The Seattle star. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1899-1947, 1923-06-20
IConllnued Erom Ye,lcrda,l

Continued From Yesterday
vYou-youre not TO mention that
rlrl's name. either Of you" Grays
lone was one OF auivering anger.
n you involve her IN your crooked
dealings even indirectly m 0od,I
What a dirty trick" lie flung Nal.
low aside Ia disgust. You oughtt
10 be shot"
~why. Governor, We wouldn't
hurt that kid. she's aces"
4 told you nay fight with Nelson
was 10 be fair and square
There followed moment OF al,
lencc. Mallow and Stoncr *,
changed glnnces what percentage
Of that goes the former finally
inquired
-one hundred"
-soe Then it's lucky Nelson
didnt ian. But there's no harm
done-nobody hurt"
1T Is lucky. indeed for me ia
have felt bound to make good his
loss, Il you had hooked him. / pre-.
sumo ought 10 expose this
swindle."
Expose Jackson" stoner In.
qnired. quickly. when Gray nodded.
there was another brief silence be.
fore tho speaker yentured 20 say;
Il know this bird Nelson. and, take
IL from me you're giving him the
best OF Il, II l hadn't known him
as well as ! do. wouldn't % put
IN with you to break him. It's MI
right TO trim a sucker once. It's
like letting the blood OF sick man
hes better Tor IL. but TO ride a
square guy TO death. TO keep his
veins open--wcll. l amt IN that kind
OF business. Now about this Jack.
son: you can land him. spose.
II you try. but il would be lower
than frogs foot, after him play.
ing square with you
What DO you mean by that"
"He could have stung YOU. easy.
couldn't heg You surEed out here
on purpose TO buy the lease. but he
hid out all afternoon 20 avoid YOU"
He Is thief. lie Is stealing
hundreds OF dollars day"
Sure From tho Atlantic. that
has stolen hundreds OF thousands
from the likes OF him-yes. mil.
lions. II was the Atlantic that
broke the market to IS cents. filled
their storage tanks and contracted
million barrels more than they
had tankage for. then gypped the
price 10 So can't shed any tears
over that outfit"
Let's no, argue the ethics OF big
business. The law or supply and
demand"
supply and demand. Ell, Ever
strike you as queer that crude never
breaks as long as the big companies
have got their tanks tur7 The price
always toboggnns when they're
empty and comes hack when
they're filed up, That's supply and
demand with reverse English. amt
it, Say. the Atlantic and those
others play with us outsiders like
we was mice. when their bellies
get empty they eat as many OF US
as they want. then they let tho rest
OF US scurry around and hunt up
new fields. We run all the risks:
wa SPEND our coin. and when We
strike new pool they burgle Us
oyer again." Stoner was speaking
with a good deal OF heat. big
business. eh7 Well. here's some
liitIe huslness--dam' little. This
Atlantic leased lot OF scattered
acreage know about and drilled Il.
Pulled or their crews at tho top OF
the sand and drilled In with men
they could trust. II turned out
good. but they capped their wells.
wrecked their rigs. and. OF course
that condemned the whole territory.
Then they set about buying 1t all in.
cheap - thru dummies. Double
crossed the farmers. see? Friend o!
mine took chance. put down a
wen on his own. The usual thing
happened; they broke him. II took
a lot Of doing. but they broke him.
One little trick they did was to cock
bit and drop II in the hole. That
prank cost him $4,000 before he
could side track the tool. He quit,
finally. less n a hundred feet from
big pay. Then. having bought up
solid for near nothing they came
back and started business. laughing
merrily. That's the Atlantic"
N splendid lecture on CONNER.
cial honesty. am inspired by Il,
and reverence your scrupIes. but