Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1911-07-21

| LlS lOuS ILLS VI IAS boAh o
a Quitting. the fretted. tes-
80 sellated ceiling, with it's
49, g%littering mosaic domes,
and the massy pillars of nyx that
chilled and frightened the common
person who, by any accident, hap
pened to find his way into the plu-
tonic precincts of the bank itself.
Bostwick lived up town in n OF
the handsomest houses in New York.
He sported a line of touring cars, for
which he had paid the usual $14.5Oo
Der car, any one Of which, even with
out the use of It's honker, was suH-
eient t O make the average man feel
low and contemplate in his own opin-
ION. He contributed lavishly to the
campaign funds Of both parties, and
was lust a trife bothered whenever
the president Of the United States
would say anything strong enough to
attract the attention of the public at
large. He sometimes would conde-
ocend to utter a few words on the
business situation to the National
Commercial Drummers' association,
or to some other equally important
OTkdulZdIlOup duu LID IuOo6iIo oA
such occasions were carefully constd-
sred by all the business interests in
all parts of the country, and were
cabled to London, Parts, and Berlin
to be carefully considered there.
When Bostwick took his annual lit
tie jaunt to Europe he paid for his
cabin accommodations a price that
would buy a suburban home for oLe
of his clerks; tossed to the head stew
ard q hundred-dollar bill, and flung to
the other serfs on the boat a fat bun
die of fives to divide among them
selves.
Bostwick was as solid with all the
ministers of all the denominations as
the Apostle Paul himself; perhaps a
little more SO; and when he went to
church On he Sabbath hi, refined sus-
capabilities were assailed by
anything he did not care to hear. His
name was always well up In the lists
OF those who gave to religion or to
charity; and he took an active inter
est In all forward movements that
aimed at the thorough reform Of cor
fupt political life, and at the swift n
6tRual puulSullcuI OI LILO pIOuupI GA
drpation of crime.
In the course of several years OF
this kind of existence Bostwick had
formulated for himself an estimate Of
his own position in the world, in
which he figured himself as one Of
the pillars of the social fabric and
n Of the necessary organs OF the
nations industrial vitality. =
The fundaments on which this est1-
financed some of the biggest tunnels
in existence; he was the controlling
hand in a score of street railroad sys-
TENS in as many American towns; he
was a partner in nearly everything
that had been paying twenty per cent.
on the par value of the stock before
1t was watered; and when he wanted
to know how many were the COM
panies, corporations, concerns, and
coalitions In which he was one Of the
big chiefs, he had to send for his
personal bookkeeper to supply him
with the facts.
And yet, do you know, l never par
ticularly cared for Bostwick, not
oven before Longwood told me that
story about the Tropic Dawn, when
Bostwick had tried to squeeze him in
the panic Of 1907, and came very near
ly running Longwood owe on the
rocks, when a little money and a lit
tie time would have floated him out
clear and fair into safe and open wa
ter.
Considering that he was a pillar OF
the social fabric, Bostwfck had the
queerest face you ever saw. His eyes
were set so close together that he
had to have the frame Of his eye
glasses built on a special model. His
ears were large and stood we'll out
from the side of his head, and one of
them was a good bit lower b the
other. His face below the nose was
so long that you would Just naturally
look at in wonder; and If vol drew a
line through the point where the mid
die of his mouth ought to be, you
would find that the mouth was about
twenty-five per cent. too far on the
left side of the diagram.
Before the panic Of 1907 Bostwick
was known in business as the friend
Of the little fellows" Merchants and
manufacturers whose myriad travel
ing men radiated from New York Ill
the light of the vernal sun had learn
cd to depend upon Bostwtck as they
depended upon the regularly recur-
rent sequence Of the spring and h
fall trade. Did Bostwick agree to
give you cash at discount on the
notes you brought in from our Gus
toners up to a hundred thousand
or more, he would smile on one side
Of his face and let you double the
account-if you found yourself doing
q business greater than our capital
safely warranted. Did you need a lit
tie money for a proposition that fig
ured out a quick return, although a
little risky for a really conservative
and m~oss-backed old timer. Bostwick
would take your notes for it and let
o have the cash. Did you fail for a
million, Bostw1ck would take you
over, set you up on your feet, and let
O have enough coin to begin your
life anew.
Therefore, I say. Bostwick was the
hero If not the demigod of the little
fellows" whose payrolls did not run
MP higher than forty or fifty thousand
q week, and who, in their own conf
z--xf1 --;o{o~ %or-nd tho U