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THE FINANCIER
tical men who clung to these fatuous ideals. They were always poor,
nondescript, negligible dreamers. He could not have made Stener
understand all this if he had wanted to, and he certainly did not
want to. It was too bad about Mrs. Stener and the little Steners. No
doubt she had worked hard, as had Stener, to get up in the world
and be something – just a little more than miserably poor; and now
this unfortunate complication had to arise to undo them – this
Chicago fi re. What a curious thing that was! If any one thing more
than another made him doubt the existence of a kindly, overruling
Providence, it was the unheralded storms out of clear skies – fi nancial, social, anything you choose – that so often brought ruin and
disaster to so many.
«Get Up, Stener», he said, calmly, after a few moments. «You
mustn’t give way to your feelings like this. You must not cry. These
troubles are never unraveled by tears. You must do a little thinking
for yourself. Perhaps your situation isn’t so bad».
As he was saying this Stener was putting himself back in his
chair, getting out his handkerchief, and sobbing hopelessly in it.
«I’ll do what I can, Stener. I won’t promise anything. I can’t tell
you what the result will be. There are many peculiar political forces in this city. I may not be able to save you, but I am perfectly willing to try. You must put yourself absolutely under my direction. You
must not say or do anything without fi rst consulting with me. I will
send my secretary to you from time to time. He will tell you what to
do. You must not come to me unless I send for you. Do you understand that thoroughly?»
«Yes, Mr. Mollenhauer».
«Well, now, dry your eyes. I don’t want you to go out of this offi ce crying. Go back to your offi ce, and I will send Sengstack to see
you. He will tell you what to do. Follow him exactly. And whenever
I send for you come at once».
He got up, large, self-confi dent, reserved. Stener, buoyed up by
the subtle reassurance of his remarks, recovered to a degree his equanimity. Mr. Mollenhauer, the great, powerful Mr. Mollenhauer was
251
THEODORE DREISER
going to help him out of his scrape. He might not have to go to jail
after all. He left after a few moments, his face a little red from weeping, but otherwise free of telltale marks, and returned to his offi ce.
Three-quarters of an hour later, Sengstack called on him for
the second time that day – Abner Sengstack, small, dark-faced, clubfooted, a great sole of leather three inches thick under his short,
withered right leg, his slightly Slavic, highly intelligent countenance burning with a pair of keen, piercing, inscrutable black eyes.
Sengstack was a fi t secretary for Mollenhauer. You could see at one
glance that he would make Stener do exactly what Mollenhauer
suggested. His business was to induce Stener to part with his streetrailway holdings at once through Tighe & Co., Butler’s brokers, to
the political sub-agent who would eventually transfer them to Mollenhauer. What little Stener received for them might well go into
the treasury. Tighe & Co. would manage the »‘change» subtleties of
this without giving any one else a chance to bid, while at the same
time making it appear an open-market transaction. At the same time
Sengstack went carefully into the state of the treasurer’s offi ce for
his master’s benefi t – fi nding out what it was that Strobik, Wycroft,
and Harmon had been doing with their loans. Via another source
they were ordered to disgorge at once or face prosecution. They were
a part of Mollenhauer’s political machine. Then, having cautioned
Stener not to set over the remainder of his property to any one, and
not to listen to any one, most of all to the Machiavellian counsel of
Cowperwood, Sengstack left.
Needless to say, Mollenhauer was greatly gratifi ed by this turn of
affairs. Cowperwood was now most likely in a position where he
would have to come and see him, or if not, a good share of the properties he controlled were already in Mollenhauer’s possession. If by
some hook or crook he could secure the remainder, Simpson and
Butler might well talk to him about this street-railway business. His
holdings were now as large as any, if not quite the largest.
CHAPTER XXVIII
It was in the face of this very altered situation that Cowperwood
arrived at Stener’s offi ce late this Monday afternoon.
Stener was quite alone, worried and distraught. He was anxious to see Cowperwood, and at the same time afraid.
«George», began Cowperwood, briskly, on seeing him, «I haven’t
much time to spare now, but I’ve come, fi nally, to tell you that you’ll
have to let me have three hundred thousand more if you don’t want
me to fail. Things are looking very bad today. They’ve caught me in
a corner on my loans; but this storm isn’t going to last. You can
see by the very character of it that it can’t».
He was looking at Stener’s face, and seeing fear and a pained and
yet very defi nite necessity for opposition written there. «Chicago is
burning, but it will be built up again. Business will be all the better
for it later on. Now, I want you to be reasonable and help me. Don’t
get frightened».
Ste ner stirred uneasily. «Don’t let these politicians scare you to
death. It will all blow over in a few days, and then we’ll be better off
than ever. Did you see Mollenhauer?»
«Yes».
«Well, what did he have to say?»
«He said just what I thought he’d say. He won’t let me do this.
I can’t, Frank, I tell you!» exclaimed Stener, jumping up. He was
so nervous that he had had a hard time keeping his seat during
this short, direct conversation. «I can’t! They’ve got me in a corner! They’re after me! They all know what we’ve been doing. Oh,
253
THEODORE DREISER
say, Frank» – he threw up his arms wildly –»you’ve got to get me
out of this. You’ve got to let me have that fi ve hundred thousand
back and get me out of this. If you don’t, and you should fail, they’ll
send me to the penitentiary. I’ve got a wife and four children, Frank.
I can’t go on in this. It’s too big for me. I never should have gone in
on it in the fi rst place. I never would have if you hadn’t persuaded
me, in a way. I never thought when I began that I would ever get in
as bad as all this. I can’t go on, Frank. I can’t! I’m willing you should
have all my stock. Only give me back that fi ve hundred thousand,
and we’ll call it even». His voice rose nervously as he talked, and he
wiped his wet forehead with his hand and stared at Cowperwood
pleadingly, foolishly.
Cowperwood stared at him in return for a few moments with
a cold, fi shy eye. He knew a great deal about human nature, and
he was ready for and expectant of any queer shift in an individual’s
attitude, particularly in time of panic; but this shift of Stener’s was
quite too much. «Whom else have you been talking to, George, since
I saw you? Whom have you seen? What did Sengstack have to say?»
«He says just what Mollenhauer does, that I mustn’t loan any
more money under any circumstances, and he says I ought to get
that fi ve hundred thousand back as quickly as possible».
«And you think Mollenhauer wants to help you, do you?» inquired Cowperwood, fi nding it hard to efface the contempt which
kept forcing itself into his voice.
«I think he does, yes. I don’t know who else will, Frank, if he
don’t. He’s one of the big political forces in this town».
«Listen to me», began Cowperwood, eyeing him fi xedly. Then he
paused. «What did he say you should do about your holdings?»
«Sell them through Tighe & Company and put the money
back in the treasury, if you won’t take them».
«Sell them to whom?» asked Cowperwood, thinking of Stener’s
last words.
«To any one on ‘change who’ll take them, I suppose.
I don’t know».
254
THE FINANCIER
«I thought so», said Cowperwood, comprehendingly. «I might
have known as much. They’re working you, George. They’re simply
trying to get your stocks away from you. Mollenhauer is leading
you on. He knows I can’t do what you want – give you back the fi ve
hundred thousand dollars. He wants you to throw your stocks on
the market so that he can pick them up. Depend on it, that’s all
arranged for already. When you do, he’s got me in his clutches,
or he thinks he has – he and Butler and Simpson. They want to
get together on this local street-railway situation, and I know
it, I feel it. I’ve felt it coming all along. Mollenhauer hasn’t any
more intention of helping you than he has of fl ying. Once you’ve
sold your stocks he’s through with you – mark my word. Do you
think he’ll turn a hand to keep you out of the penitentiary once
you’re out of this street-railway situation? He will not. And if you
think so, you’re a bigger fool than I take you to be, George. Don’t
go crazy. Don’t lose your head. Be sensible. Look the situation in
the face. Let me explain it to you. If you don’t help me now – if you
don’t let me have three hundred thousand dollars by to-morrow
noon, at the very latest, I’m through, and so are you. There is not
a thing the matter with our situation. Those stocks of ours are as
good to-day as they ever were. Why, great heavens, man, the railways are there behind them. They’re paying. The Seventeenth and
Nineteenth Street line is earning one thousand dollars a day right
now. What better evidence do you want than that? Green & Coates
is earning fi ve hundred dollars. You’re frightened, George. These
damned political schemers have scared you. Why, you’ve as good
a right to loan that money as Bode and Murtagh had before you.
They did it. You’ve been doing it for Mollenhauer and the others,
only so long as you do it for them it’s all right. What’s a designated
city depository but a loan?»
Cowperwood was referring to the system under which certain
portions of city money, like the sinking-fund, were permitted to be
kept in certain banks at a low rate of interest or no rate – banks in
255
THEODORE DREISER
which Mollenhauer and Butler and Simpson were interested. This
was their safe graft.
«Don’t throw your chances away, George. Don’t quit now. You’ll
be worth millions in a few years, and you won’t have to turn a hand.
All you will have to do will be to keep what you have. If you don’t
help me, mark my word, they’ll throw you over the moment I’m
out of this, and they’ll let you go to the penitentiary. Who’s going to
put up fi ve hundred thousand dollars for you, George? Where is
Mollenhauer going to get it, or Butler, or anybody, in these times?
They can’t. They don’t intend to. When I’m through, you’re through,
and you’ll be exposed quicker than any one else. They can’t hurt me,
George. I’m an agent. I didn’t ask you to come to me. You came to
me in the fi rst place of your own accord. If you don’t help me, you’re
through, I tell you, and you’re going to be sent to the penitentiary
as sure as there are jails. Why don’t you take a stand, George? Why
don’t you stand your ground? You have your wife and children to
look after. You can’t be any worse off loaning me three hundred
thousand more than you are right now. What difference does it
make – fi ve hundred thousand or eight hundred thousand? It’s all
one and the same thing, if you’re going to be tried for it. Besides, if
you loan me this, there isn’t going to be any trial. I’m not going to
fail. This storm will blow over in a week or ten days, and we’ll be
rich again. For Heaven’s sake, George, don’t go to pieces this way! Be
sensible! Be reasonable!»
He paused, for Stener’s face had become a jelly-like mass of woe.
«I can’t, Frank», he wailed. «I tell you I can’t. They’ll punish me
worse than ever if I do that. They’ll never let up on me. You don’t
know these people».
In Stener’s crumpling weakness Cowperwood read his own
fate. What could you do with a man like that? How brace him up?
You couldn’t! And with a gesture of infi nite understanding, disgust,
noble indifference, he threw up his hands and started to walk out.
At the door he turned.
256
THE FINANCIER
«George», he said, «I’m sorry. I’m sorry for you, not for myself.
I’ll come out of things all right, eventually. I’ll be rich. But, George,
you’re making the one great mistake of your life. You’ll be poor;
you’ll be a convict, and you’ll have only yourself to blame. There isn’t
a thing the matter with this money situation except the fi re. There
isn’t a thing wrong with my affairs except this slump in stocks – this
panic. You sit there, a fortune in your hands, and you allow a lot of
schemers, highbinders, who don’t know any more of your affairs or
mine than a rabbit, and who haven’t any interest in you except to
plan what they can get out of you, to frighten you and prevent you
from doing the one thing that will save your life. Three hundred
thousand paltry dollars that in three or four weeks from now I can
pay back to you four and fi ve times over, and for that you will see
me go broke and yourself to the penitentiary. I can’t understand it,
George. You’re out of your mind. You’re going to rue this the longest day that you live».
He waited a few moments to see if this, by any twist of chance,
would have any effect; then, noting that Stener still remained
a wilted, helpless mass of nothing, he shook his head gloomily and
walked out.
It was the fi rst time in his life that Cowperwood had ever shown
the least sign of weakening or despair. He had felt all along as
though there were nothing to the Greek theory of being pursued by
the furies. Now, however, there seemed an untoward fate which was
pursuing him. It looked that way. Still, fate or no fate, he did not
propose to be daunted. Even in this very beginning of a tendency to
feel despondent he threw back his head, expanded his chest, and
walked as briskly as ever.
In the large room outside Stener’s private offi ce he encountered
Albert Stires, Stener’s chief clerk and secretary. He and Albert had
exchanged many friendly greetings in times past, and all the little
minor transactions in regard to city loan had been discussed between them, for Albert knew more of the intricacies of fi nance and
fi nancial bookkeeping than Stener would ever know.
257
THEODORE DREISER
At the sight of Stires the thought in regard to the sixty thousand dollars’ worth of city loan certifi cates, previously referred to,
fl ashed suddenly through his mind. He had not deposited them in
the sinking-fund, and did not intend to for the present – could
not, unless considerable free money were to reach him shortly –
for he had used them to satisfy other pressing demands, and had
no free money to buy them back – or, in other words, release
them. And he did not want to just at this moment. Under the law
governing transactions of this kind with the city treasurer, he was
supposed to deposit them at once to the credit of the city, and
not to draw his pay therefor from the city treasurer until he had.
To be very exact, the city treasurer, under the law, was not supposed to pay him for any transaction of this kind until he or his
agents presented a voucher from the bank or other organization
carrying the sinking-fund for the city showing that the certifi cates
so purchased had actually been deposited there. As a matter of
fact, under the custom which had grown up between him and
Stener, the law had long been ignored in this respect. He could
buy certifi cates of city loan for the sinking-fund up to any reasonable amount, hypothecate them where he pleased, and draw
his pay from the city without presenting a voucher. At the end of
the month suffi cient certifi cates of city loan could usually be
gathered from one source and another to make up the defi ciency,
or the defi ciency could actually be ignored, as had been done on
more than one occasion, for long periods of time, while he used
money secured by hypothecating the shares for speculative purposes. This was actually illegal; but neither Cowperwood nor
Stener saw it in that light or cared.
The trouble with this particular transaction was the note
that he had received from Stener ordering him to stop both buying and selling, which put his relations with the city treasury on
a very formal basis. He had bought these certifi cates before receiving this note, but had not deposited them. He was going now to
collect his check; but perhaps the old, easy system of balancing
258
THE FINANCIER
matters at the end of the month might not be said to obtain any
longer. Stires might ask him to present a voucher of deposit. If
so, he could not now get this check for sixty thousand dollars,
for he did not have the certifi cates to deposit. If not, he might get
the money; but, also, it might constitute the basis of some subsequent legal action. If he did not eventually deposit the certifi cates before failure, some charge such as that of larceny might be
brought against him. Still, he said to himself, he might not really fail even yet. If any of his banking associates should, for any
reason, modify their decision in regard to calling his loans, he
would not. Would Stener make a row about this if he so secured
this check? Would the city offi cials pay any attention to him if
he did? Could you get any district attorney to take cognizance of
such a transaction, if Stener did complain? No, not in all likelihood; and, anyhow, nothing would come of it. No jury would
punish him in the face of the understanding existing between
him and Stener as agent or broker and principal. And, once he
had the money, it was a hundred to one Stener would think no
more about it. It would go in among the various unsatisfi ed liabilities, and nothing more would be thought about it. Like lightning
the entire situation hashed through his mind. He would risk it.
He stopped before the chief clerk’s desk.
«Albert», he said, in a low voice, «I bought sixty thousand dollars’ worth of city loan for the sinking-fund this morning. Will you
give my boy a check for it in the morning, or, better yet, will you
give it to me now? I got your note about no more purchases. I’m
going back to the offi ce. You can just credit the sinking-fund with
eight hundred certifi cates at from seventy-fi ve to eighty. I’ll send
you the itemized list later».
«Certainly, Mr. Cowperwood, certainly», replied Albert, with
alacrity. «Stocks are getting an awful knock, aren’t they? I hope
you’re not very much troubled by it?»
«Not very, Albert», replied Cowperwood, smiling, the while
the chief clerk was making out his check. He was wondering if by
259
THEODORE DREISER
any chance Stener would appear and attempt to interfere with this.
It was a legal transaction. He had a right to the check provided
he deposited the certifi cates, as was his custom, with the trustee of
the fund. He waited tensely while Albert wrote, and fi nally, with
the check actually in his hand, breathed a sigh of relief. Here, at
least, was sixty thousand dollars, and to-night’s work would enable
him to cash the seventy-fi ve thousand that had been promised him.
To-morrow, once more he must see Leigh, Kitchen, Jay Cooke &
Co., Edward Clark & Co. – all the long list of people to whom he
owed loans and fi nd out what could be done. If he could only get
time! If he could get just a week!
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