The Spanish Fork press. [volume] (Spanish Fork, Utah) 1902-current, 1907-10-03


much of a fool he is h ,sitare 70
think 50 poorly OF you as your AT.
tempt to- fool me seems to compel
But he was unconvinced rive
found he intends to abandon the ship
and leave me to go down with IT, he
persisted He believes he can escape
and dencunce me as the arch rascal
who planned the combine. and can
convince people that | fooled him
into it"
Insenious but | happened TO know
that II was false Pardon me. Mr..
Langdon, said with sdff courtesy.
u repeat. | can do nothing for you.
Good morning And went at my
work as IL he were already gone
Had been vindictive would have
led him out TO humiliate himself
more deeply. IL greater depths OF
humiliation there are than those to
which he voluntarily descended. But
| wished to spare him; | let him see
the uselessness of his mission. He
| looked at me In silence--the look of
hate that can come only from a crea-
ture weak as well as wicked. | think
| 1t was all his keen sense of humor
could do to save him from a melo-
dramatic outbreak. He slipped into
his habitual pose, rose and withdrew
! without another word. All this fright
! and groveling and treachery for plum
der, the loss of which would not i'm
| pair his fortune-plunder he had
stolen with many a jest and gibe at
his helpless victims Like most of our
debonair dollars chasers. he was a
good sportsman only when the game
was with him.
| That afternoon he threw his Coal
holdings on the market in great
blocks His treachery took RoebucE
completely by surprise--for Roebuck
believed in this fair-weather gentle
man" foul-weather coward. and neg
lected to allow for that quicksand that
is always under the foundation OF the
man who has inherited, not earned,
his wealth. But for the laundering
creduity of rascals, would honest
men ever get their dues. Roebuck's
brokers had bought many thousands
of Langdons shares at the high arti-
fetal price before Roebuck grasped
the situation--that 1t was not my fol-
lowers recklessly gambling to break
the prices, but Langdon unloading on
his pal" AS soon as he saw, he
abruptly withdrew from the market
When the Stock Exchange closed, Ma
tional Coal securities were offered at
prices ranging from IL for the bonds
to two for the common and three for
the preferred-offered, and no takers.
well, you've done it," said Joe,
coming with the news that Thornley,,
of the Discount and Deposit bank, had
been appointed receiver.
I've made beginning" replied |.
| had decided to concentrate upon
Roebuck, because he was the richest
and most powerful of THE Seven y
For, in my pictures of the three main
phases of "finance"--the industrial,
the life insurance and the banking
he, as arch plotter in every kind OF
respectable skulduggery, was neces-
sarily in the foreground My original
lHIeullOu was " Iuc IOWti
Trust or, at least, to compel him to
buy back all of its stock which he had
worked off on the public. | had col
lected many interesting facts about it,
facts typical of the conditions that
finance" has established in so many
of our industries.
For instance, l was prepared to
| ,tN hot ZINC IF he
Power Trust was two and half times
what it's reports to stockholders al
legged; that the concealed profits were
diverted into the pockets of Roebuck
his sons, IL other relatives and foul
of 1.-THE Seven" the lions share go
ing, of course, to the lion. Like al
most all the great industrial enter
prises, too strong for the law and toe
remote for the supervision of theil
stockholders, 1t gathered in enormous
revenues to disburse them chiefly In
salaries and commissions and rake
offs on contracts to favorites. | hat
proof that In one year it had writer
off" IL millions Of profit and loss. II
millions of which had found Its way
to Roebuck's pocket.
had no choice. ! must turn aside
from Roebuck; must first show tha'
while Textile was, in a sense, SOUND
q Just at that time, it had been unsound
U and would be unsound again as soor
n as Langdon had gathered in sufii
a cient number of lambs to make 6
battue worth the while of man deal
ing in nothing less than seven figures
! proceeded to do so.
/ The market yielded slowly. Under
= my first days attack Textile preferred
|, fell six points. Textile common three
n While was in the midst of debating
my letter for the second days attack
suddenly came TO full stop.
:, found across my way this thought