The Arvada enterprise., 1913-12-04
The third of the trio was an iron. gray I

The third or the trio was an iron gray
man OF clean-cut face and scrupulously
we'll groomed aspect.
Wanda knew him well, by sight. For
whenever political crises swept Wash.
ington he was as certain to appear as
are vultures to congregate for the
feast. He was Ralph Van Dyke.
New Yorker, and counsel for great
railroad. His was one OF the shrewd-
est legal minds In America. And he
had so carefully trained that mind 20
the million dark intricacies OF corpora
tion law as to be doubly worth the an
nual fortune he reaped from the Inter
ests. What Jim Blake was in politics,
Ralph Van Dyke was In corporation
law. The chance word Wanda had
just overheard had been spoken by
him.
Are things still going as badly with
the Mullins bill as when you wired me
today?' he had asked Neligan.
oh" returned Neligan, 1--WE had the
house cinched when 1t was reported,
We'd have passed It. hands down. II
We could have jammed 1t through then.
But now-we may as well stand up to
facts-we're as good as licked"
But, gentlemen. urged Van Dyke
impatiently. this bill has to pass
Sure 1t has" gloomily assented
Neligan. only 1t cant. Unless some
thing explodes Standish before it
comes to vote Oh, it's the people,
They're reform-crazy. They don't know
what they want, and nine years out of
ten they don't want anything except to
stay asleep and let the right crowd
handle the country. But when man
like Standish gets them to listen TO
him, they all wake up and yell for re-
form and purity In politics as hard as
waking baby squalls for its bottle
They've made him popular idol"
The people!" scofred Van Dyke
They make an idol one minute and
overturn it the next"
That's right" agreed Gregg, but
the Mullins bill will be defeated before
they get time to overturn Standish
The people are awake. They really
seem to have an idea we ought to keep
some of our promises. And. say! After
all, we did promise them a lot of
things"
Did we?" echoed Neligan. I'VE
made our platform look like a cross
section of the Ten Commandments,
fringed with pages of Pilgrims Prog
ress. Yah! That's the trouble. We're
over-promised."
III we could loosen Standishs pull
with the parsons" said Nellgan, wee d
round"
Now you are talking sanity" ap-
proved the lawyer THAT was Just
what | was waiting to suggest"
We'll. we didn't wait for you to sug-
gest It," retorted Neligan. I'VE aren't
corporation observation-disclosures per.
haps, but we've got few grains of
gray matter left. That's the first stunt
we tried. We put good men on the
case to look up Standlsh's record-to
find one break that we could hang a
story on"
"Well?"
We'll, from their reports, Standish
n'Nhio w haNc i'u iiic lHdl "oulI
make Saint Anthony and Sir Galahad
and the Pilgrim fathers look like a
bunch OF soused Tenderloin FOUNDERS. y
You're sure your men left nothing
uncovered?"
do you think we'd overlook any.
thing when the whole game hangs on
it,"
That's right. Van Dyke" supple.
mented Gregg We've been over
Standish's record. with microscope.
He's cost us enough to make tho
search mighty careful Even II you
don't give us credit for sense enough
to probe the business. you'll have to
allow that Mark Robertsons no fool.
And Robertson's moved heaven and
hell to get something on Standish. But
he cant. Robertson's got more at
stake than any of us. II Standish licks
him IN this fight and gets the speaker
ship It'll cost Mark Robertson more
than most people could understand.
Selfrespect and ambition and future
and"
1T sure WILL" agreed Neigan. Let 8
sect must be close on iive years.
now, that Standish and Robertson