Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1907-06-01

My face must have reflected my
mind. for Woodruff merely replied:
"Oh, very well or course that alters
the case.
We must get croffut without him."
/ went on.
Woodruff shook his head Cant
get him he said "Dominick controls
The two southern ranges OF counties
He fances his own machine from
what he collects from vice and crime
in those cities. He gives that branch
of the plum tree to the boys. He
keeps the bigger one. the corporations,
for himself"
He can be destroyed" said /, wav-
ing aside these significant reminders.
YES, in five years or so Of Tiard
work Meanwhile Dunkirk will run
! things at the capital TO suit himself.
ANYHOW. you're taking on a good deal
more than's necessary-starting with
two big fights. one of 'em against
man you ought TO use to do up the
other. It's like breaking your own
sword at the beginning of the duel"
Go back to the capital" said /.
after moments thought; "TIl tele.
graph You up there what to do"
1t was my first test-my first chance
to show whether / had learned at the
savage school at which / had been
a pupil. Scores. hundreds of men, can
plan. and plan wisely-at almost anv
crossroads general store you hear in
the conversation round the stove as
good plans as ever moved the wrold to
admiration. But execution-there's
the rub And the first essential of an
executive is freedom from partialties
and hatreds-not to say, "Do like
bin? Do | hate him? Was he my
enemy year or week or a moment
ago." but only to ask oneself the one
question: Can he be useful to me
now?"
Il will use Dominick to destroy
Dunkirk, and then | will destroy him."
| said to myself. But that did not sat
isfy me. saw that was temporizing
with the weakness that has wrecked
more careers than misiudgment. |
felt that | must decide then and there
! whether or not | would eliminate per
sonal hatred from my life After
long and bitter struggle, | did decide
once and for all
| telegraphed Woodruff to go ahead.
When / went back to Pulaski to settle
my affairs there. Dominick came to
see me. Not that he dreamed OF the
existence of my combine or OF my con
nection with the new political deal,
but simply because had married into
the Ramsay family and was therefore
now in the Olympus OF corporate pow
er before which he was on his knees
for price, like a wise devotee, nm
troubled by any such qualmishness as
self-respect | was ready for him.
put out my hand
I'm glad you're willing to let by
cones be bygones, Mr.. Sayler," said
he, so moved that the tears stood in
his eyes.
Then it flashed on me that, after all
he was only big brute, driven blindly
by his appetites How silly TO plot re-
venges upon the creatures of circum
stance-how like a child beating the
chair it happens to strike against.
Hatreds and revenges are for the
small mind with small matters to
occupy it, or the stones have quar-
ried TO build my career, not one has
been. or could have been, spared to
waste as a missile.
l went down to the Cedar Grove
cemetery, where my mother !ay beside
my father. My two sisters who died
before was born were at their feet;
her parents and his on either side.
And ! said to her: Mother, | am go
ing to climb up TO place where can
use my life as you would have me use
1t. To rise in such world as this
| shall have 70 do many things you
would not approve. | shall do them.
But when ] reach the height | shall
justify myself and you. | know how
many have started with the same
pledge and have been so defled by
what they had to handle that when
they arrived they We're past cleans
Ing; and they neither kept nor cared
to keep their pledge. But |. mother,
shall not break this pledge to you"