The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-07-04
ZEN Of the Y. d.


the South Y.D. on scale that was
not merely just, but generous.
This settled, Transley proceeded to
interest YD. in the work in which he
was now engaged. He drew picture
of activities in the little metropolis
such as stirred the rancher's in
credulity.
well, WE'LL" Y.D. would say
''Transley, I've known that little hole
for about thirty years, an never seen
it was any good exeep' to get drunk
in. s. I've seen more things there
than Is down in the books"
You wouldn't know the change that
has come about in few months" said
Transley, with enthusiasm. Double
shifts working by electric light, Y.D.
What do you think of that? Men with
rolls of money that would choke COW
sleeping out In tents because they
can't get roof over them. Why, man.
didn't have to hunt job there; the
job hunted me. could have
had dozen jobs at my own
price If l could have handled
them. It's just as If prosperity was
river which had been trickling
through that town for thirty years,
and all of a sudden the dam up In the
foothills gives away and down she
comes with q rush. Lots which sold
year ago for hundred dollars are
selling now for five hundred-some-
times more. Old ranchers living on
the bald-headed a few years ago find
themselves today the owners Of city
property worth millions, and are
dressing uncomfortably, In keeping
with their wealth, or vainly trying to
drink up the surplus. So far sense and
brains has had nothing to do with 1t,
Y.D., absolutely nothing. 1t has been
fool luck. But the brains are coming
in now, and the brains will get the
money, in the long rum"
Transley paused and lit another
cigar. Y.D. rolled his in his lips, re-
flectively.
II mind some doin's In that burg"
he said, as though the memory of them
was Of greater Importance than all
that might be happening now.
Transley switched back to business.
"We ought to De In on 1t, Y.D.," he
said. mot on the fiy-by-night stuff
don't mean that. But / could take
twice the contracts If L had twice the
OUTFIT
Y.D. brought his chair down on to
all four legs and removed his cigar.
you mean we should hit her to-
gether" he demanded.
"It would be a great compliment to
me, If you had that confidence In me,
and I'm sure 1t would make some good
money for you"
How'd you work it?''
"You have a bunch of horses run
ming here on the ranch, eating their
heads off, Many of them are broke,
and the others would soon tame down
with a scraper behind them. Let me
put them to work. I'd have to have
equipment, too. Your name on the
back of my note would get 1t, and
you wouldn't actually have to put up
dollar. Then we'd make an inven-
tory of what you put into the firm and
what 1 put into 1t, and we'd divide the
earnings In proportion"
"After payin' you salary as mana
ger, Of course" suggested Y.D.
That's immaterial. With a bigger
outfit and more capital / can make so
much more money out Of the earnings
that don't care whether get sal
airy or not But 1 wouldn't figure on
going on contracting all the time for
other people. We might as well have
the cream as the skinned milk. This
is the way It's done. We go to the
owner of block of lots somewhere
where there's no building going on He's
anxious to start something, because
as soon as building starts in that dis
trict the lots will sell for two or three
times what they do now. We say to
him, Give us every second lot in your
block and Wen put house on It. In
this way we get the lots for a trifle !;
perhaps for nothing. Then we build
lot Of houses, more or less to the
same plan. We put 'em up quick and
cheap. We build 'em to sell, not to
live In. Then we mortgage 'em for
the last cent we can get. Then we
put the price up to twice what the
mortgage Is and sell them as fast as
we can build them, getting our equity
out and leaving the purchasers to set
tie with the mortgage company. It's
good for from 30 to 40 per cent profit,
not per annum, but per transaction"
ut sounds interesting" said Y.D.,
IAN suppose l might as we'll put my
spare horses an credit to work. /
don't mind drivin' down with you to-
morrow an looking her over first
hand"
This was all Transley had hoped
| for, and the talk turned to less mate
rial matters. After while Zen Joined
them, and little later Y d. left to at
tend to some business at the bunk
house.
"Your father and may go into part
nership, Zen," Transley said to her,
when they were alone together. He
explained in general way the ven
ture that was afoot.