i
the international power company remained a puzzle in suspended animation before the business world. its campaign, whatever it was, went on behind closed doors and closed mouths. the men who were backing john rawn were doing so with daring and courage, yet with business discretion and business eagerness for results. there was no leak anywhere, but the capitalists who were showing their faith in the basic idea of the company began to grow impatient because of the slow advancement of the most important of their plans; those bearing on wireless transmission from the central generating station on the mississippi river.
rawn's duties at the central offices, as president of the company, although steadily increasing, were still to very large extent perfunctory matters of routine; but the president's office evinced very early a singular efficiency in executive affairs. rawn's directors looked on him with mingled approval and cautiousness, coming almost to the belief that, if the progress of the central distributing plant, or "wireless no. 1," as it was known in the company's literature, did not seem all it should be, at least the president of the company was not to blame therefor. they turned to the department of mechanical installation; which brought charles halsey under investigation.
ii
halsey and his wife, john rawn's daughter, had taken up their residence in the small chicago suburb in which the central plant had been located. their cottage was a small one, and it was furnished much like other cottages thereabout, occupied by salaried men, mechanics, persons of no great means. it retained something of the complexion of the old quarters in kelly row. the furniture was of imitation mahogany, the pictures had been, for the most part, bought by mail, the decorations were a jumble of inharmonious inadvertencies. the two young folk, their means as small as their tastes were undeveloped, gave themselves small concern over architects' plans and "collectors' pieces." they were busy as are most young couples in the delights of their first experiment in housekeeping; and halsey himself now was deep in the strong and somber delight of developing a beloved idea.
naturally, halsey was often taken to the central offices in the city for conferences with the president of the company. he frequently met there virginia delaware, even at times gave dictation to her—a thing he never failed to remember, but never remembered to mention in his own home. as do many men even in this divorceful age, he set aside comparisons, forced himself into loyalty. moreover, he yet was very young in married life, and always had lived in an atmosphere where man, married or single, coveted not that which was his neighbor's. it was but unconsciously, as though moved only by force of gravitation, that he drifted to miss delaware with his correspondence. he said to himself that it was because she was so efficient. yes, that was it, of course, he assured himself, frowning when, once upon a time, he detected a flush on his face in answer to a sudden question of his soul. thereafter he went not infrequently to the general offices.
iii
on one such occasion he found himself in the position known among salaried workers as being "called upon the carpet" before "the old man." rawn held a letter in his hand to which he referred as he chided halsey for the delays in his department of the work.
"do you suppose i can stand for this sort of thing coming from new york?" he began. "what's the matter out there with you?"
"just what we might expect," halsey replied coolly. "i've tried to cut down the expenses, but the men won't take the cut in wages."
"why won't they?"
halsey smiled. "they have a hundred answers for that. one is, that they can't live on the wages, and another is, that they want the union scale."
"they'll never unionize our factory, mr. halsey! if they did, we might as well throw away all our money and tell them our secret at the start—we'd be working for them, not they for us."
"that's all right, sir. i think, myself, an open shop is safer for us. but the unions make all sorts of disturbances. i can't keep on a steady crew; and unless i do, i have to start in and educate a new set of men every week, or every day; and i have to be careful what i let any of them know. i can't help it, mr. rawn."
"well, we'll have to help it, that's all," rawn retorted grimly. "if the unions want fight they can have fight, until we get to the place where we can take all the fight out of them. these laboring men want to stop the whole progress of this country—they're a drag on the industry of this country, a continuous tax on all consumers. i'll show them! once we get those motors installed, i'll make them crawl."
iv
"and yet, do you know, charles," he went on a little later, his voice almost trembling, "the injustice of this conduct is what cuts me. i've had it in my mind to do something for the laboring men of this country. of course, i've seen all along that the general introduction of our motors into all sorts of industrial uses would throw hundreds and thousands of laboring men out of employment—put them on the scrap heap permanently. what are they going to do then? some one's got to feed them just the same, as you once said to me, long ago. you talk about problems!—why, we haven't got to the great ones in this country yet. the cost of living certainly will climb when that day comes. and the scale of wages will go down, when we abolish the man who has only muscle to sell. how are they going to eat?
"now, i've foreseen something of this, and planned for it. these people can't plan for themselves, and it's always got to be some stronger mind that does the thinking. you know, i was born in texas. i've always resolved to do something for that state; and, as i've just told you, i've always had it in mind to do something for the laboring man—that is to say, the man who sees himself just as he really is, and who doesn't rate himself worth just the same as the fellow next door to him, so much and no more.
"i've had my eye for some time on a tract of land down in texas, forty thousand acres. it shall never be said of john rawn that he forgot either his state or his fellow-man in the time of his success. when we get our motors going here—it will be, of course, a few years before the full effect of it all is felt—why then i'm going to colonize hundreds of these discarded workmen on this land in texas. they can put in their labor there, where it will be useful, and can produce a living for themselves and a surplus for others. in short, it has been my plan to put them where they could continue to be useful to society. i wouldn't want to see them starve!" mr. rawn's lip quivered at this thought. he felt himself to be a very tender-hearted man.
v
"yes," said halsey grimly, "the czar of russia had some such notion regarding the serfs. yet he freed them eventually."
"nonsense! they'll be not in the least serfs, but will simply be men transferred by a higher intelligence to a plane of life which otherwise they could not reach—a plane where they can be of use not only to themselves but to others."
"you're always talking, my son," went on rawn, harshly, "about helping your fellow-man, loving him like a brother—human equality, and all that sort of rot. what have any of you ever really done for each other, i'd like to know, except to meet up there in garrets, with lanterns hanging around, and discuss plans for taking away from stronger men the property they have accumulated? now, i'm not going to take it out in talk—i'm going to do something for these people. i'm going to make texas the place for my colony, because i don't want to deprive my native state of the credit of producing a man who had two big ideas—cheap power, and common sense in labor. there's two big ideas."
"i wouldn't dare tell the men anything of that," was halsey's comment. "it's hard enough as it is."
"no, certainly not. we'll just go on and take our chances with these men; and they take their chances with us. you have my instructions to discharge any man who kicks on the wage cut, if he doesn't fire himself. the town's full of men with families, who aren't earning enough to eat. you can get all the help you want. tell them we're open shop, and if they don't like it they can do their worst. let them bring on their dynamite, if they want to try that—they can have all the fight they want; and i'll stay with it until i see them crawl."
"there's something i don't understand about it, mr. rawn. the men are very sullen. the foremen tell me that they never had so much trouble. of course, they don't understand it themselves, but it's just as though our secret was getting out, and as if the men were afraid of cutting their own throats when they build these machines. not that they understand what it's all about—it's air tight yet, that's sure."
"you begin to see some of the practical results of your infernal socialistic ideas, don't you, then? you'll come to my notion of life after a while."
"mr. rawn, what's the end of that? what's the logical conclusion?"
"well, i'll tell you! one end and logical conclusion is going to be that i'll get some one to handle that factory if you can't; and he'll handle it the way i tell him!"
"you want my resignation now?"
"i'd very likely take it if it weren't for grace. besides, we've started on this thing together; and moreover again, i want you, when i go to new york, to see the directors and explain to them that their impatience is all wrong."
"is there much dissatisfaction down there?"
"yes. we've both got to run down east to-morrow night. go on out now, and reserve four compartments on the limited."
"four?"
"yes—we'll want a place to eat and work on the road. i've got to take a stenographer along, of course. next year i'll have a car of my own."
vi
halsey cast a quick glance at him, but still hesitated. "i don't see how i can well leave grace right now," said he. "it's near her time."
"you both take your chances about that," growled rawn. "business enterprises have to be born, as well as children. the important things come first. the one important thing for you and me is to get down there and see those cold-footed easterners and tell them where they get off in this business."
"say three days—maybe i can get back in time, mr. rawn. but i must say that they're asking us both to show a good deal of loyalty to this company."
"it's the only way to get success—fidelity to your employers, no matter what comes. of course, i know how you feel, but business can't wait on women."
"a woman doesn't always understand about business, mr. rawn. they're rather strange things, don't you think? grace doesn't talk much to me—she never has. sometimes—"
rawn raised a hand. "charles, never let me hear a word of doubt or disloyalty regarding your wife! no daughter of grace's parents could be anything but faithful and worthy. you should return such loyalty with love. never let anything shake you out of your duty to your own wife—my girl grace."
"why do you say that? we're married, and we're happy—and as you know—"
"very well. i like to hear you speak in that way. always be gentle and kind to your wife. of course, marriage may not seem always as it was in the honeymoon days, my son."
"that's true," said halsey suddenly. "do you know, i've thought that."
"what right had you to think it?"
"mr. rawn, grace is my wife and i love her. but i'll confess the truth to you—she acts as though we'd been married forty years. she runs the house well, but she—i can't explain to you what i mean. she doesn't seem contented any more. of course, she loves me, and of course i love her, and we're married, and all that; and then—"
"charles, you surprise and grieve me. grace is my daughter. she may have self-respect and dignity, but she will never lack in dutifulness. did you ever stop to think, charles, that you owe your place in life to her?"
"i wasn't thinking of business, mr. rawn, and if you please, we'll not discuss that. i only spoke freely because of what we both know—in fact, i'd rather stay home than go to new york with you. if you took along your assistant—miss delaware, i suppose?"
rawn nodded. "yes, she has the details of the sub-companies well in hand. i want her along, just as i want you, so that all questions can be answered as to details of the office and factory work, in case i should not personally be familiar with them—as i think i am, for the most part."
"then you couldn't use the stenographer on the train—i mean the regular one?"
"i could not, mr. halsey," said john rawn icily. "what business is it of yours?"
"none in the least. i was only thinking about any possible talk. she's a very beautiful girl, and very—stunning. yes, on the whole, mr. rawn, i think it better for me to go. one day in new york ought to do us, ought it not?"
rawn nodded. "yes, we'll be back here on the fourth day, at worst. i've got to have you down there to explain the different installations. i am as impatient as anybody else. i want to get to the place where i'll be making some real money."
"i thought you had been," grinned halsey. "your house, for instance?"
"over a hundred and fifty thousand dollars in there now, and as much more to go in later," said rawn. "i've spent over a half million altogether, private, overheads and investments, since i went in with this company. my salary is only a hundred thousand, and no man ever lives on his salary and lays up any money—he's got to make his start on the side. i've not done badly in that way. i'm learning the market from the inside. i've had one killing after another—oil, rubber—awfully good luck. charles, the next ten years in all likelihood will see me a rich man, very rich. i've not done badly now, for the son of a methodist preacher out of a little texas town. let me tell you something. money is easy to make when you get the start. it rolls, i tell you, it rolls up like a snowball. it grows and spreads—there's nothing like it in its power. it's power itself!"
vii
rawn rose, soon pausing in his excited walk, in his wonted posture, feet apart, hands under his coat tails. halsey looked at him, frowning half sullenly, as he went on.
"ah, charles, there's nothing like money as an ambition for a man! when i hear you talking your folly, about this brotherhood of man—when i see you worrying your small head about the future of this republic, you make me smile! what difference about the rest of the world if you take care of yourself? there's one brotherhood that's worth while, and only one, and it isn't that of laboring men, of common men—it is the brotherhood of big men who have made big money. there's a union for you, son! it does not break, it does not snitch, it does not strike. it sticks, it hangs together—the union of big business men is the only one worth while. come with me, and i'll show you some proof of that."
halsey looked at him, his eyes glittering, words of scorn rising to his tongue; but he controlled himself. "all right, mr. rawn," said he, "i'll be ready to start to-morrow, and i'll count on getting back here by the last of the week, at least. good day, sir."
he left the room quietly. he was a handsome, stalwart young man, but in some way his face did not look happy. rawn sat staring at the door through which he had disappeared. there came over his feelings some sort of vague dissatisfaction or apprehension, he knew not what.
"i'm scared at something, just like those laborers," said he; "and when there's no reason in the world, so far as any one can tell. pshaw!"
viii
he flung himself around to his place at his desk, and in doing so struck his hand against the pointed letter-opener which lay there. a tiny trickle of blood appeared, which he sought to staunch with his handkerchief. at last he raised his head with a grin, and remarked half aloud, to himself, "when in doubt, touch the right-hand button!"
"miss delaware," said he an instant later, as his assistant appeared, "i've cut my hand a little. i wish you'd tell one of the boys to bring me a basin of hot water, or some sticking plaster or something."
"if you will allow me, mr. rawn," she answered respectfully, "i think i could fix that without trouble. i have a little liquid ether and collodion in my desk. it usually will stop any small cut, and it keeps it clean.
"all right," said rawn, "anything to stop the bleeding—i must get to work."
she reappeared a moment later with a small bottle and a pencil brush, and bending over, proceeded to touch the tiny wound with the biting liquid, with slight "tch!" as she saw the hand wince under the temporary sting. rawn looked at her with a singular expression.
"it's odd, miss delaware," said he, "that i was just saying to myself a minute ago that i'd bet a thousand dollars that you had something ready, at just the right time! thank you very much."
"by the way," he added, "i was just telling my son-in-law mr. halsey, the superintendent of our works, that it's going to be necessary for all three of us—that is to say, myself, mr. halsey and you—to start for new york to-morrow afternoon. i'll probably have to do some letters on the train, and you would better see that a typewriter is sent on—mr. halsey will give us the berth numbers in the morning, i suppose. sorry to take you out of your work, but then—"
"i should like to go, above all things, mr. rawn," replied the young woman, still respectfully.
"all right. of course, you go on company account. maybe you'll like the change of work and scene. please bring along all the reports on those lower valley instalments, and all the estimates we've been working on here for the last few days. it might be a good plan to have your files for the last month go along, with your card indexes. we've got to show those people down there a thing or two.
"i suppose you know our superintendent, mr. halsey—my son-in-law," he added. "he's going, too."
"oh, yes. he's here often. sometimes i've done work for him, you know. he does a good, clear letter—but rather long. he can't get through so much in an hour as you can, mr. rawn."
when she had retired, rawn was seized with an impulsive desire to raise his secretary's salary again; but he reflected that it would hardly do—although he was convinced that he had the most efficient assistant on the street. he did not know she was thinking of halsey at that moment.
singularly enough, charles halsey was thinking of miss delaware at about that same time. he was saying to himself, as he passed into the hall after nodding to her: "by george, isn't she efficient!" practically all the male clerks would have agreed with him had they heard him. with equal strenuousness, all the female clerks would have dissented. after he had said to himself that miss delaware was efficient, halsey checked himself on the point of adding that she was also something besides efficient. he stopped the thought so sharply that it stopped his stride as well. there came to his mind the picture of his wife, now soon to enter into woman's valley of the shadows. he paused, obliging his soul to render to his wife all honor, all homage, all loyalty, all duty—indeed, all those things which a wife will trade en masse for just a little real spontaneous love.
