Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1911-06-16
ole G.
| PLUM |
4 TREE \
BY DAVID GRAHAM PHILLIPS
4 dor Of The Csst"
The Deluge," Etc.

AAr XIV.
CRANKY lntrudes Again.

| GTdnDy lnlfudeS Again.
Burbank had grown like a fungus
| in his own esteem.
The adulaton of the free excursion
lists | had poured in upon him, the
| eulogies in the newspapers, the fat
| teries Of those about him. eager to
make themselves solid" with the
man who might soon have the shak
ing of the huge, richly laden presi-
dental boughs of the plum tree-this
combination of assaults upon sanity
was too strong for a man with such
vanity as his, a traitor within. He
| had convinced his last prudent doubt
that he was indeed a child of des
tiny He was resentful lest | might
possibly think myself more important
than he to the 81 nss of the cam
algn. And his re-, ntment was deep
aaed by the probably iRcessant re
2.nders of his common sense that all
this vast machine, public and secret.
cCu.d have been set in motion Just
rs effectively for any one of score of
statesmen conspicuous in the party
! saw through his labored cordial
-; and it depressed me again
.fa.t.1 me down toward those depths
4 Decentralization from which 7
lad been held up for a few days by
he excitement of the swiftly throng-
events and by the necessity of
utting my whole mind upon moves
ion my game.
Il am heartily glad you were sue
cessiul,' he began when we were
alone. THAT takes a weight off my
mind
You misunderstood me, see,"
said l. Il haven't got anything from
those people in New York as yet. But
within week they'll be begging me
to take whatever I need. Thwfags
report will put them in a pauic"
His face fell Then ! must be es
pecially courteous to Goodrich" be
said, after thinking intently. Your
hopes might be disappointed.
Not the slightest danger" was ny
prompt assurance. And If you take
my advice, you will ask Goodrich nov
his agent found Senator Scarborough :
health, and then order him out of this
house. Why harbor a deadly Shake
that can be of no use to you@
But you seem to forget, Harvey
that he is the master of at least enc
eastern wing of the party And you
must now see that he will stop at
nothing unless he Is pacifed
He is the fetch-and-carry of az IN
pudent crowd in Wall street" re
torted, that is all When they find
he can no longer do their errands
they'll throw him over and come TO
us. And we can have them on our own
terms"
We argued, with growing irritation
on both sides, and after an hour or
SO, l saw that he was hopelessly I'M
der the spell Of his pettiness and his
moral cowardice He had convinced
himself that / was jealous of Good
rich and would sacrifice anything to
crafty my hate. And Goodrichs
sending an agent to Scarborough had
only made him the more formidable
in Burbank's eyes. AS I looked in
upon his mind and watched Its weak
foolish little workings NV irrit fion
supslded. 10 as you ,m4A.. -.
said |, YEARLY. But when he pre-
sents the mortgage you are going to
give him on your presidency, remem
Der my warning"
He laughed this off, feeling nv
point only in his vanity, not at all in
his judgment. And how will you re
ceiye him, Harvey? He will be sure
to come to you next-must, as you
are in charge of my campaign"
I'll tell him straight out that I'll
have nothing to do with him." said I,
blandly. The Wall street submission
to the party must be brought to me
by some other ambassador. I'll not
help him to fool his masters and to
hide it from them that he has lost
control"
could have insisted, could have
destroyed Goodrich - for Burbank
would not have dared disobey me.
But the campaign, politics in gen
eral, life itself filed me with disgust
paralyzing disgust that made me
almost lose confidence in my theory
of practical life.
Whats the use?" l said to myself
Let Burbank keep his adder. Let It
sting him. II it so much as shoots
fang at me, can crush It,"
And so Burbank lifted up Goodrich
and gave hostage to him; and Good
rich, warned that | would not deal
with him, made some excuse or other
to his masters for sending Senator
Revell to me. See Woodruff" said
| to Revell, for I was in no mood for
such business. He knows best
what we need"
They gave up too damn cheerful
| ly" Woodruff said to me, when | saw
! him a week or ten days later, and
he gave me an account of the nego-
tiations. Il suspect they've paid more
| before"
They have" said I. "In two cam.
paigns where they had to elect
against hard times"