The Titan

The morning papers, in spite of the efforts of Cowperwood and his friends to keep this transfer secret, shortly thereafter were full of rumors of a change in «North Chicago». Frank Algernon Cowperwood, hitherto unmentioned in connection with Chicago street-railways, was pointed to as the probable successor to Onias C. Skinner, and Edwin L. Kaffrath, one of the old directors, as fu­ture vice-president. The men back of the deal were referred to as «in all likelihood Eastern capitalists». Cowperwood, as he sat in Ai­leen’s room examining the various morning papers, saw that before the day was over he would be sought out for an expression of opin­ion and further details. He proposed to ask the newspaper men to wait a few days until he could talk to the publishers of the papers themselves — win their confi dence — and then announce a gen­eral policy; it would be something that would please the city, and the residents of the North Side in particular. At the same time he did not care to promise anything which he could not easily and profi tably perform. He wanted fame and reputation, but he wanted money even more; he intended to get both.

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when he actually had achieved his end he could scarcely believe for the time being that it was true. Chicago was such a splendid city. It was growing so fast. Its opportunities were so wonderful. These men who had thus foolishly parted with an indefi nite lease of their holdings had not really considered what they were doing. This mat­ter of Chicago street-railways, once he had them well in hand, could be made to yield such splendid profi ts! He could incorporate and overcapitalize. Many subsidiary lines, which McKenty would secure for him for a song, would be worth millions in the future, and they should be his entirely; he would not be indebted to the directors of the old North Chicago company for any interest on those. By de­grees, year by year, as the city grew, the lines which were still con­trolled by this old company, but were practically his, would become a mere item, a central core, in the so very much larger system of new lines which he would build up about it. Then the West Side, and even the South Side sections — but why dream? He might readily become the sole master of street-railway traffi c in Chicago! He might readily become the most princely fi nancial fi gure in the city — and one of the few great fi nancial magnates of the nation.

about attempting to adjust matters in his favor, there had been a tre­mendous national fl are-up, when in a great public place on the West Side known as the Haymarket, at one of a number of labor meetings, dubbed anarchistic because of the principles of some of the speak­ers, a bomb had been hurled by some excited fanatic, which had exploded and maimed or killed a number of policemen, injuring slightly several others. This had brought to the fore, once and for all, as by a fl ash of lightning, the whole problem of mass against class, and had given it such an airing as in view of the cheerful, optimis­tic, almost inconsequential American mind had not previously been possible. It changed, quite as an eruption might, the whole face of the commercial landscape. Man thought thereafter somewhat more accurately of national and civic things. What was anarchism? What socialism? What rights had the rank and fi le, anyhow, in economic and governmental development? Such were interesting questions, and following the bomb — which acted as a great stone cast in the water — these ripple-rings of thought were still widening and emanating until they took in such supposedly remote and impreg­nable quarters as editorial offi ces, banks and fi nancial institutions generally, and the haunts of political dignitaries and their jobs.

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which he craved. He fi nally decided that it would be as well for him to personally visit the various newspaper publishers and talk the sit­uation over with them. Addison, when consulted as to this project, was somewhat dubious. He had small faith in the newspapers.

It is one of the splendid yet sinister fascinations of life that there is no tracing to their ultimate sources all the winds of infl uence that play upon a given barque — all the breaths of chance that fi ll or desert our bellied or our sagging sails. We plan and plan, but who by taking thought can add a cubit to his stature? Who can overcome or even assist the Providence that shapes our ends, rough hew them as we may. Cowperwood was now entering upon a great public ca­reer, and the various editors and public personalities of the city were watching him with interest. Augustus M. Haguenin, a free agent with his organ, the Press, and yet not free, either, because he was harnessed to the necessity of making his paper pay, was most inter­ested. Lacking the commanding magnetism of a man like MacDon­ald, he was nevertheless an honest man, well-intentioned, thought­ful, careful. Haguenin, ever since the outcome of Cowperwood’s gas transaction, had been intensely interested in the latter’s career. It seemed to him that Cowperwood was probably destined to be­come a signifi cant fi gure. Raw, glittering force, however, compound­ed of the cruel Machiavellianism of nature, if it be but Machiavel­lian, seems to exercise a profound attraction for the conventionally rooted. Your cautious citizen of average means, looking out through the eye of his dull world of seeming fact, is often the fi rst to forgive or condone the grim butcheries of theory by which the strong rise. Haguenin, observing Cowperwood, conceived of him as a man per­haps as much sinned against as sinning, a man who would be faith­ful to friends, one who could be relied upon in hours of great stress. As it happened, the Haguenins were neighbors of the Cowperwoods, and since those days when the latter had attempted unsuccessfully to enter Chicago society this family had been as acceptable as any of those who had remained friendly.

THEODORE DREISER

«Mr. Haguenin», said Cowperwood, smilingly — he was ar­rayed in a heavy fur coat, with a collar of beaver and driving-gaunt­lets of dogskin —»we have reached the place in this street-railway problem on the North Side where we are going to require the assis­tance of the newspapers, or at least their friendly support. At pres­ent our principal diffi culty is that all our lines, when they come down-town, stop at Lake Street — just this side of the bridges. That means a long walk for everybody to all the streets south of it, and, as you probably know, there has been considerable complaint. Besides that, this river traffi c is becoming more and more what I may say it has been for years — an intolerable nuisance. We have all suffered from it. No effort has ever been made to regulate it, and because it is so heavy I doubt whether it ever can be systematized in any satisfactory way. The best thing in the long run would be to tun­nel under the river; but that is such an expensive proposition that, as things are now, we are in no position to undertake it. The traf­fi c on the North Side does not warrant it. It really does not warrant the reconstruction of the three bridges which we now use at State, Dearborn, and Clark; yet, if we introduce the cable system, which we now propose, these bridges will have to be done over. It seems to me, seeing that this is an enterprise in which the public is as much in­terested almost as we are, that it would only be fair if the city should help pay for this reconstruction work. All the land adjacent to these lines, and the property served by them, will be greatly enhanced in value. The city’s taxing power will rise tremendously. I have talked to several fi nanciers here in Chicago, and they agree with me; but, as is usual in all such cases, I fi nd that some of the politicians are against me. Since I have taken charge of the North Chicago compa­ny the attitude of one or two papers has not been any too friendly». (In the Chronicle , controlled by Schryhart, there had already been

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turn in a loop around State and Wabash. The Chicago City Passen­ger Railway has a loop in Adams and Washington streets».

THEODORE DREISER

to know what the other editors think of it, and how the city council itself would feel toward it».