The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1910-07-16


; !
Pacific ocean. Joe Dale owns the
railroad. Dale's railroad moves
and has q large part of its being
An In O'Brien's town. Soon or late
SI these two men were sure to war
for supremacy In the town. and
wv this Is the story OF how 1t hap
A.san pened. The people Of the town
and the stockholders of the rail-
road don't come into the story at all They only
furnished the sinews Of war which fact is abun.
dant proof that the story Is true.
Pat O'Brien's town calls him the cardinal In
. moment OF angry defeat. a silkstockinged enc
my. too polite to liken Pat to the devil, sourly
dubbed him q second Cardinal Richelieu The
name ticked the towns fancy. and 1t stuck
The cardinal didn't mind. He was too busy
to cavtl at mere names. His business as a stock.
broker grew with the town. he had for customers
men like John. the son and henchman of Joe
Dale. and when John bought and sold stocks It
was to be supposed that the cardinal pronted
through inside knowledge. Other business friends
were powerful and their friendship financially
was worth while. Colonel Legarde. who controls
the Superior railroad, Is also president Of the
Interstate Electric railway. an electric road. with
terminals and local lines in the town. The elec-
trfc road needed many political favors and the
cardinal obtained them for It, or for his friend
Colonel Legarde. Really there was no other way
to get anything Unless and until Pat nodded
his head there was nothing doing. for the town
council fed out of his hand and state legislators
followed out his orders.
Pat O'Brien waxed rich But generation
away from the "ould sod" his clothes spelled
American business man. but his neckties faded
the solar spectrum to a neutral tint. and marked
the politician who bought and sold franchises and
dealt out jobs at will Knowing the times to
talk and to keep silence loyal friend and dead.
ly enemy. he made money for his stock-dabbling
customers. serenely grating his political way as
che surest means to desired end. and was
worth a million and half. at least He owned
the town.
Ac Iohn no1o h,,olu
grew greater and more complex he was more and
more away from Lacedaemon-for that Is better
Greek than the real name Of the town. anyhow
1t became necessary for him to ask favors of the
cardinal. and the favors given with open
hand. Dale found It necessary, too. to have a
daily local organ and a voice wherewith to fool
the people. He bought the Daily Planet Publish
lng company. and made Pat OBrien president
Dale regarded the presidency reward for
favors received and q final binding Of the town
boss to his chariot tail. The cardinal knew that
Pollock. the editor, received all his orders from
Dale. and regarded the presidency something
of a joke Grown to full stature among the other
railroad kings. ruling had become habit with
Joe Dale. He made and unmade towns and the
people In them at will. and expected no other in
terest than Joe Dale's to be thought of. moved
in, lived for by any connected with him.
Sometimes he mistook his man. when
day he went into the ONCE of one of his eminent
and wellpaid legal aids and found the lawyer
dead to the outside world and Joe Dales bust
ness in a volume of Balzac.
The railroad king blew up. Il don't pay you to
read dunn French novels" he roared. The law
yer looked at him long moment. :
"Mr Dale" he finally said. You pay me for
what know, not what do I'll read dunn French
novels"-crescendo- do any other dunn thing"
-forto-"any dunn time or any dunn place"-for-
tissimo-"1 dunn pleased" ending with Wagnerian
bang on the table.
Whereupon Joe Dale changed the subject
Dale thought he owned the president Of the
Daily Planet company. but the cardinal had other
thoughts about the matter. Colonel Legarde
wanted a new franchise for an extension of the
Interstate to q summer resort. some 80 miles
away. The proposed extension would pass
through another town or two on its way to the
lake and would parallel Joe Dale's steam road.
Now Joe Dale and the colonel were bitterly at
outs over various grabbings and snatchings each
had made at the others magnateship. The
dinal could not see that this concerned him al
ali. The extension would be q beneat and
convenience to the town. There was money In
It for him. The deal was on.
+, Then Joe Dale came from New York and sent
for cardinal The two men faced each other with
the eyes Of poker players in a game. keen. Deep:
unfathomable. For the rest. It might have been
. whiskered farmer In his Sunday suit meeting
q city man. otherwise correctly clad. wearing q
red, red ascot tie.
Z, Il hear" said Dale. THAT the Interstate peo-
pie want franchise for that foolish summer re-
sort extension Of theirs"
II hear 80 too," the cardinal replied.
well, let's cut It short. They can't get it
The extension would be q good thing for the
town. Mr. Dale
Il don't want 1t. 1t parallels my road. Your
city council must refuse the franchise" Here was
no slushy talk or thought Cf the rights Of peo-
pie or Of stockholders. 1t was my road" and
your council" The cardinal was undisturbed.
"The people want 1t, Mr.. Dale" he said. 1T will
be . great convenience for travel between the
towns and the lake"
Dale measured his man again. There were the
cool. unfathumable eyes. the correct clothes. the
red tie The rcd necktie settled It O'Brien was