WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:04.040 This is section twenty eight of The Gilded Age. This 2 00:00:04.080 --> 00:00:07.679 LibriVox recording is in the public domain The Gilded Age, 3 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:10.800 A Tale of to Day by Mark Twain and C. D. Warner, 4 00:00:11.279 --> 00:00:15.039 Chapter twenty seven. Whatever may have been the language of 5 00:00:15.080 --> 00:00:18.920 Harry's letter to the Colonel, the information it conveyed was 6 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:22.719 condensed or expanded one or the other. From the following 7 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:26.559 episode of his visit to New York. He called with 8 00:00:26.640 --> 00:00:30.640 official importance in his mion at number blank Wall Street, 9 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:34.240 where a great gilt sign betokened the presence of the 10 00:00:34.280 --> 00:00:40.000 headquarters of the Columbus River Slackwater Navigation Company. He entered 11 00:00:40.240 --> 00:00:43.479 and gave a dressy porter his card, and was requested 12 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:45.840 to wait a moment in a sort of ante chamber. 13 00:00:46.439 --> 00:00:49.000 The porter returned in a minute and asked whom he 14 00:00:49.039 --> 00:00:51.880 would like to see. The president of the company. Of 15 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:56.240 course he is busy with some gentleman. Sir, says he 16 00:00:56.320 --> 00:00:59.960 will be done with them directly, that a copperplate car 17 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:03.600 guard with engineer in chief on it should be received 18 00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:06.959 with such tranquility as this annoyed mister Brierly not a little, 19 00:01:07.560 --> 00:01:10.840 but he had to submit. Indeed, his annoyance had time 20 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:13.480 to augment a good deal, for he was allowed to 21 00:01:13.480 --> 00:01:16.519 cool his heels a full half hour in the ante 22 00:01:16.599 --> 00:01:20.079 room before those gentlemen emerged and he was ushered into 23 00:01:20.120 --> 00:01:24.359 the presence. He found a stately dignitary occupying a very 24 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:29.280 official chair behind a long green Morocco covered table in 25 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:34.439 a room sumptuously carpeted and furnished and well garnished with pictures. 26 00:01:35.159 --> 00:01:38.719 Good morning, sir, take a seat, Take a seat, Thank you, sir, 27 00:01:39.159 --> 00:01:42.359 said Harry, throwing as much chill into his manner as 28 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:46.400 his ruffled dignity prompted. We perceived, by your reports and 29 00:01:46.480 --> 00:01:49.359 the reports of the Chief Superintendent, that you have been 30 00:01:49.400 --> 00:01:53.480 making gratifying progress with the work. We are all very 31 00:01:53.560 --> 00:01:58.159 much pleased. Indeed, we did not discover it from your letters, 32 00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:02.159 which we have not received, nor by the treatment our 33 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:06.680 drafts have met with, which were not honored, nor by 34 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:10.520 the reception of any part of the appropriation, no part 35 00:02:10.560 --> 00:02:14.879 of it having come to hand. Why, my dear mister Brierly, 36 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:17.520 there must be some mistake. I am sure we wrote 37 00:02:17.599 --> 00:02:21.159 you and also mister Sellers recently. When my clerk comes, 38 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:24.680 he will show copies letters informing you of the ten 39 00:02:24.759 --> 00:02:29.000 percent assessment. Oh, certainly we got those letters. But what 40 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:31.719 we wanted was money to carry on the work, money 41 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:35.639 to pay the men. Certainly, certainly, true enough, But we 42 00:02:35.800 --> 00:02:39.039 credited you both for a large part of your assessments. 43 00:02:39.479 --> 00:02:42.039 I am sure that was in our letters. Of course, 44 00:02:42.120 --> 00:02:45.280 that was in I remembered that. Ah, very well. Then 45 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:48.960 now we begin to understand each other. Well, I don't 46 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:52.800 see that we do. There's two months wages do the men? 47 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:56.840 And how haven't you paid the men? Paid them? How 48 00:02:56.879 --> 00:02:58.879 are we going to pay them when you don't honor 49 00:02:58.919 --> 00:03:02.000 our drafts? Why, my dear sir, I cannot see how 50 00:03:02.039 --> 00:03:04.680 you can find any fault with us. I am sure 51 00:03:04.719 --> 00:03:08.319 we have acted in a perfectly straightforward business way. Now 52 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:11.280 let us look at the thing a moment. You subscribed 53 00:03:11.319 --> 00:03:14.479 for one hundred shares of the capital stock at one 54 00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:17.639 thousand dollars a share. I believe, yes, sir, I did, 55 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:22.879 and mister Sellers took a like amount. Yes, sir, very well. 56 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:26.680 No concern can get along without money. We levied a 57 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:30.439 ten percent assessment. It was the original understanding that you 58 00:03:30.520 --> 00:03:33.479 and mister Sellers were to have the positions you now 59 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:36.879 hold with salaries of six hundred dollars a month each 60 00:03:37.319 --> 00:03:41.199 while in active service. You were duly elected to these places, 61 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:45.599 and you accepted them. Am I right, certainly, very well. 62 00:03:46.159 --> 00:03:49.159 You were given your instructions and put to work. By 63 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:52.039 your reports, it appears that you have expended the sum 64 00:03:52.080 --> 00:03:54.840 of nine thousand, six hundred and ten dollars upon the 65 00:03:54.879 --> 00:03:58.960 said work two months salary to you two officers amounts 66 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:03.240 altogether to two thousand, four hundred dollars, about one eighth 67 00:04:03.319 --> 00:04:06.680 of your ten percent assessment, you see, which leaves you 68 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:09.719 in debt to the company for the other seven eighths 69 00:04:09.759 --> 00:04:14.840 of the assessment viz. Something over eight thousand dollars apiece. Now, 70 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:18.120 instead of requiring you to forward this aggregate of sixteen 71 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:22.199 thousand dollars or seventeen thousand dollars to New York, the 72 00:04:22.279 --> 00:04:25.399 company voted unanimously to let you pay it over to 73 00:04:25.480 --> 00:04:29.720 the contractors laborers from time to time and give you 74 00:04:29.800 --> 00:04:32.120 credit on the books for it. And they did it 75 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:34.959 without a murmur, too, for they were pleased with the 76 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:37.519 progress you had made and were glad to pay you 77 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:40.720 that little compliment, and a very neat one it was, too. 78 00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:43.759 I am sure the work you did fell short of 79 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:47.720 ten thousand dollars a trifle. Let me see nine thousand, 80 00:04:47.800 --> 00:04:51.319 six hundred and forty dollars from twenty thousand dollars salary 81 00:04:51.319 --> 00:04:54.720 two thousand, four hundred dollars added, I asked, The balance 82 00:04:54.839 --> 00:04:59.199 due the company from yourself and mister Sellers is seven thousand, 83 00:04:59.439 --> 00:05:03.120 nine hundred sixty dollars, which I will take the responsibility 84 00:05:03.199 --> 00:05:06.240 of allowing to stand for the present, unless you prefer 85 00:05:06.319 --> 00:05:09.839 to draw a check now and thus confound it. Do 86 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:12.240 you mean to say that instead of the company owing 87 00:05:12.360 --> 00:05:16.040 us two thousand, four hundred dollars, we owe the company 88 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:21.600 seven thousand, nine hundred and sixty dollars. Well, yes, and 89 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:24.000 that we owe the men and the contractor's nearly ten 90 00:05:24.079 --> 00:05:28.360 thousand dollars besides, oh them, Oh, bless my soul. You 91 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:31.240 can't mean that you have not paid these people. But 92 00:05:31.319 --> 00:05:34.600 I do mean it. The President rose and walked the 93 00:05:34.600 --> 00:05:38.439 floor like a man in bodily pain. His brows contracted. 94 00:05:38.759 --> 00:05:41.360 He put his hand up and clasped his forehead, and 95 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:47.360 kept saying, Oh, it is too bad, too bad, too bad. Oh, 96 00:05:47.399 --> 00:05:51.079 it is bound to be found out. Nothing can prevent it. Nothing. 97 00:05:51.800 --> 00:05:54.319 Then he threw himself into his chair and said, my 98 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:59.839 dear mister Bryerson, this is dreadful, perfectly dreadful. It will 99 00:05:59.879 --> 00:06:02.480 be found out. It is bound to tarnish the good 100 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:06.360 name of the company. Our credit will be seriously, most 101 00:06:06.519 --> 00:06:10.399 seriously impaired. How could you be so thoughtless that the 102 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:13.279 man ought to have been paid? Though it beggared us all, 103 00:06:13.560 --> 00:06:16.720 but they ought ought they? Then? Why the devil my 104 00:06:16.879 --> 00:06:20.519 name is not Brierson, by the way, Why the mischief 105 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:24.199 didn't the company? Why what in the nation ever became 106 00:06:24.279 --> 00:06:28.319 of the appropriation? Where is that appropriation? If a stockholder 107 00:06:28.360 --> 00:06:32.639 may make so bold as to ask the appropriation that 108 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:36.040 paltry two hundred thousand dollars? Do you mean? Of course? 109 00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:38.759 But I didn't know that two hundred thousand dollars was 110 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:41.920 so very paltry, though I grant, of course, that it 111 00:06:42.000 --> 00:06:45.560 is not a large sum strictly speaking. But where is it, 112 00:06:46.079 --> 00:06:49.439 my dear sir, you surprise me. You surely cannot have 113 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:52.639 had a large acquaintance with this sort of thing, Otherwise 114 00:06:52.680 --> 00:06:54.839 you would not have expected much of a result from 115 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:58.920 a mere initial appropriation like that. It was never intended 116 00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:01.480 for anything but a mere nest egg for the future, 117 00:07:01.800 --> 00:07:07.240 and real appropriations to cluster around indeed, well, was it 118 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:10.680 a myth or was it a reality? Whatever become of it? 119 00:07:11.319 --> 00:07:16.680 Why the matter is simple enough. A congressional appropriation costs money. 120 00:07:17.160 --> 00:07:20.399 Just reflect For instance, a majority of the House Committee, 121 00:07:20.399 --> 00:07:25.040 say ten thousand dollars apiece, forty thousand dollars. A majority 122 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:28.720 of the Senate committee the same each, say forty thousand dollars. 123 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:31.399 A little extra to one or two chairmen of one 124 00:07:31.480 --> 00:07:35.439 or two such committees, say ten thousand dollars each, twenty 125 00:07:35.519 --> 00:07:38.759 thousand dollars, and then there's one hundred thousand dollars of 126 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:42.399 the money gone to begin with. Then seven male lobbyists 127 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:46.319 at three thousand dollars each twenty one thousand dollars, one 128 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:50.879 female lobbyist ten thousand dollars. A high moral congressman or 129 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:54.279 senator here and there. The high moral ones cost more 130 00:07:54.319 --> 00:07:57.720 because they give tone to a measure. Say ten of 131 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:02.120 these at three thousand dollars each thirty thousand dollars. Then 132 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:04.959 a lot of small fry country members who won't vote 133 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:08.600 for anything whatever without pay, say twenty at five hundred 134 00:08:08.639 --> 00:08:11.920 dollars a piece is ten thousand dollars. A lot of 135 00:08:11.959 --> 00:08:16.319 dinners to members, say ten thousand dollars altogether, a lot 136 00:08:16.360 --> 00:08:20.160 of jim cracks for congressmen's wives and children. Those go 137 00:08:20.240 --> 00:08:22.519 a long way. You can't spend too much money in 138 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:25.680 that line. Well, those things cost in a lump, say, 139 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:29.319 ten thousand dollars along there somewhere. And then comes your 140 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:34.559 printed documents, your maps, your tinted engravings, your pamphlets, your 141 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:38.600 illuminated show cards, your advertisements in one hundred and fifty 142 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:41.840 papers at ever so much a line, because you've got 143 00:08:41.840 --> 00:08:44.360 to keep the papers all right, or you are gone up, 144 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:48.320 you know. Oh, my dear sir, printing bills are destruction itself. 145 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:52.120 Ours so far amount to let me see ten fifty 146 00:08:52.120 --> 00:08:58.679 two twenty two thirteen, And then there's eleven fourteen thirty three. Well, 147 00:08:58.759 --> 00:09:01.559 never mind the details. The tot in clear numbers foots 148 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:04.720 up one hundred eighteen thousand, two hundred and fifty four 149 00:09:04.759 --> 00:09:08.799 dollars and forty two cents thus far. Oh yes, indeed, 150 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:12.360 printing's no bactell I can tell you. And then there's 151 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:16.039 your contributions as a company to Chicago fires and Boston 152 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:19.360 fires and orphan asylums and all that sort of thing. 153 00:09:19.879 --> 00:09:22.639 Head the list you see with the company's full name 154 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:26.679 and a thousand dollars set opposite great card, Sir. One 155 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:29.840 of the finest advertisements in the world. The preachers mention 156 00:09:29.960 --> 00:09:32.840 it in the pulpit when it's a religious charity. One 157 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:36.159 of the happiest advertisements in the world is your benevolent donation. 158 00:09:37.000 --> 00:09:40.440 Ours have amounted to sixteen thousand dollars and some cents 159 00:09:40.519 --> 00:09:45.080 up to this time. Good heavens. Oh yes. Perhaps the 160 00:09:45.159 --> 00:09:48.080 biggest thing we've done in the advertising line was to 161 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:51.799 get an officer of the US government, of perfectly Himalayan 162 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:55.879 official altitude to write up our little internal improvement for 163 00:09:55.960 --> 00:09:59.639 a religious paper of enormous circulation. I tell you that 164 00:09:59.720 --> 00:10:02.720 makes as our bonds go handsomely among the pious poor. 165 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:06.480 Your religious paper is by far the best vehicle for 166 00:10:06.639 --> 00:10:09.840 a thing of this kind, because they'll lead your article 167 00:10:09.879 --> 00:10:12.039 and put it right in the midst of the reading matter. 168 00:10:12.360 --> 00:10:15.200 And if it's got a few scripture quotations in it, 169 00:10:15.559 --> 00:10:18.840 and some temperance platitudes and a bit of gush here 170 00:10:18.879 --> 00:10:22.480 and there about Sunday schools, and a sentimental snuffle now 171 00:10:22.519 --> 00:10:27.200 and then about God's precious ones, the honest, hard handed poor, 172 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:30.279 it works the nation like a charm my dear sir, 173 00:10:30.720 --> 00:10:33.360 and never a man suspects that it is an advertisement. 174 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:38.080 But your secular paper sticks you right into the advertising columns. 175 00:10:38.279 --> 00:10:40.600 And of course you don't take a trick. Give me 176 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:44.120 a religious paper to advertise in every time, and if 177 00:10:44.120 --> 00:10:47.399 you'll just look at their advertising pages, you'll observe that 178 00:10:47.480 --> 00:10:50.440 other people think a good deal as I do, especially 179 00:10:50.480 --> 00:10:53.919 people who have got little financial schemes to make everybody 180 00:10:54.000 --> 00:10:58.039 rich with. Of course, I mean your great, big metropolitan 181 00:10:58.080 --> 00:11:01.240 religious papers that know how to serve God and make 182 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:04.399 money at the same time. That's your sort, sir, that's 183 00:11:04.440 --> 00:11:07.519 your sort. A religious paper that isn't run to make 184 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:10.919 money is no use to us, sir, as an advertising medium, 185 00:11:11.240 --> 00:11:14.639 no use to anybody in our line of business. I 186 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:17.799 guess our next best dodge was sending a pleasure trip 187 00:11:17.879 --> 00:11:21.679 of newspaper reporters out to Napoleon. Never paid them a cent, 188 00:11:22.240 --> 00:11:24.759 just filled them up with champagne and the fat of 189 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:28.120 the land, put pen, ink and paper before them while 190 00:11:28.159 --> 00:11:30.879 they were red hot, and bless your soul, when you 191 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:33.799 come to read their letters, you'll have supposed they'd been 192 00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:37.519 to heaven. And if a sentimental squeamishness held one or 193 00:11:37.559 --> 00:11:40.279 two of them back from taking a less rosy view 194 00:11:40.320 --> 00:11:44.200 of Napoleon. Our hospitalities tied his tongue at least, and 195 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:47.039 he said nothing at all, and so did us no harm. 196 00:11:47.600 --> 00:11:49.879 Let me see, have I stated all the expenses I've 197 00:11:49.919 --> 00:11:53.600 been at, No I was near forgetting one or two items. 198 00:11:53.799 --> 00:11:57.240 There's your official salaries. You can't get good men for nothing. 199 00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:01.639 Salaries cost pretty lively. And then there's your big high 200 00:12:01.639 --> 00:12:06.200 sounding millionaire names stuck into your advertisements as stockholders. Another 201 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:09.360 card that, and they are stockholders too, but you have 202 00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:12.320 to give them the stock and non accessible at that, 203 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:16.919 So they're an expensive lot, very very expensive thing. Take 204 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:21.039 it all round is a big internal improvement concern. But 205 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:24.480 you see that yourself, mister Bryerman. You see that yourself, sir. 206 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:27.480 But look here, I think you are a little mistaken 207 00:12:27.480 --> 00:12:31.039 about it's ever having cost anything for congressional votes. I 208 00:12:31.080 --> 00:12:34.240 happen to know something about that. I've let you say 209 00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:37.159 your say, Now let me say mine. I don't wish 210 00:12:37.240 --> 00:12:40.720 to seem to throw any suspicion on anybody's statements, because 211 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:43.840 we are all liable to be mistaken. But how would 212 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:45.840 it strike you if I were to say that I 213 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:48.519 was in Washington all the time this bill was pending. 214 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:51.360 And what if I added that I put the measure 215 00:12:51.399 --> 00:12:55.399 through myself. Yes, sir, I did that little thing. And moreover, 216 00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:58.039 I never paid a dollar for any man's vote, and 217 00:12:58.120 --> 00:13:01.000 never promised one. There are in some ways of doing 218 00:13:01.000 --> 00:13:03.240 a thing that are as good as others, which other 219 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:06.039 people don't happen to think about, or don't have the 220 00:13:06.120 --> 00:13:08.720 knack of succeeding in if they do happen to think 221 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:11.759 of them. My dear sir, I am obliged to knock 222 00:13:11.799 --> 00:13:14.519 some of your expenses in the head, for never a 223 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:17.679 cent was paid a Congressman or senator on the part 224 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:22.919 of this navigation company. The President smiled blandly, even sweetly, 225 00:13:23.240 --> 00:13:26.720 all through this harangue, and then said, is that so 226 00:13:27.799 --> 00:13:30.360 every word of it? Well, it does seem to alter 227 00:13:30.480 --> 00:13:33.440 the complexion of things a little. You are acquainted with 228 00:13:33.480 --> 00:13:36.320 the members down there, of course, else you could not 229 00:13:36.440 --> 00:13:39.480 have worked to such advantage. I know them all, sir. 230 00:13:39.759 --> 00:13:43.519 I know their wives, their children, their babies. I even 231 00:13:43.559 --> 00:13:45.399 made it a point to be on good terms with 232 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:51.519 their lackeys. I know every congressman well, even familiarly, very good. 233 00:13:51.639 --> 00:13:54.440 Do you know any of their signatures. Do you know 234 00:13:54.519 --> 00:13:58.120 their handwriting? Why I know their handwriting as well as 235 00:13:58.159 --> 00:14:01.080 I know my own, have had correspond Condon's enough with them, 236 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:04.360 I should think, And their signatures, why I can tell 237 00:14:04.360 --> 00:14:07.799 their initials? Even The President went to a private safe, 238 00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:10.720 unlocked it, and got out some letters in certain slips 239 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:14.240 of paper. Then he said, now here, for instance, do 240 00:14:14.279 --> 00:14:17.120 you believe that that is a genuine letter? Do you 241 00:14:17.240 --> 00:14:20.480 know this signature here and this one? Do you know 242 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:26.480 who those initials represent? And are they forgeries? Harry was stupefied. 243 00:14:27.120 --> 00:14:30.879 There were things there that made his brain swim. Presently, 244 00:14:30.919 --> 00:14:32.559 at the bottom of one of the letters, he saw 245 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:35.720 a signature that restored his equilibrium. It even brought the 246 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:39.080 sunshine of a smile to his face. The President said, 247 00:14:39.559 --> 00:14:43.759 that one amuses you. You never suspected him. Of course 248 00:14:43.840 --> 00:14:46.639 I ought to have suspected him, but I don't believe 249 00:14:46.679 --> 00:14:50.399 it ever really occurred to me. Well, well, well, how 250 00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:52.200 did you ever have the nerve to approach him of 251 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:55.200 all the others? Why, my friend, we never think of 252 00:14:55.200 --> 00:14:58.759 accomplishing anything without his help. He is our main stay. 253 00:14:59.399 --> 00:15:03.519 But how do those letters strike you? They strike me dumb? 254 00:15:04.120 --> 00:15:08.960 What a stone blind idiot? I have been. Well, take 255 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:11.200 it all round. I suppose you had a pleasant time 256 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:14.399 in Washington, said the President, gathering up the letters. Of 257 00:15:14.440 --> 00:15:17.519 course you must have had. Very few men could go 258 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:19.759 there and get a money bill through without buying a 259 00:15:19.799 --> 00:15:23.039 single Come now, mister President, that's plenty of that. I 260 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:25.639 take back everything I said on that head. I'm a 261 00:15:25.639 --> 00:15:27.799 wiser man to day than I was yesterday. I can 262 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:30.799 tell you I think you are. In fact, I am 263 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:34.320 satisfied you are. But now I showed you these things 264 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:37.799 in confidence. You understand. Mention facts as much as you 265 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:41.120 want to, but don't mention names to anybody. I can 266 00:15:41.159 --> 00:15:44.000 depend on you for that, can't I. Oh, of course 267 00:15:44.559 --> 00:15:47.480 I understand the necessity of that. I will not betray 268 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:50.200 the names. But to go back a bit, it begins 269 00:15:50.240 --> 00:15:52.480 to look as if you never saw any of that 270 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:57.320 appropriation at all. We saw nearly ten thousand dollars of it, 271 00:15:57.440 --> 00:16:00.320 and that was all several of us took to tarns 272 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:03.120 at log Rolling in Washington. And if we had charged 273 00:16:03.159 --> 00:16:06.480 anything for that service, none of that ten thousand dollars 274 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:09.919 would ever have reached New York. If you hadn't levied 275 00:16:09.960 --> 00:16:12.399 the assessment, you would have been in a close place, 276 00:16:12.440 --> 00:16:16.159 I judge close. Have you figured up the total of 277 00:16:16.200 --> 00:16:19.679 the disbursements I told you of? No, I didn't think 278 00:16:19.720 --> 00:16:23.440 of that. Well, let's see spent in Washington, say one 279 00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:27.120 hundred and ninety one thousand dollars, printing, advertising, et cetera, 280 00:16:27.200 --> 00:16:32.360 say one hundred eighteen thousand dollars. Charity say sixteen thousand 281 00:16:32.399 --> 00:16:36.159 dollars total three hundred and twenty five thousand dollars. The 282 00:16:36.200 --> 00:16:40.360 money to do that with comes from appropriation two hundred 283 00:16:40.440 --> 00:16:44.320 thousand dollars, ten percent assessment on capital of one million 284 00:16:44.440 --> 00:16:49.120 dollars one hundred thousand dollars total three hundred thousand dollars, 285 00:16:49.399 --> 00:16:52.840 which leaves us in debt some twenty five thousand dollars. 286 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:57.120 At this moment. Salaries of home officers are still going on. Also, 287 00:16:57.240 --> 00:17:00.679 printing and advertising. Next month will show a state of 288 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:05.440 things and then burst up. I suppose by no means 289 00:17:05.799 --> 00:17:11.079 levy another assessment. I see that's dismal. By no means 290 00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:15.599 why isn't it? What's the road out? Another appropriation? Don't 291 00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:19.000 you see? Bother the appropriations they cost more than they 292 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:21.720 come to and not the next one. We'll call for 293 00:17:21.799 --> 00:17:24.319 half a million, get it and go for a million 294 00:17:24.359 --> 00:17:26.920 the very next month. Yes, but the cost of it. 295 00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:31.480 The President smiled and patted his secret letters affectionately. He said, 296 00:17:32.160 --> 00:17:35.440 all these people are in the next congress. We shan't 297 00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:38.160 have to pay them a cent. And what is more, 298 00:17:38.599 --> 00:17:41.519 they will work like beavers for us. Perhaps it might 299 00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:46.319 be to their advantage, Harry reflected profoundly Awhile, then he said, 300 00:17:47.000 --> 00:17:50.519 we send many missionaries to lift up the benighted races 301 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:53.640 of other lands. How much cheaper and better it would 302 00:17:53.640 --> 00:17:56.519 be if those people could only come here and drink 303 00:17:56.559 --> 00:18:00.720 of our civilization at its fountain head. I agree with you, 304 00:18:00.759 --> 00:18:05.200 mister Beverley. Must you go well, good morning, look in 305 00:18:05.319 --> 00:18:07.599 when you are passing, and whenever I can give you 306 00:18:07.640 --> 00:18:11.039 any information about our affairs and prospects, I shall be 307 00:18:11.079 --> 00:18:14.519 glad to do it. Harry's letter was not a long one, 308 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:17.319 but it contained at least the calamitous figures that came 309 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:20.839 out in the above conversation. The colonel found himself in 310 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:25.039 a rather uncomfortable place. No one thousand, two hundred dollars 311 00:18:25.039 --> 00:18:28.960 salary forthcoming, and himself held responsible for half of the 312 00:18:29.079 --> 00:18:31.920 nine thousand, six hundred and forty dollars due the workmen, 313 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:34.559 to say nothing of being in debt to the company 314 00:18:34.599 --> 00:18:38.400 to the extent of nearly four thousand dollars. Polly's heart 315 00:18:38.519 --> 00:18:42.799 was nearly broken. The blues returned in fearful force, and 316 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:44.640 she had to go out of the room to hide 317 00:18:44.680 --> 00:18:48.400 the tears that nothing could keep back. Now there was 318 00:18:48.480 --> 00:18:51.359 morning in another quarter two, for Louise had a letter. 319 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:55.440 Washington had refused at the last moment to take forty 320 00:18:55.519 --> 00:18:58.799 thousand dollars for the Tennessee land, and had demanded one 321 00:18:58.839 --> 00:19:02.720 hundred and fifty thousand. So the trade fell through, and 322 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:06.359 now Washington was wailing because he had been so foolish. 323 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:09.039 But he wrote that his man might probably return to 324 00:19:09.079 --> 00:19:11.559 the city soon, and then he meant to sell to 325 00:19:11.640 --> 00:19:14.880 him sure, even if he had to take ten thousand dollars. 326 00:19:15.480 --> 00:19:18.759 Louise had a good cry, several of them, indeed, and 327 00:19:18.839 --> 00:19:22.160 the family charitably forbore to make any comments that would 328 00:19:22.160 --> 00:19:27.720 increase her grief. Spring blossomed, summer came dragged its hot 329 00:19:27.759 --> 00:19:31.200 weeks by, and the colonel's spirits rose day by day, 330 00:19:31.279 --> 00:19:34.559 for the railroad was making good progress, but by and 331 00:19:34.599 --> 00:19:39.039 by something happened. Hawkeye had always declined to subscribe anything 332 00:19:39.079 --> 00:19:42.440 toward the railway, imagining that her large business would be 333 00:19:42.480 --> 00:19:47.119 a sufficient compulsory influence. But now Hawkeye was frightened, and 334 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:50.519 before Colonel Sellers knew what he was about, Hawkeye, in 335 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:53.839 a panic, had rushed to the front and subscribed such 336 00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:58.319 a sum that Napoleon's attractions suddenly sank into insignificance, and 337 00:19:58.400 --> 00:20:02.480 the railroad concluded to follow a comparatively straight course instead 338 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:05.119 of going miles out of its way to build up 339 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:09.240 a metropolis in the muddy desert of Stone's Landing. The 340 00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:14.519 thunderbolt fell. After all the Colonel's deep planning, after all 341 00:20:14.599 --> 00:20:17.960 his brain work and tongue work in drawing public attention 342 00:20:18.039 --> 00:20:21.640 to his pet project and enlisting interest in it, after 343 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:25.559 all his faithful hard toil with his hands and running 344 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:28.960 hither and thither on his busy feet, after all his 345 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:33.079 high hopes and splendid prophecies, the fates had turned their 346 00:20:33.079 --> 00:20:35.720 backs on him at last, and all in a moment, 347 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:40.079 his air castles crumbled to ruins about him. Hawkeye rose 348 00:20:40.119 --> 00:20:44.720 from her fright triumphant and rejoicing, and down went stones Landing. 349 00:20:45.319 --> 00:20:48.359 One by one. Its meager parcel of inhabitants packed up 350 00:20:48.359 --> 00:20:52.160 and moved away. As the summer waned and fall approached, 351 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:57.079 town lots were no longer saleable, traffic ceased, A deadly 352 00:20:57.240 --> 00:21:00.759 lethargy fell upon the place once more. The weakly telegraph 353 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:05.480 faded into an early grave. The waried tadpole returned from exile. 354 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:10.000 The bullfrog resumed his ancient song. The tranquil turtle sunned 355 00:21:10.039 --> 00:21:14.240 his back upon bank and log, and drowsed his grateful 356 00:21:14.279 --> 00:21:17.440 life away, as in the old sweet days of yore. 357 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:20.240 End of Chapter twenty eight.