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

DANGER SIGNALS.
At that time / did not myself go over
the bills before the legislature Of those
states in which / had interests. l
trusted that work to my lawyers-and,
like every man 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
newspapers 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 l call up my lawyers
to ask them about it? It's a mystery
to me. All / know is that, busy as L
was, something inside me compelled me
to drop everything else hunt that
Joker" down..
/ got Saxe-then senior partner in
Browne, Sake and Einstein-on the
phone. and said; Just see and 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
have been, on the watchout for the
looks and tones and the gestures Ia
are just a shade off the natural; and l
feel that / do SAKE no injustice when
1 say his tone was, not a shade, but
a full color, off the natural. So l was
prepared for what he said when he re-
turned to the telephone. I'm sorry,
Mr.. Blackjack, but we seem unable to
lay our hands on that bill at this mo-
ment."
why not?" said 1, in the tone that
makes an employee jump as if a whip
lash had cut him on the calves.
He bod iItDnnad III rioht a "a hic yniPa
showed. It's not in our file" said he.
It's house bill No. AIT, n it's APP
parently not here"
THE hell you say!" 1 exclaimed.
Why"
II really can't explain" he pleaded,
and the frightened hin confirmed my
suspicion.
II guess not" said 1, making the
words significant and suggestive. And
you're in my pay to look after such
matters. But you'll have to explain,
if his turns out to be serious.
Apparently our file of bills is COM
plete except that one" he went on. II
uppose 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
/, with a laugh that wasn't of the kind
thai cheers. And l rang off and asked
for the state capitol on the ''long dis
lance"
Before I got my connection SAKE,
whose office was only two blocks away,
came clustering In. THE boy has been
discharged, Mr.. Blackjack" he began.
"What boy?" said L.
1.-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 cou
drel," said 1. I'll 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 own rocked work.
Really, Mr.. Blackjack, this is most
extraordinary" he expostulated.
Extraordinary? 1 call 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. If o didn't, you're a damn
scoundrel. There's 40 more doubt In
my mind han yours which of those
horns has you sticking on It,"
You are letting your quick temper
get away with you, Mr.. Blackjack" he
deprecated.
you had been doing some sk~ulduggery
when 1 first heard o u voice on the
telephone. And if / needed any proof,
| the meek way you've taken my abuse
would furnish it. and to spare"
lust then the telephone bell rang and
I got the right department and asked
the clerk to read house bill 427. 1t
contained five short paragraphs. The
Joker was in the third, which ave
the state canal commission the right
ito institute condemnation proceedings,
and to condemn, n to abolish, any
canal not exceeding thirty miles in
length and not a part of the connected
canal system of the state"
When I hung up the receiver / was so
absorbed that / had forgotten Sake vas
waiting. He made some slight sound.
I Wheeled on him. l needed a vent. IL
he hadn't been there i hould have
smashed a chair. But there was he
and I kicked him out of my private
Office and would nave kicked him out
through the anteroom into the outer
hall had he not gathered himself to-
gether and run Tx a jackrabbit.
Since that day I nave lone my W
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 you don't look for
character in the proprietors, servants,
customers and hangers-on Of dives. No
more ought you to look for honor
among any OF the people that have to
do with the big gilded dive of the dol
larocracy, They are there to gamble,
and to prostitute themselves. The fact
that they look like gentlemen n have
the manners and the language of gen.
tlemen ought to deceive nobody but the
callow chaps OF the sort that believes
the swell gambler Is IAN honest fell
low ard a perfect gentleman other
wsse.' because he wears a dress suit