The Alaska citizen., 1910-11-28
George Randolph Chester
 In Saturday Evening Post,
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a. following morning every paper .u .le city blazed with the disQuiet- .u- information that the Consumers I.1,rir Light and Power Company ..l f.- United Illuminating and Eng! Company were to be consol- .a .si Gur of The two old concerns . -fasmiI'rn dollar corporation was .1 V. formed. and a certain portion
 ! -he -.r.E was to be sold in small ...-. a- .o.-. even. as one share each; 70 tag- he public should be given 2 .Iar. -3 participate in this un- ,.'alz.'sl investment Oh. it was 70 le a tremendous boon to the ctts.
 Bobby. much worried. went 5 raIgh- n Chalmers.
 So far as 1 can see you have all a. hes. Of he bargain" Chalmers rtu-sHred ai,n- The Consumers, al ready four times watcred and quot cd at about seventy, is to be in-
 Ea7seG from two 70 five million be- lore fhe consolidation, so that it can
 p -ateu iu a ten million. The Futun already watered from one .o nine million in ifs few brief
 ears. takes on another hydraulic million and will be bought for twen- " million or the thirty million which i~ to Le paid for the old ..rrarar'ar-. nineteen million rep r,-ert~ ueW water. the most of which will he distributed among Stone and his henchmcn The other twenty million will go to the dear public, "ho will probably be given rue share Of common as bonus with each share of preferred, and
 tcu millions of sweaty dollars f.r 1T. Do you think this new com. .-gE expects 10 pay dividends? On 'te.r plants. worth at a high valu, a.irH. fira million dollars. and their .eE capital of ten million. profit nus. Ec earned for fifty million dol lars wsrth of stock, and it cannot he done Within a year I expect to rye Consolidated Illuminating and Tower company stock quoted at around thirty By that time. how eyer. Stone and his crowd will have
 1II theirs. and will have cleaned nra millions Brightlight Electric vas probably too small a factor to he considered in the consolidation Did you pay off that mortgage Then Stone has his hundred thou
 and dollars: the back salary list
 f Stones hcnchmen has been paid Tip with your money; Sharpe and Williams have converted their stock md Stones into cash at a fancy fgure, Eastman is to be taken care
 f in the new company and they Jrr satisfied In my estimation you gre veil rid of the entire crowd unless they have some neat little ulau for squeezing you. But I'll tell .ou Wha ! would do. l would go Erect To Stone. and see what he says
 Bobby smiled ironically at him self as he climbed the dingy stairs gp which if was said that every man of affairs in the city must sooner or later toll to bend the knee. but he was astonished when he walked into the office of Stone 70 find it a narrow, bare little room with the door wide open to the hall There was an old, empty desk in it-tor Stone never kept nor wrote 'ctt1rs-and four common kitchen chairs for waiting callers. At the lrSk near thc one window sat Stone and over him bent a shabby-lookine man, whispering. Stone grunting occasionally. looked out of the win low while he listened, and when the man was through gave him a
 en-dollar bill
 Its all right" Stone said gruf Ay I'll get him out of it.
 Another man, a fashily-dressed fellow. was ahead of Bobby, and he -OO. now leaned over Stone and whispered.
 "No'hjng doing" rumbled Stone.
 The man. from his gestures. pro- -e-Dof earnestly.
 Nix declared Stone loudly. You
 hr"W me two years ago this fall and you cant come back till you're on ycUr upners good and proper. I '0u't want 10 see you nor hear of vOu for another year, and you need not send any one to me to fix it, because il cant be fixed. Now beat il. I'm busy"
 The man. much crestfallen beat it." Bobby was thankful that there was no one else waiting when it was his turn to approach the Mo gull Stone shook hands cordially enough.
 MT Stone" inquired Bobby, how 7oes il come that the Brightlight Electric Company was not offered I chance to come into this new con- soliiation?"
 How should I know?" asked Stone in reply.
 Tt is popularly supposed" sug- gested Bobby smiling. that you know a great deal about it."
 MT. Stone ignored that supposi- ton completely.
 MT. Burnt, how much of pol itical influence do you think you could swing?"
 Frankly l never thought of it." said Bobby, surprised.
 You belong to the Idlers' club, vou belong to the Traders club, to the Fish and Game, the Brassie. the Gourmet. and to the Thespian clubs. You are a member of the board of governors of three of these clubs, and are very popular in all of them. A man like you, if you would get wise. could swing a strong follow ing"
 Possibly" admitted Bobby dry 'y, Although I wouldn't enjoy it."
 "One-third of the members of the Traders club do not vote, half of he members of the Fish and Game and the Brassie do not vote. none If the members of the other clubs "ote at all" went on MT. Stone. They ain't good citizens. If you're he man that can stir them up the