Show RANDOLPH omil LILLIAN tr fe I 1 SYNOPSIS at a vestry meeting of the market square church gall sargent listens to discussion about the sale of the church tenements to edward C allason All lson local traction king and when asked her opinion of the chunh by rev smith boyd ays it Is apparently a lucrative business enterprise allason takes catl riding in hta motor car when he suggests he la entitled to rest on the laurels of hl achievements she asks the disturbing question why gall returning to her uncle jim a home from her drive with al allson finds cold disapproval in the ees 0 kev smith boyd who Is calling there at a bobsled party gall finds the world uncomfortably full of men and allason tells jim sargent that his new ambition Is to conquer the world allason starts a campaign tor consolidation and control ot the entire transportation system of the world gall becomes popular allason gains control of transcontinental traffic and ar rances to absorb the bedder court tenement property ot market square church gall vedder court and meet ing boyd there tells him that the cathedral market square church proposes to build will be out of profits wrung from squalor she becomes the center ot mag netly attraction lor the men of her aunts social set CK arf TER X continued r allason went over to his wall map with a step in which there was the spring of a boy A L vance ot the united states supplies company which controlled beef mcgar and all other food products except those mighty necessities avier the sways of the standard cereal corn pany and eldradge babbitts al dairy products consolidation te buoyant allison with a puzzled ex pre salon he bad seen allason grow to care burdened manhood and sud denly ed seemed tweety years young er only eldradge babbitt knew the secret of this miraculous cence babbitt had married late in life a beautiful young woman the key to the north and south sit nation Is here said allason All lson and he drew a firm swift green line down across the united states branching at each end george dalrymple will be here in halt an hour and by that time L trust ue may come to some agree ment it depends on what you want boomed arthur granden ln who sitting beside the immense haverman looked as jt that giant had shrunk him by his mere proximity freight to begin with stated AIM eon resuming bis place at the head of the table but not his seat you gen clemen represent the largest freight ae interests in the united states you all know your relative products and yet in order to grasp this situation completely I 1 wish to enumerate them babbitt s national dairy products con can swing the shipment of arery ounce of butter cream cheese eggs and poultry bandied in this coun try darks standard cereal company wheat corn oats rice barley malt flour every ounce of breadstuffs bread stuffs or careal goods grown on american soil haverman the amalgamated metals constructive company every pound of iron lead and copper and every ton of ore from the moment it leaves the ground until it appears as an iron web in a city sky or spans a river granden ln the union fuel company coal and wood from alaska to pennsylvania with oil and all its enormous by prod acts taylor the american textiles company wool cotton flax the raw and finished material of every thread of clothing M e wear or any other tex tile fabric we use except silks vance the united states supplies company meat bugar the main blood and sinew builders of the country gentlemen give me the freightage controlled by your six companies and I 1 II 11 toss the rest of the country s freightage to a beggar you forgot chesholm reminded him and banker a white mutton chops turned pink from the appreciation which glowed in his ruddy veined face allason All lson was quite right returned big haverman with a dry smile the freightage income on money Is an item scarcely worth considering give the atlantic pacific this freight and inside of two years the entire business of the united stated with all its ramifications will be merged in one management and that management ours we shall not need to absorb nor purchase a single rail road until it Is bankrupt sensible idea allason All lson approved dark of the standard cereal company it s a logical proposition which I 1 had in mind years ago stroke of genius if seems to me consists in getting us together smiled haverman hanging bis arm over the back of his chair danker chesholm leaned forward on the table and stroked his round chin reflectively there would be some disorganization and perhaps financial disorder in the first two years he considered but the railroads are al ready harassed too much by the gov crement to thrive under competition and in the end I 1 believe this proposed centralization would be the best thing tor the interests of the country wherein displayed that he was a vestryman of market square church wherever be went what Is your proposition asked who because of the self as bertlon necessitated by his diminutive elac avi pompous but was not no pompous man could have merged the wood coal and oil interests and having merged them swung them over bis own shoulder allason s answer consisted of one word consolidation he said there was a moment of silence wille these men absorbed that simple idea and glanced speculatively not at allason All lson but at each other they were kings these heads of mighty corpora alons whose emissaries carried their sovereignties sovereign ties into the farthest corners of the earth like friendly kings they had helped each other in the protection of their several domains but this was another matter a large proposition ed mated vance very thoughtfully all sense of levity bad gone from this meeting they had come as they thought to promote a large mutual in terest but not to weld a frankenstein I 1 did not understand your project to be so comprehensive I 1 fancied your idea to be that the various companies represented here with chesholm as financial controller should take a mu interest in the support of the atlantic pacific for the purpose of con the railroad interests of the country under one management there by serving our own transportation needs very well put vance approved taylor smoothing his pointed mus tache that Is a mere logical development of the railroad situation returned al allson if I 1 had not cemented this dl reel route someone would have made the consolidation you mention within ten years tor the entire railroad situ aaion has been disorganized since the death of three big men la that field and the scattered holdings would be and are an easy prey tor anyone vital ly interested enough to invade the in austry I 1 have no such minor proposition in mind I 1 propose with the pacific as a nucleus to first as I 1 have said bring the financial ter finals of every mile of railroad in the united states into one central office with this I 1 then propose to combine the national dairy products consolita consolida con solida alon the standard cereal company the amalgamated metals constructive company the union fuel american textiles the united states supplier and the stupendous financial interests swayed by the banks tributary to the majestic trust company I 1 propose to weld these gigantic concerns into one corporation which shall be the est organization the world has ever known beginning with the control of transportation it will control all food all apparel all construction materials all fuel from the shoes on his feet to the root over his head every man in the united states of america from laborer to president shall pay tribute to the international transportation company gentlemen it I 1 have dreamed big it Is because I 1 haye dealt with men who deal only in large dreams what I 1 propose Is an empire greater man inai ever swayed by any monarch in history we eight men who are here in this room can build that empire with a scratch of a pen and can hold it against the assaults of the world his voice rang as he finished and babbitt looked at him in wonder al ilson had always been a strong man but now in this second youth he was an antaeus springing fresh from the earth there was a moment s lull and then a nasal voice drawled into the silence allason All lson it was the voice of old joseph G dark who had built the standard cereal company out of one wheat elevator who Is to be the mon arch of your new empire for luet a moment allason looked about him vastly different as these men were from the full bearded hav erman to the smooth shaven old joseph 0 dark there was some one ex pres slon which was the same in every man and that expression was mas tery these men by the sheer force of their personality by the sheer daml nance of their wills by the sheer verll ity of their purposes by the sheer dog ged persistence which balks at no ob stacle and hesitates at no foe bad fought and strangled and throttled their way to the top until they stood head and shoulders above all the strong men of their respective domains safe from protest or dispute of sovereignty because none has risen strong enough to do them battle they were the undefeated champions of their classes and the life of every man in that group was an epic who was to be monarch of the new empire allason answered that question as simply as be bad the others the best man he said there had been seven big men in america now there were eight they all recognized that of course went on allason All lson my proposition does not assume that any man here will begin by relinquishing control of his own particular branch of the international transportation company sugar beef iron steel oil land the other commodities will all be under their present handling but each branch will so support and benefit the other that the position of the condoll itself will be impregnable against competition or the assaults of government the advantages of con arol collection and distribution are BO vast that they far outweigh any poa elble question of personal aggrandizement dont hedge allason All lson barked ar thur granden you expressed it right in the first place you re put ting it up to us to step out of the local championship class and contend for the big belt the prize big enough pronounced W T chesholm aa it he had decided for them all As befitted bis calling he was slower minded than the rest there are few quick turns in banking not big enough repeated allason not big enough when the union fuel company already supplies every can die which goes into the sudan runs the pumps on the nile and the motor boats on the yang tse kyang supplies the oil tor the lubrication of the ar of juggernaut and works the propel ler of every aeroplane not big enough when already the alons represented here have driven their industries into every quarter of the earth what shall you say when we join to our nucleus the great steamship lines and the foreign rail roads not big enough gentlemen look here he strode over to the big globe from new york to san fran casco a red line had already been traced now he took a pencil in bis hand and placing the point at new york gave the globe a whirl girding it completely gentlemen there is your empire I 1 again the nasal voice of old joseph G clark drawled into the silence 1 I suggest that we discuss in detail the conditions of the consolidation be remarked the bell of house phone rang mr dalrymple sir said the voice of ephraem very well replied allason show him into the study babbitt will you read to the gentlemen this skeleton plan of organization if you II 11 excuse me be back in five minutes dalrymple inquired taylor yes answered allison abstracted ly and went into the study he and dalrymple looked at each other silently tor a moment with the old enmity shining between them dal rymple a man five years allason s senior a brisk speaking man with a protruding jaw and deep set gray eyes had done more than any other one bu man being to develop the transports tran alon systems of new york but his gift had been in construction in creation whereas allason s bad been in bombl nation and dalrymple bad gone into the railroad business dalrymple I 1 m going to give you a chance said allason briskly I 1 want the gulf great lakes railroad tern dalrymple bad produced a cigar while he waited for allason All lson and now he lit it he sat on the corner of the study table and surveyed allison crit lacally I 1 don t doubt if he replied the system Is almost completed I 1 II 11 accept a fair offer tor your con trolling interest went on allason and it I 1 wont sell then I 1 II 11 jump on you tomorrow in the stock exchange and take it away from you dalrymple smiled you cant do it I 1 own my con trolling interest outright and no stock ramblings gamb lings on the board of trade can ill jump on you tomorrow in the stock exchange affect either a share of my stock or the earning capacity of my railroad when you drove me out ot the traction field I 1 took advantage of my experience peri ence and In trenched myself go on and gamble I 1 wish you wouldn t take that attl tude returned allason All lson troubled it looks to you as it I 1 were pursuing you because of that old quarrel but I 1 want you to know that I 1 m not aln I 1 don t think you are replied dal rymple with infinite contempt you re just a damned hog A hot flush swept over AIll sons ace but it was gone in an instant it happens that I 1 need the new gulf great lakes system he went on in a perfectly level voice and I 1 prefer to buy it from you at a fair price dalrymple put on his hat it ten t or sale he stated I 1 just a minute dalrymple inter posed I 1 want to show you something rook in here and be opened the library door dalrymple stopped to the opening and saw not merely seven men mid die aged and past sitting around a library table but practically all the necessities of the united states and practically all its money a power against which bis many million dollar railroad system was of no more opposition than a toy train the transportation department to be governed by a council composed of the representatives of the various other departments herein mentioned dronek droned on the voice of babbitt the representatives of the various other departments therein mentioned were bent in concentrated attention on every sentence and phrase and word and syllable of that important document not omitting to pay imbor tant attention to the pauses which an tor commas and none looked up dalrymple closed the door gently now will you sell inquired aall son for a moment the two men looked into each others eyes while the old enmity begun while they were still in the womb of time lay chill between them at one instant dalrymple whose jaw muscles were working con half raised his hands as it be were minded to fall on allason and strangle him and it was not the fact that allason was probably the strong er man which restrained him but a bigger pride no he said again with that in finite contempt in bis tone break me all right accepted allason cheer fully and even with relief tor his way was now free to pursue its normal course he crossed to the door which opened into the hall and politely bowed dalrymple into the guidance of old ephraim dalrymple won t sell he reported when he rejoined his fellow members of the international transportation company joseph G dark looked up from a set of jotted memoranda which he bad been nonchalantly setting down dur ing the reading well pick it up in the stock mar ket he carelessly suggested can t replied allason All lson with equal carelessness hes In trenched with solid control and I 1 imagine he doean doesn t owe a dollar chesholm with his fingers in his white mutton chops was studying clean shaven old dark s memoranda A panic will be necessary any how he observed we 11 acquire the road then CHAPTER XI gall solves the vedder court problem rev smith doyd rector of the richest church in the world dropped bis last collar button on the floor and looked distinctly annoyed the collar button rolled under bis mahogany highboy and |