Frenzied Finance Part 31

"Or, the Amalgamated Company can be the princ.i.p.al and the bank the indorser."

"Just what is the bank to say in this statement?" he asked very seriously.

"The big things about our enterprise that I have been telling the public. We will put them forward in an old-fashioned, unequivocal way--that should accomplish what we want," I replied.

He was looking at me in a curiously searching manner as I spoke. He said:

"Let us have the strongest one or two as an ill.u.s.tration."

"Well, for instance, what I have advertised so often, that this stock is so good the 'Standard Oil' people who formerly owned the property behind it would prefer to own all the stock and hold it as a permanent investment, but that the enterprise is so large their interests will be better served by letting the public in than going it alone. You and I know that's true. Also that the company is earning sixteen per cent. and will always pay eight per cent. or over. Something to that effect."

"Do you suppose, Lawson," said Mr. Rogers, straightening up and speaking very impatiently, "that the public will swallow any statement of that kind? Just think it over--William Rockefeller, James Stillman, and myself, to say nothing of others, openly spending our money for advertis.e.m.e.nts to induce Tom, d.i.c.k, and Harry to buy stock at par which we know is earning sixteen per cent. and will always pay eight!"

"Why not?" I responded. "I have practically stated the same thing scores of times as your agent, until, so far as the public is concerned, my telling it is the same as though 'Standard Oil' had said it."

"Well and good," Mr. Rogers went on dryly. "But, Lawson, you know there's a heap of real difference between your telling it and our putting it over our signature."

I well knew the difference, but I had my point to make; so I said:

"All right. Let the City Bank and Mr. Stillman put it their own way."

"Lawson, that's foolish," Mr. Rogers returned. "They must not be allowed to have anything to do with it save to O. K. what we are to advertise over their signature. Stillman would never agree to our using the City Bank to hawk any stock but a gilt-edged one."

"Isn't this a gilt-edged one?"

Mr. Rogers glared at me.

"Why waste time and words over a matter that you know as well as I must be handled very, very gingerly? It is not because it is not gilt-edged, but because of the peculiar situation of it. The public thinks this stock which is to be offered to it belongs to the Amalgamated Company, and that the City Bank is selling it for the Amalgamated treasury just as in any of the ordinary first-cla.s.s issues they offer for subscription; whereas we know that the stock belongs to us and the bank is selling it for our profit. If the public suspected that this stock was ours, and that we were not going to subscribe on the same basis as themselves, it would demand to know what we paid for it, and if we didn't tell, it would be figured out as a clear case of false representation. Where would that leave us? Mr. Rockefeller, myself, the bank, and Stillman would be held for every cent of the capital forever.

We cannot put our heads into any such halter."

"I cannot see why not," I expostulated. "You and I know there is no more chance of loss than if we were dealing in the City Bank's own stock, because of the way we are handling the deal, selling only $5,000,000 to the public, and standing behind every dollar of that, all possible risk is eliminated."

"Call all that true," angrily replied Mr. Rogers, "and you don't alter the fact that such a scheme as you map out _is impossible_. You must get to work and figure out some plan which is practical."

"I knew that we should find this a difficult matter to get right," I said. "Now, what is your idea of how it should be gone about?"

This time the burden of explanation was fairly upon Mr. Rogers, and I waited his answer expectantly. He replied, in much milder tones:

"There is no real difference between us, Lawson, except that you don't seem to realize the actual position we are in. We are going to do what is fair and right in this enterprise--indeed, there is no necessity for anything else--but we must not put the bank or ourselves in such a place that either or both of us can be held legally responsible for anything that happens in connection with this company. You must keep in mind Sterling's words, that the thing is risky enough anyway, and that even under the best circ.u.mstances and conditions we may find ourselves in a hole. Exactly how to do it I have not figured out, but the City Bank must appear as offering the subscriptions, and the Amalgamated Company as owning the stock, and simultaneously some one else must tell all about the advantages. Unless this latter is very fully done, the public will not only refuse to subscribe, but will get suspicious, and there might be a big scandal. It seems to me as though this part of the job is yours to do, and to do just right."

So far in our argument we were even. We eyed each other as fighters do in a ring--looking for an opening. Both sparred for an idea. Mr. Rogers'

reluctance to shoulder any legal responsibility deepened my suspicions, and inwardly I sweated blood at the thought of the deviltry that might be piled up around the affair. However, there was nothing for it but to square away and keep sparring, for if I lost my temper and exploded, it meant that I should be ground up or disappear in the hopper, and then, good-by to independence. It was the first time I had ever sat in a finish game with the master of "Standard Oil," and I trembled at the possible outcome. Yet this duel--for it was as clearly a fight for life on my side as though we both were armed with deadly weapons--was but one of a thousand similar encounters the Rogerses and Rockefellers had had with other adversaries as fearless and as honest as I, and out of these heart-breaking and soul-crushing sit-downs they had always emerged survivors, while behind the "Standard Oil" juggernaut, defeated and submissive, trudged the men who had dared oppose them. Should the fate of these others be also mine? Across my mind flitted "not while my brain retains its fly-wheels and my hands their power"; and I found myself wondering if there were not some stage at which a man cornered by arbitrary conditions and legal observances was justified in bursting all such trammels and meeting artifice with physical violence. Murder is a crime against society and against nature, and we must all observe the canons of G.o.d and the regulations of the law; but at least a dozen times in my wrestles with the exasperating, grinding, h.e.l.l-generating machine, it was only my inborn reverence for G.o.d's law and man's that prevented me from--well, shall I say, strangling the fox?

All this, however, was between me and my mind. I showed not a vestige of it on the surface, but went on with much earnestness:

"Mr. Rogers, I think I understand the situation perfectly, but let us see if I do. We have reached a point where we are out in the open, and the whole world is in position to pa.s.s judgment on us and our venture.

There must be between us unanimity of purpose, for the time is past when I can say one thing, you another, and Stillman and his bank confuse all concerned by agreeing with one story and denying the second. It is essential that we all pull together, yet conditions are such--and no one's to blame for them, for they have so developed--that we cannot have a general pow-wow to organize a programme. We, you and I, must formulate a plan which can be sent out to the public with the approval of all concerned, all the parties to it being sure they understand absolutely its meaning, while in reality it means something different to each of them. Isn't that about it?"

"You have covered the situation fully, Lawson," approved Mr. Rogers.

"You must understand that this tie-up is due to our having departed from our usual way of doing business. 'Standard Oil' never goes to the public direct for money, but works up its projects through some of our"--he almost said "dummies," but caught himself--"our lieutenants. You have worked up this affair in our name instead of your own, as would have been the safer way."

I thought to myself, "You cannot, whatever you do, evade responsibility for the millions you are to take this time"; but I went on smoothly:

"This, then, is how I see our procedure: We will write out an advertis.e.m.e.nt for the City Bank. You will have Mr. Stillman pa.s.s it for the bank, by authorizing me to publish it. You will then authorize me to publish a second advertis.e.m.e.nt on behalf of the Amalgamated Company. If there is any slip-up, I, as the agent of both, will have to become responsible instead of you. Is that right?"

He nodded. I went on:

"Besides these, there must be a third advertis.e.m.e.nt, in which some one will tell the strong facts about Amalgamated, and it will be so worded as to bring the public with its money into the City Bank just the same as though it were signed by the bank, Stillman, the Amalgamated Company, and you and Mr. Rockefeller. What's the use of beating round the bush any longer? The one to sign that story and stand behind it is myself, because, owing to conditions, no one else will."

I had said it. Mr. Rogers' eyes snapped just once. Only on two other occasions in all my long and intimate acquaintance with this wonderful man have I seen him lose his self-control. To anger he will give way frankly if the occasion justifies it or he desires to intimidate or impress an individual; but his face, mobile though it is, presents a calm and impa.s.sive mask. I caught the snap, and I think he caught me catching it. It meant much to me--more even than if he had said in so many words "I've got him." In such encounters one cannot see into one's adversary's mind nor know what he is trying to do, and any indication is like the sight of a buoy in a fog to a mariner. I gathered that the snap indicated relief at my compliance, and that he had been afraid I might balk. That showed me that consent on my part was important--which meant that he saw no possible way of carrying the enterprise to the end we had mapped out unless I stepped into the gap. Then I knew that he would have to agree to my terms, provided they were not too harsh and that I did not too vehemently insist upon them. It is a cardinal principle of "Standard Oil" never to do anything they decide they won't do, and that which they decide they won't do is what any man on earth says they must do. You may lead "Standard Oil," but you cannot drive it. If at that critical moment I had foreseen all that subsequently occurred, or realized that this copper affair, which was to me a matter of life and death, was to Henry H. Rogers only another device to extort dollars from the public, I should then and there have thrown down the gauntlet and demanded that "Standard Oil" step out into the open and a.s.sume all legal responsibility, or have exposed the whole scheme. But my suspicions were suspicions only, and I could not be sure that Mr. Rogers was doing other than discretion warranted, when he desired to have things done in such a way as to allow me to continue to conjure with the magic name "Standard Oil." In other words, wasn't he doing exactly what I myself was engaged upon? I was planning to have him consent to things he was otherwise unwilling to allow, and he, in his turn, was scheming to have the bank and his "Standard Oil" a.s.sociates pa.s.s over things they would be sure to question if presented less adroitly, or if they came from some other quarter. Yet all I was trying to accomplish was honest and best for all.

Why might not his intentions be as fair as mine? However, the eye-snap determined me to steer nearer the wind.

"Well and good, Mr. Rogers," I went on. "I will tell the story I know is true and that you know is true, and that you have repeatedly given me your word you would stand by me in telling, but I will only do so in a way I deem safe and fair to myself. Is that agreed?"

He winced a bit. "What do you mean by that?" he said. "What do you mean by a 'way safe and fair' to yourself? You are not suspicious of any of us, are you?"

"Suspicious is not the word, Mr. Rogers. I brought you and Mr.

Rockefeller this copper enterprise. We have gone ahead with it upon clearly laid down lines. I have done to the letter all I agreed, and, so far, the enterprise has more than fulfilled my promises. I realize that our success has largely come from our going to the public and openly telling it what we were doing and what we intended to do. Until now, I am the one who has made all the promises, and, legally, up to this point, I am the only one who can be called to account, but it is the fact that for any statement I have made, you and Mr. Rockefeller have been as much responsible as myself, and you as much or more than I have had the benefit which has come from what I have promised. Now we are ready for business with the public, and there must be a clear and distinct understanding with it or it will not part with its money. This understanding can have but one bearing--_that what the public read, we must all be responsible for legally and morally, not some of us, but all of us, you, Mr. Rockefeller, the City Bank, James Stillman, and myself_.

For bear in mind it was you and Mr. Rockefeller who changed my plans by subst.i.tuting companies and properties of which I knew nothing but what you told me. All the things we ought to tell, you say cannot be put into words, because if they are powers beyond us will refuse to allow the enterprise to go through as it must go through. Then the condition must be implied, must be between the lines. You say this is my task, and that I alone can perform it properly. All right--but I will perform it in a way that will hold every one concerned to his legal as well as to his moral responsibility just as it will me who sign it. To save our enterprise I will concede just this much: The advertis.e.m.e.nts will be so worded as not apparently legally to involve Stillman, William Rockefeller, or the Bank but in reality they will be bound to as strict responsibility as though their signatures were in the place of mine. In doing this I compromise with my conscience, Mr. Rogers, because it is now of paramount importance that our consolidation go through--as important to the thousands of others who have followed us as to ourselves."

"You mean this, Lawson, that you will insist upon having this done in a way that will make every one legally responsible?"

"I mean just that, Mr. Rogers. In what other way can it be done?"

"As all such affairs are arranged--by allowing the public to think for themselves--but steering our end clear of all possible legal entanglements," he replied in a voice half choked with suppressed rage.

Now we were both thoroughly aroused, he fairly seething with fury at my rebellion, and I boiling over at his willingness to sacrifice me to his own safety. By this time he was on his feet facing me, and it was evident the tussle would be serious. Still I slowly and coldly asked:

"How can that be done?"

"By _your_ taking the responsibility," he as slowly and freezingly answered.

"You mean that _I_ shall go ahead and make glowing and generous promises, on the strength of which the public will put up its money, and that if these promises for any reason are not carried out, I alone shall be the one to face the music? Is that what you mean, Mr. Rogers?"

I held myself together, with closed hands and clinched teeth.

"Just that," he returned. "You are making millions out of this enterprise, and I consider this is one of the places where you earn them."

"Not if every one of the millions you mention were multiplied a thousand times, Mr. Rogers, do I say one word to the public to induce it to part with its money--not a word that will not hold you and Mr. Rockefeller, Stillman, and the City Bank to a full responsibility--not if, on the other hand, I become a pauper."

It was out. I know that the deadly earnestness I felt was in my voice, for though I spoke in a low tone I thought my head would burst until the last word was spoken. We looked at each other--glared is not the word to define that white-hot yet frozen, "another-step-and-I-shoot" look which of all expressions of which the human face is capable is most intense and dangerous. I did not flinch. I did not know what he would do, but I saw my words impressing on his mind the absolute conviction that for once he was face to face with a resolution no power of his could alter.

Slowly his anger, his will, seemed to subside, but as they did I was aware intuitively that he had changed tactics and was coming at me from another direction. In an instant his whole being seemed to relax and he dropped into a chair with a sigh of relief as he said:

"All right, Lawson. You've thought it out, I see. You are making a bad mistake, but as your mind is made up, I can do the only thing left to do--call the whole business off for the time being."

I had not served as Mr. Rogers' pike-carrier in vain. Superb actor though he is, I saw his bluff, and quick as a hair-trigger called it.

"Is that your decision, Mr. Rogers?" I asked, almost before the last word was out of his mouth. I did not attempt to shade the "If-it-is-I'm-off" tone of my voice.

He replied slowly and naturally, as though he were taking his decision right off the scales: