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THE FINANCIER
who now greeted him warmly and shook his hand, he was physically unimpressive. He was small – fi ve feet nine inches, to Mollenhauer’s six feet and Butler’s fi ve feet eleven inches and a half,
and then his face was smooth, with a receding jaw. In the other two
this feature was prominent. Nor were his eyes as frank as those of
Butler, nor as defi ant as those of Mollenhauer; but for subtlety they
were unmatched by either – deep, strange, receding, cavernous
eyes which contemplated you as might those of a cat looking out of
a dark hole, and suggesting all the artfulness that has ever distinguished the feline family. He had a strange mop of black hair sweeping down over a fi ne, low, white forehead, and a skin as pale and
bluish as poor health might make it; but there was, nevertheless,
resident here a strange, resistant, capable force that ruled men –
the subtlety with which he knew how to feed cupidity with hope
and gain and the ruthlessness with which he repaid those who said
him nay. He was a still man, as such a man might well have been –
feeble and fi sh-like in his handshake, wan and slightly lackadaisical in his smile, but speaking always with eyes that answered for
every defect.
«Av’nin’, Mark, I’m glad to see you», was Butler’s greeting.
«How are you, Edward?» came the quiet reply.
«Well, Senator, you’re not looking any the worse for wear. Can
I pour you something?»
«Nothing to-night, Henry», replied Simpson. «I haven’t long to
stay. I just stopped by on my way home. My wife’s over here at the Cavanaghs’, and I have to stop by to fetch her».
«Well, it’s a good thing you dropped in, Senator, just when you
did», began Mollenhauer, seating himself after his guest. «Butler
here has been telling me of a little political problem that has arisen
since I last saw you. I suppose you’ve heard that Chicago is burning?»
«Yes; Cavanagh was just telling me. It looks to be quite serious.
I think the market will drop heavily in the morning».
«I wouldn’t be surprised myself», put in Mollenhauer,
laconically.
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THEODORE DREISER
«Here’s the paper now», said Butler, as John, the servant, came in
from the street bearing the paper in his hand. Mollenhauer took it
and spread it out before them. It was among the earliest of the »extras» that were issued in this country, and contained a rather impressive spread of type announcing that the confl agration in the lake
city was growing hourly worse since its inception the day before.
«Well, that is certainly dreadful», said Simpson. «I’m very sorry
for Chicago. I have many friends there. I shall hope to hear that it is
not so bad as it seems».
The man had a rather grandiloquent manner which he never
abandoned under any circumstances.
«The matter that Butler was telling me about», continued
Mollenhauer, «has something to do with this in a way. You know
the habit our city treasurers have of loaning out their money at two
per cent.?»
«Yes?» said Simpson, inquiringly.
«Well, Mr. Stener, it seems, has been loaning out a good deal of
the city’s money to this young Cowperwood, in Third Street, who
has been handling city loans».
«You don’t say!» said Simpson, putting on an air of surprise.
«Not much, I hope?» The Senator, like Butler and Mollenhauer, was
profi ting greatly by cheap loans from the same source to various
designated city depositories.
«Well, it seems that Stener has loaned him as much as fi ve hundred thousand dollars, and if by any chance Cowperwood shouldn’t
be able to weather this storm, Stener is apt to be short that amount,
and that wouldn’t look so good as a voting proposition to the people in November, do you think? Cowperwood owes Mr. Butler here
one hundred thousand dollars, and because of that he came to see
him to-night. He wanted Butler to see if something couldn’t be done
through us to tide him over. If not» – he waved one hand suggestively –»well, he might fail».
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THE FINANCIER
Simpson fi ngered his strange, wide mouth with his delicate
hand. «What have they been doing with the fi ve hundred thousand
dollars?» he asked.
«Oh, the boys must make a little somethin’ on the side», said
Butler, cheerfully. «I think they’ve been buyin’ up street-railways,
for one thing». He stuck his thumbs in the armholes of his vest. Both
Mollenhauer and Simpson smiled wan smiles.
«Quite so», said Mollenhauer. Senator Simpson merely looked
the deep things that he thought.
He, too, was thinking how useless it was for any one to approach
a group of politicians with a proposition like this, particularly in
a crisis such as bid fair to occur. He refl ected that if he and Butler and Mollenhauer could get together and promise Cowperwood
protection in return for the surrender of his street-railway holdings
it would be a very different matter. It would be very easy in this
case to carry the city treasury loan along in silence and even issue
more money to support it; but it was not sure, in the fi rst place, that
Cowperwood could be made to surrender his stocks, and in the second place that either Butler or Mollenhauer would enter into any
such deal with him, Simpson. Butler had evidently come here to say
a good word for Cowperwood. Mollenhauer and himself were silent
rivals. Although they worked together politically it was toward essentially different fi nancial ends. They were allied in no one particular fi nancial proposition, any more than Mollenhauer and Butler were. And besides, in all probability Cowperwood was no fool.
He was not equally guilty with Stener; the latter had loaned him
money. The Senator refl ected on whether he should broach some
such subtle solution of the situation as had occurred to him to his
colleagues, but he decided not. Really Mollenhauer was too treacherous a man to work with on a thing of this kind. It was a splendid
chance but dangerous. He had better go it alone. For the present
they should demand of Stener that he get Cowperwood to return
the fi ve hundred thousand dollars if he could. If not, Stener could
be sacrifi ced for the benefi t of the party, if need be. Cowperwood’s
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THEODORE DREISER
stocks, with this tip as to his condition, would, Simpson refl ected, offer a good opportunity for a little stock-exchange work on the part of
his own brokers. They could spread rumors as to Cowperwood’s condition and then offer to take his shares off his hands – for a song, of
course. It was an evil moment that led Cowperwood to Butler.
«Well, now», said the Senator, after a prolonged silence, «I might
sympathize with Mr. Cowperwood in his situation, and I certainly
don’t blame him for buying up street-railways if he can; but I really
don’t see what can be done for him very well in this crisis. I don’t
know about you, gentlemen, but I am rather certain that I am not in
a position to pick other people’s chestnuts out of the fi re if I wanted
to, just now. It all depends on whether we feel that the danger to
the party is suffi cient to warrant our going down into our pockets
and assisting him».
At the mention of real money to be loaned Mollenhauer pulled
a long face. «I can’t see that I will be able to do very much for Mr.
Cowperwood», he sighed.
«Begad», said Buler, with a keen sense of humor, «it looks to
me as if I’d better be gettin’ in my one hundred thousand dollars.
That’s the fi rst business of the early mornin’». Neither Simpson nor
Mollenhauer condescended on this occasion to smile even the wan
smile they had smiled before. They merely looked wise and solemn.
«But this matter of the city treasury, now», said Senator Simpson, after the atmosphere had been allowed to settle a little, «is
something to which we shall have to devote a little thought. If Mr.
Cowperwood should fail, and the treasury lose that much money,
it would embarrass us no little. What lines are they», he added, as
an afterthought, «that this man has been particularly interested in?»
«I really don’t know», replied Butler, who did not care to say
what Owen had told him on the drive over.
«I don’t see», said Mollenhauer, «unless we can make Stener get
the money back before this man Cowperwood fails, how we can save
ourselves from considerable annoyance later; but if we did anything
which would look as though we were going to compel restitution,
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THE FINANCIER
he would probably shut up shop anyhow. So there’s no remedy in
that direction. And it wouldn’t be very kind to our friend Edward
here to do it until we hear how he comes out on his affair». He was
referring to Butler’s loan.
«Certainly not», said Senator Simpson, with true political sagacity and feeling.
«I’ll have that one hundred thousand dollars in the mornin’»,
said Butler, «and never fear».
«I think», said Simpson, «if anything comes of this matter that
we will have to do our best to hush it up until after the election.
The newspapers can just as well keep silent on that score as not.
There’s one thing I would suggest» – and he was now thinking of
the street-railway properties which Cowperwood had so judiciously
collected –»and that is that the city treasurer be cautioned against
advancing any more money in a situation of this kind. He might
readily be compromised into advancing much more. I suppose
a word from you, Henry, would prevent that».
«Yes; I can do that», said Mollenhauer, solemnly.
«My judgement would be», said Butler, in a rather obscure manner, thinking of Cowperwood’s mistake in appealing to these noble
protectors of the public, «that it’s best to let sleepin’ dogs run be
thimselves».
Thus ended Frank Cowperwood’s dreams of what Butler and his
political associates might do for him in his hour of distress.
The energies of Cowperwood after leaving Butler were devoted to the task of seeing others who might be of some assistance to
him. He had left word with Mrs. Stener that if any message came
from her husband he was to be notifi ed at once. He hunted up Walter Leigh, of Drexel & Co., Avery Stone of Jay Cooke & Co., and President Davison of the Girard National Bank. He wanted to see what
they thought of the situation and to negotiate a loan with President
Davison covering all his real and personal property.
«I can’t tell you, Frank», Walter Leigh insisted, «I don’t know
how things will be running by to-morrow noon. I’m glad to know
215
THEODORE DREISER
how you stand. I’m glad you’re doing what you’re doing – getting
all your affairs in shape. It will help a lot. I’ll favor you all I possibly
can. But if the chief decides on a certain group of loans to be called,
they’ll have to be called, that’s all. I’ll do my best to make things look
better. If the whole of Chicago is wiped out, the insurance companies – some of them, anyhow – are sure to go, and then look out.
I suppose you’ll call in all your loans?»
«Not any more than I have to».
«Well, that’s just the way it is here – or will be».
The two men shook hands. They liked each other. Leigh was of
the city’s fashionable coterie, a society man to the manner born,
but with a wealth of common sense and a great deal of worldly
experience.
«I’ll tell you, Frank», he observed at parting, «I’ve always
thought you were carrying too much street-railway. It’s great stuff
if you can get away with it, but it’s just in a pinch like this that
you’re apt to get hurt. You’ve been making money pretty fast out of
that and city loans».
He looked directly into his long-time friend’s eyes, and they
smiled.
It was the same with Avery Stone, President Davison, and others. They had all already heard rumors of disaster when he arrived.
They were not sure what the morrow would bring forth. It looked
very unpromising.
Cowperwood decided to stop and see Butler again for he felt certain his interview with Mollenhauer and Simpson was now over.
Butler, who had been meditating what he should say to Cowperwood, was not unfriendly in his manner. «So you’re back», he said,
when Cowperwood appeared.
«Yes, Mr. Butler».
«Well, I’m not sure that I’ve been able to do anything for you.
I’m afraid not», Butler said, cautiously. «It’s a hard job you set me.
Mollenhauer seems to think that he’ll support the market, on his
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THE FINANCIER
own account. I think he will. Simpson has interests which he has to
protect. I’m going to buy for myself, of course».
He paused to refl ect.
«I couldn’t get them to call a conference with any of the big
moneyed men as yet», he added, warily. «They’d rather wait and see
what happens in the mornin’. Still, I wouldn’t be down-hearted if
I were you. If things turn out very bad they may change their minds.
I had to tell them about Stener. It’s pretty bad, but they’re hopin’
you’ll come through and straighten that out. I hope so. About my
own loan – well, I’ll see how things are in the mornin’. If I raisonably can I’ll lave it with you. You’d better see me again about it.
I wouldn’t try to get any more money out of Stener if I were you. It’s
pretty bad as it is».
Cowperwood saw at once that he was to get no aid from the politicians. The one thing that disturbed him was this reference to
Stener. Had they already communicated with him – warned him?
If so, his own coming to Butler had been a bad move; and yet from
the point of view of his possible failure on the morrow it had been
advisable. At least now the politicians knew where he stood. If he
got in a very tight corner he would come to Butler again – the politicians could assist him or not, as they chose. If they did not help
him and he failed, and the election were lost, it was their own fault.
Anyhow, if he could see Stener fi rst the latter would not be such
a fool as to stand in his own light in a crisis like this.
«Things look rather dark to-night, Mr. Butler», he said, smartly,
«but I still think I’ll come through. I hope so, anyhow. I’m sorry to
have put you to so much trouble. I wish, of course, that you gentlemen could see your way clear to assist me, but if you can’t, you can’t.
I have a number of things that I can do. I hope that you will leave
your loan as long as you can».
He went briskly out, and Butler meditated. «A clever young chap
that», he said. «It’s too bad. But he may come out all right at that».
Cowperwood hurried to his own home only to fi nd his father
awake and brooding. To him he talked with that strong vein of sym-
217
THEODORE DREISER
pathy and understanding which is usually characteristic of those
drawn by ties of fl esh and blood. He liked his father. He sympathized with his painstaking effort to get up in the world. He could
not forget that as a boy he had had the loving sympathy and interest of his father. The loan which he had from the Third National, on somewhat weak Union Street Railway shares he could
probably replace if stocks did not drop too tremendously. He must
replace this at all costs. But his father’s investments in street-railways, which had risen with his own ventures, and which now involved an additional two hundred thousand – how could he protect those? The shares were hypothecated and the money was used
for other things. Additional collateral would have to be furnished
the several banks carrying them. It was nothing except loans, loans,
loans, and the need of protecting them. If he could only get an additional deposit of two or three hundred thousand dollars from
Stener. But that, in the face of possible fi nancial diffi culties, was
rank criminality. All depended on the morrow.
Monday, the ninth, dawned gray and cheerless. He was up
with the fi rst ray of light, shaved and dressed, and went over, under the gray-green pergola, to his father’s house. He was up, also,
and stirring about, for he had not been able to sleep. His gray eyebrows and gray hair looked rather shaggy and disheveled, and his
side-whiskers anything but decorative. The old gentleman’s eyes
were tired, and his face was gray. Cowperwood could see that he
was worrying. He looked up from a small, ornate escritoire of buhl,
which Ellsworth had found somewhere, and where he was quietly tabulating a list of his resources and liabilities. Cowperwood
winced. He hated to see his father worried, but he could not help it.
He had hoped sincerely, when they built their houses together, that
the days of worry for his father had gone forever.
«Counting up?» he asked, familiarly, with a smile. He wanted to
hearten the old gentleman as much as possible.
«I was just running over my affairs again to see where I stood in
case –» He looked quizzically at his son, and Frank smiled again.
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THE FINANCIER
«I wouldn’t worry, father. I told you how I fi xed it so that Butler and that crowd will support the market. I have Rivers and Targool and Harry Eltinge on ‘change helping me sell out, and they are
the best men there. They’ll handle the situation carefully. I couldn’t
trust Ed or Joe in this case, for the moment they began to sell everybody would know what was going on with me. This way my men
will seem like bears hammering the market, but not hammering too
hard. I ought to be able to unload enough at ten points off to raise
fi ve hundred thousand. The market may not go lower than that.
You can’t tell. It isn’t going to sink indefi nitely. If I just knew what
the big insurance companies were going to do! The morning paper
hasn’t come yet, has it?»
He was going to pull a bell, but remembered that the servants
would scarcely be up as yet. He went to the front door himself. There
were the Press and the Public Ledger lying damp from the presses.
He picked them up and glanced at the front pages. His countenance fell. On one, the Press, was spread a great black map of Chicago, a most funereal-looking thing, the black portion indicating
the burned section. He had never seen a map of Chicago before in
just this clear, defi nite way. That white portion was Lake Michigan,
and there was the Chicago River dividing the city into three almost equal portions – the north side, the west side, the south side.
He saw at once that the city was curiously arranged, somewhat like
Philadelphia, and that the business section was probably an area of
two or three miles square, set at the juncture of the three sides,
and lying south of the main stem of the river, where it fl owed into
the lake after the southwest and northwest branches had united to
form it. This was a signifi cant central area; but, according to this map,
it was all burned out. «Chicago in Ashes» ran a great side-heading
set in heavily leaded black type. It went on to detail the sufferings of
the homeless, the number of the dead, the number of those whose
fortunes had been destroyed. Then it descanted upon the probable
effect in the East. Insurance companies and manufacturers might
not be able to meet the great strain of all this.
219
THEODORE DREISER
«Damn!» said Cowperwood gloomily. «I wish I were out of
this stock-jobbing business. I wish I had never gotten into it». He returned to his drawing-room and scanned both accounts most carefully.
Then, though it was still early, he and his father drove to his offi ce.
There were already messages awaiting him, a dozen or more, to cancel or sell. While he was standing there a messenger-boy brought him
three more. One was from Stener and said that he would be back by
twelve o’clock, the very earliest he could make it. Cowperwood was relieved and yet distressed. He would need large sums of money to meet
various loans before three. Every hour was precious. He must arrange to
meet Stener at the station and talk to him before any one else should
see him. Clearly this was going to be a hard, dreary, strenuous day.
Third Street, by the time he reached there, was stirring with other bankers and brokers called forth by the exigencies of the occasion.
There was a suspicious hurrying of feet – that intensity which makes
all the difference in the world between a hundred people placid and
a hundred people disturbed. At the exchange, the atmosphere was
feverish. At the sound of the gong, the staccato uproar began. Its
metallic vibrations were still in the air when the two hundred men
who composed this local organization at its utmost stress of calculation, threw themselves upon each other in a gibbering struggle to
dispose of or seize bargains of the hour. The interests were so varied
that it was impossible to say at which pole it was best to sell or buy.
Targool and Rivers had been delegated to stay at the center of
things, Joseph and Edward to hover around on the outside and to
pick up such opportunities of selling as might offer a reasonable return on the stock. The »bears» were determined to jam things down,
and it all depended on how well the agents of Mollenhauer, Simpson, Butler, and others supported things in the street-railway world
whether those stocks retained any strength or not. The last thing
Butler had said the night before was that they would do the best
they could. They would buy up to a certain point. Whether they
would support the market indefi nitely he would not say. He could
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