Lewiston evening teller. [volume] (Lewiston, Idaho) 1903-1911, 1907-07-04
CHAPTER I.

fed New York offices of the
Southern and Transcontinent.
al Railroad company In lower Broad
way.
1t was the regular quarterly meet.
ing of the directors Of the Southern
and Transcontinental Railroad compa.
ny, but 1t was something more than
mere routine that had called out q
quorum of such strength and which
made today's gathering one Of extraor-
binary Importance in the history of
the road. That the business on hand
was Of the greatest Significance was
easily to be inferred from the con-
cerned and anxious expression on the
directors faces and the eagerness of
the employees as they piled each other
with questions.
Suppose the injunction Is sustain
ed?" asked a clerk in whisper. "Is
not the road rich enough to bear the
loss ?"
The man he addressed turned impa-
tiently to the questioner.
That's all you know about railroad
ing. Don't you understand that this
suit we have lost will be the entering
wedge for hundreds Of others? The
very existence Of the road may be at
stake. And between you and me-" he
added In lower key, with Judge
Rossmore on the bench we never stood
much show. It's Judge Rossmore that
scares em, not the injunction. They've
found it easy to corrupt most of the
supreme court judges, but Judge Ross
more is one too many for them. You
could no more bride him than you
could have bribed Abraham Lincoln"
But the newspapers say that he,
too, has been caught accepting $4,000
worth of stock for that decision he
rendered In the Great Northwestern
case"
Lies! All those stories are lies,
replied the other emphatically. Then,
looking cautiously around to make
sure no one overheard, he added con-
temptuously: THE big interests fear
| him, and they're inventing these lies
| to try and injure him. They might as
well try to blow up Gibraltar. The
fact is the public isR seriously aroused
this time, and the railroads are in q
panic"
1t was true. The railroad, which
heretofore had considered itself supe
rior to law, had found itself checked in
its career of outlawry and oppression
The railroad, this modern octopus Of
steam and steel which stretches it'
greedy tentacles out over the land. hat
at last been brought to book.
John Burkett Ryder, the richest maj
in the world--the man whose name haC
spread to the farthest corners Of thu
earth because of his wealth, and whose
money, instead of being a blessing
promised to become not only ours
, to himself, but a source of dire peri
to all mankind-was u genius born o
the railroad age. No other age coult
have brought him forth. His peculia
talents fitted exactly the conditions o
his time. Attracted early In life t
, the newly discovered oil fields Of Penn
sylvania, he became a dealer In tn
raw product and later a reaner, &C
t quiring with capital, laboriously saved
3 first one refinery, then another. tn
r railroads were cutting each other
throats to secure the freight bushes
of the oil men, and John Burkett Ry
|, der saw his opportunity. He mad
secret overtures to the road, guaraI
teeing a vast amount of business II
could get exceptionally low rates, an
the illegal compact was made. HI
competitors, undersold In the marke
stood no chance, and one by one the
were crushed out Of existence. RydC
. called these maneuvers business" tt
y world called them brigandage. But til
: Colossus prospered and slowly built U
the foundations of the extraordinaI
: fortune which is the talk and the wol
= der of the world today. Master no
: OF the oil situation, Ryder succeeds
( In his ambition of organizing the En-
. pire Trading company, the most poN
erful. the most secretive and the mo
wealthy business institution the col
% merclal world has yet known.