Part 17 (1/2)

{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 owners.h.i.+p of the railways and telegraphs. A graduated income tax that will mean no less than the confiscation of private capital.

{Chalmers}