The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-03-23

O000C CtEkklIl %.
troll since time began" chuckled Breen
""T hat are your difficulties. Mr.. Roll
Inns ?"
"Well." said Rollins. ST have practi-
eally put the Unified Steel corporation
out Of business as monopoly. Here
Is a communication | had from Mac
| Dougal. If ever big man made
| whine in a letter MacDougal Is the
man. and here is this whine" And
with huge contempt he tossed down
q three page missive which Kelvin
read. with a smile.
"The answer" went on Rollins, ais
open he nth steel and the control OF
transportation. I have put them In d.
rect competition with our own plants,
and they are undertaking us. l in
tend to let them have some large con-
tracts at price we cannot touch. Now
/ begin to have dreams"
al don't see any difficulty in that
laughed Kelvin. "a man doesn't
dream many dreams in the face of
failures It's success that brings
dreams. / have dreams Of my own.
/. have done little thinking about
these dreams of late.''
II know you have" interposed Roll
/, Inns. Somebody has been doing a
great deal Of thinking around here. At
first thought it was Mr.. Breed. but now
/ know that he hires his thinking"
Breed himself was the first to ac-
knowledge by a chuckle the truth of
this remark.
81 used to have to do it myself when
was poor,'' he admitted. but that
is not the way to success. You can't
get rich that way any more than you
can by performing all your own man.
uM labor. My success is built on an I'M
usual abili;3 to discover men who can
think for me. But you two go ahead
and exchange your dreams; am in
terested."
81 have no objection to telling mine"
said Kelvin. II want to do a little
trust busting"
"I've tried it, and that's why I'm
here" laughed Rollins. Trust bust
ing. with absolute control Of every
mile of railroad in the United States.
Is the easiest thing in the world. Ray
mer. Speed. Melton Sears & Co. and
ali the others have been making life
a burden to me. Strangely enough.
they don't want to be drawn and quar-
tered"
81 hate them, every one" suddenly
snapped Breed. "a dozen times they
tried to gobble me up in the early
days. l have their photographs, too.
waiting to be checked off,"
well let you check them off by and
by" replied Rollins. '"They are Grip
pied now, but it was a task. Even
with all my experience didn't appre-
ciate the full extent Of the private
car graft. 1t was colossal trick.
serving merely as disguise for ex-
cessive and absurd rebates"
"Wen. you stopped It," Kelvin con-
soled him.
Eyes. l stopped it." admitted Rollins.
with a sigh. land the next thing that
happened had all the big packers on
my neck"
1.-THE only way to forget the attacks
of the packers" suggested Kelvin, sis
to attack the other monopolies. Ham
string them the first stroke"
"Goodv' said Rollins. with relief.
"It's pleasure to find that we want
the same thing without argument. It's
simple enough. I've merely to estab-
lish my fat freight rate without undue
reduction for quantity and without re-
bate, thus giving the small shipper an
equal chance with the big one. The
Interstate commerce law may then go
out of commission. for we will do the
same work which it was designed to
do. but in which it failed"
Kelvin and Breed exchanged glances.
"Don't misunderstood me-" went on
Rollins. II consider the trusts as much
product of natural Ia w as the attrac-
ton of gravitation. but where they at
tain to stupendous fairness merely on
abuses they cease to fulfill the need
which brought them into existence.
The greatest abuse of which the mo-
nopolies have been guilty Is in trans
portation. Probably more than half of
the freight carried is shipped by large
corporations. nearly every ton of 1t be-
ing subject to a rebate or a drawback
of some sort. and this drain on the
railroads. amounting to millions every
year. must be made up by the small
shippers. can lower the present os-
tensible cost of transportation on
fat rate basis and make more money
for our stockholders"
Breed looked at Kelvin inQuirtngly.
Phillip nodded his head
II have been over some of the fig
ures," said Breed. THE aggregate Is
appalling. but l am afraid that. after
all, we shall be compelled to allow GER
tain concessions in cei tain places"
Rollins turned slightly pale. Il have
been waiting for that remark" he sad.
"but l want you to understand that
there will be no concession of any sort.
One exception 1 grant you. and that is
the secret rebate on Mr.. Breeds bread.
wheat and cereal shipments. which
was agreed upon in the first place;
other than that, absolutely none.
propose to manage these united rail-
roads unhampered or propose to Gre
ate such stencil that public opinion
will revolt at the next stockholders
meeting and you will be utterly un-
able to secure proxies. Without prox-
les you have no railroad domination"
Again Breed and Kelvin exchanged
glances. Again Phillip nodded his