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- Теодор Драйзер
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- Стр. 286/332
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They
are
to
fix
the
rate
of
compensation
to
be
paid
to
the
state
or
the
city
,
and
the
rates
of
fare
.
They
can
regulate
transfers
,
stock
issues
,
and
all
that
sort
of
thing
.
I
was
thinking
if
at
any
time
we
find
this
business
of
renewing
the
franchises
too
uncertain
here
we
might
go
into
the
state
legislature
and
see
what
can
be
done
about
introducing
a
public-service
commission
of
that
kind
into
this
state
.
We
are
not
the
only
corporation
that
would
welcome
it
.
Of
course
,
it
would
be
better
if
there
were
a
general
or
special
demand
for
it
outside
of
ourselves
.
It
ought
not
to
originate
with
us
.
"
He
stared
at
Cowperwood
heavily
,
the
latter
returning
a
reflective
gaze
.
"
I
'll
think
it
over
,
"
he
said
.
"
There
may
be
something
in
that
.
"
Henceforth
the
thought
of
instituting
such
a
commission
never
left
Cowperwood
's
mind
.
It
contained
the
germ
of
a
solution
--
the
possibility
of
extending
his
franchises
for
fifty
or
even
a
hundred
years
.
This
plan
,
as
Cowperwood
was
subsequently
to
discover
,
was
a
thing
more
or
less
expressly
forbidden
by
the
state
constitution
of
Illinois
.
The
latter
provided
that
no
special
or
exclusive
privilege
,
immunity
,
or
franchise
whatsoever
should
be
granted
to
any
corporation
,
association
,
or
individual
.
Yet
,
"
What
is
a
little
matter
like
the
constitution
between
friends
,
anyhow
?
"
some
one
had
already
asked
.
There
are
fads
in
legislation
as
well
as
dusty
pigeonholes
in
which
phases
of
older
law
are
tucked
away
and
forgotten
.
Many
earlier
ideals
of
the
constitution-makers
had
long
since
been
conveniently
obscured
or
nullified
by
decisions
,
appeals
to
the
federal
government
,
appeals
to
the
state
government
,
communal
contracts
,
and
the
like
--
fine
cobwebby
figments
,
all
,
but
sufficient
,
just
the
same
,
to
render
inoperative
the
original
intention
.
Besides
,
Cowperwood
had
but
small
respect
for
either
the
intelligence
or
the
self-protective
capacity
of
such
men
as
constituted
the
rural
voting
element
of
the
state
.
From
his
lawyers
and
from
others
he
had
heard
innumerable
droll
stories
of
life
in
the
state
legislature
,
and
the
state
counties
and
towns
--
on
the
bench
,
at
the
rural
huskings
where
the
state
elections
were
won
,
in
country
hotels
,
on
country
roads
and
farms
.
"
One
day
as
I
was
getting
on
the
train
at
Petunkey
,
"
old
General
Van
Sickle
,
or
Judge
Dickensheets
,
or
ex-Judge
Avery
would
begin
--
and
then
would
follow
some
amazing
narration
of
rural
immorality
or
dullness
,
or
political
or
social
misconception
.
Of
the
total
population
of
the
state
at
this
time
over
half
were
in
the
city
itself
,
and
these
he
had
managed
to
keep
in
control
.
For
the
remaining
million
,
divided
between
twelve
small
cities
and
an
agricultural
population
,
he
had
small
respect
.
What
did
this
handful
of
yokels
amount
to
,
anyhow
?
--
dull
,
frivoling
,
barn-dancing
boors
.
The
great
state
of
Illinois
--
a
territory
as
large
as
England
proper
and
as
fertile
as
Egypt
,
bordered
by
a
great
lake
and
a
vast
river
,
and
with
a
population
of
over
two
million
free-born
Americans
--
would
scarcely
seem
a
fit
subject
for
corporate
manipulation
and
control
.
Yet
a
more
trade-ridden
commonwealth
might
not
have
been
found
anywhere
at
this
time
within
the
entire
length
and
breadth
of
the
universe
.
Cowperwood
personally
,
though
contemptuous
of
the
bucolic
mass
when
regarded
as
individuals
,
had
always
been
impressed
by
this
great
community
of
his
election
.
Here
had
come
Marquette
and
Joliet
,
La
Salle
and
Hennepin
,
dreaming
a
way
to
the
Pacific
.
Here
Lincoln
and
Douglas
,
antagonist
and
protagonist
of
slavery
argument
,
had
contested
;
here
had
arisen
"
Joe
"
Smith
,
propagator
of
that
strange
American
dogma
of
the
Latter
--
Day
Saints
.
What
a
state
,
Cowperwood
sometimes
thought
;
what
a
figment
of
the
brain
,
and
yet
how
wonderful
!
He
had
crossed
it
often
on
his
way
to
St.
Louis
,
to
Memphis
,
to
Denver
,
and
had
been
touched
by
its
very
simplicity
--
the
small
,
new
wooden
towns
,
so
redolent
of
American
tradition
,
prejudice
,
force
,
and
illusion
.
The
white-steepled
church
,
the
lawn-faced
,
tree-shaded
village
streets
,
the
long
stretches
of
flat
,
open
country
where
corn
grew
in
serried
rows
or
where
in
winter
the
snow
bedded
lightly
--
it
all
reminded
him
a
little
of
his
own
father
and
mother
,
who
had
been
in
many
respects
suited
to
such
a
world
as
this
.
Yet
none
the
less
did
he
hesitate
to
press
on
the
measure
which
was
to
adjust
his
own
future
,
to
make
profitable
his
issue
of
two
hundred
million
dollars
'
worth
of
Union
Traction
,
to
secure
him
a
fixed
place
in
the
financial
oligarchy
of
America
and
of
the
world
.
The
state
legislature
at
this
time
was
ruled
over
by
a
small
group
of
wire-pulling
,
pettifogging
,
corporation-controlled
individuals
who
came
up
from
the
respective
towns
,
counties
,
and
cities
of
the
state
,
but
who
bore
the
same
relation
to
the
communities
which
they
represented
and
to
their
superiors
and
equals
in
and
out
of
the
legislative
halls
at
Springfield
that
men
do
to
such
allies
anywhere
in
any
given
field
.
Why
do
we
call
them
pettifogging
and
dismiss
them
?
Perhaps
they
were
pettifogging
,
but
certainly
no
more
so
than
any
other
shrewd
rat
or
animal
that
burrows
its
way
onward
--
and
shall
we
say
upward
?
The
deepest
controlling
principle
which
animated
these
individuals
was
the
oldest
and
first
,
that
of
self-preservation
.
Picture
,
for
example
,
a
common
occurrence
--
that
of
Senator
John
H.
Southack
,
conversing
with
,
perhaps
,
Senator
George
Mason
Wade
,
of
Gallatin
County
,
behind
a
legislative
door
in
one
of
the
senate
conference
chambers
toward
the
close
of
a
session
--
Senator
Southack
,
blinking
,
buttonholing
his
well-dressed
colleague
and
drawing
very
near
;
Senator
Wade
,
curious
,
confidential
,
expectant
(
a
genial
,
solid
,
experienced
,
slightly
paunchy
but
well-built
Senator
Wade
--
and
handsome
,
too
)
.
"
You
know
,
George
,
I
told
you
there
would
be
something
eventually
in
the
Quincy
water-front
improvement
if
it
ever
worked
out
.
Well
,
here
it
is
.
Ed
Truesdale
was
in
town
yesterday
.
"
(
This
with
a
knowing
eye
,
as
much
as
to
say
,
"
Mum
's
the
word
.
"
)
"
Here
's
five
hundred
;
count
it
.
"
