Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1921-06-03

ffdst-buster When you Started yodr
scheme Of locally owned elevators and
warehouses and coal and lumber
yards and ran us out Of business. But
I'm here to tell you that your fine
haired little deal to rob us began to die
about as soon as 1t was born"
SLOW sO?" inquired the boss.
1T wasn't month before your little
local stockholders began to get to-
gether and swap stock and sell it. In
q very short time the control Of the
whole string Of local plants was In
the hands Of hundred men. To-day
It's In the hands Of less than twenty,
with John Marshall at the head of
them. Citizens Storage & Warehouse
Is now consolidated property. and
John Marshall, Henckel and l control
a majority of Its stock. How does
that strike your"
1T strikes me that the people most
deeply interested have been exceeding
ly foolish to sell their birthright. But
that Is strictly their own business, and
not mine Ors the railroad company's."
WATT" Hatch snarled. ITS GO
Ing to be both yours and the railroad
company's business. before you are
through with it. Marrow, here, rep
resents Marshall. and l represent
Henckel and myself. What are you
going to do about those ground leases?"
Nothing at all, except to insist upon
the condition under which they were
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 transferring?"
Meaning just that. If you raise the
proportional market-price charge on
the producers and merchants, the
leases will terminate"
II. thought that was about where
you'd land. Now listen: we're It
Marshall and Henckel and land
what we say, goes as 1t lies We are
going to use the present G. 8. & w.
plants and equipment, charging our
own storage and handling percentages.
based on anything we see fit. If you
pull that grOund-lease business on us
and try to drive us out, we'll fight you
all the way up to the Supreme court.
II you beat us there, we'll merely
move over to the other side Of your
tracks to our old Red Tower houses
and yards and go on doing business
at the old stand"
The boss sat back In his chair, and
could tell by the set Of his Jaw that
he was refusing to be panic-stricken.
"YOu are taking altogether too much
for granted, aren't your" he put In
mildly. "Y0u are assuming that the
courts will eventually nullify the terms
. Of the ground-leases, or, II they do
not, that the railroad company will
do nothing to save its patrons from
falling into this new graft trap"
Hatch snapped his fingers. Nov
you are coming to the milk in the
coconut!" he raped out. "That is
exactly what we're assuming. You
are going to let 60, once for all. Nor
cross. You are not going to fight us
In the courts. and neither are you 60
Ing to ,arass us out Of existence with
short cars, 0ver-charges, and the thou
sand and one petty prosecutions that
you railroad buccaneers make use Of
to line your own pockets!"
"But II we refuse to lie down and
let you walk over us and our patrons
what then" the boss inquired.
That brought the explosion. Hatch's
eyes blazed and he smacked fist into
palm.
'Then Wen knife you, and Wen do
It to a velvet finish After so long
a time. we've got you where you can't
side-step, Norcross."
The boss refused to be panic
stricken; or. anyhow, he looked that
way.
1--WE have heard that kind of talk
many times in the past" he said. "The
way to make 1t effective is to produce
the goods"
"That's just what we're here to dot"
snapped the Red Tower president vim
dictively. "YOu, and the Big Fellows
In New York, want a lot Of the state
A0uA Ouu laws ACpcuiCu VI umcuuCu.
II you can't get that string united,
you can't gamble any more with your
stock. Well and good. You came
here six months ago and set out to
manufacture public sentiment in favor
Of the railroad. You ran up your
'public-be-pleased' flag and beat the
tom-tom and blew the hewgag until
you got a lot Of dolts and chuckle-
heads and easy marks to believe that
you really meant It,"
swell, 60 on"
"With all this humbug and huila-
balloo you still couldn't be quite GER
tain that you had made your point;
that your measures would carry
through the incoming legislature.
After the primaries you counted noses
among the candidates and found 1t
was going to be tight squeak--a
id tight squeak. Then you did what
you railroad people always do; you
slipped out quietly and bought few
men--just to be on the safe side"
So 1t was sprung at last. Hatch
was accusing us of the one thing that