The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-03-28
CHAPTER Viii.
A Call from "the Party

About a month after the chicago
and Fredonia bill was smothered in
/ committee there appeared upon the
/ threshold of my Office. in the admins
tration building Of the Ramsay com
| pany, a man whom at first glance you
| might have taken for an exhorted or
a collector for some piouS enterprise.
| But if you had made a study of faces,
| your second glance would have cut
/ through that glaze of oily. apologize
appeal. Behind q thin screen Of
/ short gray beard lay a heavy loose
mouth, cruel and strong; above it. a
| great beak and pair of pale green
/ eyes, intensely alive. They were in
/ startling contrast to the apparent de-
/ crepitude of the stopped shambling
| body far too small for its covering
/ of decent but somewhat rusty black.
| Senator Dunkirk," said I, rising
| and advancing to greet the Justly fear
| ed leader of my party. l knew there
was an intimate connection between
| this visit and the death Of his pet
| project | thought it safe to assume
that he had somehow stumbled upon
| Woodruf's tunnelings, and with that
| well-trained nose of his had smelled
out their origin. But | need not have
disquieted myself; I did not then
know how softly Woodruff moved,
sending no warnings ahead. and leav-
ing no trail behind.
For several minutes the senator and
| both felt for each other In the dark In
which we both straightway hid. He
was the first to give up and reveal
himself in the open. But l do not
wish to waste your time and my own.
Mr. Sayler," he said: II have come
to see you about the threatened split
in the party. You are, perhaps. sur
prised that I should have come to
you, when you have been SO many
years out OF politics. but I think you
will understand. as 1 explain myself.
You know Mr. Roebuck?"
II can't say that l know him." /
replied. He is not an easy man to
know-indeed. who is?"
"A very able man; in some re-
spects a great man. Dunkirk went
on. But, like SO many of our great
men of business, he cannot appreciate
politics-the difficulties of the man in
public life whose persuasion and com
promise must be used, authority al
most never And, because l have re-
sisted some of his impossible demands
he has declared war on the party
He has raised up in it a faction head
ed by your old enemy. Domin.ck.
need not tell you what a brute. what
beast he is, the representative of all
that is abhorrent in politics..
"A faction headed by Dominick
couldn't be very formidable" I sug-
gested.
But Dominick isn't the nominal
leader" replied Dunkirk "Roebuck
is far too shrewd for that No. he has
put forward as the decoy my col
league, Croffut-perhaps you know
him? If so, l needn't tell you what a
vain. shallow, venal fellow he is, with
his gift of CAB that fools the peo-
pie"
Il kno1 him." said 1, in tone
which did not deny the accuracy of
Dunkirk's description.
Their object" continued the sena-
tor, is to buy the control of the par
ty machinery away from those who
now manage 1t in the interests Of con
servatism and fair dealing II they
succeed the only business interest
that will be considered in this state
will be the Power trust And we
shall have Dominick, the ignorant
brute, dashed on by Roebuck's appe-
tites, until the people will rise in
fury and elect the opposition-and
you know what it is
What you say is most interesting"
said |, but l confess / haven't mag
ination enough to conceive condi- |
ton of affairs In which anybody with |
the price couldn't get what he want |
ed by paying for it. Perhaps the busi. |
ness interests would gain by change |
the other crowd might be less ex-
pensive. Certainly the demands OF |
our party's machine have become in
tolerable.'
1T astonishes me. Mr.. Sayler. to |
hear you say that-you, who have I
been in politics" he protested. taken
aback by my hardly disguised attack |
upon him-for he was in reality /
party" and machine" Surely. you
understand the situation We must
have money to maintain our organ
ization, and to run our campaign.
Our workers can't live on air; and
TO speak OF only one other factor,
there are thousands and thousands OF
our voters, honest fellows, too. who
must be paid to come to the polls.
They wouldn't vote against US for any
sum; but, unless We pay them for
the day lost in the fields, they stay
at home. Now. where does our money
come from? The big corporations are
the onIy soY1rce-who else could or |
would give largely enough And it is
necessary and just that they should |
be repaid. But they are no longer con-
tent with moderate and prudent re-
wards for their patriotism. They
make bigger and bigger. and more
and more unreasonable demands on
US and so undermine our popularity
- tne naorle cam pc ss5a6ed wholly
uE eiteE Bile from The