The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1911-08-04

locomotive tire company or some other
manufacturing concern which furnish
ed supplies TO his own railroad at
enormous prices. There Is TO be no
graft i'm the new construction"
Certainly not" agreed Breed.
These roads must he conducted for
legitimate profit and public safety. II
there is any graft | want II myself.
and | am content 10 take dividends
for mine For one year you are the
absolute dictator Of the largest en-
pire in the world-the combined rail
roads Of the United States"
From his desk he took a contract.
confined to one sheet Of paper. which
he handed TO Rollins. ss
| That gentleman took the paper. read
| II over and caught his breath. at is
| generous salary" he admitted. more
generous than l should have dared to
| ask for"
"Huh! am saving money on It,"
declared Breed. IT'S only a portion
Of thousand fancy salaries that ex-
pect you to stop at once"
Rollins nodded his head in compre-
hension. 81 will take great pleasure
in stopping a few of them"
Kelvin conducted Rollins to a room.
next to his own. that had been fitted
with commodious desk and all that
should go with It. Rollins sat upon
the desk and looked about him smil-
ingly.
Looks fairly complete. doesn't It?
Did you have hand In this?"
"No." said Kelvin. puzzled and
piqued as well. "It has been arrang-
ed for long time. think. Mr.. Breed
has probably been planning to make
Forest Lakes the capital of New York
city,
perhaps the capital Of the United
States" retorted Rollins, smiling in
answer to the jest. "Who knows?
He has a good start He has paid a
lot Of attention to detail too. Every.
thing is complete now except for Sec
row of buttons along the right hand
edge, of his desk. the one marked
Secretary"
Instantly the door Of the adjoining
room opened. and sober faced and
noncommittal looking young man. rud-
dy checked and clean eyed and tow
headed. walked in. notebook in hand.
"Hello!" said Rollins. "Who are
your"
81 am Your secretary. sir. came
last night. My name is Jens Nelson"
Swedish. eh?" guessed Rollins.
Eyes. sir" said Mr. Nelson. 81 am
a graduate of the Minnesota Technical
college. founded by Mr.. Breed. and am
one of his scholarship men,"
Rollins smiled over the naivete of |
this admission.
"All right. Mr.. Nelson" said he. |
"You have telegraph operator here.
I believe. Mr.. KelvinT
Wireless" amended Phillip.
Rollins glanced at his row of buttons
and nodded his head. "Mr. Nelson.
you may take these marconigrams."
and without any hesitation he began
debating peremptory discharges to a
long list of railroad officials.
Thus set In the new empire-the EN-
pire of the iron highway. an empire
which held under its absolute control
the commercial destinies of the ma
ton. an empire more powerful than any
ever conceived by man. 1t was q reign
that began peacefully and quietly as
the stern Rollins, with smile. dis.
possessed half thousand men from
their fat sinecures. But as he worked
Henry Breed. attended by DR.. Zelphan
and carrying a bundle of golf sticks.
stopped In the door a moment.
by the way. Rollins" said he,
there Is only one personal provision
wish to make, and that must be seen
to from the first. want my dividends
all In cash-nothing else. understand
Just cashr'
One day several months later DR..
Zelphan was very angry. He couldn't