Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-10-26
DANGER SIGNALS.


DANGER SIGNALS.
AT that time l did not myself go over
the bills before the legislature of those
states in which I had interests. l
trusted that work to my lawyers-and,
like every mar who ever absolutely
trusted an important division of his
affairs to another, l was severely pun
ished. One morning my eye happened
to light upon a minor paragraph in a
newspaper list of the small bills
yesterday approved by the governor"
In the list was one defining the power
of sundry commissions" Those words
seemed to me somehow to spell "jok-
err" But why did / call up my lawyers
to ask them about it? It's a mystery
to me. All 1 know is that, busy as /
was, something inside me compelled me
to drop everything else and hunt that
Joker down.
1 got Saxe-then senior partner in
Browne, Sake and Einstein-on the
phone, and said: Just see n tell me,
will you, what is the bill defining the
power of sundry commissions'-the bill
the governor signed yesterday"
Certainly, Mr.. Blackjack" came the
answer. My nerves are, and always
nave been, on the watchout for the
looks and tones and the gestures that
are just a shade off the natural; and l
feel that / do Sake no injustice when
| say his o was, not a shade, but
a full color. off the natural. So l vas
prepared for what he sale when he re-
turned to the telephone. I'm sorry,
Mr.. Blackjack, but we seem unable to
lay our hands on hat bill at this mo-
ment."
WIN not?" said I, in the tom hat
makes an employee jump as if a whip
lash had cut him on the calves.
He had jumped all right, as his voice
showed. Its not in our fle,' said he.
It's house bill No. AT, and it's ap-
parently not here"
THE hell you say!" L exclaimed.
"Why?'
Il really can't explain" he pleaded,
and the frightened whine confirmed my
suspicion.
II guess not said I, making the
words significant and suggestive. And
you're in my pay TO look after such
matters, But you'll have to explain.
if this turns out to be serious.
Apparently our file of bills is COM
plete except that one" he went on. Il
suppose it was lost in the mail, and l
very stupidity didn't notice the gap in
the numbers"
Stupid isn't the word I'd use." said
I, with q laugh that wasn't OF the kind
that cheers. And 1 rang off n asked
for the state capitol on the long dis
lance"
Before l got my connection SAKE,
came clustering in. THE boy has been
discharged, Mr.. Blackjack" he began.
What boy?" said L.
THE boy in charge of the bill file
the boy whose business 1t was to keep
the file complete"
Send him to me, you damned scoun-
drel," said 1. "Ill give him a job. What
do you take me for, anyway? And
what kind of a ~cowardly hound are you
20 disgrace an innocent boy as a cover
for your w crooked work."
Really, Mr.. Blackjack, this is most
extraordinary" he expostulated.
Extraordinary? l all it criminal"
I retorted. Listen to me. You look
after the legislation calendars for me,
and for Langdon, and for Roebuck, and
for Melville, and for half a dozen others
of the biggest financiers In the country.
It's the most important work you do
for us. Yet you, as shrewd and care
full a lawyer as there is at the bar, want
me to believe you trusted that work
to a boy. If you did, you're a damn
fool. II you didn't, you're a damn
scoundrel. There's no more doubt in
my mind than yours which of those
horns has you sticking on it,
you are letting your quick temper
get away with you Mr.. Blackjack he
deprecated.
stop lying," 1 shouted. Il knew
you had been doing some skulduggery
when l first heard your voice on the
telephone. And If / needed any proof.
the meek way you've taken my abuse
would furnish it, and to spare"
Just then the telephone bell rang and
4 -~~& the rioht dana ~ y,oA,,t nNI A-i1
the clerk to read house bill AT. 1t
contained five short paragraphs. The
Joker was in the third. which gave
the state canal commission the right
ito institute condemnation proceedings,
and to condemn, and to abolish. any
canal not exceeding thirty miles in
length and not a part of the connected
canal system OF the state"
When ] hung UP the receiver I was so
absorbed that had forgotten Sake was
waiting. He made some slight sound.
I wheeled on him. I needed a vent If
he hadn't been there / should have
smashed a chair. But there was he
and I kicked him out Of my private
Office and would have kicked him out
through the anteroom into the outer
hall had he not gathered himself to-
gether and run like a jackrabbit.
Since that day I have done my own
calendar watching.
BY this incident / do not mean to
suggest that there are not honorable
men in the legal profession. Most OF
them are men of the highest honor
as are most business men, most per-
sons OF consequence in every depart
ment of life. But o don't look fol
character in the proprietors. servants,
customers and hangers-on OF dives. NJ
more ought you to look for honor
among any Of the people that have tt
do with the big gilded dive of the dol.
larocracy. They are there to gamble
and to prostitute themselves. The fac
that they look like gentlemen and hav,
the name n the language OF gen.
tlemen ought to deceive nobody but tn,
callow chaps OF the sort that believes
the swell gambler Is IAN honest fel
low" and a perfect gentleman other,