The Bolivar County Democrat. (Rosedale, Miss.) 1887-1969, 1921-06-25

safety-deposit room of Broad street
bank"
The boss laughed at that. and I'm
to know that he was still able to laugh.
you've never seen the day when
you wanted to renege, Upton. and you
know it," he hit back. Think of the
perfectly good technical education you
were wasting wnen took hold of you
and jerked you out here"
"Huh ~ said our millionaire; 1--WE
just had two enginemen on the carpet
for running over an old ranchman'S
pet COW. They said they couldn't
help it; but / told them that under
the 'public-be-pleased policy, they'd
got to help it,"
The boss chuckled. II believe you'd
| joke at your own funeral, Upton. You
| didn't come here to tell me about the
ranchman's pet cow"
mot exactly. l came to tell you
that Citizens Storage & Warehouse Is
due to have strike on its hands. The
management-which seems to have
| got itself consolidated in some way
shot out lot Of new bosses all along
the line on the through train last
night, and this morning the entire
works, elevators, packeries, coal yards,
lumber mills, and everything, are
posted with notices Of a blanket cut
in wages; twenty per cent, fiat, for
everybody The news has been trickling
In over the wires all morning; and the
last word is that general strike Of
all C. S. & w. employees will go on at
noon tomorrow"
"That is move number one." said
the boss. And then: "You have heard
that the Hatch people have reached
out and taken in the c. s. & W.?"
"Hornack was telling me something
about it; yes"
at is true: and the fight is on. You
see what Hatch is doing. At one
stroke he gets rid of all the local EN-
ployees Of G. S. 4 w., who have beer
drawing good pay and who might make
trouble for him little later on, ant
fills their places with strjke-breakers
who have no local sympathizers."
"But there will be another resul
which he may nOtshave counted upon,
Mr.. Van Britt put in. "The blanke
cut serves notice upon everybody tina
once more the old strong-arm monopol.
is in the saddle. The newspapers will
tell us about 1t tomorrow morning
Also, good many Of them will b.
asking us what we are going to d.
! about it; whether we are going t
7 fight the new monopoly as we di'
1 the old, or stand in with the graft, q
\ our predecessors did"
! 1--WE needn't 60 over that groun
I again--you and I, Upton" said MI
| Norcross. "YOu know where stand
l But the conditions have changed. w
| have been knitted in the back" AM
with that he gave the stocky littl
! operating chief a crisp outline of th'
new situation precipitated by th
Dunton- Collingwood political bribery
Mr.. Van Britt took 1t quietly, as h
did most things, sitting with his hand!
in his pockets and smiling blandly
where Hornack had exploded in wrath
"Old Uncle Breckenridge is one tot
| many for you, Graham. You cam
stand the gaff-this new gaff Of
Hatch's; and neither can you go be
fore the people as the accuser OF youl
president-and hope to hold your job
The one thing for you to do is to locl
up your office and walk out"
upton, If l thought you meant
that-but I never know when to take
you seriously"
"The two enginemen who ran over
the rancliman's pet COW had no such
difficulty, l assure you. And isn't il
good advice? You know, as well as
do, that Chadwick is holding you here
by main strength; that you can never
accomplish anything permanent while
DuntOn and his crOnies are at the steer
ing-wheel. 1t might be different If you
had the local backing Of your con-
stituency--the people served by the
Short Line. But you haven't that; up
to date, the people are merely inter-
ested spectators"
"Go on" said the boss, frOwning
again.
"They have stake in the game
the biggest of the stakes, as matter
of fact-but 1t isn't sufficiently ap-
parent to make them climb in and
fight for you. They are saying, with
good bit of reason. that, after all
is said and done, Big Money-Wall
Street-still has the call. and any
twenty-four hours may see the whole
thing slump back into graft and
crooked politics.
ut is so true that you might be
reading it out of book" was the boss
comment. And then: whats the an
swer?'
Mr.. Van Britt shook his head. Il
don't know. If you had money enough
to buy the voting control in p. s. l..
| you might get somewhere; but as 1t
| is, you're like cat in Hades without
| claws"
Tell me-" said Mr.. Norcross, after
a little pause: You're a native New
Yorker do you know this man Col
| lingwood?"
"Only by hearsay. He is what our
English friends call a blooming
bounder'-fast yachts, fast motor-cars,
| the fast set generally. It's a pretty
l 7 60. rt,rrv