The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1912-10-25
IJimmie'S Infant Industry
BY CHARLES JOHNSON POST.
urtesv Of Everybody's Magazine.l

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$1,000 into his chair and began to
LIZ His cigar went out; absently
no drew another from the drawer anu
as ahsently lighted it. The city De-
1ow him yelled itself in the ametnysI
twilight. and little lights pricked tne
denths like stars from an hVeIteu
heaTa,. his ewes saw nothing; time,
enace hunger, all were forgotten
While the agile, shewd old brain test
Cd swiftly shifting plans.
The banana project was the sudden
result of a domineering nature anu
. neevish impulse. 1t was new, I'M
tried: his friends would regard IL as
frnakish: vet there was never
thought of change The banana
business for Jim it must be: he nau
dea1t with the great staples-steel'
mines. traction, railroads, ana once
a venture i'm a textile consolidation.
The nerishable commodities that
needed quick markets were, to hl1n'
an unexplored field. Yet he knew
the principles that had made his sue
cess in other fields, and never Tor a
moment did his faith in his own pow
ers falter. Besides, this appealed 10
him because it was the beginning tor
Jim. -.
inns beginning-He thought OF nls
own. the dull. deadening battle with
poverty; then the slow rise with oth-
org az humble as himself until chance
gave him a sudden lift. But 1t was
not until the war that his first really
hie strike had come. The old man
recalled his first partner, now long
dead. and their start in army con-
tracts: how first a slight change was
made in the contracts and then how,
observing the possibilities, they had
schemed and Unanswered to get them
still further changed. 1t had cost
money, too; but it was worth lt-get-
ting the specifications altered 70
easier conditions after the contract
was awarded.
That was long ago, and it was very
raw work, but it had given him the
tin; some special privilege-lllegai'
legal, or natural-that was the point
Once that was attained, no CONNER
cial genius was needed to brlng IL
food of dollars. Given a monopoly,
and no brains were needed to make IL
profitable. He had dealt in monopo-
lies and special advantages-prlVll-
eyes governments and private
tariffs and rebates, and monstrous
fortunes had followed.
He had no politics., although ne
would have denied this angrlly; ano
he always proclaimed his party lapel
with JUNCTION. Whatever Ideals ms ms
party might have had, he had for
decades met 1t on the common GROUND
business is business, and the
establishment of profitable business
the chief end Of man. Business Ii
business" had indeed served him as
a. bill of rights and a creed OF hui
manity.
.Jimmies entry into business rapid
" absorbed him He had faith that
Jimmie had brains; but the brains
would take time to develop. And
meantime he had no mind that jim
mic. his son, should have his name
linked with failure. But how to put
the banana business on fool-proof
basis-that was, the problem.
At first he had thought OF organ
izing an expanding chain of stores
with their own wholesale distributing
warehouses. With the heavy finan-
cial backing for which he would be
the sponsor, it could control the
trade after the field had been clear
ed i'm q relentless war Of competition.
But there was no iron-clad monopoly
in this; competitors could spring up
again and could not be permanently
controlled. 1t would be neither
profit-tight nor fooLproof. 1t would
require a commercial genius at the
helm, and he had no illusions; jim
, ME was not that.
The old mans mind turned to con-
trolling the source of supply. a Wis
ion arose of a fleet of steamers ply
ing to the tropical ports that were
established centers of banana ship
ments; but there would be nothing to
prevent other steamships from COM
peting. Or, if a monopoly was es-
tablished, there would be nothing 10
prevent other tropical countries from
developing the banana trade, and this
again would make that most undeslr-
able ng-competition.
No, it would not dc. He could not
monopolize the worlds output Oh
bananas, for the tropical banana belt
) girdles the world. HIS thougn'
Was suddenly Illuminated, and he
broke into q raspy chuckle some
where down his throat.
He pulled out his watch; it was too
\ dark To see the hands, and he turned
' on the desk lamp. AS he saw the
nOuT he SIuAICu, AAIioI DS S~~~D
when | can't think any faster than
= that - A minute later he was in the
' elevator and dropping past the thirty
doors that streamed up from the
street level.
That evening he met Griscom at
the club. Later, they were joined by
Foote, and the three conferred late I'D
one OF the upper rooms, where they
were nominally busy with dummy
bridge. And the next morning the
wheels began to turn, with Jimmie
gravely watching each revolution.
New Offices blossomed on one OF the
4 lower floors of the tall Off1ce-bulld1ng
and a corps Of clerks and craftsmen
was detailed therein. Large arrays
Z OF filing devices and tabulating sys-
h TENS lined the walls, and presently
the head craftsman began to report
Z upstairs to Jimmie and the old man
y with bulky rolls OF blue-prints, on
\ which were irregular patches of col
ored areas, with marginal notations
i Maps accumulated, and more devices
\ were installed to file them. q dozeI
stenographers were kept busy witt
4 subs diary correspondence, and the
4 chief fling-clerk from upstairs came
down and organized system for IT,
ing ard tabulating vast numbers Of
= reports OF temperatures, high, low
and mean, together with rainfalls
baromctric readings, and genera