Theft Part 17

{Dobleman}

A taxi, sir.

{Starkweather}

All right, and be careful.

(_Dobleman makes exit_)

{Chalmers}

I don't know the import of all these letters, but I can guess, and it does seem serious.

{Starkweather}

(_Furiously._) Serious! Let me tell you that there has been no exposure like this in the history of the country. It means hundreds of millions of dollars. It means more--the loss of power. And still more, it means the mob, the great ma.s.s of the child-minded people rising up and destroying all that I have labored to do for them. Oh, the fools! The fools!

{Hubbard}

(_Shaking his head ominously._) There is no telling what may happen if Knox makes that speech and delivers the proofs.

{Chalmers}

It is unfortunate. The people are restless and excited as it is. They are being constantly prodded on by the mouthings of the radical press, of the muck-raking magazines and of the demagogues. The people are like powder awaiting the spark.

{Starkweather}

This man Knox is no fool, if he _is_ a dreamer. He is a shrewd knave. He is a fighter. He comes from the West--the old pioneer stock. His father drove an ox-team across the Plains to Oregon.

He knows how to play his cards, and never could circ.u.mstances have placed more advantageous cards in his hands.

{Chalmers}

And nothing like this has ever touched you before.

{Starkweather}

I have always stood above the muck and ruck--clear and clean and una.s.sailable. But this--this is too much! It is the spark. There is no forecasting what it may develop into.

{Chalmers}

A political turnover.

{Starkweather}

(_Nodding savagely._) A new party, a party of demagogues, in power.

Government ownership of the railways and telegraphs. A graduated income tax that will mean no less than the confiscation of private capital.

{Chalmers}

And all that ma.s.s of radical legislation--the Child Labor Bill, the new Employers' Liability Act, the government control of the Alaskan coal fields, that interference with Mexico. And that big power corporation you have worked so hard to form.

{Starkweather}

It must not be. It is an unthinkable calamity. It means that the very process of capitalistic development is hindered, stopped.

It means a setback of ten years in the process. It means work, endless work, to overcome the setback. It means not alone the pa.s.sage of all this radical legislation with the consequent disadvantages, but it means the fingers of the mob clutching at our grip of control. It means anarchy. It means ruin and misery for all the blind fools and led-cattle of the ma.s.s who will strike at the very sources of their own existence and comfort.

(_Tommy enters from left, evidently playing a game, in the course of which he is running away. By his actions he shows that he is pursued. He intends to cross stage, but is stopped by sight of the men. Un.o.bserved by them, he retraces his steps and crawls under the tea-table._)

{Chalmers}

Without doubt, Knox is in possession of the letters right now.

{Starkweather}

There is but one thing to do, and that is--get them back.

(_He looks questioningly at the two men._)

(_Margaret enters from left, in flushed and happy pursuit of Tommy--for it is a game she is playing with him. She startles at sight of the three men, whom she first sees as she gains the side of the tea-table, where she pauses abruptly, resting one hand on the table._)

{Hubbard}

I'll undertake it.

{Starkweather}

There is little time to waste. In twenty hours from now he will be on the floor making his speech. Try mild measures first. Offer him inducements--any inducement. I empower you to act for me. You will find he has a price.

{Hubbard}

And if not?

{Starkweather}

Then you must get them at any cost.

{Hubbard}

(_Tentatively._) You mean--?

{Starkweather}

I mean just that. But no matter what happens, I must never be brought in. Do you understand?

{Hubbard}

Thoroughly.