Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-07-16

/ ES<Ja~~ee .axSsR III s|
COUNCILLOR NUMBER SEVEN.
/ doing so they can best forward their
| private interests; like clergymen and
ministers, who SO long as people are
willing to pay for religion are quite
ready to preach it; and, In short, like
every one else who is not absolutely
fool-our first consideration, in the
conduct Of whatever business the pub
lie think fit to entrust to us, Is, not
to put too fine point upon it, to
| feather our own nests. 1t is quite true
that there are many men and women
i working in connection with these as
sociations and societies who, there is
no denying, are honest and disinter-.
ested; and very good decoy ducks they
are too, to bring the money in. But
/ such men and women, though they do
not suspect 1t, are simply our tools.
We are not, of course, such fools as
to spoil our own game by killing the
goose that lays the golden eggs But
in our case the game is very easy
one to play. If an attempt success
full or unsuccessful upon the life Of
| SOIUG udLGu IuOndTCu OTs Unpopular
statesman, the blowing up of a palace
1 or prison, or similar demonstration,
did not occur every. now and then, our
subscribers would begin to think that
they were getting nothing for their
money, and supplies would cease. But
though much of the enormous power
which Is given to us by the complete
/ control of all these societies, leagues,
associations and unions is used by us
for political purposes, we do not hest
tate to use this same power in the
interests Of our own pockets. For in
| stance, IL we heard that large sums
1 Of money or other valuables were be-
! ing conveyed from one place to an
/ other, or were secreted IN any partic-
ular building, and we could avail our
selves of the power which we have
at our control to secure that sum of
money for ourselves, we should not
/ hesitate about putting the machinery
into motion. DO you remember the
mysterious robbery at the duchess Of
Doncaster's?"
why, yes!" gasped Number Seven,
for once genuinely surprised. Zone
hundred thousand pounds in Jewels
and hard cash disappeared, no one
knew where"
Precisely said the chairman cool
i ly. "They did not realize so rslcn as
that, however, although, owing to the
fact that we have agents in most Of
the continental cities, we have ex-
ceptional facilities for the disposal of
valuables.
THAT now, as case in point, could
never have been negotiated success
fully but for the intricate machinery
which we have 1t in our power to set in
motion. No ordinary 'conveyor' IF I
i may use the term-could nave carried
that bit of business through to sue
cessful issue, even with the assist
ance of skillful confederates.
And the proceeds of that haul, do
/ understand that they were divided
among the seven councillors?" asked
ing eyes.
Precisely. It was benefit perform
ance. You are still DESTROYS of assum-
ing the-shall we responsibilities
of council1orship?"
Need you ask?"
"And when would you like to COM
| mence the dut1eS!
This minute"
4 Good. Well, as have told you, we
do not, when we elect a new member
to the council, exact any solemn oath
OF secrecy from him. The rule-the
invariable rule-which we have adopt
ed in place of any such meaningless
exaction is this. Whenever new
member is elected, that member has
to qualify himself, so to speak, by
carrying out personally the first re-
movaP which may be decreed by the
council. We do this as much for our
own protection as for any other reason
The fact that member is equally
committed with ourselves and has
rendered himself liable to the same
legal penalties, is the best guarantee
of his loyalty that we could possibly
i have. Do you followT'
4 Tor, doggedly.
well, this is the situation. We re-
Gently elected to place on the council
to the very place you now fila
new member. He had taken life on
more than one occasion, and we
thought we were sure of our man, or
we should not have invited him to
join us. But we have since discovered
lit is the one and only mistake of the
sort we have made-that we have been
misled in him. Not that he is not fully
as eager to accept responsibility even
the most dangerous responsibility
as any of us. On that ground we have
no cause for complaint. But the fact
Is that when he joined us he was under
the impression that our motives were
entirely disinterested and patriotic.