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A
Public-service-commission
law
might
,
ipso
facto
,
have
been
quietly
passed
at
this
session
,
if
the
arbitrary
franchise-extending
proviso
had
not
been
introduced
,
and
this
on
the
thin
excuse
that
so
novel
a
change
in
the
working
scheme
of
the
state
government
might
bring
about
hardship
to
some
.
This
redounded
too
obviously
to
the
benefit
of
one
particular
corporation
.
The
newspaper
men
--
as
thick
as
flies
about
the
halls
of
the
state
capitol
at
Springfield
,
and
essentially
watchful
and
loyal
to
their
papers
--
were
quick
to
sense
the
true
state
of
affairs
.
Never
were
there
such
hawks
as
newspapermen
.
These
wretches
(
employed
by
sniveling
,
mud-snouting
newspapers
of
the
opposition
)
were
not
only
in
the
councils
of
politicians
,
in
the
pay
of
rival
corporations
,
in
the
confidence
of
the
governor
,
in
the
secrets
of
the
senators
and
local
representatives
,
but
were
here
and
there
in
one
another
's
confidence
.
A
piece
of
news
--
a
rumor
,
a
dream
,
a
fancy
--
whispered
by
Senator
Smith
to
Senator
Jones
,
or
by
Representative
Smith
to
Representative
Jones
,
and
confided
by
him
in
turn
to
Charlie
White
,
of
the
Globe
,
or
Eddie
Burns
,
of
the
Democrat
,
would
in
turn
be
communicated
to
Robert
Hazlitt
,
of
the
Press
,
or
Harry
Emonds
,
of
the
Transcript
.
All
at
once
a
disturbing
announcement
in
one
or
other
of
the
papers
,
no
one
knowing
whence
it
came
.
Neither
Senator
Smith
nor
Senator
Jones
had
told
any
one
.
No
word
of
the
confidence
imposed
in
Charlie
White
or
Eddie
Burns
had
ever
been
breathed
.
But
there
you
were
--
the
thing
was
in
the
papers
,
the
storm
of
inquiry
,
opinion
,
opposition
was
on
.
No
one
knew
,
no
one
was
to
blame
,
but
it
was
on
,
and
the
battle
had
henceforth
to
be
fought
in
the
open
.
Consider
also
the
governor
who
presided
at
this
time
in
the
executive
chamber
at
Springfield
.
He
was
a
strange
,
tall
,
dark
,
osseous
man
who
,
owing
to
the
brooding
,
melancholy
character
of
his
own
disposition
,
had
a
checkered
and
a
somewhat
sad
career
behind
him
.
Born
in
Sweden
,
he
bad
been
brought
to
America
as
a
child
,
and
allowed
or
compelled
to
fight
his
own
way
upward
under
all
the
grinding
aspects
of
poverty
.
Owing
to
an
energetic
and
indomitable
temperament
,
he
had
through
years
of
law
practice
and
public
labors
of
various
kinds
built
up
for
himself
a
following
among
Chicago
Swedes
which
amounted
to
adoration
.
He
had
been
city
tax-collector
,
city
surveyor
,
district
attorney
,
and
for
six
or
eight
years
a
state
circuit
judge
.
In
all
these
capacities
he
had
manifested
a
tendency
to
do
the
right
as
he
saw
it
and
play
fair
--
qualities
which
endeared
him
to
the
idealistic
.
Honest
,
and
with
a
hopeless
brooding
sympathy
for
the
miseries
of
the
poor
,
he
had
as
circuit
judge
,
and
also
as
district
attorney
,
rendered
various
decisions
which
had
made
him
very
unpopular
with
the
rich
and
powerful
--
decisions
in
damage
cases
,
fraud
cases
,
railroad
claim
cases
,
where
the
city
or
the
state
was
seeking
to
oust
various
powerful
railway
corporations
from
possession
of
property
--
yards
,
water-frontages
,
and
the
like
,
to
which
they
had
no
just
claim
.
At
the
same
time
the
populace
,
reading
the
news
items
of
his
doings
and
hearing
him
speak
on
various
and
sundry
occasions
,
conceived
a
great
fancy
for
him
.
He
was
primarily
soft-hearted
,
sweet-minded
,
fiery
,
a
brilliant
orator
,
a
dynamic
presence
.
In
addition
he
was
woman-hungry
--
a
phase
which
homely
,
sex-starved
intellectuals
the
world
over
will
understand
,
to
the
shame
of
a
lying
age
,
that
because
of
quixotic
dogma
belies
its
greatest
desire
,
its
greatest
sorrow
,
its
greatest
joy
.
All
these
factors
turned
an
ultra-conservative
element
in
the
community
against
him
,
and
he
was
considered
dangerous
.
At
the
same
time
he
had
by
careful
economy
and
investment
built
up
a
fair
sized
fortune
.
Recently
,
however
,
owing
to
the
craze
for
sky-scrapers
,
he
had
placed
much
of
his
holdings
in
a
somewhat
poorly
constructed
and
therefore
unprofitable
office
building
.
Because
of
this
error
financial
wreck
was
threatening
him
.
Even
now
he
was
knocking
at
the
doors
of
large
bonding
companies
for
assistance
.
This
man
,
in
company
with
the
antagonistic
financial
element
and
the
newspapers
,
constituted
,
as
regards
Cowperwood
's
public-service-commission
scheme
,
a
triumvirate
of
difficulties
not
easy
to
overcome
.
The
newspapers
,
in
due
time
,
catching
wind
of
the
true
purport
of
the
plan
,
ran
screaming
to
their
readers
with
the
horrible
intelligence
.
In
the
offices
of
Schryhart
,
Arneel
,
Hand
,
and
Merrill
,
as
well
as
in
other
centers
of
finance
,
there
was
considerable
puzzling
over
the
situation
,
and
then
a
shrewd
,
intelligent
deduction
was
made
.
"
Do
you
see
what
he
's
up
to
,
Hosmer
?
"
inquired
Schryhart
of
Hand
.
"
He
sees
that
we
have
him
scotched
here
in
Chicago
.
As
things
stand
now
he
ca
n't
go
into
the
city
council
and
ask
for
a
franchise
for
more
than
twenty
years
under
the
state
law
,
and
he
ca
n't
do
that
for
three
or
four
years
yet
,
anyhow
.
His
franchises
do
n't
expire
soon
enough
.
He
knows
that
by
the
time
they
do
expire
we
will
have
public
sentiment
aroused
to
such
a
point
that
no
council
,
however
crooked
it
may
be
,
will
dare
to
give
him
what
he
asks
unless
he
is
willing
to
make
a
heavy
return
to
the
city
.
If
he
does
that
it
will
end
his
scheme
of
selling
any
two
hundred
million
dollars
of
Union
Traction
at
six
per
cent
.
The
market
wo
n't
back
him
up
.
He
ca
n't
pay
twenty
per
cent
.
to
the
city
and
give
universal
transfers
and
pay
six
per
cent
.
on
two
hundred
million
dollars
,
and
everybody
knows
it
.
He
has
a
fine
scheme
of
making
a
cool
hundred
million
out
of
this
.
Well
,
he
ca
n't
do
it
.
We
must
get
the
newspapers
to
hammer
this
legislative
scheme
of
his
to
death
.
When
he
comes
into
the
local
council
he
must
pay
twenty
or
thirty
per
cent
.
of
the
gross
receipts
of
his
roads
to
the
city
.
He
must
give
free
transfers
from
every
one
of
his
lines
to
every
other
one
.
Then
we
have
him
.
I
dislike
to
see
socialistic
ideas
fostered
,
but
it
ca
n't
be
helped
.
We
have
to
do
it
.
If
we
ever
get
him
out
of
here
we
can
hush
up
the
newspapers
,
and
the
public
will
forget
about
it
;
at
least
we
can
hope
so
.
"
In
the
mean
time
the
governor
had
heard
the
whisper
of
"
boodle
"
--
a
word
of
the
day
expressive
of
a
corrupt
legislative
fund
.
Not
at
all
a
small-minded
man
,
nor
involved
in
the
financial
campaign
being
waged
against
Cowperwood
,
nor
inclined
to
be
influenced
mentally
or
emotionally
by
superheated
charges
against
the
latter
,
he
nevertheless
speculated
deeply
.
In
a
vague
way
he
sensed
the
dreams
of
Cowperwood
.
The
charge
of
seducing
women
so
frequently
made
against
the
street-railway
magnate
,
so
shocking
to
the
yoked
conventionalists
,
did
not
disturb
him
at
all
.
Back
of
the
onward
sweep
of
the
generations
he
himself
sensed
the
mystic
Aphrodite
and
her
magic
.
He
realized
that
Cowperwood
had
traveled
fast
--
that
he
was
pressing
to
the
utmost
a
great
advantage
in
the
face
of
great
obstacles
.
At
the
same
time
he
knew
that
the
present
street-car
service
of
Chicago
was
by
no
means
bad
.
Would
he
be
proving
unfaithful
to
the
trust
imposed
on
him
by
the
great
electorate
of
Illinois
if
he
were
to
advantage
Cowperwood
's
cause
?
Must
he
not
rather
in
the
sight
of
all
men
smoke
out
the
animating
causes
here
--
greed
,
over-weening
ambition
,
colossal
self-interest
as
opposed
to
the
selflessness
of
a
Christian
ideal
and
of
a
democratic
theory
of
government
?
Life
rises
to
a
high
plane
of
the
dramatic
,
and
hence
of
the
artistic
,
whenever
and
wherever
in
the
conflict
regarding
material
possession
there
enters
a
conception
of
the
ideal
.
