Chapter 12

by Upton Sinclair

　　IN spite of his doubts, Montague returned to his old home, and putthrough the programme as agreed. Just as he had anticipated, hefound that he was received as a conquering hero by the holders ofthe Northern Mississippi stock. He talked with old Mr. Lee, hiscousin, and two or three others of his old friends, and he had nodifficulty in obtaining their pledges for the new ticket. They wereall interested, and eager about the future of the road.

　　He did not have to concern himself with the new charter. Davenantdrew up the bill, and he wrote that a nephew of Senator Harmon'swould be able to put it through without attracting any attention.All that Montague knew was that the bill passed, and was signed bythe Governor.

　　And then came the day of the stockholders' meeting. He attended it,presenting proxies for the stock of Ryder and Price, and nominatedhis ticket, greatly to the consternation of Mr. Carter, thepresident of the road, who had been a lifelong friend of hisfamily's. The new board of directors was elected by the votes ofnearly three-fourths of the stock, and the new stock issue was votedby the same majority. As none of the former stockholders cared totake the new stock, Montague subscribed for the whole issue in thename of Ryder and Price, and presented a certified check for thenecessary deposit.

　　The news of these events, of course, created great excitement in theneighbourhood; also it did not pass unobserved in New York. NorthernMississippi was quoted for the first time on the "curb," and therewas quite a little trading; the stock went up nearly ten points inone day.

　　Montague received this information in a letter from Harry Curtiss."You must be prepared to withstand the flatteries of the Steelcrowd," he wrote. "They will be after you before long."

　　Montague judged that he would not mind facing the "Steel crowd"; buthe was much troubled by an interview which he had to go through withon the day after the meeting. Old Mr. Carter came to see him, andgave him a feeble hand to shake, and sat and gazed at him with apitiful look of unhappiness.

　　"Allan," he said, "I have been president of the Northern Mississippifor fifteen years, and I have served the road faithfully anddevotedly. And now--I want you to tell me--what does this mean? AmI--"

　　Montague could not remember a time when Mr. Carter had not been avisitor at his father's home, and it was painful to see him in hishelplessness. But there was nothing that could be done about it; heset his lips together.

　　"I am very sorry, Mr. Garter," he said; "but I am not at liberty tosay a word to you about the plans of my clients."

　　"Am I to understand, then, that I am to be turned out of myposition? I am to have no consideration for all that I have done?Surely--"

　　"I am very sorry," Montague said again, firmly,--"but thecircumstances at the present time are such that I must ask you toexcuse me from discussing the matter in any way."

　　A day or two later Montague received a telegram from Price,instructing him to go to Riverton, where the works of theMississippi Steel Company were located, and to meet Mr. Andrews, thepresident of the Company. Montague had been to Riverton severaltimes in his youth, and he remembered the huge mills, which were oneof the sights of the State. But he was not prepared for the enormousdevelopment which had since taken place. The Mississippi SteelCompany had now two huge Bessemer converters, in which a volcano ofmolten flame roared all day and night. It had bought up the wholewestern side of the town, and cleared away half a hundred ramshackledwellings; and here were long rows of coke-ovens, and two hugerail-mills, and a plate-mill from which arose sounds like thecrashing of the day of doom. Everywhere loomed rows of toweringchimneys, and pillars of rolling black smoke. Little miniaturerailroad tracks ran crisscross about the yards, and engines camepuffing and clanking, carrying blazing white ingots which the eyecould not bear to face.

　　Opposite to the entrance of the stockaded yards, the Company had putup a new office building, and upon the top floor of this were thepresident's rooms.

　　"Mr. Andrews will be in on the two o'clock train," said hissecretary, who was evidently expecting the visitor. "Will you waitin his office?"

　　"I think I should like to see the works, if you can arrange it forme," said Montague. And so he was provided with a pass and anattendant, and made a tour of the yards.

　　It was interesting to Montague to see the actual property of theMississippi Steel Company. Sitting in comfortable offices in WallStreet and exchanging pieces of paper, one had a tendency to losesight of the fact that he was dealing in material things anddisposing of the destinies of living people. But Montague was now tobuild and operate a railroad--to purchase real cars and handle realiron and steel; and the thought was in his mind that at every stepof what he did he wished to keep this reality in mind.

　　It was a July day, with not a cloud in the sky, and an almosttropical sun blazed down upon the works. The sheds and railroadtracks shimmered in the heat, and it seemed as if the cinders uponwhich one trod had been newly poured from a fire. In the rooms wherethe furnaces blazed, Montague could not penetrate at all; he couldonly stand in the doorway, shading his eyes from the glare. In eachof these infernos toiled hundreds of grimy, smoke-stained men,stripped to the waist and streaming with perspiration.

　　He gazed down the long rows of the blast furnaces, great cavernsthrough the cracks of which the molten steel shone like lightning.Here the men who worked had to have buckets of water poured overthem continually, and they drank several gallons of beer each day.He went through the rail-mills, where the flaming white ingots werecaught by huge rollers, and tossed about like pancakes, andflattened and squeezed, emerging at the other end in the shape oftortured red snakes of amazing length. At the far end of the millone could see them laid out in long rows to cool; and as Montaguestood and watched them, the thought came to him that these were someof the rails which Wyman had ordered, and which had been the causeof such dismay in the camp of the Steel Trust!

　　Then he went on to the plate-mill, where giant hammers resounded,and steel plates of several inches' thickness were chopped andsliced like pieces of cheese. Here the spectator stared about him inbewilderment and clung to his guide for safety; huge travellingcranes groaned overhead, and infernal engines made deafening clatterupon every side. It was a source of never ending wonder that menshould be able to work in such confusion, with no sense of dangerand no consciousness of all the uproar.

　　Montague's eye roamed from place to place; then suddenly it wasarrested by a sight even unusually startling. Across on the otherside of the mill was a steel shaft, which turned one of the largestof the rollers. It was high up in the air, and revolving withunimaginable speed, and Montague saw a man with an oil-can in hishand rest the top of a ladder upon this shaft, and proceed to climbup.

　　He touched his guide upon the arm and pointed. "Isn't thatdangerous?" he shouted.

　　"It's against orders," said the man. "But they will do it."

　　And even while the words of a reply were upon his lips, somethinghappened which turned the sound into a scream of horror. Montaguestood with his hand still pointing, his whole body turned to stone.Instantaneously, as if by the act of a magician, the man upon theladder had disappeared; and instead there was a hazy mist about theshaft, and the ladder tumbling to the ground.

　　No one else in the mill appeared to have noticed it. Montague'sguide leaped forward, dodging a white-hot plate upon its journey tothe roller, and rushed down the room to where the engineer wasstanding by his machinery. For a period which could not have beenless than a minute, Montague stood staring at the horrible sight;and then slowly he saw what had been a mist beginning to defineitself as the body of a man whirling about the shaft.

　　Then, as the machinery moved more slowly yet, and the din in themill subsided, he saw several men raise the ladder again to theshaft and climb up. When the revolving had stopped entirely, theyproceeded to cut the body loose; but Montague did not wait to seethat. He was white and sick, and he turned and went outside.

　　He went away to another part of the yards and sat down in the shadeof one of the buildings, and told himself that that was the way oflife. All the while the din of the mills continued withoutinterruption. A while later he saw four men go past, carrying astretcher covered with a sheet. It dropped blood at every step, butMontague noticed that the men who passed it gave it no more than acasual glance. When he passed the plate-mill again, he saw that itwas busy as ever; and when he went out at the front gate, he saw aman who had been pointed out to him as the foreman of the mill,engaged in picking another labourer from the group which wasstanding about.

　　He returned to the president's office, and found that Mr. Andrewshad just arrived. A breeze was blowing through the office, butAndrews, who was stout, was sitting in his chair with his coat andvest off, vigorously wielding a palmleaf fan.

　　"How do you do, Mr. Montague?" he said. "Did you ever know suchheat? Sit down--you look done up."

　　"I have just seen an accident in the mills," said Montague.

　　"Oh!" said the other. "Too bad. But one finds that steel can't bemade without accidents. We had a blast-furnace explosion the otherday, and killed eight. They are mostly foreigners, though--'hunkies,'they call them."

　　Then Andrews pressed a button, summoning his secretary.

　　"Will you please bring those plans?" he said; and to Montague'ssurprise he proceeded to spread before him a complete copy of theold reports of the Northern Mississippi survey, together with thesurveyor's original drawings.

　　"Did Mr. Carter let you have them?" Montague asked; and the othersmiled a dry smile.

　　"We have them," he said. "And now the thing for you to do is to haveyour own surveyors go over the ground. I imagine that when you gettheir reports, the proposition will look very different."

　　These were the instructions which came in a letter from Price thenext day; and with the help of Andrews Montague made the necessaryarrangements, and the next night he left for New York.

　　He arrived upon a Friday afternoon. He found that Alice had departedfor her visit to the Prentices', and that Oliver was in Newport,also. There was an invitation from Mrs. Prentice to him to jointhem; as Price was away, he concluded that he would treat himself toa rest, and accordingly took an early train on Saturday morning.

　　Montague's initiation into Society had taken place in thewinter-time, and he had yet to witness its vacation activities. WhenSociety's belles and dames had completed a season's round ofdinner-parties and dances, they were more or less near to nervousprostration, and Newport was the place which they had selected toretire to and recuperate. It was an old-fashioned New England town,not far from the entrance to Long Island Sound, and from a villagewith several grocery shops and a tavern, it had been converted by amagic touch of Society into the most famous and expensive resort inthe world. Estates had been sold there for as much as a dollar asquare foot, and it was nothing uncommon to pay ten thousand a monthfor a "cottage."

　　The tradition of vacation and of the country was preserved in suchterms as "cottage." You would be invited to a "lawn-party," and youwould find a blaze of illumination, and potted plants enough to filla score of green-houses, and costumes and jewelled splendoursuggesting the Field of the Cloth of Gold. You would be invited to a"picnic" at Gooseberry Point, and when you went there, you wouldfind gorgeous canopies spread overhead, and velvet carpets underfoot, and scores of liveried lackeys in attendance, and every luxuryone would have expected in a Fifth Avenue mansion. You would take acab to drive to this "picnic," and it would cost you five dollars;yet you must on no account go without a cab. Even if the destinationwas just around the corner, a stranger would commit a breach of theproprieties if he were to approach the house on foot.

　　Coming to Newport as Montague did, directly from the MississippiSteel Mills, produced the strangest possible effect upon him. He hadseen the social splurge in the Metropolis, and had heard thefabulous prices that people had paid for things. But these thousandsand millions had seemed mere abstractions. Now suddenly they hadbecome personified--he had seen where they came from, where all theluxury and splendour were produced! And with every glance that hecast at the magnificence about him, he thought of the men who weretoiling in the blinding heat of the blast-furnaces.

　　Here was the palace of the Wymans, upon the laying out of thegrounds of which a half million dollars had been spent; the stonewall which surrounded it was famous upon two continents, because ithad cost a hundred thousand dollars. And it was to make steel railsfor the Wymans that the slaves of the mills were toiling!

　　Here was the palace of the Eldridge Devons, with a greenhouse whichhad cost one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and which merelysupplied the daily needs of its owners. Here was the famous tuliptree, which had been dug up and brought a distance of fifty miles,at a cost of a thousand dollars. And Montague had seen in the makingthe steel for one of the great hotels of the Eldridge Devons!

　　And here was the Walling establishment, the "three-million-dollarpalace on a desert," as Mrs. Billy Alden had described it. Montaguehad read of the famous mantel in its entrance hall, made fromPompeiian marble, and costing seventy-five thousand dollars. And theWallings were the railroad kings who transported Mississippi Steel!

　　And from that his thoughts roamed on to the slaves of other mills,to the men and women and little children shut up to toil in shopsand factories and mines for these people who flaunted their luxuryabout him. They had come here from every part of the country, withtheir millions drawn from every kind of labour. Here was the greatwhite marble palace of the Johnsons--the ceilings, floors, and wallsof its state apartments had all been made in France; its fences andgates, even its locks and hinges, had been made from special designsby famous artists. The Johnsons were lords of railroads and coal,and ruled the state of West Virginia with a terrible hand. Thecourts and the legislature were but branches of old Johnson'soffice, and Montague knew of mining villages which were ownedoutright by the Company, and were like stockaded forts; the wretchedtoilers could not buy so much as a pint of milk outside of theCompany store, and even the country doctor could not enter the gateswithout a pass.

　　And beyond that was the home of the Warfields, whose fortune camefrom great department stores, in which young girls worked for twodollars and a half a week, and eked out their existence byprostitution. And this was the summer that Warfield's youngestdaughter was launched, and for her debutante dance they built aballroom which cost thirty thousand dollars--and was torn down theday afterwards!

　　And beyond this, upon the cliffs, was the castle of the Mayers,whose fortunes came from coal.--Montague thought of the young manwho had invented the device for the automatic weighing of coal as itwas loaded upon steam-ships. Major Venable had hinted to him thatthe reason the Coal Trust would not consider it, was because theywere selling short weight; and since then he had investigated thestory, and learned that this was true, and that it was old Mayerhimself who had devised the system. And here was his palace, andhere were his sons and daughters--among the most haughty andexclusive of Society's entertainers!

　　So you might drive down the streets and point out the mansions andcall the roll of the owners--kings of oil and steel and railroadsand mines! Here everything was beauty and splendour. Here werevelvet lawns and gardens of rare flowers, and dancing and feastingand merriment. It seemed very far from the sordid strife ofcommerce, from poverty and toil and death. But Montague carried withhim the sight that he had seen in the plate-mill, the misty blurabout the whirling shaft, and the shrouded form upon the stretcher,dripping blood.

　　* * *

　　He was so fortunate as to meet Alice and her friends upon thestreet, and he drove with them to the bathing beach which Societyhad purchased and maintained for its own exclusive use. The firstperson he saw here was Reggie Mann, who came and took possession ofAlice. Reggie would not swim himself, because he did not care toexhibit his spindle legs; he was watching with disapproving eye theantics of Harry Percy, his dearest rival. Percy was a man aboutforty years of age, a cotillion-leader by profession; and he causedkeen delight to the spectators upon the beach by wearing a monoclein the water.

　　They had lunch at the Casino, and then went for a sail in thePrentices' new racing yacht. It was estimated just at this time thatthere was thirty millions' worth of steam and sailing pleasure-craft inNewport harbour, and the bay was a wonderful sight that afternoon.

　　They came back rather early, however, as Alice had an engagement fora drive at six o'clock, and it was necessary for her to change hercostume before she went. It was necessary to change it again beforedinner, which was at eight o'clock; and Montague learned uponinquiry that it was customary to make five or six such changesduring the day. The great ladies of Society were adepts in this art,and prided themselves upon the perfect system which enabled them toaccomplish it.

　　All of Montague's New York acquaintances were here in theirsplendour: Miss Yvette Simpkins, with her forty trunks of new Pariscostumes; Mrs. Billy Alden, who had just launched an aristocraticand exclusive bridge-club for ladies; Mrs. Winnie Duval, who hadcreated a sensation by the rumour of her intention to introduce thesimple life at Newport; and Mrs. Vivie Patton, whose husband hadcommitted suicide as the only means of separating her from herCount.

　　It chanced to be the evening of Mrs. Landis's long-expecteddinner-dance. When you went to the Landis mansion, you drovedirectly into the building, which had a court so large that a coachand four could drive around it. The entire ground floor was occupiedby what were said to be the most elaborately equipped stables in theworld. Your horses vanished magically through sliding doors at oneside, and your carriage at the other side, and in front of you wasthe entrance to the private apartments, with liveried flunkiesstanding in state.

　　There were five tables at this dinner, each seating ten persons.There was a huge floral umbrella for the centrepiece, and anelaborate colour effect in flowers. During the dance, screens wereput up concealing this end of the ballroom, and when they wereremoved sometime after midnight, the tables were found set for thesupper, with an entirely new scenic effect.

　　They danced until broad daylight; Montague was told of parties atwhich the guests had adjourned in the morning to play tennis. Allthese people would be up by nine or ten o'clock the next day, and hewould see them in the shops and at the bathing beach before noon.And this was Society's idea of "resting" from the labours of thewinter season!

　　After the supper Montague was taken in charge by Mrs. CarolineSmythe, the lady who had once introduced him to her cats and dogs.Mrs. Smythe had become greatly interested in Mrs. Winnie'santi-vivisection crusade, and told him all about it while theystrolled out upon the loggia of the Landis palace, and stood andwatched the sunrise over the bay.

　　"Do you see that road back of us?" said Mrs. Smythe. "That is theone the Landises have just succeeded in closing. I suppose you'veheard the story."

　　"No," said Montague, "I haven't heard it."

　　"It's the joke of Newport," said the lady. "They had to buy up thetown council to do it. There was a sight-seers' bus that used todrive up that road every day, and the driver would rein up hishorses and stand up and point with his whip.

　　"'This, ladies and gentlemen,' he'd say, 'is the home of theLandises, and just beyond there is the home of the Joneses. Onceupon a time Mr. Smith had a wife and got tired of her, and Mr. Joneshad a wife and got tired of her; so they both got divorces andexchanged, and now Mrs. Smith is living in Mr. Jones's house, andMrs. Jones is living in Mr. Smith's. Giddap!'"