The Washington herald., 1911-01-15

II IN He spent most Of his time In Oakland. rarely
coming to the office He planned to move the office
Oakland. but, he told Dede the secret prelmi-
nary campaign Of buying had to be put through
first. Sunday by Sunday. from this hilltop and
from that. they looked down upon the city and
its farming suburbs. and he pointed out to her his
latest acquisitions At first 1t patches and Sec
tonS of land here and there but the weeks passed
it the unowned portions that became rare. until
last they stood islands surrounded by Daylights
land
1t meant quick work on a colossal scale for Oak
land and the adjacent country not slow to feel
the tremendous buying But Daylight had the ready
cash. and it had always been his policy strike
quickly Before the others could get the warning Of
the boom he quietly accomplished many things. At
the same time that his agents were purchasing cor
lots and entire blocks in the heart of the business
section and the lands for factory sites. Day
light rushing franchises through the City Coun-
ell. capturing the two exhausted water companies
and the eight nine independent street railways and
getting his grip the Oakland Greek and the bay
tide lands for his dock system. The tide lands had
been in litigation for years. and he took the bull by
the horns by buying out the private owners and at
the time leasing from the City Fathers.
BY the time that Oakland aroused bs this
rreccdened activity in every direction and was
tionns eNcitedly the meaning of it, Daylight secretly
bought the chief republican newspaper and the chief
democratic organ and ed boldly into his
offices OF necessity. they were large scale,
cupying four floors of the only modern office building
in town-the only buil"ing that wouldn't have I, be
torn down later on. as Daylight put it. There
department after department, Of them. and
hundreds of clerks and stenographers AS he told
Dede:-
I've got more companies than you shake a
stick at. There's the Alameda and Contra Costa
Land Syndicate. the Consolidated Street Railways.
the ierba Buena Ferry Company, the United Water
Company. the Piedmont Realty Company, the Fair.
view and Portola Hotel Company, and half dozen
more that I've got to refer to note book renen-
Der. There's the Piedmont, Laundry Farm and Red
wooi Consolidated Quarries. Starting in with our
quarry. just kept agoing till got them all. And
there's the shipbuilding company amt got name
for yet Seeing had TO have ferry boats. decided
build them myself. They'll be done by the time
the pier is ready for them. Phew. It-all sure beats
poker And I've had the fun of gouging the robber
gangs well. The water company punches are
squealinG yet. | sure got them where the hair was
short. They just about all in when l come
along and finished them off,
But why do you hate them so?" Dede asked
Because they're such cowardly skunks."
But you play the same game they do
Yes, but not in the same way" Daylight regard
ed her thoughtfully. When / say 'cowardly skunks
l mean just that-cowardly skunks.' They set up
for OF gamblers. ana there amt In
thousand of them that's got the nerve to be u
gambler. They're four -hushers, if you know what
that means. They're a lot Of little cottontail rab-
bits making believe they're big, ripsnortng timber
wolves They set out to everlastingy eat up som.
proposition. but the first sign Of trouble they
tail and stampede for the brush Look how it works.
When the big fellows wanted to unload Little Cop
per they a into the New York Stock Ex-
change to yell out III buy all any part of Little
Copper at ffty-fve"-Litte Copper being at nfty.
four. And in thirty minutes them cottontails-
fnanciers. some folks call them-bid up Little Cop
per to sixty. And hour after that. stampeding
for the brush. they were throwing Little Copper
overheard at forty-6ve and even forty.
They're catspaws for the big fellows. Almost
as fast they rob the suckers the big fellows come
along and hold them up Or else the big fellows
them in order to rob each other. That's the way
the Chattanooga Coal and Iron Company swaL
lowed up BY the trust In the last panic. The trust
made that panic; It bad to break . codple Of big
banking companies and sQueess half dozen big
fellows too ana It did 1t By stampeding the cotton.