The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1933-06-30

the hands of INSCRIPTIONS men will
cause. Now did you ever read the
History Of Great American For
tunes?"
"No," said John impatiently. "But
are you sure that this man Belknap is
behind all the trouble?"
"Sure? Sure!" The little man bris-
tied with assurance. wasn't 1t Van
derbilt that said that the thing
man wanted more than anything else
was more? That's the way with this
old Belknap. Predatory, he is; of the
predatory wealthy! He's got the
Richards company in corner and he
amt goin' to let it out. Why, even
his own partner, Gorbel, over here at
Kampfest, can't stop him. Gorbel
amt so bad. but Belknap gives the
orders. You can't blame Gorbel. If
mans goin' to exist economically
under a capitalist system he's got to
go with the capitalists, amt he? Now
If you've ever read 'Das KapitaP by
Karl Marx you'll see"
John showed back his plate and
tapped the table with his fork.
"Just minute. Let's see If I've
got this story right: The logging rail-
road, owned by the Richards Lumber
company, goes through Belknap & Cor
bel timber. The right Of way was
granted by a man named Kampfest
who used to own that timber. Belk-
nap & Gorbel bought him out and be-
gan to operate. Under the terms of
the old contract they can either force
the Richards company to haul their
logs out to mainline branch or order
them to pull their steel. And, to
tighten this squeeze, the Belknap
camps are making logs in such guam
titles that the mill here can't be safe
ly logged? That it?''
That's right! This old Belknap
amt satisfied to have soft thing, he
amt. The Richards mills been gettin'
by some way; God knows how, md
soon's he sees that he starts gettin'
rough, just like any old feudal baron'd
got rough. He has his hired help put
Royce. the Richards woods boss, out
of commission, which Is awful bad.
You can't log without good boss, and
no man in his right minds going to
tackle job where, on top of having
to scratch to make shown, he's in
danger of getting his block knocked
off any minute.
"Why, this old Belknap thinks he's
superman or something. / guess he's
been reading Nietzsche. Did you ever
read Beyond Good and Evilr MOI
Well, now"-wriggling closer to the
table-"there's what I'd call a down
right dangerous philosophy. You
see"
But John Belknap, leaning back in
his chair now, gave no heed to Land
lord Jasper's Interpretation of philo-
sophical theory. After what his father
had done to him yesterday. young
John was ready to believe anything.
He had known Of wars waged by old
Tom against competitors; he had al
ways thought them waged on fair
terms. But here was a conflict ap-
parently unfair. unwarranted Shoe
string, to man, evidently attested to
its ruthlessness, and Johns temper
drove him headlong into an accept
ance of that belief. Headlong and
gladly. AS good as blow In the
mouth. thisi He had been kept away
from Kampfest after heading towards
it these years.
Why? What reason? Because old
Tom did not want him to know what
was going on? Because he knew that
John would have demanded an about
face?
Well, how would his father like It
If he refused to take what was Of
fered; If, more than that, he stepped
in and aligned himself with an oppo-
sition because 1t gave him chance
to see what he was wound on? And
with their backs to the wall. this
Richards outfit, whoever and what
ever it might be. needed leader. fresh
blood. someone who was not afraid
of this giant, Tom Belknap!
"Where's the Richards officer John
interrupted. rising.
Jasper blinked his watery eyes
again
"Why, it's acrost from the MILL" he
said. shnffling to a window and peer
ing out through the slit of unfrosted
glass near the top of the pane. YES;