The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1905-09-23

The canal ran under John Smiths
windoA Outside. above John
Smiths head. rose the mighty walls
OF the shiloh mills. tholr windown
whitenad with hRiOeH Of driven
flour dust. and their masonry
clamped and stayed with titanic
supports Of iron.
The shiloh mills was a flouriahing
concern. but no rili Of It's afflnepre
over tricklad into the lives Of its
clerks or mlilrfR a handful OF
men owned them-ail sharp. grasp
Ing. close listed men who were
keen 10 grind down expenses. even
IN the face Of tho :lOodstldo of good
luck ard high profits
None on the outside could tell at
other uf the exact amounts. no one
hand held ali the strings OF kuo@l-
sdKe. and 20 the whole Of the affairs
OF the shiloh mills we're Ahf0uded
In darkness aud Ia a vague mYa-
terry.
One man there was who. II he
had had auffleien, interest In life.
might have known much that vent
On IN the dark private parlor Of the
owners OF Shiloh mills. That vas
John smith. lie had been longest
In the service 81 the firm. and had
always proved himself reliable
ariihmstician. though devoid Of the
wider knowiefke 81 cross aud dou-
BILE entry which would have pro-
motaa him % q better position and
salary II wa this latter quality Of
mathematical Ignorance. combined
With hig indifference % things I'm
general. aud hts exceeding acct
fary In matters of routine arithms-
&c. which had placed him In Pc
uiiion % possess n he had cared TO
use his brains sufficiently 60 cognlxe
the faefs he held-exaet and peculiar
information regarding the Shiloh
mills. For the keen. close. saresd
men who ruled the enormous con-
ecrn from the little dark parl0r
wsTe growing Just the least BIT tired
Of that arithmssicRi toll. by the do
ing Of which themselves they had
kept even their own offlre staff IN
such profound Ignorance Of the
EoneraliEAiiona 81 their business
And they had departed q trifle from
the strict letter of the principle Of
silence which they had maintained
FOR 20 many years. and from time TO
time. with many injunetiona rs To
inylolahle secrecy. bad handed over
90 their faithful and automatic ssry-
ant. John Smith. aundry figured
shessa Of foolerap 60 add. subtract.
and generally deal with
What those sheets Of thickiy-
figured fooiseap would have told
him vas this. That s.s00 shops
small and isrge-for tho sale of
bread and flour. were the absolute
property % thnae cioes. ahrewd men
Who nNnsd the shiloh mills. The
bread supply OF two counties was In
their hands. they we're without n
serious rival IN the field.
John Smith had bad good deal
81 night work lately. The five we're
planning something - something
more than ordinarily gigantic some
thing more crafiy. more lucrative.
more ahrcwd than ever.
The plan of the quintet was to
raise the price Of bread in the null
tltude 81 shops really. though not
oatenslhiy. under It's control. a far
thing on Monday. \ hslfpenny ON
Wednesday. three farthlngs on Fri
day. and penny ON Saturday On
the following Monday. II affairs
were satisfactory. ~ was 10 raise
penny farthiug ON the Tuesday IL
was TO drop 4 farthing below It's
normal level. in order 10 bring back
any angry customers.
AZ Il. 30 O'Clock on this particu-
lar day John Smith went for a walk
Half mile above the mills. a laden
barge was sliding down the black
waterway toward the town. by the
side Of the horse that pulled Il a
man atrolled with long Jerky. wob-