Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1907-05-11

paid me the compliment, always - sweet
to youth, of treating me as man of the
world. With condesoending confidence he
told me many takes Of his earlier days;
and as he had been everywhere, his con-
versation was naturally most interesting.
Dinner was over mad the table cleared
before the President seemed inclined for
serious conversation Then he said sud-
denly:
Mr.. Martin, this country h In peril
Gus condition.
Your excellency," said 1, -do you refer
to the earthquakeT (There had been q
slight shock a few days before.
mo, SIR" he replied, ITO tho finances.
The harbor works have proved far more
expensive than 1 anticipated. 1 hold in
my hand the engineers certificate that
| 100000 has been actually expended on
them, and they are not inished-not by
any means finished"
They certainly were not: they were
hardly begun.
Dear me-" 1 ventured to say, that
seems good deal of money, considering
what there is to show for it."
You cannot doubt the certificate, Mr..
Martin" said the President.
l did doubt the certificate, and should
have liked to ask what fee the engineer
had received. But hastily said it was,
Of course, beyond suspicion.
YES" said he steadily, quite beyond
suspicion. You see, Mr.. Martin, in my
position 1 am compelled to be liberal.
The government cannot set other employ
ers the example of grinding men down by
low wages. However, reasons apart, there
Is the fact. We cannot 60 on without
more money; and 1 may tell you, in con-
idence, that the political situation makes
1t imperative we should go on. Not only
my personal honor pledged, but the oppo-
sition, Mr.. Martin, led by the Colonel, is
making itself obnoxious-yes, 1 may say
very obnoxious"
1.-THE Colonel, sir" said 1, with free
dom engendered of dining, ''is a beast"
WELL" said the President, with a toll
Grant smile, ''the Colonel, unhappily for
the country, is no true patriot. But he
is powerful; he is rich he is, under my
self alone, N command of the army And,
moreover, 1 believe he stands we'll with
the Signorina. The situation, in fact,
is desperate. 1 must have money, Mr..
Martin. Will your directors make me a
new loan?"
attend any such application. The direc-
tors were already decidedly uneasy about
their first loan shareholders had asked
awkward questions, and the chairman had
found no small difficulty in showing that
the investment was likely to prove either
safe or remunerative. Again, only a fort
night before, the government had made a
formal application to me on the same sub
ject. l cabled the directors, and receiv-
ed a prompt reply in the single word
"Tootsums," which in our code meant,
Must absolutely and finally decline to
entertain any applications" l communi-
Gated the contents of the cable to Senior
Don Antonio de la Casabianca, the min
lister of finance, who had, of course, COM
municated them in turn to the President
l ventured to remind his excellency of
these facts. He had heard me with silent
attention.
II fear" l concluded therefore, that
it is impossible for me to be of any assist
ance to your exceliency."
He nodded, and gave slight sigh
Then, with an air of closing the subject,
he said
81 suppose the directors are past rea-
son. You occupy a very responsible po-
sition here for so young a man, Mr.. Mar
tin-not beyond your merits, l am sure
They leave you a pretty free hand, don't
they?"
l replied that as far as routine bust
ness went 1 did much as seemed good in
my own eyes.
"Routins business? including invest
ments, for instance?" he asked.
YES" said l. investments in the or
binary course of s-discounting
bills and putting money out on loan and
mortgage over here. | place the money,
and merely notify the people at home of
what l have DONE"
"a most proper confidence to repose in
you," the President was good enough to
say. Confidence is the life of business
you must trust a man. 1t would be abb
surd to make you send home the bills,
and deeds, and certificates, and what not
OF course, they wouldn't do that
Though this was statement somehow
1t also sounded like a question, so / an
swered:
"As a rule they do me the compliment
of taking my word. The fact is, they are,
as your excellency says, obliged to trust
somebody
Exactly as l thought. And you some
times have large sums to placer"
At this point, Notwithstanding my re-
spect for the President, 1 began to smell
| rat.
''Oh, no, sir" I replied, usually very
small. Our business is not so extensive
| as we could wish.'
whatever" said the President, look
ing me straight in the face, whatever
may be usual, at this moment you have
large sum-a very respectable sum-of