the name of Hardy. He was born in the +western part of the State, but came to Philadelphia when a boy, his +mother having married the second time a man named Metz, who was then +City Treasurer and who afterwards became Mayor. + +Hardy was a singular man for a boss; small of frame, with features +almost effeminate, and with anything but a robust constitution, he did +a prodigious amount of work. + +He was not only taciturn to an unusual degree, but he seldom wrote, or +replied to letters. Yet he held an iron grip upon the organization. + +His personal appearance and quiet manners inspired many ambitious +underlings to try to dislodge him, but their failure was signal and +complete. + +He had what was, perhaps, the most perfectly organized machine against +which any municipality had ever had the misfortune to contend. + +Hardy made few promises and none of them rash, but no man could +truthfully say that he ever broke one. I feel certain that he would have +made good his spoken word even at the expense of his fortune or +political power. + +Then, too, he played fair, and his henchmen knew it. He had no favorites +whom he unduly rewarded at the expense of the more efficient. He had +likes and dislikes as other men, but his judgment was never warped by +that. Success meant advancement, failure meant retirement. + +And he made his followers play fair. There were certain rules of the +game that had to be observed, and any infraction thereof meant +punishment. + +The big, burly fellows he had under him felt pride in his physical +insignificance, and in the big brain that had never known defeat. + +When I became close to him, I asked him why he had never expanded; that +he must have felt sure that he could have spread his jurisdiction +throughout the State, and that the labor in the broader position must be +less than in the one he occupied. His reply was characteristic of the +man. He said he was not where he was from choice, that environment and +opportunity had forced him into the position he occupied, but that once +there, he owed it to his followers to hold it against all comers. He +said that he would have given it up long ago, if it had not been for +this feeling of obligation to those who loved and trusted him. To desert +them, and to make new responsibilities, was unthinkable from his +viewpoint. + +That which I most wondered at in Hardy was, his failure to comprehend +that the work he was engaged in was dishonest. I led cautiously up to +this one day, and this was his explanation: + +"The average American citizen refuses to pay attention to civic affairs, +contenting himself with a general growl at the tax rate, and the +character and inefficiency of public officials. He seldom takes the +trouble necessary to form the Government to suit his views. + +"The truth is, he has no cohesive or well-digested views, it being too +much trouble to form them. Therefore, some such organization as ours is +essential. Being essential, then it must have funds with which to +proceed, and the men devoting their lives to it must be recompensed, so +the system we use is the best that can be devised under the +circumstances. + +"It is like the tariff and internal revenue taxes by which the National +Government is run, that is, indirect. The citizen pays, but he does not +know when he pays, nor how much he is paying. + +"A better system could, perhaps, be devised in both instances, but this +cannot be done until the people take a keener interest in their public +affairs." + +Hardy was not a rich man, though he had every opportunity of being so. +He was not avaricious, and his tastes and habits were simple, and he had +no family to demand the extravagances that are undermining our national +life. He was a vegetarian, and he thought, and perhaps rightly, that in +a few centuries from now the killing of animals and the eating of their +corpses would be regarded in the same way as we now think of +cannibalism. + +He divided the money that came to him amongst his followers, and this +was one of the mainsprings of his power. + +All things considered, it is not certain but that he gave Philadelphia +as good government as her indifferent citizens deserved. + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +SELWYN'S STORY, CONTINUED + + +By the time I was thirty-six I had accumulated what seemed to me then, a +considerable fortune, and I had furthermore become Hardy's right-hand +man. + +He had his forces divided in several classes, of choice I was ranged +among those whose duties were general and not local. I therefore had a +survey of the city as a whole, and was not infrequently in touch with +the masters of the State at large. Hardy concerned himself about my +financial welfare to the extent of now and then inquiring whether my +income was satisfactory, and the nature of it. I assured him that it was +and that he need have no further thought of me in that connection. I +told him that I was more ambitious to advance politically than +financially, and, while expressing my gratitude for all he had done for +me and my keen regret at the thought of leaving him, I spoke again of my +desire to enter State politics. + +Some six years before I had married the daughter of a State Senator, a +man who was then seeking the gubernatorial nomination. + +On my account, Hardy gave him cordial support, but the State boss had +other plans, and my father-in-law was shelved "for the moment," as the +boss expressed it, for one who suited his purposes better. + +Both Hardy, my father-in-law, and their friends resented this action, +because the man selected was not in line for the place and the boss was +not conforming to the rules of the game. + +They wanted to break openly and immediately, but I advised delay until +we were strong enough to overthrow him. + +The task of quietly organizing an effective opposition to the State +boss was left to me, and although I lost no time, it was a year before I +was ready to make the fight. + +In the meanwhile, the boss had no intimation of the revolt. My father- +in-law and Hardy had, by my direction, complied with all the requests +that he made upon them, and he thought himself never more secure. + +I went to the legislature that year in accordance with our plans, and +announced myself a candidate for speaker. I did this without consulting +the boss and purposely. He had already selected another man, and had +publicly committed himself to his candidacy, which was generally +considered equivalent to an election. + +The candidate was a weak man, and if the boss had known the extent of +the opposition that had developed, he would have made a stronger +selection. As it was, he threw not only the weight of his own influence +for his man and again irrevocably committed himself, but he had his +creature, the Governor, do likewise. + +My strength was still not apparent, for I had my forces well in hand, +and while I had a few declare themselves for me, the major part were +non-committal, and spoke in cautious terms of general approval of the +boss's candidate. + +The result was a sensation. I was elected by a safe, though small, +majority, and, as a natural result, the boss was deposed and I was +proclaimed his successor. + +I had found in organizing the revolt that there were many who had +grievances which, from fear, they had kept hidden but when they were +shown that they could safely be revenged, they eagerly took advantage of +the opportunity. + +So, in one campaign, I burst upon the public as the party leader, and +the question was now, how would I use it and could I hold it. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +SELWYN'S STORY, CONTINUED + + +Flushed though I was with victory, and with the flattery of friends, +time servers and sycophants in my ears, I felt a deep sympathy for the +boss. He was as a sinking ship and as such deserted. Yesterday a thing +for envy, to-day an object of pity. + +I wondered how long it would be before I, too, would be stranded. + +The interests, were, of course, among the first to congratulate me and +to assure me of their support. During that session of the legislature, I +did not change the character of the legislation, or do anything very +different from the usual. I wanted to feel my seat more firmly under me +before attempting the many things I had in mind. + +I took over into my camp all those that I could reasonably trust, and +strengthened my forces everywhere as expeditiously as possible. I weeded +out the incompetents, of whom there were many, and replaced them by +big-hearted, loyal and energetic men, who had easy consciences when it +came to dealing with the public affairs of either municipalities, +counties or the State. + +Of necessity, I had to use some who were vicious and dishonest, and who +would betray me in a moment if their interests led that way. But of +these there were few in my personal organization, though from +experience, I knew their kind permeated the municipal machines to a +large degree. + +The lessons learned from Hardy were of value to me now. I was liberal to +my following at the expense of myself, and I played the game fair as +they knew it. + +I declined re-election to the next legislature, because the office was +not commensurate with the dignity of the position I held as party +leader, and again, because the holding of state office was now a +perilous undertaking. + +In taking over the machine from the late boss, and in molding it into an +almost personal following I found it not only loosely put together, but +inefficient for my more ambitious purposes. + +After giving it four or five years of close attention, I was satisfied +with it, and I had no fear of dislodgment. + +I had found that the interests were not paying anything like a +commensurate amount for the special privileges they were getting, and I +more than doubled the revenue obtained by the deposed boss. + +This, of course, delighted my henchmen, and bound them more closely to +me. + +I also demanded and received information in advance of any extensions +of railroads, standard or interurban, of contemplated improvements of +whatsoever character, and I doled out this information to those of my +followers in whose jurisdiction lay such territory. + +My own fortune I augmented by advance information regarding the +appreciation of stocks. If an amalgamation of two important institutions +was to occur, or if they were to be put upon a dividend basis, or if the +dividend rate was to be increased, I was told, not only in advance of +the public, but in advance of the stockholders themselves. + +All such information I held in confidence even from my own followers, +for it was given me with such understanding. + +My next move was to get into national politics. I became something of a +factor at the national convention, by swinging Pennsylvania's vote at a +critical time; the result being the nomination of the now President, +consequently my relations with him were most cordial. + +The term of the senior Senator from our State was about to expire, and, +although he was well advanced in years, he desired re-election. + +I decided to take his seat for myself, so I asked the President to offer +him an ambassadorship. He did not wish to make the change, but when he +understood that it was that or nothing, he gracefully acquiesced in +order that he might be saved the humiliation of defeat. + +When he resigned, the Governor offered me the appointment for the +unexpired term. It had only three months to run before the legislature +met to elect his successor. + +I told him that I could not accept until I had conferred with my +friends. I had no intention of refusing, but I wanted to seem to defer +to the judgment of my lieutenants. + +I called them to the capital singly, and explained that I could be of +vastly more service to the organization were I at Washington, and I +arranged with them to convert the rank and file to this view. + +Each felt that the weight of my decision rested upon himself, and their +vanity was greatly pleased. I was begged not to renounce the leadership, +and after persuasion, this I promised not to do. + +As a matter of fact, it was never my intention to release my hold upon +the State, thus placing myself in another's power. + +So I accepted the tender of the Senatorship, and soon after, when the +legislature met, I was elected for the full term. + +I was in as close touch with my State at Washington as I was before, +for I spent a large part of my time there. + +I was not in Washington long before I found that the Government was run +by a few men; that outside of this little circle no one was of much +importance. + +It was my intention to break into it if possible, and my ambition now +leaped so far as to want, not only to be of it, but later, to be IT. + +I began my crusade by getting upon confidential terms with the +President. + +One night, when we were alone in his private study, I told him of the +manner and completeness of my organization in Pennsylvania. I could see +he was deeply impressed. He had been elected by an uncomfortably small +vote, and he was, I knew, looking for someone to manage the next +campaign, provided he again received the nomination. + +The man who had done this work in the last election was broken in +health, and had gone to Europe for an indefinite stay. + +The President questioned me closely, and ended by asking me to undertake +the direction of his campaign for re-nomination, and later to manage the +campaign for his election in the event he was again the party's +candidate. + +I was flattered by the proffer, and told him so, but I was guarded in +its acceptance. I wanted him to see more of me, hear more of my methods +and to become, as it were, the suppliant. + +This condition was soon brought about, and I entered into my new +relations with him under the most favorable circumstances. + +If I had readily acquiesced he would have assumed the air of favoring +me, as it was, the rule was reversed. + +He was overwhelmingly nominated and re-elected, and for the result he +generously gave me full credit. + +I was now well within the charmed circle, and within easy reach of my +further desire to have no rivals. This came about naturally and without +friction. + +The interests, of course, were soon groveling at my feet, and, heavy as +my demands were, I sometimes wondered like Clive at my own moderation. + +The rest of my story is known to you. I had tightened a nearly invisible +coil around the people, which held them fast, while the interests +despoiled them. We overdid it, and you came with the conscience of the +great majority of the American people back of you, and swung the Nation +again into the moorings intended by the Fathers of the Republic. + +When Selwyn had finished, the fire had burned low, and it was only now +and then that his face was lighted by the flickering flames revealing a +sadness that few had ever seen there before. + +Perhaps he saw in the dying embers something typical of his life as it +now was. Perhaps he longed to recall his youth and with it the strength, +the nervous force and the tireless thought that he had used to make +himself what he was. + +When life is so nearly spilled as his, things are measured differently, +and what looms large in the beginning becomes but the merest shadow when +the race has been run. + +As he contemplated the silent figure, Philip Dru felt something of +regret himself, for he now knew the groundwork of the man, and he was +sure that under other conditions, a career could have been wrought more +splendid than that of any of his fellows. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII + +THE COTTON CORNER + + +In modeling the laws, Dru called to the attention of those boards that +were doing that work, the so-called "loan sharks," and told them to deal +with them with a heavy hand. By no sort of subterfuge were they to be +permitted to be usurious. By their nefarious methods of charging the +maximum legal rate of interest and then exacting a commission for +monthly renewals of loans, the poor and the dependent were oftentimes +made to pay several hundred per cent. interest per annum. The criminal +code was to be invoked and protracted terms in prison, in addition to +fines, were to be used against them. + +He also called attention to a lesser, though serious, evil, of the +practice of farmers, mine-owners, lumbermen and other employers of +ignorant labor, of making advances of food, clothing and similar +necessities to their tenants or workmen, and charging them extortionate +prices therefor, thus securing the use of their labor at a cost entirely +incommensurate with its value. + +Stock, cotton and produce exchanges as then conducted came under the ban +of the Administrator's displeasure, and he indicated his intention of +reforming them to the extent of prohibiting, under penalty of fine and +imprisonment, the selling either short or long, stocks, bonds, +commodities of whatsoever character, or anything of value. Banks, +corporations or individuals lending money to any corporation or +individual whose purpose it was known to be to violate this law, should +be deemed as guilty as the actual offender and should be as heavily +punished. + +An immediate enforcement of this law was made because, just before the +Revolution, there was carried to a successful conclusion a gigantic but +iniquitous cotton corner. Some twenty or more adventurous millionaires, +led by one of the boldest speculators of those times, named Hawkins, +planned and succeeded in cornering cotton. + +It seemed that the world needed a crop of 16,000,000 bales, and while +the yield for the year was uncertain it appeared that the crop would run +to that figure and perhaps over. Therefore, prices were low and spot- +cotton was selling around eight cents, and futures for the distant +months were not much higher. + +By using all the markets and exchanges and by exercising much skill and +secrecy, Hawkins succeeded in buying two million bales of actual +cotton, and ten million bales of futures at an approximate average of +nine and a half cents. He had the actual cotton stored in relatively +small quantities throughout the South, much of it being on the farms and +at the gins where it was bought. Then, in order to hide his identity, he +had incorporated a company called "The Farmers' Protective Association." + +Through one of his agents he succeeded in officering it with well-known +Southerners, who knew only that part of the plan which contemplated an +increase in prices, and were in sympathy with it. He transferred his +spot-cotton to this company, the stock of which he himself held through +his dummies, _and then had his agents burn the entire two million +bales._ The burning was done quickly and with spectacular effect, and +the entire commercial world, both in America and abroad, were astounded +by the act. + +Once before in isolated instances the cotton planter had done this, and +once the farmers of the West, discouraged by low prices, had used corn +for fuel. That, however, was done on a small scale. But to deliberately +burn one hundred million dollars worth of property was almost beyond +the scope of the imagination. + +The result was a cotton panic, and Hawkins succeeded in closing out his +futures at an average price of fifteen cents, thereby netting twenty- +five dollars a bale, and making for himself and fellow buccaneers one +hundred and fifty million dollars. + +After amazement came indignation at such frightful abuse of +concentrated wealth. Those of Wall Street that were not caught, were +open in their expressions of admiration for Hawkins, for of such +material are their heroes made. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII + +UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE + + +At the end of the first quarter of the present century, twenty of the +forty-eight States had Woman Suffrage, and Administrator Dru decided to +give it to the Nation. In those twenty States, as far as he had +observed, there had been no change for the better in the general laws, +nor did the officials seem to have higher standards of efficiency than +in those States that still denied to women the right to vote, but he +noticed that there were more special laws bearing on the moral and +social side of life, and that police regulation was better. Upon the +whole, Dru thought the result warranted universal franchise without +distinction of race, color or sex. + +He believed that, up to the present time, a general franchise had been +a mistake and that there should have been restrictions and +qualifications, but education had become so general, and the condition +of the people had advanced to such an extent, that it was now warranted. + +It had long seemed to Dru absurd that the ignorant, and, as a rule, +more immoral male, should have such an advantage over the educated, +refined and intelligent female. Where laws discriminated at all, it was +almost always against rather than in favor of women; and this was true +to a much greater extent in Europe and elsewhere than in the United +States. Dru had a profound sympathy for the effort women were making to +get upon an equality with men in the race for life: and he believed that +with the franchise would come equal opportunity and equal pay for the +same work. + +America, he hoped, might again lead in the uplift of the sex, and the +example would be a distinct gain to women in those less forward +countries where they were still largely considered as inferior to and +somewhat as chattels to man. + +Then, too, Dru had an infinite pity for the dependent and submerged +life of the generality of women. Man could ask woman to mate, but women +were denied this privilege, and, even when mated, oftentimes a life of +never ending drudgery followed. + +Dru believed that if women could ever become economically independent of +man, it would, to a large degree, mitigate the social evil. + +They would then no longer be compelled to marry, or be a charge upon +unwilling relatives or, as in desperation they sometimes did, lead +abandoned lives. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX + +A NEGATIVE GOVERNMENT + + +Upon assuming charge of the affairs of the Republic, the Administrator +had largely retained the judiciary as it was then constituted, and he +also made but few changes in the personnel of State and Federal +officials, therefore there had, as yet, been no confusion in the +public's business. Everything seemed about as usual, further than there +were no legislative bodies sitting, and the function of law making was +confined to one individual, the Administrator himself. + +Before putting the proposed laws into force, he wished them thoroughly +worked out and digested. In the meantime, however, he was constantly +placing before his Cabinet and Commissioners suggestions looking to the +betterment of conditions, and he directed that these suggestions should +be molded into law. In order that the people might know what further +measures he had in mind for their welfare, other than those already +announced, he issued the following address: + +"It is my purpose," said he, "not to give to you any radical or ill- +digested laws. I wish rather to cull that which is best from the other +nations of the earth, and let you have the benefit of their thought and +experience. One of the most enlightened foreign students of our +Government has rightly said that _'America is the most undemocratic of +democratic countries.'_ We have been living under a Government of +negation, a Government with an executive with more power than any +monarch, a Government having a Supreme Court, clothed with greater +authority than any similar body on earth; therefore, we have lagged +behind other nations in democracy. Our Government is, perhaps, less +responsive to the will of the people than that of almost any of the +civilized nations. Our Constitution and our laws served us well for the +first hundred years of our existence, but under the conditions of to-day +they are not only obsolete, but even grotesque. It is nearly +impossible for the desires of our people to find expression into law. +In the latter part of the last century many will remember that an +income tax was wanted. After many vicissitudes, a measure embodying +that idea was passed by both Houses of Congress and was signed by the +Executive. But that did not give to us an income tax. The Supreme Court +found the law unconstitutional, and we have been vainly struggling since +to obtain relief. + +"If a well-defined majority of the people of England, of France, of +Italy or of Germany had wanted such a law they could have gotten it with +reasonable celerity. Our House of Representatives is supposed to be our +popular law-making body, and yet its members do not convene until a year +and one month from the time they are elected. No matter how pressing the +issue upon which a majority of them are chosen, more than a year must +elapse before they may begin their endeavors to carry out the will of +the people. When a bill covering the question at issue is finally +introduced in the House, it is referred to a committee, and that body +may hold it at its pleasure. + +"If, in the end, the House should pass the bill, that probably becomes +the end of it, for the Senate may kill it. + +"If the measure passes the Senate it is only after it has again been +referred to a committee and then back to a conference committee of both +Senate and House, and returned to each for final passage. + +"When all this is accomplished at a single session, it is unusually +expeditious, for measures, no matter how important, are often carried +over for another year. + +"If it should at last pass both House and Senate there is the Executive +veto to be considered. If, however, the President signs the bill and it +becomes a law, it is perhaps but short-lived, for the Supreme Court is +ever present with its Damoclean sword. + +"These barriers and interminable delays have caused the demand for the +initiative, referendum and recall. That clumsy weapon was devised in +some States largely because the people were becoming restless and +wanted a more responsive Government. + +"I am sure that I shall be able to meet your wishes in a much simpler +way, and yet throw sufficient safeguards around the new system to keep +it from proving hurtful, should an attack of political hysteria overtake +you. + +"However, there has never been a time in our history when a majority of +our people have not thought right on the public questions that came +before them, and there is no reason to believe that they will think +wrong now. + +"The interests want a Government hedged with restrictions, such as we +have been living under, and it is easy to know why, with the example of +the last administration fresh in the minds of all. + +"A very distinguished lawyer, once Ambassador to Great Britain, is +reported as saying on Lincoln's birthday: 'The Constitution is an +instrument designedly drawn by the founders of this Government +providing safeguards to prevent any inroads by popular excitement or +frenzy of the moment.' And later in the speech he says: 'But I have +faith in the sober judgment of the American people, that they will +reject these radical changes, etc.' + +"If he had faith in the sober judgment of the American people, why not +trust them to a measurable extent with the conduct of their own +affairs? + +"The English people, for a century or more, have had such direction as I +now propose that you shall have, and for more than half a century the +French people have had like power. They have in no way abused it, and +yet the English and French Electorate surely are not more intelligent, +or have better self-control, or more sober judgment than the American +citizenship. + +"Another thing to which I desire your attention called is the dangerous +power possessed by the President in the past, but of which the new +Constitution will rob him. + +"The framers of the old Constitution lived in an atmosphere of autocracy +and they could not know, as we do now, the danger of placing in one +man's hands such enormous power, and have him so far from the reach of +the people, that before they could dispossess him he might, if +conditions were favorable, establish a dynasty. + +"It is astounding that we have allowed a century and a half go by +without limiting both his term and his power. + +"In addition to giving you a new Constitution and laws that will meet +existing needs, there are many other things to be done, some of which I +shall briefly outline. I have arranged to have a survey made of the +swamp lands throughout the United States. From reliable data which I +have gathered, I am confident that an area as large as the State of +Ohio can be reclaimed, and at a cost that will enable the Government to +sell it to home-seekers for less than one-fourth what they would have to +pay elsewhere for similar land. + +"Under my personal direction, I am having prepared an old-age pension +law and also a laborers' insurance law, covering loss in cases of +illness, incapacity and death. + +"I have a commission working on an efficient cooperative system of +marketing the products of small farms and factories. The small producers +throughout America are not getting a sufficient return for their +products, largely because they lack the facilities for marketing them +properly. By cooperation they will be placed upon an equal footing with +the large producers and small investments that heretofore have given +but a meager return will become profitable. + +"I am also planning to inaugurate cooperative loan societies in every +part of the Union, and I have appointed a commissioner to instruct the +people as to their formation and conduct and to explain their beneficent +results. + +"In many parts of Europe such societies have reached very high +proficiency, and have been the means of bringing prosperity to +communities that before their establishment had gone into decay. + +"Many hundred millions of dollars have been loaned through these +societies and, while only a fractional part of their members would be +considered good for even the smallest amount at a bank, the losses to +the societies on loans to their members have been almost negligible; +less indeed than regular bankers could show on loans to their clients. +And yet it enables those that are almost totally without capital to make +a fair living for themselves and families. + +"It is my purpose to establish bureaus through the congested portions of +the United States where men and women in search of employment can +register and be supplied with information as to where and what kind of +work is obtainable. And if no work is to be had, I shall arrange that +every indigent person that is honest and industrious _shall be given +employment by the Federal, State, County or Municipal Government as the +case may be._ Furthermore, it shall in the future be unlawful for +any employer of labor to require more than eight hours work a day, and +then only for six days a week. Conditions as are now found in the great +manufacturing centers where employés are worked twelve hours a day, +seven days in the week, and receive wages inadequate for even an eight +hour day shall be no longer possible. + +"If an attempt is made to reduce wages because of shorter hours or for +any other cause, the employé shall have the right to go before a +magistrate and demand that the amount of wage be adjusted there, either +by the magistrate himself or by a jury if demanded by either party. + +"Where there are a large number of employés affected, they can act +through their unions or societies, if needs be, and each party at issue +may select an arbitrator and the two so chosen may agree upon a third, +or they may use the courts and juries, as may be preferred. + +"This law shall be applicable to women as well as to men, and to every +kind of labor. I desire to make it clear that the policy of this +Government is that every man or woman who desires work shall have it, +even if the Government has to give it, and I wish it also understood +that an adequate wage must be paid for labor. + +"Labor is no longer to be classed as an inert commodity to be bought and +sold by the law of supply and demand, but the _human equation shall +hereafter be the commanding force in all agreements between man and +capital_. + +"There is another matter to which I shall give my earnest attention and +that is the reformation of the study and practice of medicine. It is +well known that we are far behind England, Germany and France in the +protection of our people from incompetent physicians and quackery. +There is no more competent, no more intelligent or advanced men in the +world than our American physicians and surgeons of the first class. + +"But the incompetent men measurably drag down the high standing of the +profession. A large part of our medical schools and colleges are +entirely unfit for the purposes intended, and each year they grant +diplomas to hundreds of ignorant young men and women and license them to +prey upon a more or less helpless people. + +"The number of physicians per inhabitant is already ridiculously large, +many times more than is needful, or than other countries where the +average of the professions ranks higher, deem necessary. + +"I feel sure that the death list in the United States from the mistakes +of these incompetents is simply appalling. + +"I shall create a board of five eminent men, two of whom shall be +physicians, one shall be a surgeon, one a scientist and the other shall +be a great educator, and to this board I shall give the task of +formulating a plan by which the spurious medical colleges and medical +men can be eradicated from our midst. + +"I shall call the board's attention to the fact that it is of as much +importance to have men of fine natural ability as it is to give them +good training, and, if it is practicable, I shall ask them to require +some sort of adequate mental examination that will measurably determine +this. + +"I have a profound admiration for the courage, the nobility and +philanthropy of the profession as a whole, and I do not want its honor +tarnished by those who are mercenary and unworthy. + +"In conclusion I want to announce that pensions will be given to those +who fought on either side in the late war without distinction or +reservation. However, it is henceforth to be the policy of this +Government, so far as I may be able to shape it, that only those in +actual need of financial aid shall receive pensions and to them it shall +be given, whether they have or have not been disabled in consequence of +their services to the nation. But to offer financial aid to the rich and +well to do, is to offer an insult, for it questions their patriotism. +Although the first civil war was ended over sixty years ago, yet that +pension roll still draws heavily upon the revenue of the Nation. Its +history has been a rank injustice to the noble armies of Grant and his +lieutenants, the glory of whose achievements is now the common heritage +of a United Country." + + + +CHAPTER XL + +A DEPARTURE IN BATTLESHIPS + + +Dru invited the Strawns to accompany him to Newport News to witness the +launching of a new type of battleship. It was said to be, and probably +was, impenetrable. Experts who had tested a model built on a large scale +had declared that this invention would render obsolete every battleship +in existence. The principle was this: Running back from the bow for a +distance of 60 feet only about 4 feet of the hull showed above the water +line, and this part of the deck was concaved and of the smoothest, +hardest steel. Then came several turreted sections upon which guns were +mounted. Around these turrets ran rims of polished steel, two feet in +width and six inches thick. These rims began four feet from the water +line and ran four feet above the level of the turret decks. The rims +were so nicely adjusted with ball bearings that the smallest blow would +send them spinning around, therefore a shell could not penetrate because +it would glance off. + +Although the trip to the Newport News Dock yards was made in a Navy +hydroaeroplane it took several hours, and Gloria used the occasion to +urge upon Dru the rectification of some abuses of which she had special +knowledge. + +"Philip," she said, "when I was proselytizing among the rich, it came to +me to include the employer of women labor. I found but few who dissented +from my statement of facts, but the answer was that trade conditions, +the demand of customers for cheaper garments and articles, made relief +impracticable. Perhaps their profits are on a narrow basis, Philip; but +the volume of their business is the touchstone of their success, for how +otherwise could so many become millionaires? Just what the remedy is I +do not know, but I want to give you the facts so that in recasting the +laws you may plan something to alleviate a grievous wrong." + +"It is strange, Gloria, how often your mind and mine are caught by the +same current, and how they drift in the same direction. It was only a +few days ago that I picked up one of O. Henry's books. In his +'Unfinished Story' he tells of a man who dreamed that he died and was +standing with a crowd of prosperous looking angels before Saint Peter, +when a policeman came up and taking him by the wing asked: 'Are you with +that bunch?' + +"'Who are they?' asked the man. + +"'Why,' said the policeman, 'they are the men who hired working girls +and paid 'em five or six dollars a week to live on. Are you one of the +bunch?' + +"'Not on your immortality,' answered the man. 'I'm only the fellow who +set fire to an orphan asylum, and murdered a blind man for his pennies.' + +"Some years ago when I first read that story, I thought it was humor, +now I know it to be pathos. Nothing, Gloria, will give me greater +pleasure than to try to think out a solution to this problem, and +undertake its application." + +Gloria then gave more fully the conditions governing female labor. The +unsanitary surroundings, the long hours and the inadequate wage, the +statistics of refuge societies showed, drove an appalling number of +women and girls to the streets.--No matter how hard they worked they +could not earn sufficient to clothe and feed themselves properly. After +a deadly day's work, many of them found stimulants of various kinds the +cheapest means of bringing comfort to their weary bodies and hope-lost +souls, and then the next step was the beginning of the end. + +By now they had come to Newport News and the launching of the battleship +was made as Gloria christened her _Columbia._ After the ceremonies +were over it became necessary at once to return to Washington, for at +noon of the next day there was to be dedicated the Colossal Arch of +Peace. Ten years before, the Government had undertaken this work and had +slowly executed it, carrying out the joint conception of the foremost +architect in America and the greatest sculptor in the world. Strangely +enough, the architect was a son of New England, and the Sculptor was +from and of the South. + +Upon one face of the arch were three heroic figures. Lee on the one +side, Grant on the other, with Fame in the center, holding out a laurel +wreath with either hand to both Grant and Lee. Among the figures +clustered around and below that of Grant, were those of Sherman, +Sheridan, Thomas and Hancock, and among those around and below that of +Lee, were Stonewall Jackson, the two Johnstons, Forrest, Pickett and +Beauregard. Upon the other face of the arch there was in the center a +heroic figure of Lincoln and gathered around him on either side were +those Statesmen of the North and South who took part in that titanic +civil conflict that came so near to dividing our Republic. + +Below Lincoln's figure was written: "With malice towards none, with +charity for all." Below Grant, was his dying injunction to his fellow +countrymen: "Let us have peace." But the silent and courtly Lee left no +message that would fit his gigantic mold. + + + +CHAPTER XLI + +THE NEW NATIONAL CONSTITUTION + + +Besides the laws and reforms already enumerated, the following is in +brief the plan for the General Government that Philip Dru outlined and +carried through as Administrator of the Republic, and which, in effect, +was made a part of the new constitution. + +I. + +1. Every adult citizen of the United States, male or female, shall have +the right to vote, and no state, county or municipality shall pass a law +or laws infringing upon this right. + +2. Any alien, male or female, who can read, write and speak English, and +who has resided in the United States for ten years, may take out +naturalization papers and become a citizen. [Footnote: The former +qualification was five years' residence in the United States and +in many States there were no restrictions placed upon education, nor +was an understanding of the English language necessary.] + +3. No one shall be eligible for election as Executive, President, +Senator, Representative or Judge of any court under the age of twenty-five +years, and who is not a citizen of the United States. [Footnote: Dru saw +no good reason for limiting the time when an exceptionally endowed man +could begin to serve the public.] + +4. No one shall be eligible for any other office, National or State, who +is at the time, or who has been within a period of five years preceding, +a member of any Senate or Court. [Footnote: The Senate under Dru's plan of +Government becomes a quasi-judicial body, and it was his purpose to +prevent any member of it or of the regular judiciary from making decisions +with a view of furthering their political fortunes. Dru believed that it +would be of enormous advantage to the Nation if Judges and Senators were +placed in a position where their motives could not be questioned and where +their only incentive was the general welfare.] + +II. + +1. The several states shall be divided into districts of three hundred +thousand inhabitants each, and each district so divided shall have one +representative, and in order to give the widest latitude as to choice, +there shall be no restrictions as to residence. [Footnote: Why deprive +the Republic of the services of a useful man because his particular +district has more good congressional timber than can be used and another +district has none? Or again, why relegate to private life a man of +National importance merely because his residence happens to be in a +district not entirely in harmony with his views?] + +2. The members of the House of Representatives shall be elected on the +first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and shall serve for a +term of six years, subject to a recall at the end of each two years by a +signed petition embracing one-third of the electorate of the district +from which they were chosen. [Footnote: The recall is here used for the +reason that the term has been extended to six years, though the electorate +retains the privilege of dismissing an undesirable member at the end of +every two years.] + +3. The House shall convene on the first Tuesday after the first Monday +in January and shall never have more than five hundred members. +[Footnote: The purpose here was to convene the House within two months +instead of thirteen months after its election, and to limit its size in +order to promote efficiency.] + +4. The House of Representatives shall elect a Speaker whose term of +office may be continuous at the pleasure of the majority. He shall +preside over the House, but otherwise his functions shall be purely +formal. + +5. The House shall also choose an Executive, whose duties it shall be, +under the direction of the House, to administer the Government. He may +or may not be at the time of his election a member of the House, but he +becomes an ex-officio member by virtue thereof. + +6.(a) The Executive shall have authority to select his Cabinet Officers +from members of the House or elsewhere, other than from the Courts or +Senates, and such Cabinet Officers shall by reason thereof, be ex-officio +members of the House. + +(b) Such officials are to hold their positions at the pleasure of the +Executive and the Executive is to hold his at the pleasure of the +majority of the House. + +(c) In an address to the House, the Executive shall, within a reasonable +time after his selection, outline his policy of Government, both +domestic and foreign. + +(d) He and his Cabinet may frame bills covering the suggestions made in +his address, or any subsequent address that he may think proper to make, +and introduce and defend them in the House. Measures introduced by the +Executive or members of his Cabinet are not to be referred to +committees, but are to be considered by the House as a whole, and their +consideration shall have preference over measures introduced by other +members. + +7. All legislation shall originate in the House. + +III. + +1. The Senate shall consist of one member from each State, and shall be +elected for life, by direct vote of the people, and shall be subject to +recall by a majority vote of the electors of his State at the end of any +five-year period of his term. [Footnote: The reason for using the recall +here is that the term is lengthened to life and it seemed best to give +the people a right to pass upon their Senators at stated periods.] + +2. (a) Every measure passed by the House, other than those relating +_solely_ to the raising of revenue for the current needs of the +Government and the expenditure thereof, shall go to the Senate for +approval. + +(b) The Senate may approve a measure by a majority vote and it then +becomes a law, or they may make such suggestions regarding the amendment +as may seem to them pertinent, and return it to the House to accept or +reject as they may see fit. + +(c) The Senate may reject a measure by a majority vote. If the Senate +reject a measure, the House shall have the right to dissolve and go +before the people for their decision. + +(d) If the country approves the measure by returning a House favorable +to it, then, upon its passage by the House _in the same form as when +rejected by the Senate,_ it shall become a law. + +3. (a) A Senator may be impeached by a majority vote of the Supreme +Court, upon an action approved by the House and brought by the +Executive or any member of his Cabinet. + +(b) A Senator must retire at the age of seventy years, and he shall be +suitably pensioned. + +IV. + +1. The President shall be chosen by a majority vote of all the electors. +His term shall be for ten years and he shall be ineligible for +re-election, but after retirement he shall receive a pension. + +2. His duties shall be almost entirely formal and ceremonial. + +3. In the event of a hiatus in the Government from any source +whatsoever, it shall be his duty immediately to call an election, and +in the meantime act as Executive until the regularly elected +authorities can again assume charge of the Government. + + + +CHAPTER XLII + +NEW STATE CONSTITUTIONS + + +I. + +To the States, Administrator Dru gave governments in all essentials like +that of the nation. In brief the State instruments held the following +provisions: + +1. The House of Representatives shall consist of one member for every +fifty thousand inhabitants, and never shall exceed a membership of two +hundred in any State. + +2. Representatives shall be elected for a term of two years, but not +more than one session shall be held during their tenure of office unless +called in special session by the Speaker of the House with the approval +of the Governor. + +3. Representatives shall be elected in November, and the House shall +convene on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January to sit +during its own pleasure. + +4. Representatives shall make rules for their self-government and shall +be the general state law making body. + +II. + +1. The Senate shall be composed of one member from each congressional +district, but there shall never be less than five nor more than fifty in +any State Senate. + +2. Senators shall be elected for a term of ten years subject to recall +at the end of each two years, by petition signed by a majority of the +electorate of their district. + +3. (a) No legislation shall originate in the Senate. Its function is to +advise as to measures sent there by the House, to make suggestions and +such amendments as might seem pertinent, and return the measure to the +House, for its final action. + +(b) When a bill is sent to the Senate by the House, if approved, it +shall become a law, if disapproved, it shall be returned to the House +with the objections stated. + +(c) If the House considers a measure of sufficient importance, it may +dissolve immediately and let the people pass upon it, or they may wait +until a regular election for popular action. + +(d) If the people approve the measure, the House _must enact it in the +same form as when disapproved by the Senate,_ and it shall then +become a law. + +III. + +1. (a) The Governor shall be elected by a direct vote of all the people. + +(b) His term of office shall be six years, and he shall be ineligible +for re-election. He shall be subject to recall at the end of every two +years by a majority vote of the State. [Footnote: The recall is used here, +as in other instances, because of the lengthened term and the desirability +of permitting the people to pass upon a Governor's usefulness at shorter +periods.] + +2. (a) He shall have no veto power or other control over legislation, +and shall not make any suggestions or recommendations in regard thereto. + +(b) His function shall be purely executive. He may select his own +council or fellow commissioners for the different governmental +departments, and they shall hold their positions at his pleasure. + +(c) All the Governor's appointees shall be confirmed by the Senate +before they may assume office. + +(d) The Governor may be held strictly accountable by the people for the +honest, efficient and economical conduct of the government, due +allowance being made for the fact that he is in no way responsible for +the laws under which he must work. + +(e) It shall be his duty also to report to the legislature at each +session, giving an account of his stewardship regarding the enforcement +of the laws, the conduct of the different departments, etc., etc., and +making an estimate for the financial budget required for the two years +following. + +3.(a) There shall be a Pardon Board of three members who shall pass upon +all matters relating to the Penal Service. + +(b) This Board shall be nominated by the Governor and confirmed by the +Senate. After their confirmation, the Governor shall have no further +jurisdiction over them. + +(c) They shall hold office for six years and shall be ineligible for +reappointment. + + + +CHAPTER XLIII + +THE RULE OF THE BOSSES + + +General Dru was ever fond of talking to Senator Selwyn. He found his +virile mind a never-failing source of information. Busy as they both +were they often met and exchanged opinions. In answer to a question +from Dru, Selwyn said that while Pennsylvania and a few other States had +been more completely under the domination of bosses than others, still +the system permeated everywhere. + +In some States a railroad held the power, but exercised it through an +individual or individuals. + +In another State, a single corporation held it, and yet again, it was +often held by a corporate group acting together. In many States one +individual dominated public affairs and more often for good than for +evil. + +The people simply would not take enough interest in their Government to +exercise the right of control. + +Those who took an active interest were used as a part of the boss' +tools, be he a benevolent one or otherwise. + +"The delegates go to the conventions," said Selwyn, "and think they +have something to do with the naming of the nominees, and the making of +the platforms. But the astute boss has planned all that far in advance, +the candidates are selected and the platform written and both are 'forced' +upon the unsuspecting delegate, much as the card shark forced his cards +upon his victim. It is all seemingly in the open and above the boards, but +as a matter of fact quite the reverse is true. + +"At conventions it is usual to select some man who has always been +honored and respected, and elect him chairman of the platform committee. +He is pleased with the honor and is ready to do the bidding of the man +to whom he owes it. + +"The platform has been read to him and he has been committed to it +before his appointment as chairman. Then a careful selection is made of +delegates from the different senatorial districts and a good working +majority of trusted followers is obtained for places on the committee. +Someone nominates for chairman the 'honored and respected' and he is +promptly elected. + +"Another member suggests that the committee, as it stands, is too +unwieldy to draft a platform, and makes a motion that the chairman be +empowered to appoint a sub-committee of five to outline one and submit +it to the committee as a whole. + +"The motion is carried and the chairman appoints five of the 'tried and +true.' There is then an adjournment until the sub-committee is ready to +report. + +"The five betake themselves to a room in some hotel and smoke, drink and +swap stories until enough time has elapsed for a proper platform to be +written. + +"They then report to the committee as a whole and, after some wrangling +by the uninitiated, the platform is passed as the boss has written it +without the addition of a single word. + +"Sometimes it is necessary to place upon the sub-committee a +recalcitrant or two. Then the method is somewhat different. The boss' +platform is cut into separate planks and first one and then another of +the faithful offers a plank, and after some discussion a majority of the +committee adopt it. So when the sub-committee reports back there stands +the boss' handiwork just as he has constructed it. + +"Oftentimes there is no subterfuge, but the convention, as a whole, +recognizes the pre-eminent ability of one man amongst them, and by +common consent he is assigned the task." + +Selwyn also told Dru that it was often the practice among corporations +not to bother themselves about state politics further than to control +the Senate. + +This smaller body was seldom more than one-fourth as large as the +House, and usually contained not more than twenty-five or thirty +members. + +Their method was to control a majority of the Senate and let the House +pass such measures as it pleased, and the Governor recommend such laws +as he thought proper. Then the Senate would promptly kill all +legislation that in any way touched corporate interests. + +Still another method which was used to advantage by the interests where +they had not been vigilant in the protection of their "rights," and when +they had no sure majority either in the House or Senate and no influence +with the Governor, was to throw what strength they had to the stronger +side in the factional fights that were always going on in every State +and in every legislature. + +Actual money, Selwyn said, was now seldom given in the relentless +warfare which the selfish interests were ever waging against the people, +but it was intrigue, the promise of place and power, and the ever +effectual appeal to human vanity. + +That part of the press which was under corporate control was often able +to make or destroy a man's legislative and political career, and the +weak and the vain and the men with shifty consciences, that the people +in their fatuous indifference elect to make their laws, seldom fail to +succumb to this subtle influence. + + + +CHAPTER XLIV + +ONE CAUSE OF THE HIGH COST OF LIVING + + +In one of their fireside talks, Selwyn told Dru that a potential weapon +in the hands of those who had selfish purposes to subserve, was the long +and confusing ballot. + +"Whenever a change is suggested by which it can be shortened, and the +candidates brought within easy review of the electorate, the objection +is always raised," said Selwyn, "that the rights of the people are being +invaded. + +"'Let the people rule,' is the cry," he said, "and the unthinking many +believing that democratic government is being threatened, demand that +they be permitted to vote for every petty officer. + +"Of course quite the reverse is true," continued Selwyn, "for when the +ballot is filled with names of candidates running for general and local +offices, there is, besides the confusion, the usual trading. As a rule, +interest centers on the local man, and there is less scrutiny of those +candidates seeking the more important offices." + +"While I had already made up my mind," said Dru, "as to the short ballot +and a direct accountability to the people, I am glad to have you +confirm the correctness of my views." + +"You may take my word for it, General Dru, that the interests also +desire large bodies of law makers instead of few. You may perhaps recall +how vigorously they opposed the commission form of government for +cities. + +"Under the old system when there was a large council, no one was +responsible. If a citizen had a grievance, and complained to his +councilman, he was perhaps truthfully told that he was not to blame. He +was sent from one member of the city government to the other, and unable +to obtain relief, in sheer desperation, he gave up hope and abandoned +his effort for justice. But under the commission form of government, +none of the officials can shirk responsibility. Each is in charge of a +department, and if there is inefficiency, it is easy to place the blame +where it properly belongs. + +"Under such a system the administration of public affairs becomes at +once, simple, direct and business-like. If any outside corrupt +influences seek to creep in, they are easy of detection and the +punishment can be made swift and certain." + +"I want to thank you again, Senator Selwyn, for the help you have been +to me in giving me the benefit of your ripe experience in public +affairs," said Dru, "and there is another phase of the subject that I +would like to discuss with you. I have thought long and seriously how to +overcome the fixing of prices by individuals and corporations, and how +the people may be protected from that form of robbery. + +"When there is a monopoly or trust, it is easy to locate the offense, +but it is a different proposition when one must needs deal with a large +number of corporations and individuals, who, under the guise of +competition, have an understanding, both as to prices and territory to +be served. + +"For instance, the coal dealers, at the beginning of winter, announce a +fixed price for coal. If there are fifty of them and all are approached, +not one of them will vary his quotation from the other forty-nine. If +he should do so, the coal operators would be informed and the offending +dealer would find, by some pretext or another, his supply cut off. + +"We see the same condition regarding large supply and manufacturing +concerns which cover the country with their very essential products. A +keen rivalry is apparent, and competitive bids in sealed envelopes are +made when requested, but as a matter of fact, we know that there is no +competition. Can you give me any information upon this matter?" + +"There are many and devious ways by which the law can be evaded and by +which the despoliation of the public may be accomplished," said Selwyn. +"The representatives of those large business concerns meet and a map of +the United States is spread out before them. This map is regarded by +them very much as if it were a huge pie that is to be divided according +to the capacity of each to absorb and digest his share. The territory is +not squared off, that is, taking in whole sections of contiguous +country, but in a much more subtle way, so that the delusion of +competition may be undisturbed. When several of these concerns are +requested to make prices, they readily comply and seem eager for the +order. The delusion extends even to their agents, who are as innocent as +the would-be purchaser of the real conditions, and are doing their +utmost to obtain the business. The concern in whose assigned territory +the business originates, makes the price and informs its supposed rivals +of its bid, so that they may each make one slightly higher." + +"Which goes to show," said Dru, "how easy it is to exploit the public +when there is harmony among the exploiters. There seems to me to be two +evils involved in this problem, Senator Selwyn, one is the undue cost to +the people, and the other, but lesser, evil, is the protection of +incompetency. + +"It is not the survival of the fittest, but an excess of profits, that +enables the incompetent to live and thrive." + +After a long and exhaustive study of this problem, the Administrator +directed his legal advisers to incorporate his views into law. + +No individual as such, was to be permitted to deal in what might be +termed products of the natural resources of the country, unless he +subjected himself to all the publicity and penalties that would accrue +to a corporation, under the new corporate regulations. + +Corporations, argued Dru, could be dealt with under the new laws in a +way that, while fair to them, would protect the public. In the future, +he reminded his commission, there would be upon the directorates a +representative of either the National, State, or Municipal governments, +and the books, and every transaction, would be open to the public. This +would apply to both the owner of the raw material, be it mine, forest, +or what not, as well as to the corporation or individual who distributed +the marketable product. + +It was Dru's idea that public opinion was to be invoked to aid in the +task, and district attorneys and grand juries, throughout the country, +were to be admonished to do their duty. If there was a fixity of prices +in any commodity or product, or even approximately so, he declared, it +would be prima facie evidence of a combination. + +In this way, the Administrator thought the evil of pools and trust +agreements could be eradicated, and a healthful competition, content +with reasonable profits, established. If a single corporation, by its +extreme efficiency, or from unusual conditions, should constitute a +monopoly so that there was practically no competition, then it would be +necessary, he thought, for the Government to fix a price reasonable to +all interests involved. + +Therefore it was not intended to put a limit on the size or the +comprehensiveness of any corporation, further than that it should not +stifle competition, except by greater efficiency in production and +distribution. If this should happen, then the people and the Government +would be protected by publicity, by their representative on the board +of directors and by the fixing of prices, if necessary. + +It had been shown by the career of one of the greatest industrial +combinations that the world has yet known, that there was a limit where +size and inefficiency met. The only way that this corporation could +maintain its lead was through the devious paths of relentless monopoly. + +Dru wanted America to contend for its share of the world's trade, and to +enable it to accomplish this, he favored giving business the widest +latitude consistent with protection of the people. + +When he assumed control of the Government, one of the many absurdities +of the American economic system was the practical inhibition of a +merchant marine. While the country was second to none in the value and +quantity of production, yet its laws were so framed that it was +dependent upon other nations for its transportation by sea; and its +carrying trade was in no way commensurate with the dignity of the coast +line and with the power and wealth of the Nation. + + + +CHAPTER XLV + +BURIAL REFORM + + +At about this time the wife of one of the Cabinet officers died, and +Administrator Dru attended the funeral. There was an unusually large +gathering, but it was plain that most of those who came did so from +morbid curiosity. The poignant grief of the bereaved husband and +children wrung the heartstrings of their many sympathetic friends. The +lowering of the coffin, the fall of the dirt upon its cover, and the +sobs of those around the grave, was typical of such occasions. + +Dru was deeply impressed and shocked, and he thought to use his +influence towards a reformation of such a cruel and unnecessary form of +burial. When the opportunity presented itself, he directed attention to +the objections to this method of disposing of the dead, and he suggested +the formation in every community of societies whose purpose should be to +use their influence towards making interments private, and towards the +substitution of cremation for the unsanitary custom of burial in +cemeteries. These societies were urged to point out the almost +prohibitive expense the present method entailed upon the poor and those +of moderate means. The buying of the lot and casket, the cost of the +funeral itself, and the discarding of useful clothing in order to robe +in black, were alike unnecessary. Some less dismal insignia of grief +should be adopted, he said, that need not include the entire garb. +Grief, he pointed out, and respect for the dead, were in no way better +evidenced by such barbarous customs. + +Rumor had it that scandal's cruel tongue was responsible for this good +woman's death. She was one of the many victims that go to unhappy graves +in order that the monstrous appetite for gossip may be appeased. If +there be punishment after death, surely, the creator and disseminator of +scandal will come to know the anger and contempt of a righteous God. The +good and the bad are all of a kind to them. Their putrid minds see +something vile in every action, and they leave the drippings of their +evil tongues wherever they go. Some scandalmongers are merely stupid and +vulgar, while others have a biting wit that cause them to be feared and +hated. Rumors they repeat as facts, and to speculations they add what +corroborative evidence is needed. The dropping of the eyelids, the smirk +that is so full of insinuation is used to advantage where it is more +effective than the downright lie. The burglar and the highwayman go +frankly abroad to gather in the substance of others, and they stand +ready to forfeit both life and liberty while in pursuit of nefarious +gain. Yet it is a noble profession compared with that of the +scandalmonger, and the murderer himself is hardly a more objectionable +member of society than the character assassin. + + + +CHAPTER XLVI + +THE WISE DISPOSITION OF A FORTUNE + + +In one of their confidential talks, Selwyn told Dru that he had a +fortune in excess of two hundred million dollars, and that while it was +his intention to amply provide for his immediate family, and for those +of his friends who were in need, he desired to use the balance of his +money in the best way he could devise to help his fellowmen. + +He could give for this purpose, he said, two hundred million dollars or +more, for he did not want to provide for his children further than to +ensure their entire comfort, and to permit them to live on a scale not +measurably different from what they had been accustomed. + +He had never lived in the extravagant manner that was usual in men of +his wealth, and his children had been taught to expect only a moderate +fortune at his death. He was too wise a man not to know that one of the +greatest burdens that wealth imposed, was the saving of one's children +from its contaminations. He taught his sons that they were seriously +handicapped by their expectations of even moderate wealth, and that +unless they were alert and vigilant and of good habits, the boy who was +working his own way upward would soon outstrip them. They were taught +that they themselves, were the natural objects of pity and parental +concern, and not their seemingly less fortunate brothers. + +"Look among those whose parents have wealth and have given of it +lavishly to their children," he said, "and count how few are valuable +members of society or hold the respect of their fellows. + +"On the other hand, look at the successful in every vocation of life, +and note how many have literally dug their way to success." + +The more Dru saw of Selwyn, the better he liked him, and knowing the +inner man, as he then did, the more did he marvel at his career. He and +Selwyn talked long and earnestly over the proper disposition of his +fortune. They both knew that it was hard to give wisely and without +doing more harm than good. Even in providing for his friends, Selwyn was +none too sure that he was conferring benefits upon them. Most of them +were useful though struggling members of society, but should competency +come to them, he wondered how many would continue as such. There was +one, the learned head of a comparatively new educational institution, +with great resources ultimately behind it. This man was building it on a +sure and splendid foundation, in the hope that countless generations of +youth would have cause to be grateful for the sagacious energy he was +expending in their behalf. + +He had, Selwyn knew, the wanderlust to a large degree, and the +millionaire wondered whether, when this useful educator's slender income +was augmented by the generous annuity he had planned to give him, he +would continue his beneficent work or become a dweller in arabs' tents. + +In the plenitude of his wealth and generosity, he had another in mind to +share his largess. He was the orphaned son of an old and valued friend. +He had helped the lad over some rough places, but had been careful not +to do enough to slacken the boy's own endeavor. The young man had +graduated from one of the best universities, and afterwards at a medical +school that was worthy the name. He was, at the time Selwyn was planning +the disposition of his wealth, about thirty years old, and was doing +valuable laboratory work in one of the great research institutions. +Gifted with superb health, and a keen analytical mind, he seemed to have +it in him to go far in his profession, and perhaps be of untold benefit +to mankind. + +But Selwyn had noticed an indolent streak in the young scientist, and he +wondered whether here again he was doing the fair and right thing by +placing it within his power to lead a life of comparative ease and +uselessness. Consequently, Selwyn moved cautiously in the matter of the +distribution of his great wealth, and invoked Dru's aid. It was Dru's +supernormal intellect, tireless energy, and splendid constructive +ability that appealed to him, and he not only admired the Administrator +above all men, but he had come to love him as a son. Dru was the only +person with whom Selwyn had ever been in touch whose advice he valued +above his own judgment. Therefore when the young Administrator suggested +a definite plan of scientific giving, Selwyn gave it respectful +attention at first, and afterwards his enthusiastic approval. + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +THE WISE DISPOSITION OF A FORTUNE, CONTINUED + + +"If your fortune were mine, Senator Selwyn," said Philip Dru, "I would +devote it to the uplift of women. Their full rights will be accorded +them in time, but their cause could be accelerated by you, and +meanwhile untold misery and unhappiness averted. Man, who is so +dependent upon woman, has largely failed in his duty to her, not alone +as an individual but as a sex. Laws are enacted, unions formed, and what +not done for man's protection, but the working woman is generally +ignored. With your money, and even more with your ability, you could +change for the better the condition of girlhood and womanhood in every +city and in every factory throughout the land. Largely because they are +unorganized, women are overworked and underpaid to such an extent that +other evils, which we deplore, follow as a natural sequence. By proper +organization, by exciting public interest and enlisting the sympathy +and active support of the humane element, which is to be found in every +community you will be able to bring about better conditions. + +"If I were you, I would start my crusade in New York and work out a +model organization there, so that you could educate your coadjutors as +to the best methods, and then send them elsewhere to inaugurate the +movement. Moreover, I would not confine my energies entirely to +America, but Europe and other parts of the world should share its +benefits, for human misery knows no sheltering land. + +"In conjunction with this plan, I would carry along still another. +Workingmen have their clubs, their societies and many places for social +gathering, but the women in most cities have none. As you know, the +great majority of working girls live in tenements, crowded with their +families in a room or two, or they live in cheap and lonely boarding +houses. They have no chance for recreation after working hours or on +holidays, unless they go to places it would be better to keep away from. +If men wish to visit them, it must needs be in their bedrooms, on the +street, or in some questionable resort." + +"How am I to change this condition?" said Selwyn. + +"In many ways," said Dru. "Have clubs for them, where they may sing, +dance, read, exercise and have their friends visit them. Have good women +in charge so that the influence will be of the best. Have occasional +plays and entertainments for them, to which they may each invite a +friend, and make such places pleasanter than others where they might go. +And all the time protect them, and preferably in a way they are not +conscious of. By careful attention to the reading matter, interesting +stories should be selected each of which would bear its own moral. Quiet +and informal talks by the matron and others at opportune times, would +give them an insight into the pitfalls around them, and make it more +difficult for the human vultures to accomplish their undoing. There is +no greater stain upon our vaunted civilization," continued Dru, "than +our failure to protect the weak, the unhappy and the abjectly poor of +womankind. + +"Philosophers still treat of it in the abstract, moralists speak of it +now and then in an academic way, but it is a subject generally shunned and +thought hopelessly impossible. + +"It is only here and there that a big noble-hearted woman can be found +to approach it, and then a Hull House is started, and under its +sheltering roof unreckoned numbers of innocent hearted girls are saved +to bless, at a later day, its patron saint. + +"Start Hull Houses, Senator Selwyn, along with your other plan, for it +is all of a kind, and works to the betterment of woman. The vicious, the +evil minded and the mature sensualist, we will always have with us, but +stretch out your mighty arm, buttressed as it is by fabulous wealth, and +save from the lair of the libertines, the innocent, whose only crime is +poverty and a hopeless despair. + +"In your propaganda for good," continued Dru, "do not overlook the +education of mothers to the importance of sex hygiene, so that they may +impart to their daughters the truth, and not let them gather their +knowledge from the streets. + +"You may go into this great work, Senator Selwyn, with the consciousness +that you are reaching a condition fraught with more consequence to +society than any other that confronts it, for its ramifications for evil +are beyond belief of any but the sociologist who has gone to its +foundations." + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII + +AN INTERNATIONAL COALITION + + +Busy as General Dru had been rehabilitating domestic affairs, he never +for a moment neglected the foreign situation. He felt that it was +almost providential that he was in a position to handle it unhampered, +for at no time in our history were we in such peril of powerful foreign +coalition. Immediately after receiving from Selwyn the information +concerning the British-German alliance, he had begun to build, as it +were, a fire behind the British Ministry, and the result was its +overthrow. When the English nation began to realize that a tentative +agreement was being arrived at between their country on the one hand, +and Germany and Japan on the other, with America as its object of +attack, there was a storm of indignation; and when the new Ministry was +installed the diplomatic machinery was set to work to undo, as nearly as +could be, what their predecessors had accomplished. + +In the meantime, Dru negotiated with them to the end that England and +America were to join hands in a world wide policy of peace and +commercial freedom. According to Dru's plan, disarmaments were to be +made to an appreciable degree, custom barriers were to be torn down, +zones of influence clearly defined, and an era of friendly commercial +rivalry established. + +It was agreed that America should approach Germany and Japan in +furtherance of this plan, and when their consent was obtained, the rest +would follow. + +Dru worked along these lines with both nations, using consummate tact +and skill. Both Germany and Japan were offended at the English change of +front, and were ready to listen to other proposals. To them, he opened +up a wide vista of commercial and territorial expansion, or at least its +equivalent. Germany was to have the freest commercial access to South +America, and she was invited to develop those countries both with German +colonists and German capital. + +There was to be no coercion of the governments, or political control in +that territory, but on the other hand, the United States undertook that +there should be no laws enacted by them to restrain trade, and that the +rights of foreigners should have the fullest protection. Dru also +undertook the responsibility of promising that there should be no +favoritism shown by the South and Central American governments, but that +native and alien should stand alike before the law so far as property +rights were concerned. + +Germany was to have a freer hand in the countries lying southeast of her +and in Asia Minor. It was not intended that she should absorb them or +infringe upon the rights as nations, but her sphere of influence was to +be extended over them much the same as ours was over South America. + +While England was not to be restricted in her trade relations with those +countries, still she was neither to encourage emigration there nor +induce capital to exploit their resources. + +Africa and her own colonies were to be her special fields of endeavor. + +In consideration of the United States lifting practically all custom +barriers, and agreeing to keep out of the Eastern Hemisphere, upholding +with her the peace and commercial freedom of the world, and of the +United States recognizing the necessity of her supremacy on the seas, +England, after having obtained the consent of Canada, agreed to +relinquish her own sphere of political influence over the Dominion, and +let her come under that of the United States. Canada was willing that +this situation should be brought about, for her trade conditions had +become interwoven with those of the United States, and the people of the +two countries freely intermingled. Besides, since Dru had reconstructed +the laws and constitution of the big republic, they were more in harmony +with the Canadian institutions than before. + +Except that the United States were not to appoint a Governor General, +the republic's relations with Canada were to be much the same as those +between herself and the Mother Country. The American flag, the American +destiny and hers were to be interwoven through the coming ages. + +In relinquishing this most perfect jewel in her Imperial crown, England +suffered no financial loss, for Canada had long ceased to be a source of +revenue, and under the new order of things, the trade relations between +the two would be increased rather than diminished. The only wrench was +the parting with so splendid a province, throughout which, that noble +insignia of British supremacy, the cross of St. George, would be forever +furled. + +Administrator Dru's negotiations with Japan were no less successful than +those with England. He first established cordial relations with her by +announcing the intention of the United States to give the Philippines +their independence under the protection of Japan, reserving for America +and the rest of the world the freest of trade relations with the +Islands. + +Japan and China were to have all Eastern Asia as their sphere of +influence, and if it pleased them to drive Russia back into Europe, no +one would interfere. + +That great giant had not yet discarded the ways and habits of +medievalism. Her people were not being educated, and she indicated no +intention of preparing them for the responsibilities of self +government, to which they were entitled. Sometimes in his day dreams, +Dru thought of Russia in its vastness, of the ignorance and hopeless +outlook of the people, and wondered when her deliverance would come. +There was, he knew, great work for someone to do in that despotic land. + +Thus Dru had formulated and put in motion an international policy, +which, if adhered to in good faith, would bring about the comity of +nations, a lasting and beneficent peace, and the acceptance of the +principle of the brotherhood of man. + + + +CHAPTER XLIX + +UNEVEN ODDS + + +Gloria and Janet Selwyn saw much of one another in Washington, and Dru +was with them both during those hours he felt necessary for recreation. +Janet was ever bubbling over with fun and unrestrained humor, and was a +constant delight to both Gloria and Dru. Somewhere deep in her soul +there was a serious stratum, but it never came to the surface. Neither +Gloria nor Dru knew what was passing in those turbulent depths, and +neither knew the silent heartaches when she was alone and began to take +an inventory of her innermost self. She had loved Dru from the moment +she first saw him at her home in Philadelphia, but with that her +prescience in such matters as only women have, she knew that nothing +more than his friendship would ever be hers. She sometimes felt the +bitterness of woman's position in such situations. If Dru had loved her, +he would have been free to pay her court, and to do those things which +oftentimes awaken a kindred feeling in another. But she was helpless. An +advancement from her would but lessen his regard, and make impossible +that which she most desired. She often wondered what there was between +Gloria and Dru. Was there an attachment, an understanding, or was it one +of those platonic friendships created by common interests and a common +purpose? She wished she knew. She was reasonably sure of Gloria. That +she loved Dru seemed to admit of little doubt. But what of him? Did he +love Gloria, or did his love encompass the earth, and was mankind ever +to be his wife and mistress? She wished she knew. How imperturbable he +was! Was he to live and die a fathomless mystery? If he could not be +hers, her generous heart plead for Gloria. She and Gloria often talked +of Dru. There was no fencing between these two. Open and enthusiastic +admiration of Philip each expressed, but there were no confidences which +revealed their hearts. Realizing that her love would never be +reciprocated, Janet misled Philip as to her real feelings. One day when +the three were together, she said, "Mr. Administrator, why don't you +marry? It would add enormously to your popularity and it would keep a +lot of us girls from being old maids." "How would it prevent your being +an old maid, Janet?" said Dru. "Please explain." "Why, there are a lot +of us that hope to have you call some afternoon, and ask us to be Mrs. +Dru, and it begins to look to me as if some of us would be disappointed." +Dru laughed and told her not to give up hope. And then he said more +seriously--"Some day when my work here is done, I shall take your advice +if I can find someone who will marry me." "If you wait too long, Philip, +you will be so old, no one will want you," said Janet. "I have a feeling, +Janet, that somewhere there is a woman who knows and will wait. If I am +wrong, then the future holds for me many bitter and unhappy hours." Dru +said this with such deep feeling that both Gloria and Janet were +surprised. And Janet wondered whether this was a message to some unknown +woman, or was it meant for Gloria? She wished she knew. + + + +CHAPTER L + +THE BROADENING OF THE MONROE DOCTRINE + + +In spite of repeated warnings from the United States, Mexico and the +Central American Republics had obstinately continued their old time +habit of revolutions without just cause, with the result that they +neither had stable governments within themselves, nor any hope of peace +with each other. One revolution followed another in quick succession, +until neither life nor property was safe. England, Germany and other +nations who had citizens and investments there had long protested to the +American Government, and Dru knew that one of the purposes of the +proposed coalition against the United States had been the assumption of +control themselves. Consequently, he took active and drastic steps to +bring order out of chaos. He had threatened many times to police these +countries, and he finally prepared to do so. + +Other affairs of the Dru administration were running smoothly. The Army +was at a high standard of efficiency, and the country was fully ready +for the step when Dru sent one hundred thousand men to the Rio Grande, +and demanded that the American troops be permitted to cross over and +subdue the revolutionists and marauding bandits. + +The answer was a coalition of all the opposing factions and the massing +of a large army of defense. The Central American Republics also joined +Mexico, and hurriedly sent troops north. + +General Dru took personal command of the American forces, crossed the +Rio Grande at Laredo, and war was declared. There were a large number of +Mexican soldiers at Monterey, but they fell back in order to get in +touch with the main army below Saltillo. + +General Dru marched steadily on, but before he came to Saltillo, +President Benevides, who commanded his own army, moved southward, in +order to give the Central American troops time to reach him. This was +accomplished about fifty miles north of the City of Mexico. The allies +had one hundred thousand men, and the American force numbered sixty +thousand, Dru having left forty thousand at Laredo, Monterey and +Saltillo. + +The two armies confronted one another for five days, General Benevides +waiting for the Americans to attack, while General Dru was merely +resting his troops and preparing them for battle. In the meantime, he +requested a conference with the Mexican Commander, and the two met with +their staffs midway between the opposing armies. + +General Dru urged an immediate surrender, and fully explained his plans +for occupation, so that it might be known that there was to be no +oppression. He pointed out that it had become no longer possible for +the United States to ignore the disorder that prevailed in Mexico and +those countries south of it, for if the United States had not taken +action, Europe would have done so. He expressed regret that a country +so favored by God should be so abused by man, for with peace, order and +a just administration of the government, Mexico and her sister +republics, he felt sure, would take a high place in the esteem of the +world. He also said that he had carefully investigated conditions, knew +where the trouble lay, and felt sure that the mass of people would +welcome a change from the unbearable existing conditions. The country +was then, and had been for centuries, wrongfully governed by a +bureaucracy, and he declared his belief that the Mexican people as a +whole believed that the Americans would give them a greater measure of +freedom and protection than they had ever known before. + +Dru further told General Benevides that his army represented about all +there was of opposition to America's offer of order and liberty, and he +asked him to accept the inevitable, and not sacrifice the lives of the +brave men in both commands. + +Benevides heard him with cold but polite silence. + +"You do not understand us, Senor Dru, nor that which we represent. We +would rather die or be driven into exile than permit you to arrange our +internal affairs as you suggest. There are a few families who have +ruled Mexico since the first Spanish occupation, and we will not +relinquish our hold until compelled to do so. At times a Juarez or a +Diaz has attained to the Presidency, but we, the great families, have +been the power behind each administration. The peons and canaille that +you would educate and make our political equals, are now where they +rightfully belong, and your endeavors in their behalf are misplaced and +can have no result except disaster to them. Your great Lincoln +emancipated many millions of blacks, and they were afterwards given the +franchise and equal rights. But can they exercise that franchise, and +have they equal rights? You know they have not. You have placed them in +a worse position than they were before. You have opened a door of hope +that the laws of nature forbid them to enter. So it would be here. Your +theories and your high flown sentiment do you great credit, but, +illustrious Senor, read the pages of your own history, and do not try to +make the same mistake again. Many centuries ago the all knowing Christ +advised the plucking of the mote from thine own eye before attempting to +remove it from that of thy brother." + +To this Dru replied: "Your criticism of us is only partly just. We +lifted the yoke from the black man's neck, but we went too fast in our +zeal for his welfare. However, we have taken him out of a boundless +swamp where under the old conditions he must have wandered for all time +without hope, and we have placed his feet upon firm ground, and are +leading him with helping hands along the road of opportunity. + +"That, though, Mr. President, is only a part of our mission to you. Our +citizens and those of other countries have placed in your Republic vast +sums for its development, trusting to your treaty guarantees, and they +feel much concern over their inability to operate their properties, not +only to the advantage of your people, but to those to whom they belong. +We of Western Europe and the United States have our own theories as to +the functions of government, theories that perhaps you fail to +appreciate, but we feel we must not only observe them ourselves, but try +and persuade others to do likewise. + +"One of these ideas is the maintenance of order, so that when our +hospitable neighbors visit us, they may feel as to their persons and +property, as safe as if they were at home. + +"I am afraid our views are wide apart," concluded Dru, "and I say it +with deep regret, for I wish we might arrive at an understanding without +a clash at arms. I assure you that my visit to you is not selfish; it is +not to acquire territory or for the aggrandizement of either myself or +my country, but it is to do the work that we feel must be done, and +which you refuse to do." + +"Senor Dru," answered Benevides, "it has been a pleasure to meet you and +discuss the ethics of government, but even were I willing to listen to +your proposals, my army and adherents would not, so there is nothing we +can do except to finish our argument upon the field of battle." + +The interview was therefore fruitless, but Dru felt that he had done his +duty, and he prepared for the morrow's conflict with a less heavy heart. + + + +CHAPTER LI + +THE BATTLE OF LA TUNA + + +In the numbers engaged, in the duration and in the loss of life, the +battle of La Tuna was not important, but its effect upon Mexico and the +Central American Republics was epoch making. + +The manner of attack was characteristic of Dru's methods. His interview +with General Benevides had ended at noon, and word soon ran through the +camp that peace negotiations had failed with the result that the army +was immediately on the alert and eager for action. Dru did not attempt +to stop the rumor that the engagement would occur at dawn the next day. +By dusk every man was in readiness, but they did not have to wait until +morning, for as soon as supper was eaten, to the surprise of everyone, +word came to make ready for action and march upon the enemy. Of Dru's +sixty thousand men, twenty thousand were cavalry, and these he sent to +attack the Mexican rear. They were ordered to move quietly so as to get +as near to the enemy as possible before being discovered. + +It was not long before the Mexican outposts heard the marching of men +and the rumble of gun carriages. This was reported to General Benevides +and he rode rapidly to his front. A general engagement at nightfall was +so unusual that he could not believe the movement meant anything more +than General Dru's intention to draw nearer, so that he could attack in +the morning at closer range. + +It was a clear starlight night, and with the aid of his glasses he could +see the dark line coming steadily on. He was almost in a state of panic +when he realized that a general attack was intended. He rode back +through his lines giving orders in an excited and irregular way. There +was hurry and confusion everywhere, and he found it difficult to get his +soldiers to understand that a battle was imminent. Those in front were +looking with a feeling akin to awe at that solid dark line that was ever +coming nearer. The Mexicans soon began to fire from behind the +breastworks that had been hastily erected during the few days the armies +had been facing one another, but the shots went wild, doing but slight +damage in the American ranks. Then came the order from Dru to charge, +and with it came the Yankee yell. It was indeed no battle at all. By the +time the Americans reached the earthworks, the Mexicans were in flight, +and when the cavalry began charging the rear, the rout was completed. + +In the battle of La Tuna, General Benevides proved himself worthy of his +lineage. No general could have done more to rally his troops, or have +been more indifferent to danger. He scorned to turn his back upon an +enemy, and while trying to rally his scattered forces, he was captured, +badly wounded. + +Every attention worthy his position was shown the wounded man. Proud and +chivalrous as any of his race, he was deeply humiliated at the miserable +failure that had been made to repell the invaders of his country, though +keenly touched by the consideration and courtesy shown him by the +American General. + +Dru made no spectacular entrance into the city, but remained outside and +sent one of his staff with a sufficient force to maintain order. In an +address announcing his intentions towards Mexico and her allies, Dru +said--"It is not our purpose to annex your country or any part of it, +nor shall we demand any indemnity as the result of victory further than +the payment of the actual cost of the war and the maintenance of the +American troops while order is being restored. But in the future, our +flag is to be your flag, and you are to be directly under the protection +of the United States. It is our purpose to give to your people the +benefits of the most enlightened educational system, so that they may +become fitted for the responsibilities of self-government. There will +also be an equitable plan worked out by which the land now owned by a +few will be owned by the many. In another generation, this beautiful +land will be teeming with an educated, prosperous and contented people, +who will regard the battlefield of La Tuna as the birthplace of their +redemption. + +"Above all things, there shall not be thrust upon the Mexican people a +carpet-bag government. Citizens of Mexico are to enforce the +reconstructed constitution and laws, and maintain order with native +troops, although under the protecting arm of the United States. + +"All custom duties are to be abolished excepting those uniform tariffs +that the nations of the world have agreed upon for revenue purposes, and +which in no way restrict the freedom of trade. It is our further purpose +to have a constitution prepared under the direction and advice of your +most patriotic and wisest men, and which, while modern to the last +degree, will conform to your habits and customs. + +"However," he said in conclusion, "it is our purpose to take the most +drastic measures against revolutionists, bandits and other disturbers +of the peace." + +While Dru did not then indicate it, he had in mind the amalgamation of +Mexico and the Central American Republics into one government, even +though separate states were maintained. + + + +CHAPTER LII + +THE UNITY OF THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE UNDER THE NEW +REPUBLIC + + + +Seven years had passed since Philip Dru had assumed the administration +of the Republic. Seven years of serious work and heavy responsibility. +His tenure of power was about to close, to close amidst the plaudits of +a triumphant democracy. A Congress and a President had just been +elected, and they were soon to assume the functions of government. For +four years the States had been running along smoothly and happily under +their new constitutions and laws. The courts as modified and adjusted +were meeting every expectation, and had justified the change. The +revenues, under the new system of taxation, were ample, the taxes were +not oppressive, and the people had quickly learned the value of knowing +how much and for what they were paying. This, perhaps, more than any +other thing, had awakened their interest in public affairs. + +The governments, both state and national, were being administered by +able, well-paid men who were spurred by the sense of responsibility, and +by the knowledge that their constituents were alert and keenly +interested in the result of their endeavors. + +Some of the recommendations of the many commissions had been modified +and others adjusted to suit local conditions, but as a whole there was a +general uniformity of statutes throughout the Union, and there was no +conflict of laws between the states and the general government. + +By negotiations, by purchase and by allowing other powers ample coaling +stations along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the Bahamas, Bermuda +and the British, French and Danish West Indies were under American +protection, and "Old Glory" was the undisputed emblem of authority in +the northern half of the Western Hemisphere. + +Foreign and domestic affairs were in so satisfactory a condition that +the army had been reduced to two hundred thousand men, and these were +broadly scattered from the Arctic Sea to the Canal at Panama. Since the +flag was so widely flung, that number was fixed as the minimum to be +maintained. In reducing the army, Dru had shown his confidence in the +loyalty of the people to him and their satisfaction with the government +given them. + +Quickened by non-restrictive laws, the Merchant Marine of the United +States had increased by leaps and bounds, until its tonnage was +sufficient for its own carrying trade and a part of that of other +countries. + +The American Navy at the close of Philip Dru's wise administration was +second only to that of England, and together the two great English +speaking nations held in their keeping the peace and commercial freedom +of the Seven Seas. + + + +CHAPTER LIII + +THE EFFACEMENT OF PHILIP DRU + + +In the years since he had graduated from West Point General Dru had +learned to speak German, French and Spanish fluently, and he was +learning with Gloria the language of the Slavs at odd moments during the +closing months of his administration. Gloria wondered why he was so +intent upon learning this language, and why he wanted her also to know +it, but she no longer questioned him, for experience had taught her that +he would tell her when he was ready for her to know. + +His labors were materially lightened in these closing months, and as +the time for his retirement drew near, he saw more and more of Gloria. +Discarding the conventions, they took long rides together, and more +frequently they took a few camp utensils, and cooked their mid-day meal +in the woods. How glad Gloria was to see the pleasure these excursions +gave him! No man of his age, perhaps of any age, she thought, had ever +been under the strain of so heavy a responsibility, or had acquitted +himself so well. She, who knew him best, had never seen him shirk his +duty, nor try to lay his own responsibilities upon another's shoulders. +In the hours of peril to himself and to his cause he had never faltered. +When there was a miscarriage of his orders or his plans, no word of +blame came from him if the effort was loyal and the unhappy agent had +given all of his energy and ability. + +He had met every situation with the fortitude that knows no fear, and +with a wisdom that would cause him to be remembered as long as history +lasts. + +And now his life's work was done. How happy she was! If he did not love +her, she knew he loved no one else, for never had she known him to be +more than politely pleasant to other women. + +One golden autumn day, they motored far into the hills to the west of +Washington. They camped upon a mighty cliff towering high above the +Potomac. What pleasure they had preparing their simple meal! It was hard +for Gloria to realize that this lighthearted boy was the serious +statesman and soldier of yesterday. When they had finished they sat in +the warm sunshine on the cliff's edge. The gleaming river followed its +devious course far below them, parting the wooded hills in the distance. +The evening of the year had come, and forest and field had been touched +by the Master's hand. For a long time they sat silent under the spell +that nature had thrown around them. + +"I find it essential for the country's good to leave it for awhile, +perhaps forever," said Philip Dru. "Already a large majority of the +newly elected House have asked me to become the Executive. If I +accepted, there would be those who would believe that in a little while, +I would again assume autocratic control. I would be a constant menace +to my country if I remained within it. + +"I have given to the people the best service of which I was capable, and +they know and appreciate it. Now I can serve them again by freeing them +from the shadow of my presence and my name. I shall go to some obscure +portion of the world where I cannot be found and importuned to return. + +"There is at San Francisco a queenly sailing craft, manned and +provisioned for a long voyage. She is waiting to carry me to the world's +end if needs be." + +Then Philip took Gloria's unresisting hand, and said, "My beloved, will +you come with me in my exile? I have loved you since the day that you +came into my life, and you can never know how I have longed for the hour +to come when I would be able to tell you so. Come with me, dear heart, +into this unknown land and make it glad for me. Come because I am +drunken with love of you and cannot go alone. Come so that the days may +be flooded with joy and at night the stars may sing to me because you +are there. Come, sweet Gloria, come with me." + +Happy Gloria! Happy Philip! She did not answer him. What need was there? +How long they sat neither knew, but the sun was far in the west and was +sending its crimson tide over an enchanted land when the lovers came +back to earth. + + * * * * * + +Far out upon the waters of San Francisco Bay lay the graceful yet sturdy +_Eaglet_. The wind had freshened, the sails were filled, and she +was going swift as a gull through the Golden Gate into a shimmering sea. + +A multitude of friends, and those that wished them well, had gathered on +the water front and upon the surrounding hills to bid farewell to Philip +Dru and his bride Gloria. + +They watched in silent sadness as long as they could see the ship's +silhouette against the western sky, and until it faded into the splendid +waste of the Pacific. + +Where were they bound? Would they return? These were the questions asked +by all, but to which none could give answer. + + +THE END + + + + +WHAT CO-PARTNERSHIP CAN DO + +BY EARL GREY + + +_(Governor-General of Canada,_ 1904-11.) + +_One of the ablest champions of Co-partnership as a solution of the +industrial problem is Earl Grey. + +Below are some remarkable passages from his presidential address to the +Labor Co-partnership Association._ + +The problem before us is how to organize our industry on lines the +fairness of which will be generally admitted. Fairplay is the keynote +of our British character, and I am satisfied, if employers and employed +are properly approached, that wherever a feeling of mutual sympathetic +regard exists between them they will both be prepared to consider +fairly and to meet fully each other's requirements. This is the belief +on which we build our hopes of the future greatness of this country. +Remove this belief and the outlook is one of blackest gloom. + +Now what is the cause of the wide feeling of labor unrest? At the same +time, while the average standard of living, as a result of better +education, has been considerably raised and the retail prices of food +have risen 9.3 per cent. since 1900, wages in that period have only +risen 3 per cent. Consequently the manual workers find themselves in +straitened, pinched, and most distressing circumstances. Their +difficulties have naturally given birth to a general belief, or at any +rate added strength to it, that they are not receiving their fair share +of the wealth their labor has helped so largely to create. Now, whether +this belief is justified or not, there can be no doubt of its existence. + + +LABOR AND CAPITAL IN OPPOSING CAMPS. + +The great fact with which we are confronted in the industries of to-day +is that labor and capital are organized not in one but in opposing +camps, with the object not so much of promoting the common well-being +of all connected with industry as of securing whatever advantage can be +obtained in the prosecution of their common industry for themselves. The +members of each camp consequently regard each other with distrust and +suspicion. The capitalist is inclined to give the minimum that is +necessary to secure the labor which he requires, and the worker in +return considers that all that should be required from him is the +minimum of labor which will save him from dismissal. + +Then not only have we to consider the limiting effect on the efficiency +of industry caused by the fact that capital and labor are ranged not in +one but in opposing camps, but we have also to consider the effect on +the attitude of the men towards the management caused by the growing +tendency of the small business to be swallowed up by the large combine. +In such cases the old feeling of mutual affection, confidence, and +esteem, which in the past bound together employer and employed, has been +destroyed, and it must be obvious that unless we can adopt methods which +will restore in a new, and perhaps in a more satisfactory manner, the +old spirit the efficiency of industry and the prosperity of the nation +will both suffer. + +If you alter one part of any bit of machinery you must readjust all the +other parts in order to secure smooth working, and if by substituting +big businesses for small businesses you destroy the old intimate +connection which formerly existed between masters and men, it would +appear to be necessary, if you wish to maintain the old friendly +relations between employer and employed, that you should establish your +business on lines which will automatically create a feeling of loyalty +on the part of all concerned to the industry with which they are +connected. + +How is that to be done? By co-partnership. + +Now, what is the ideal of co-partnership? + +Ideal co-partnership is a system under which worker and consumer shall +share with capitalists in the profits of industry. + + +THE SURPLUS PROFITS GO TO CAPITAL. + +Under our present system the whole of the surplus profits go to capital, +and it is the object of capital to give the worker the least wage for +which he will consent to work, and to charge the consumer the highest +price which he can be persuaded to give; conversely it is the object of +labor to give as little as possible for the wage received. + +Now, that is a system which cannot possibly satisfy the requirements of +a civilized and well-organized society. What we want is a system which +will safeguard the consumer, and also provide the worker with a +natural, self-compelling inducement to help the industry with which he +is connected. That system is provided by co-partnership. Co-partnership +insists that the workers have a right to participate in the net profits +that may remain after capital has received its fixed reward. In a co- +partnership business, just as the reward of labor is fixed by the trade +union rate of wages, so the reward of capital is fixed by the amount +which it is necessary for the industry to give. That amount will vary +corresponding with the security of the risk attending the industry in +question. If the industry is a safe one, it will be able to obtain the +capital required by giving a small interest; if the industry is a risky +one, it will be necessary to offer capital better terms. + +Then, if there should be surplus profits available for division after +labor has received its fixed reward--viz., trade union rate of wages-- +and after capital has received its fixed reward--viz., the rate of +interest agreed upon as the fair remuneration of capital; I say if, +after these two initial charges have been met, there should still be +left surplus profits to distribute, that instead of their going +exclusively to capital they should be distributed between labor and +capital on some principle of equity. + +The way in which the principle of co-partnership can be supplied to +industrial enterprise admits of infinite variety. In some cases the +surplus profits are divided between wages, interest, and custom, in some +cases between wages and custom without any share going to interest, and +on some cases between wages and interest. + +As an example of a co-partnership industry which divides all surplus +profits that may remain after 5 per cent. has been paid on capital +between custom and labor, one pound of purchase counting for as much in +the division as one pound of wage, let me refer to the well-known Hebden +Bridge Fustian Works. I commend to all interested in co-partnership +questions a close study of this industry. Started by working men in +1870, it has built up on lines of permanent success a flourishing +business, and is making sufficient profits to enable it to divide 9d. in +the pound on trade union rate of wages and the same amount on purchases. +The steady progress of this manufacturing industry over a period of +forty-two years; the recognition by trade unionist management of the +right of capital to receive an annual dividend of 5 per cent., and the +resolute way in which they have written down the capital of £44,300 +invested in land, buildings and machinery to £14,800, notwithstanding +that a less conservative policy would have increased the sum available +for bonus to wages, all go to show how practicable are co-partnership +principles when they are applied by all concerned to productive +enterprise in the right spirit. + + +A BRILLIANT EXAMPLE. + +I should also like to refer to Mr. Thompson's woolen mills of +Huddersfield, established in 1886, as another brilliant example of +successful co-partnership. It is frequently stated that in an industry +where men are paid by piecework or share in the profits there is a +tendency for the men to over-exert themselves. Well, in the Thompson +Huddersfield mills there is no piecework, no overtime, only the weekly +wage; no driving is allowed. The hours of labor are limited to forty- +eight per week. The workers are given a whole week's holiday in August, +and in addition they enjoy the benefits of a non-contributory sick and +accident fund, and of a 24s. per week pension fund. In these mills cloth +is made from wool and wool only, not an ounce of shoddy. Here again the +surplus profits, after the fixed reward of capital--viz., interest at +the rate of 5 per cent. per annum--has been paid, are divided between +labor and custom; and here again the capital sunk in the mills has been +written down from £8,655 to £1,680. Unprofitable machinery is scrap- +heaped. The mill has only the best, most up-to-date machinery, and all +connected with the works, shareholders and workers, live together like +a happy family. + +As an illustration of a co-partnership industry which divides its +surplus profits between wages, interest, and custom, I might point to +the gas companies which are being administered on the Livesey +principle, which is now so well known. Since co-partnership principles +were applied to the South Metropolitan Gas Works in 1899 over £500,000 +has been paid, as their share of the profits, to the credit of the +workers, who also own over £400,000 of the company's stock. The fact +that over £50,000,000 of capital is invested in gas companies +administered on co-partnership principles, which divide surplus profits +between consumers, shareholders, and wage-earners, encourages us to +hope that we may look forward with confidence to the adoption of co- +partnership principles by other industries. + +As an illustration of a co-partnership industry which divides its +surplus profits between labor and capital alone, let me refer to the +Walsall Padlock Society, one of the 114 workmen productive societies +which may be regarded as so many different schools of co-partnership +under exclusive trade unionist management. In this society the rate of +interest on share capital has been fixed at 7-1/2 per cent., and should +there be any surplus profit after trade union rate of wages and the +fixed reward of capital, 7-1/2 per cent., have been paid, it is divided +between labor and capital in proportion to the value of their respective +services, and the measure of the value is the price the Walsall Padlock +Society pays for the use of capital and labor respectively. £1 of +interest counts for as much in the division of the profits as £1 of +wage, and vice versa. This principle of division, invented by the +Frenchman Godin, of Guise, has always seemed to me to be absolutely fair +and to be capable of being easily applied to many industries. + +Now in these cases I have quoted, and I could refer to many others, a +unity of interest is established between labor and capital, with the +result that there is a general atmosphere of peace and of mutual +brotherhood and goodwill. + +Capital receives the advantage of greater security. Labor is secured the +highest rate of wage the industry can afford. + + +WILLING AND UNWILLING SERVICE. + +Now, what does the substitution of such conditions for the conditions +generally prevailing to-day in England mean for our country? Who shall +estimate the difference between the value of willing and unwilling +service? The Board of Trade will tell you that a man paid by piecework +is generally from 30 to 50 per cent. more effective than a man paid by +time. + +If the co-partnership principle, which is better than piecework, because +it tends to produce identity of interest between capital and labor were +to increase the efficiency of time-paid workers from 30 to 50 per cent., +just think of the result; and yet the fact that co-partnership might add +from 30 to 50 per cent. to the efficiency of the worker is urged by many +trade unionists as a reason against co-partnership. They seem to fear +that the result of making men co-partners will be to cause them to give +25 per cent. better labor and to receive only 50 per cent. more wage. No +system can be right which is based on the assumption that self-interest +calls for a man to give his worst instead of his best. When I compare +Canada with England I am struck by the fact, that, whereas Canada's +greatest undeveloped asset is her natural resources, England's greatest +undeveloped asset is man himself. How to get each man to do his best is +the problem before England to-day. It is because co-partnership +harnesses to industry not only the muscle but the heart and the +intelligence of the worker that we are justified in regarding it with +reverence and enthusiasm as the principle of the future. + +[Transcriber's Note: + +The following have been identified as possible typographical errors in +the original: + +hands over the to-morrow +infringe upon the rights as nations +but with that her prescience +plead for Gloria] + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, PHILIP DRU: ADMINISTRATOR *** + +This file should be named 8phlp10.txt or 8phlp10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8phlp11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8phlp10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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