Free trader-journal and Ottawa fair dealer. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1920-1927, 1921-04-09
The
Wreckers
BY
FRANCIS
LYNDH
Copyright BY 0has. Bcribnar's Sons

very snort time me tOllllOI OF llt
whole string Of local plants was in
the hands OF Il hundred men Today
it's in the hands Of less than twenty.
with John Marshall at the head OF
them. Citizens Storage ( Warehouse
Is now II consolidated property ana
John Marshall. llenCkel and | control
u majority of its stock, How does
that strike NuuF
1T strikes me that the people most
deeply interested have been exceeding
~ foolish 10 sell their birthrlEht Bur
that is strictly their own business and
rot mine or the railroad company IS
wait :" Hatch shared. It's 20.
ing 10 be both yours and the railroad
Companys business, before you are
through with it, Marrow here, rep
resents Marshall, ana | represent
HtnCkrl aud myself, What are YOU
going to do about those ground leases
Nothing at all, except to insist upon
the condition under which they We're
granted by The railroad company
Meaning that you are going TO try
TO hold US to the fixed percentage
charge for handling. packing loading
and tranStefringf
Meaning Just that. II you raise the
proportional marhrtprIcr charge ou
the producers ANA merchants, the
lenses win terminate
Il thought that was about whore
you'd land Now listen; we're 1t
Marshall and lleuckel aud I-Utd
what we say, goes us it Hes We are
going 10 use the present G. :. < W
plants ana equipment. charging our
own storage and handling percentages,
based on anything We SEE fit II YOU
pun that gronnd-leaSe business oH rs
and try 10 drive Us out, wen fight YOU
all the way up to the Supreme court
II you beat us there. wen merely
move over to the other side Of your
tracks to our old Red Tower houses
aud yards and 20 on doing business
NJ the old stand
The boss sat back in his chair and
could tell by the set If his jaw fhat
he was refusing TO be panic stricken.
You are taking altogether too much
for granted. aren't YOU he put in
mildly. You are assuming that the
courts will eventually nullify the terms
Of the ground-Icasss, or. if they do
not. that the railroad company VIII
do nothing 10 save its patrons from
falling into this new graft trap"
Hatch snapped his fingers. "Now
won are coming to tie milk in the
coconut" he raped out. THAT is
exactly what we're assuming You
are going to let 20, once for MI, NGf.
cross You are not going 70 fight us
tn the courts. ana neither are YOU 90
ing to afuss lis out of existence with
short cars, 0yer-Ctargcs, and the thou
sand aud one petty prosecutions that
you railroad buccaneers make use Of
70 line Your own pockets, ~
But If we refuse TO lie down and
let YOU walk over Us ana our patrons
what them the boss imputed
That brought the explosion Hutch's
eyes blazed and he smacEeo list into
palni
Then Well knife YOU and Wen do
II TO a velvet finish. After SO long
a time, we've got you where YOU can't
sidestep. Norcross"
The boss refused to be panic
stricken; or, anyhow, he looked that
way.
I'VE have heard that kind Of tnlk
many times in the past" he said THE
way to make it effective is % produce
the goods"
That's just what we're here to do ~
snapped the Red Tower president vim
in New York, want lot OF the state
railroad laws .epealed or amended
II you cant get that string united
you cant gamble any more with your
here six months ago and set ont 10
manufacture public sentiment in favor
of the railroad You ran up your
'public-be. pleased flag ana beat the
tom-tom and blew the heWgag until
you got lot of doltS and chuckle.
heads and easy marks to believe that
you really meant it."
"Well go on"
oalloo You still couldn't be quite GER
tain that you had made your pot,,t
that your measures would carry
through the incoming legislature
After the primaries You counted noses
among the candidates and found il
was going to be a tight squeak-a
Id tight squeak. Thcy you did what
you railroad people alsyays do: Won
slipped out quietly arI bought a few
men-iust to he on the safe side"
SO it was sprung at last, Hatch
was accusing uS Of the one Thing that
we hadn't done; thar the boss knew
We hadn't done.
I'm afraid you'll have to try again
Mr.. Hatch" he said. with II sour little
smile Then he added. "Anlhody can
make charges. You know"
Hatch jumped 70 his fee, and he
was almost foalning al the mouth.
fright there is where we've "nl
YOU :" he shouted You were too can
tious to put one of Your own men il
the field. So rou sent outside for YOU
briber He was Il stranger, and II,
had to have help in finding the right
men TO buy Dedm0n. here, was on