Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1906-04-23

| it was unthinkab1e, when the facts
were presented and the. whole case
twas made UP, that such a body Of
commanding and representative men
as the board of directors should fail
| to stand by him In carrying through
his plan to end Mr.. Hyde's stock con
troll. x,-tE5g ss.4 s$3 II
"You will pull down the pillars of
the temple" said Joline warningly. (
"Then they must come down, and If
necessary will go down with them, ..
was the steady answer.
Then followed the petition, signed
! by thirty-eight officers and. heads OF
departments of the Equitable society,
asking the directors to amend the
charter SO that the voting power
should be in the hands Of the policy
holders, and protesting against the
reelection of Mr.. Hyde. .3..55 Ell
This was followed by a long and
bitter war, charges and counter
charges, committees and convocations
of lawyers, whipping-up of public ex-
citement by the newspapers and all
the dreary confusion of scandal with
which the public is familiar. . ss:,s
| Apparently it never occurred to Mr..
Alexander that he himself was vulner-
able, that his participation in syndi-
cate profits. and his assent to methods
which he now desired to end could be
used to confound the public mind and
discredit him beyond redemption.
| But the time came when he saw
! that he would be beaten. He heard
| the public cry for his own downfall as
well as Mr.. Hyde's. Whatever his of
|fenses may have been and whatever
the motives that prompted his actions
before, in that terrible moment of
anguish all that remained of the con-
science inherited from generations of
Presbyterian clean living and high
thinking rose in him and converted
him into hero. 'G ., -
One @day-Lawyers Hornblower and
Guthrie, representing the "mutualiza-
ton side Of the fight, came to MT.
Alexander. They had gone to Phila-
de1phia with Elihu Root and Mr.. Guilt
yer, who represented J. Mr.. Hyde.
These four men, adopts in the science
Of walking in water to hide. tracks,
had practically agreed upon a plan
under which half of the directors Of
the Equitable were to be elected by,
the stockholders and half by the
policy holders. They explained it. .
| That was the supreme psyche illogical
moment in Mr.. Alexander's life. He
knew that he had broken the sacred
law of silence under which 'high
finance worked. He knew that he
had violated the unspoken covenant
Of secrecy, a crime against "the
System" almost unspeakable and be-
yond forgiveness or expiation. The
forces of Wall Street, of the banks
and trust companies and railroads ana
industrial corporations, had joined
with the directors Of the three mighty
insurance organizations, representing
assets of more than billion dollars
and he would have been deaf not to
have heard the command for silence
Numbered from the throne OF financial
power. :!s4., !s, 2s:5 s .E }5sss$.
Here was a door for retreat. He
might accept the plan recommended
by his lawyers, retain his office and
end his days in peace. Had he as
sented, all hope OF reformation would
have been over at once, and no ether
man would have dared to speak.
Rising to his feet, Mr. Alexander,
pale and haggard with illness. and SO.
weak that he could scarcely stand,
confronted his lawyers, folded his.
arms on his breast, threw his head
back and, in effect, said, quietly, but
in a tone that no one who heard 1t has
forgotten: .s.S
Gentlemen, consider what you
have proposed to be a pusillanimous
comp omise. It means, for all practi-
cal purposes, a failure in the objects
| for which we have been fighting Il
do not care to consider personal as
poets of the matter. If sacrifice
has to be made. am willing to make
It. You are attempting to go beyond
your province as advisers, and can
not permit Won to commit me to any
surrender OF the principle OF control
by the policy holders. You must find
some other way out Of this situation.
intend to make a fight To the end for
real nlltual ization, no matter what
4 the result may be to my fortunes
That settled 1t. It was soon
/ whispered about that Mr.. Alexander
had adopted a hopelessly impractical
4 attitude, was, In fact, suffering from
i a bad case OF conscience. Instantly