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THE TITAN
At this psychological moment enter, as by the hand of Fate,
the planet Mars and the University. This latter, from having been
for years a humble Baptist college of the cheapest character, had
suddenly, through the benefi cence of a great Standard Oil multimillionaire, fl ared upward into a great university, and was causing a stir
throughout the length and breadth of the educational world.
It was already a most noteworthy spectacle, one of the sights of
the city. Millions were being poured into it; new and beautiful buildings were almost monthly erected. A brilliant, dynamic man had
been called from the East as president. There were still many things
needed — dormitories, laboratories of one kind and another, a great
library; and, last but not least, a giant telescope — one that would
sweep the heavens with a hitherto unparalleled receptive eye, and
wring from it secrets not previously decipherable by the eye and
the mind of man.
Cowperwood had always been interested in the heavens and in
the giant mathematical and physical methods of interpreting them.
It so happened that the war-like planet, with its sinister aspect, was
just at this time to be seen hanging in the west, a fi ery red; and the easily aroused public mind was being stirred to its shallow depth by refl ections and speculations regarding the famous canals of the luminary. The mere thought of the possibility of a larger telescope than
any now in existence, which might throw additional light on this
evasive mystery, was exciting not only Chicago, but the whole world.
Late one afternoon Cowperwood, looking over some open fi elds
which faced his new power-house in West Madison Street, observed
the planet hanging low and lucent in the evening sky, a warm, radiant bit of orange in a sea of silver. He paused and surveyed it. Was it
true that there were canals on it, and people? Life was surely strange.
One day not long after this Alexander Rambaud called him up
on the ’phone and remarked, jocosely:
«I say, Cowperwood, I’ve played a rather shabby trick on you
just now. Doctor Hooper, of the University, was in here a few
minutes ago asking me to be one of ten to guarantee the cost of
381
THEODORE DREISER
a telescope lens that he thinks he needs to run that one-horse
school of his out there. I told him I thought you might possibly be
interested. His idea is to fi nd some one who will guarantee forty
thousand dollars, or eight or ten men who will guarantee four or
fi ve thousand each. I thought of you, because I’ve heard you discuss astronomy from time to time».
«Let him come», replied Cowperwood, who was never willing to
be behind others in generosity, particularly where his efforts were
likely to be appreciated in signifi cant quarters.
Shortly afterward appeared the doctor himself — short, rotund,
rubicund, displaying behind a pair of clear, thick, gold-rimmed
glasses, round, dancing, incisive eyes. Imaginative grip, buoyant,
self-delusive self-respect were written all over him. The two men
eyed each other — one with that broad-gage examination which
sees even universities as futile in the endless shift of things; the other with that faith in the balance for right which makes even great
personal forces, such as fi nancial magnates, serve an idealistic end.
«It’s not a very long story I have to tell you, Mr. Cowperwood»,
said the doctor. «Our astronomical work is handicapped just now by
the simple fact that we have no lens at all, no telescope worthy of
the name. I should like to see the University do original work in this
fi eld, and do it in a great way. The only way to do it, in my judgment,
is to do it better than any one else can. Don’t you agree with me?»
He showed a row of shining white teeth.
Cowperwood smiled urbanely.
«Will a forty-thousand-dollar lens be a better lens than any other lens?» he inquired.
«Made by Appleman Brothers, of Dorchester, it will», replied
the college president. «The whole story is here, Mr. Cowperwood.
These men are practical lens-makers. A great lens, in the fi rst place,
is a matter of fi nding a suitable crystal. Large and fl awless crystals
are not common, as you may possibly know. Such a crystal has recently been found, and is now owned by Mr. Appleman. It takes
about four or fi ve years to grind and polish it. Most of the polish-
382
THE TITAN
ing, as you may or may not know, is done by the hand — smoothing
it with the thumb and forefi nger. The time, judgment, and skill of
an optical expert is required. To-day, unfortunately, that is not
cheap. The laborer is worthy of his hire, however, I suppose» — he
waved a soft, full, white hand —»and forty thousand is little enough.
It would be a great honor if the University could have the largest,
most serviceable, and most perfect lens in the world. It would refl ect
great credit, I take it, on the men who would make this possible».
Cowperwood liked the man’s artistically educational air; obviously here was a personage of ability, brains, emotion, and scientifi c
enthusiasm. It was splendid to him to see any strong man in earnest,
for himself or others.
«And forty thousand will do this?» he asked.
«Yes, sir. Forty thousand will guarantee us the lens, anyhow».
«And how about land, buildings, a telescope frame? Have you all
those things prepared for it?»
«Not as yet, but, since it takes four years at least to grind the lens,
there will be time enough, when the lens is nearing completion, to
look after the accessories. We have picked our site, however — Lake
Geneva — and we would not refuse either land or accessories if we
knew where to get them».
Again the even, shining teeth, the keen eyes boring through
the glasses.
Cowperwood saw a great opportunity. He asked what would be
the cost of the entire project. Dr. Hooper presumed that three hundred thousand would do it all handsomely — lens, telescope, land,
machinery, building — a great monument.
«And how much have you guaranteed on the cost of your lens?»
«Sixteen thousand dollars, so far».
«To be paid when?»
«In instalments — ten thousand a year for four years. Just
enough to keep the lens-maker busy for the present».
Cowperwood refl ected. Ten thousand a year for four years would
be a mere salary item, and at the end of that time he felt sure that he
383
THEODORE DREISER
could supply the remainder of the money quite easily. He would be
so much richer; his plans would be so much more mature. On such
a repute (the ability to give a three-hundred-thousand-dollar telescope out of hand to be known as the Cowperwood telescope) he
could undoubtedly raise money in London, New York, and elsewhere for his Chicago enterprise. The whole world would know
him in a day. He paused, his enigmatic eyes revealing nothing of
the splendid vision that danced before them. At last! At last!
«How would it do, Mr. Hooper», he said, sweetly, «if, instead of
ten men giving you four thousand each, as you plan, one man were
to give you forty thousand in annual instalments of ten thousand
each? Could that be arranged as well?»
«My dear Mr. Cowperwood», exclaimed the doctor, glowing, his
eyes alight, «do I understand that you personally might wish to give
the money for this lens?»
«I might, yes. But I should have to exact one pledge, Mr. Hooper,
if I did any such thing».
«And what would that be?»
«The privilege of giving the land and the building — the whole
telescope, in fact. I presume no word of this will be given out unless the matter is favorably acted upon?» he added, cautiously and
diplomatically.
The new president of the university arose and eyed him with
a peculiarly approbative and grateful gaze. He was a busy, overworked man. His task was large. Any burden taken from his shoulders in this fashion was a great relief.
«My answer to that, Mr. Cowperwood, if I had the authority,
would be to agree now in the name of the University, and thank
you. For form’s sake, I must submit the matter to the trustees of
the University, but I have no doubt as to the outcome. I anticipate
nothing but grateful approbation. Let me thank you again».
They shook hands warmly, and the solid collegian bustled forth.
Cowperwood sank quietly in his chair. He pressed his fi ngers together, and for a moment or two permitted himself to dream. Then
384
THE TITAN
he called a stenographer and began a bit of dictation. He did not
care to think even to himself how universally advantageous all this
might yet prove to be.
The result was that in the course of a few weeks the proffer was
formally accepted by the trustees of the University, and a report of
the matter, with Cowperwood’s formal consent, was given out for
publication. The fortuitous combination of circumstances already
described gave the matter a unique news value. Giant refl ectors
and refractors had been given and were in use in other parts of
the world, but none so large or so important as this. The gift was
suffi cient to set Cowperwood forth in the light of a public benefactor and patron of science. Not only in Chicago, but in London,
Paris, and New York, wherever, indeed, in the great capitals scientifi c and intellectual men were gathered, this signifi cant gift of
an apparently fabulously rich American became the subject of excited discussion. Banking men, among others, took sharp note of
the donor, and when Cowperwood’s emissaries came around later
with a suggestion that the fi fty-year franchises about to be voted
him for elevated roads should be made a basis of bond and mortgage loans, they were courteously received. A man who could give
three-hundred-thousand-dollar telescopes in the hour of his greatest diffi culties must be in a rather satisfactory fi nancial condition.
He must have great wealth in reserve. After some preliminaries,
during which Cowperwood paid a fl ying visit to Threadneedle
Street in London, and to Wall Street in New York, an arrangement was made with an English-American banking company by
which the majority of the bonds for his proposed roads were taken
over by them for sale in Europe and elsewhere, and he was given
ample means wherewith to proceed. Instantly the stocks of his surface lines bounded in price, and those who had been scheming to
bring about Cowperwood’s downfall gnashed impotent teeth. Even
Haeckelheimer & Co. were interested.
Anson Merrill, who had only a few weeks before given a large
fi eld for athletic purposes to the University, pulled a wry face over
385
THEODORE DREISER
this sudden eclipse of his glory. Hosmer Hand, who had given
a chemical laboratory, and Schryhart, who had presented a dormitory, were depressed to think that a benefaction less costly than
theirs should create, because of the distinction of the idea, so much
more notable comment. It was merely another example of the brilliant fortune which seemed to pursue the man, the star that set all
their plans at defi ance.
CHAPTER XLIV
A FRANCHISE OBTAINED
The money requisite for the construction of elevated roads having been thus pyrotechnically obtained, the acquisition of franchises remained no easy matter. It involved, among other problems,
the taming of Chaffee Thayer Sluss, who, quite unconscious of
the evidence stored up against him, had begun to fulminate the moment it was suggested in various secret political quarters that a new
ordinance was about to be introduced, and that Cowperwood was to
be the benefi ciary. «Don’t you let them do that, Mr. Sluss», observed
Mr. Hand, who for purposes of conference had courteously but fi rmly bidden his hireling, the mayor, to lunch. «Don’t you let them pass
that if you can help it». (As chairman or president of the city council
Mr. Sluss held considerable manipulative power over the machinery of procedure.) «Raise such a row that they won’t try to pass it
over your head. Your political future really depends on it — your
standing with the people of Chicago. The newspapers and the respectable fi nancial and social elements will fully support you in this.
Otherwise they will wholly desert you. Things have come to a handsome pass when men sworn and elected to perform given services
turn on their backers and betray them in this way!»
Mr. Hand was very wroth.
Mr. Sluss, immaculate in black broadcloth and white linen, was
very sure that he would fulfi l to the letter all of Mr. Hand’s suggestions. The proposed ordinance should be denounced by him; its
legislative progress heartily opposed in council.
387
THEODORE DREISER
«They shall get no quarter from me!» he declared, emphatically.
«I know what the scheme is. They know that I know it».
He looked at Mr. Hand quite as one advocate of righteousness
should look at another, and the rich promoter went away satisfi ed
that the reins of government were in safe hands. Immediately afterward Mr. Sluss gave out an interview in which he served warning on
all aldermen and councilmen that no such ordinance as the one in
question would ever be signed by him as mayor.
At half past ten on the same morning on which the interview
appeared — the hour at which Mr. Sluss usually reached his offi ce — his private telephone bell rang, and an assistant inquired if
he would be willing to speak with Mr. Frank A. Cowperwood. Mr.
Sluss, somehow anticipating fresh laurels of victory, gratifi ed by
the front-page display given his announcement in the morning papers, and swelling internally with civic pride, announced, solemnly:
«Yes; connect me».
«Mr. Sluss», began Cowperwood, at the other end, «this is Frank
A. Cowperwood».
«Yes. What can I do for you, Mr. Cowperwood?»
«I see by the morning papers that you state that you will have
nothing to do with any proposed ordinance which looks to giving
me a franchise for any elevated road on the North or West Side?»
«That is quite true», replied Mr. Sluss, loftily. «I will not».
«Don’t you think it is rather premature, Mr. Sluss, to denounce
something which has only a rumored existence?» (Cowperwood,
smiling sweetly to himself, was quite like a cat playing with an unsuspicious mouse.) «I should like very much to talk this whole matter over with you personally before you take an irrevocable attitude.
It is just possible that after you have heard my side you may not be
so completely opposed to me. From time to time I have sent to you
several of my personal friends, but apparently you do not care to
receive them».
«Quite true», replied Mr. Sluss, loftily; «but you must remember that I am a very busy man, Mr. Cowperwood, and, besides, I do
388
THE TITAN
not see how I can serve any of your purposes. You are working for
a set of conditions to which I am morally and temperamentally opposed. I am working for another. I do not see that we have any common ground on which to meet. In fact, I do not see how I can be of
any service to you whatsoever».
«Just a moment, please, Mr. Mayor», replied Cowperwood,
still very sweetly, and fearing that Sluss might choose to hang up
the receiver, so superior was his tone. «There may be some common
ground of which you do not know. Wouldn’t you like to come to
lunch at my residence or receive me at yours? Or let me come to your
offi ce and talk this matter over. I believe you will fi nd it the part of
wisdom as well as of courtesy to do this».
«I cannot possibly lunch with you to-day», replied Sluss, «and
I cannot see you, either. There are a number of things pressing for
my attention. I must say also that I cannot hold any back-room conferences with you or your emissaries. If you come you must submit
to the presence of others».
«Very well, Mr. Sluss», replied Cowperwood, cheerfully. «I will
not come to your offi ce. But unless you come to mine before fi ve
o’clock this afternoon you will face by noon to-morrow a suit for
breach of promise, and your letters to Mrs. Brandon will be given to
the public. I wish to remind you that an election is coming on, and
that Chicago favors a mayor who is privately moral as well as publicly so. Good morning».
Mr. Cowperwood hung up his telephone receiver with a click,
and Mr. Sluss sensibly and visibly stiffened and paled. Mrs. Brandon! The charming, lovable, discreet Mrs. Brandon who had so ungenerously left him! Why should she be thinking of suing him for
breach of promise, and how did his letter to her come to be in Cowperwood’s hands? Good heavens — those mushy letters! His wife!
His children! His church and the owlish pastor thereof! Chicago!
And its conventional, moral, religious atmosphere! Come to think of
it, Mrs. Brandon had scarcely if ever written him a note of any kind.
He did not even know her history.
389
THEODORE DREISER
At the thought of Mrs. Sluss — her hard, cold, blue eyes — Mr.
Sluss arose, tall and distrait, and ran his hand through his hair.
He walked to the window, snapping his thumb and middle fi nger and looking eagerly at the fl oor. He thought of the telephone
switchboard just outside his private offi ce, and wondered whether his secretary, a handsome young Presbyterian girl, had been
listening, as usual. Oh, this sad, sad world! If the North Side ever
learned of this — Hand, the newspapers, young MacDonald —
would they protect him? They would not. Would they run him for
mayor again? Never! Could the public be induced to vote for him
with all the churches fulminating against private immorality, hypocrites, and whited sepulchers? Oh, Lord! Oh, Lord! And he was so
very, very much respected and looked up to — that was the worst of
it all. This terrible demon Cowperwood had descended on him, and
he had thought himself so secure. He had not even been civil to
Cowperwood. What if the latter chose to avenge the discourtesy?
Mr. Sluss went back to his chair, but he could not sit in it. He went
for his coat, took it down, hung it up again, took it down, announced
over the ’phone that he could not see any one for several hours, and
went out by a private door. Wearily he walked along North Clark
Street, looking at the hurly-burly of traffi c, looking at the dirty,
crowded river, looking at the sky and smoke and gray buildings, and
wondering what he should do. The world was so hard at times; it was
so cruel. His wife, his family, his political career. He could not conscientiously sign any ordinances for Mr. Cowperwood — that would
be immoral, dishonest, a scandal to the city. Mr. Cowperwood was
a notorious traitor to the public welfare. At the same time he could
not very well refuse, for here was Mrs. Brandon, the charming and
unscrupulous creature, playing into the hands of Cowperwood. If he
could only meet her, beg of her, plead; but where was she? He had
not seen her for months and months. Could he go to Hand and confess all? But Hand was a hard, cold, moral man also. Oh, Lord! Oh,
Lord! He wondered and thought, and sighed and pondered — all
without avail.
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