The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1923-12-07

Wnat IL II you nnd puzzl1ng RDou
Them" Henry said, slipping his tea ant
feeling queerly at ease for the mo
ment with his companion ''Tvs
J worked for them, as you say, a gooc
part of my life, but they've never
struck me as-enigmatic. especially
But you're quite right that I'm not one
Of them-rd have been a musician
If / could" he added.
"There you are" said Greer; that's
something. ! suppose music's just a
form of engineering, really, only II
happens to be one that a man can't
make a living by-unless he's sort
of freak. Well. then. you're musi-
clan; I'm an engineer. But what the
devil are they? What do they seei
What do they think they see? oh.
money, of course, but moneys nothing
but a way of getting things done.
What is ii they're trying to get done?
If l had Williamson's money I'd do
| something with it. So would you. l
doubt If he even has fun with 1t. Not
as much as l have-on perhaps a
twentieth as much. Round and round
he goes looking for safe investments
| for an income that's already five or
six times what he can spend-making
more work for himself all the time"
] 81 suppose" Henry put In. that it's
really power he wants rather than
money"
The other man snatched the word
~.
stand power. or think / do. Power
Is what can be used to move some
thing. Well, now, see here Here's
man who's got a hobby for buying
electric storage-cells and charging
them. and he goes on collecting more
and more of them and you go to him
and say, What are you going TO do
with all thisg and he says, oh, I'm
going to run motor-generator outfit
to charge more cells Couldn't you
take him before a judge and get a
conservator appointed on the strength
Of that? OF course you could. Well,
what's the difference? What does
Williamson want to run? The city?
He could, If he liked-Roger Sullivan
1ANi. n ldiil OdQ n slCdhSAtR A4H~s
An opera company A harem3
don't care what. But 1t ought to be
something"
He Illuminated this statement with
dazzling grin, but went straight
on: Williamson gets bound report
on me and reads it, or. for all know,
hires somebody else to read 1t for
him hofII tro in
But In all this time-three months,
mind you-he's never come out to our
laboratory on the West side, where he
could have seen the thing done, ac-
tually done under semi-commerclal
conditions. He doesn't care about
how It's done. Nor, for that matter,
what we do. Any damn thing in the
world that would show the same profit
between raw material and finished
product, and the same demand, would
interest him just as much-it would
be the same thing to him.
"Cellulose fiber Is one of the most
interesting things in the world. I've
been thinking about 1t, off and on, ever
since the first time l found myself in
a tiOPANdA JthSACs anu hiO eatAhSb JOa
can do by dissoIving 1t, or by mating
and COMPRISING It, or by using it as
a binder In plastic observation-disclosures
no end. And we're just at the begin
ming, back In the Old Testament. But
1t might be putty for all Williamson
cares-or prunes."
He interrupted himself here to take
opothax drfr,L or1 Harry sold
you're partly right, of course. but |
he knows more about that process Of |
yours than you think. And he knows |
he's not a technical man. 1t may be
caution as much as lack of interest |
that's kept him away"
Greer caught that instantly over the |
edge of his appraised glass. Henry
found that glance of his curiously
stimulating.
Anyhow" Henry went on, ''he told
me himself quite a little about it
about the-bug, he called 1t, that you'd
discovered"
"H-lp said Greer, putting down his
glass; 81 didn't discover any bug. I'm
not a bacteriologist. 1 hired a fellow
ID young pIOIeSsOT vi DOlduy III oHc
of the universities, and told him to
discover 1t. 1t took him more than
year, and If / hadn't been there to
speed him up 1t might have taken him
twenty. They're queer birds, too,
these pure scientists, when 1t comes
to that. They don't care what any
things for any more than the bank
ers care how 1t works. 1t Isn't till a
man like me comes along and takes
one In one hand and another in the
other and cracks their heads together
that anything really happens in the
world"
The inward grimace Henry allowed
himself at this must have shown some
reflection In his face, perceptible to
Greer. for almost instantly, with a
shrug and smile, he went on:
''That sounds like brag to you. Per
naps 1t is. But we're trying to get ac-
luainted, aren't wei The sooner we
DO the better all around isn't hat