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THE TITAN
«None in the least, none in the least», replied Mr. Stackpole,
accommodatingly. «Mr. Hand, Mr. Schryhart, Mr. Arneel, and
Mr. Merrill».
«That is what I thought», commented Cowperwood, easily.
«They can’t take this up for you? Is that it? Saturated?»
«Saturated», agreed Mr. Stackpole, dully. «But there’s one thing
I’d have to stipulate in accepting a loan on these. Not a share must
be thrown on the market, or, at least, not before I have failed to
respond to your call. I have understood that there is a little feeling
between you and Mr. Hand and the other gentlemen I have mentioned. But, as I say — and I’m talking perfectly frankly now — I’m in
a corner, and it’s any port in a storm. If you want to help me I’ll make
the best terms I can, and I won’t forget the favor».
He opened the bag and began to take out the securities — long
greenish-yellow bundles, tightly gripped in the center by thick elastic bands. They were in bundles of one thousand shares each. Since
Stackpole half proffered them to him, Cowperwood took them in
one hand and lightly weighed them up and down.
«I’m sorry, Mr. Stackpole», he said, sympathetically, after a moment of apparent refl ection, «but I cannot possibly help you in this
matter. I’m too involved in other things myself, and I do not often
indulge in stock-peculations of any kind. I have no particular malice
toward any one of the gentlemen you mention. I do not trouble to
dislike all who dislike me. I might, of course, if I chose, take these
stocks and pay them out and throw them on the market to-morrow,
but I have no desire to do anything of the sort. I only wish I could
help you, and if I thought I could carry them safely for three or four
months I would. As it is —» He lifted his eyebrows sympathetically.
«Have you tried all the bankers in town?»
«Practically every one».
«And they can’t help you?»
«They are carrying all they can stand now».
«Too bad. I’m sorry, very. By the way, do you happen, by any
chance, to know Mr. Millard Bailey or Mr. Edwin Kaffrath?»
421
THEODORE DREISER
«No, I don’t», replied Stackpole, hopefully.
«Well, now, there are two men who are much richer than is generally supposed. They often have very large sums at their disposal.
You might look them up on a chance. Then there’s my friend Videra.
I don’t know how he is fi xed at present. You can always fi nd him at
the Twelfth Ward Bank. He might be inclined to take a good portion of that — I don’t know. He’s much better off than most people
seem to think. I wonder you haven’t been directed to some one of
these men before». (As a matter of fact, no one of the individuals in
question would have been interested to take a dollar of this loan except on Cowperwood’s order, but Stackpole had no reason for knowing this. They were not prominently identifi ed with the magnate.)
«Thank you very much. I will», observed Stackpole, restoring his
undesired stocks to his bag.
Cowperwood, with an admirable show of courtesy, called a stenographer, and pretended to secure for his guest the home addresses of these gentlemen. He then bade Mr. Stackpole an encouraging
farewell. The distrait promoter at once decided to try not only Bailey
and Kaffrath, but Videra; but even as he drove toward the offi ce of
the fi rst-mentioned Cowperwood was personally busy reaching
him by telephone.
«I say, Bailey», he called, when he had secured the wealthy lumberman on the wire, «Benoni Stackpole, of Hull & Stackpole, was
here to see me just now».
«Yes».
«He has with him fi fteen thousand shares of American Match —
par value one hundred, market value to-day two-twenty».
«Yes».
«He is trying to hypothecate the lot or any part of it at one-fi fty».
«Yes».
«You know what the trouble with American Match is,
don’t you?»
«No. I only know it’s being driven up to where it is now by a bull
campaign».
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THE TITAN
«Well, listen to me. It’s going to break. American Match is
going to bust».
«Yes».
«But I want you to loan this man fi ve hundred thousand dollars at one-twenty or less and then recommend that he go to Edwin
Kaffrath or Anton Videra for the balance».
«But, Frank, I haven’t any fi ve hundred thousand to spare. You
say American Match is going to bust».
«I know you haven’t, but draw the check on the Chicago Trust,
and Addison will honor it. Send the stock to me and forget all
about it. I will do the rest. But under no circumstances mention my
name, and don’t appear too eager. Not more than one-twenty at
the outside, do you hear? and less if you can get it. You recognize
my voice, do you?»
«Perfectly».
«Drive over afterward if you have time and let me know what
happens».
«Very good», commented Mr. Bailey, in a businesslike way.
Cowperwood next called for Mr. Kaffrath. Conversing to
similar effect with that individual and with Videra, before threequarters of an hour Cowperwood had arranged completely for Mr.
Stackpole’s tour. He was to have his total loan at one-twenty or
less. Checks were to be forthcoming at once. Different banks were
to be drawn on — banks other than the Chicago Trust Company.
Cowperwood would see, in some roundabout way, that these checks
were promptly honored, whether the cash was there or not. In each
case the hypothecated stocks were to be sent to him. Then, having
seen to the perfecting of this little programme, and that the banks
to be drawn upon in this connection understood perfectly that
the checks in question were guaranteed by him or others, he sat
down to await the arrival of his henchmen and the turning of
the stock into his private safe.
CHAPTER XLVIII
PANIC
On August 4, 1896, the city of Chicago, and for that matter
the entire fi nancial world, was startled and amazed by the collapse of
American Match, one of the strongest of market securities, and
the coincident failure of Messrs. Hull and Stackpole, its ostensible
promoters, for twenty millions. As early as eleven o’clock of the preceding day the banking and brokerage world of Chicago, trading in
this stock, was fully aware that something untoward was on foot in
connection with it. Owing to the high price at which the stock was
«protected», and the need of money to liquidate, blocks of this stock
from all parts of the country were being rushed to the market with
the hope of realizing before the ultimate break. About the stockexchange, which frowned like a gray fortress at the foot of La Salle
Street, all was excitement — as though a giant anthill had been ruthlessly disturbed. Clerks and messengers hurried to and fro in confused and apparently aimless directions. Brokers whose supply of
American Match had been apparently exhausted on the previous
day now appeared on ’change bright and early, and at the clang of
the gong began to offer the stock in sizable lots of from two hundred to fi ve hundred shares. The agents of Hull & Stackpole were in
the market, of course, in the front rank of the scrambling, yelling
throng, taking up whatever stock appeared at the price they were
hoping to maintain. The two promoters were in touch by ’phone
and wire not only with those various important personages whom
they had induced to enter upon this bull campaign, but with their
424
THE TITAN
various clerks and agents on ’change. Naturally, under the circumstances both were in a gloomy frame of mind. This game was no longer moving in those large, easy sweeps which characterize the more
favorable aspects of high fi nance. Sad to relate, as in all the troubled
fl umes of life where vast currents are compressed in narrow, tortuous spaces, these two men were now concerned chiefl y with the momentary care of small but none the less heartbreaking burdens.
Where to fi nd fi fty thousand to take care of this or that burden of
stock which was momentarily falling upon them? They were as two
men called upon, with their limited hands and strength, to seal up
the ever-increasing crevices of a dike beyond which raged a mountainous and destructive sea.
At eleven o’clock Mr. Phineas Hull rose from the chair which sat
before his solid mahogany desk, and confronted his partner.
«I’ll tell you, Ben», he said, «I’m afraid we can’t make this. We’ve
hypothecated so much of this stock around town that we can’t possibly tell who’s doing what. I know as well as I’m standing on this
fl oor that some one, I can’t say which one, is selling us out. You don’t
suppose it could be Cowperwood or any of those people he sent to
us, do you?»
Stackpole, worn by his experiences of the past few weeks, was
inclined to be irritable.
«How should I know, Phineas?» he inquired, scowling in
troubled thought. «I don’t think so. I didn’t notice any signs that
they were interested in stock-gambling. Anyhow, we had to have
the money in some form. Any one of the whole crowd is apt to get
frightened now at any moment and throw the whole thing over.
We’re in a tight place, that’s plain».
For the fortieth time he plucked at a too-tight collar and
pulled up his shirt-sleeves, for it was stifl ing, and he was coatless
and waistcoatless. Just then Mr. Hull’s telephone bell rang — the
one connecting with the fi rm’s private offi ce on ’change, and the latter jumped to seize the receiver.
«Yes?» he inquired, irritably.
425
THEODORE DREISER
«Two thousand shares of American offered at two-twenty! Shall
I take them?»
The man who was ’phoning was in sight of another man who
stood at the railing of the brokers’ gallery overlooking «the pit», or
central room of the stock-exchange, and who instantly transferred
any sign he might receive to the man on the fl oor. So Mr. Hull’s
«yea» or «nay» would be almost instantly transmuted into a cash
transaction on ’change.
«What do you think of that?» asked Hull of Stackpole, putting
his hand over the receiver’s mouth, his right eyelid drooping heavier than ever. «Two thousand more to take up! Where d’you suppose
they are coming from? Tch!»
«Well, the bottom’s out, that’s all», replied Stackpole, heavily
and gutturally. «We can’t do what we can’t do. I say this, though:
support it at two-twenty until three o’clock. Then we’ll fi gure up
where we stand and what we owe. And meanwhile I’ll see what I can
do. If the banks won’t help us and Arneel and that crowd want to
get from under, we’ll fail, that’s all; but not before I’ve had one more
try, by Jericho! They may not help us, but —»
Actually Mr. Stackpole did not see what was to be done unless
Messrs. Hand, Schryhart, Merrill, and Arneel were willing to risk
much more money, but it grieved and angered him to think he and
Hull should be thus left to sink without a sigh. He had tried Kaffrath,
Videra, and Bailey, but they were adamant. Thus cogitating, Stackpole
put on his wide-brimmed straw hat and went out. It was nearly ninety-six in the shade. The granite and asphalt pavements of the downtown district refl ected a dry, Turkish-bath-room heat. There was no
air to speak of. The sky was a burning, milky blue, with the sun gleaming feverishly upon the upper walls of the tall buildings.
Mr. Hand, in his seventh-story suite of offi ces in the Rookery
Building, was suffering from the heat, but much more from mental perturbation. Though not a stingy or penurious man, it was still
true that of all earthly things he suffered most from a fi nancial loss.
How often had he seen chance or miscalculation sweep apparently
426
THE TITAN
strong and valiant men into the limbo of the useless and forgotten!
Since the alienation of his wife’s affections by Cowperwood, he had
scarcely any interest in the world outside his large fi nancial holdings,
which included profi table investments in a half-hundred companies.
But they must pay, pay, pay heavily in interest — all of them — and
the thought that one of them might become a failure or a drain on his
resources was enough to give him an almost physical sensation of dissatisfaction and unrest, a sort of spiritual and mental nausea which
would cling to him for days and days or until he had surmounted
the diffi culty. Mr. Hand had no least corner in his heart for failure.
As a matter of fact, the situation in regard to American Match
had reached such proportions as to be almost numbing. Aside from
the fi fteen thousand shares which Messrs. Hull and Stackpole had
originally set aside for themselves, Hand, Arneel, Schryhart, and
Merrill had purchased fi ve thousand shares each at forty, but had
since been compelled to sustain the market to the extent of over
fi ve thousand shares more each, at prices ranging from one-twenty
to two-twenty, the largest blocks of shares having been bought at
the latter fi gure. Actually Hand was caught for nearly one million
fi ve hundred thousand dollars, and his soul was as gray as a bat’s
wing. At fi fty-seven years of age men who are used only to the most
successful fi nancial calculations and the credit that goes with unerring judgment dread to be made a mark by chance or fate. It opens
the way for comment on their possibly failing vitality or judgment.
And so Mr. Hand sat on this hot August afternoon, ensconced in
a large carved mahogany chair in the inner recesses of his inner offi ces, and brooded. Only this morning, in the face of a falling market,
he would have sold out openly had he not been deterred by telephone messages from Arneel and Schryhart suggesting the advisability of a pool conference before any action was taken. Come what
might on the morrow, he was determined to quit unless he saw some
clear way out — to be shut of the whole thing unless the ingenuity of
Stackpole and Hull should discover a way of sustaining the market
427
THEODORE DREISER
without his aid. While he was meditating on how this was to be done
Mr. Stackpole appeared, pale, gloomy, wet with perspiration.
«Well, Mr. Hand», he exclaimed, wearily, «I’ve done all I can. Hull
and I have kept the market fairly stable so far. You saw what happened between ten and eleven this morning. The jig’s up. We’ve borrowed our last dollar and hypothecated our last share. My personal
fortune has gone into the balance, and so has Hull’s. Some one of
the outside stockholders, or all of them, are cutting the ground from
under us. Fourteen thousand shares since ten o’clock this morning! That tells the story. It can’t be done just now — not unless you
gentlemen are prepared to go much further than you have yet gone.
If we could organize a pool to take care of fi fteen thousand more
shares —»
Mr. Stackpole paused, for Mr. Hand was holding up a fat,
pink digit.
«No more of that», he was saying, solemnly. «It can’t be done. I,
for one, won’t sink another dollar in this proposition at this time.
I’d rather throw what I have on the market and take what I can get.
I am sure the others feel the same way».
Mr. Hand, to play safe, had hypothecated nearly all his shares
with various banks in order to release his money for other purposes,
and he knew he would not dare to throw over all his holdings, just
as he knew he would have to make good at the fi gure at which they
had been margined. But it was a fi ne threat to make.
Mr. Stackpole stared ox-like at Mr. Hand.
«Very well», he said, «I might as well go back, then, and post
a notice on our front door. We bought fourteen thousand shares
and held the market where it is, but we haven’t a dollar to pay for
them with. Unless the banks or some one will take them over for us
we’re gone — we’re bankrupt».
Mr. Hand, who knew that if Mr. Stackpole carried out this decision it meant the loss of his one million fi ve hundred thousand,
halted mentally. «Have you been to all the banks?» he asked. «What
does Lawrence, of the Prairie National, have to say?»
428
THE TITAN
«It’s the same with all of them», replied Stackpole, now quite
desperate, «as it is with you. They have all they can carry — every
one. It’s this damned silver agitation — that’s it, and nothing else.
There’s nothing the matter with this stock. It will right itself in a few
months. It’s sure to».
«Will it?» commented Mr. Hand, sourly. «That depends on what
happens next November». (He was referring to the coming national
election.)
«Yes, I know», sighed Mr. Stackpole, seeing that it was a condition, and not a theory, that confronted him. Then, suddenly clenching his right hand, he exclaimed, «Damn that upstart!» (He was
thinking of the »Apostle of Free Silver».) «He’s the cause of all this.
Well, if there’s nothing to be done I might as well be going. There’s
all those shares we bought to-day which we ought to be able to hypothecate with somebody. It would be something if we could get
even a hundred and twenty on them».
«Very true», replied Hand. «I wish it could be done. I, personally, cannot sink any more money. But why don’t you go and see
Schryhart and Arneel? I’ve been talking to them, and they seem to
be in a position similar to my own; but if they are willing to confer, I am. I don’t see what’s to be done, but it may be that all of us
together might arrange some way of heading off the slaughter of
the stock to-morrow. I don’t know. If only we don’t have to suffer
too great a decline».
Mr. Hand was thinking that Messrs. Hull and Stackpole might
be forced to part with all their remaining holdings at fi fty cents on
the dollar or less. Then if it could possibly be taken and carried by
the united banks for them (Schryhart, himself, Arneel) and sold at
a profi t later, he and his associates might recoup some of their losses.
The local banks at the behest of the big quadrumvirate might be
coerced into straining their resources still further. But how was this
to be done? How, indeed?
It was Schryhart who, in pumping and digging at Stackpole when
he fi nally arrived there, managed to extract from him the truth in
429
THEODORE DREISER
regard to his visit to Cowperwood. As a matter of fact, Schryhart
himself had been guilty this very day of having thrown two thousand shares of American Match on the market unknown to his confreres. Naturally, he was eager to learn whether Stackpole or any one
else had the least suspicion that he was involved. As a consequence
he questioned Stackpole closely, and the latter, being anxious as to
the outcome of his own interests, was not unwilling to make a clean
breast. He had the justifi cation in his own mind that the quadrumvirate had been ready to desert him anyhow.
«Why did you go to him?» exclaimed Schryhart, professing to
be greatly astonished and annoyed, as, indeed, in one sense he was.
«I thought we had a distinct understanding in the beginning that
under no circumstances was he to be included in any portion of this.
You might as well go to the devil himself for assistance as go there».
At the same time he was thinking «How fortunate!» Here was not
only a loophole for himself in connection with his own subtle sideplays, but also, if the quadrumvirate desired, an excuse for deserting
the troublesome fortunes of Hull & Stackpole.
«Well, the truth is», replied Stackpole, somewhat sheepishly and
yet defi antly, «last Thursday I had fi fteen thousand shares on which
I had to raise money. Neither you nor any of the others wanted
any more. The banks wouldn’t take them. I called up Rambaud on
a chance, and he suggested Cowperwood».
As has been related, Stackpole had really gone to Cowperwood
direct, but a lie under the circumstances seemed rather essential.
«Rambaud!» sneered Schryhart. «Cowperwood’s man — he and
all the others. You couldn’t have gone to a worse crowd if you had
tried. So that’s where this stock is coming from, beyond a doubt. That
fellow or his friends are selling us out. You might have known he’d
do it. He hates us. So you’re through, are you? — not another single
trick to turn?»
«Not one», replied Stackpole, solemnly.
«Well, that’s too bad. You have acted most unwisely in going to
Cowperwood; but we shall have to see what can be done».
430
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