Chapter 13

by Upton Sinclair

　　Alice was up early the next morning to go to church with HarryCurtiss, but Montague, who had really come to rest, was later inarising. Afterwards he took a stroll through the streets, watchingthe people. He was met by Mrs. De Graffenried, who, after her usualfashion, invited him to come round to lunch. He went, and met aboutforty other persons who had been invited in the same casual way,including his brother Ollie--and to his great consternation, Ollie'sfriend, Mr. Gamble!

　　Gamble was clad in a spotless yachting costume, which produced amost comical effect upon his expansive person. He greeted Montaguewith his usual effusiveness. "How do you do, Mr. Montague--how doyou do?" he said. "I've been hearing about you since I met youlast."

　　"In what way?" asked Montague.

　　"I understand that you have gone with the Mississippi SteelCompany," said Gamble.

　　"After a fashion," the other assented.

　　"You want to be careful--you are dealing with a smooth crowd!Smoother even than the men in the Trust, I fancy." And the littleman added, with a twinkle in his eye: "I'm accustomed to say thereare two kinds of rascals in the oil business; there are the rascalswho found they could rely upon each other, and they are in theTrust; and there are the rascals the devil himself couldn't relyupon, and they're the independents. I ought to know what I'm talkingabout, because I was an independent myself."

　　Mr. Gamble chuckled gleefully over this witticism, which wasevidently one which he relied upon for the making of conversation."How do you do, Captain?" he said, to a man who was passing. "Mr.Montague, let me introduce my friend Captain Gill."

　　Montague turned and faced a tall and dignified-looking navalofficer. "Captain Henry Gill, of the Allegheny."

　　"How do you, Mr. Montague?" said the Captain.

　　"Oliver Montague's brother," added Gamble, by way of furtherintroduction. And then, espying someone else coming whom he knew, hewaddled off down the room, leaving Montague in conversation with theofficer.

　　Captain Gill was in command of one of the half-dozen vessels whichthe government obligingly sent to assist in maintaining the gaietiesof the Newport season. He was an excellent dancer, and a favouritewith the ladies, and an old crony of Mrs. De Graffenried's. "Haveyou known Mr. Gamble long?" he asked, by way of making conversation.

　　"I met him once before," said Montague. "My brother knows him."

　　"Ollie seems to be a great favourite of his," said the Captain."Queer chap."

　　Montague assented readily.

　　"I met him in Brooklyn," continued the other, seeming to feel thatacquaintance with Gamble called for explanation. "He was quitechummy with the officers at the Navy Yard. Retired millionairesdon't often fall in their way."

　　"I should imagine not," said Montague, smiling. "But I was surprisedto meet him here."

　　"You'd meet him in heaven," said the other, with a laugh, "if hemade up his mind that he wanted to go there. He is a good-naturedpersonage; but I can tell you that anyone who thinks that Gambledoesn't know what he's about will make a sad mistake."

　　Montague thought of this remark at lunch, where he sat at table onthe opposite side to Gamble. Next to him sat Vivie Fatten, who madethe little man the victim of her raillery. It was not particularlydelicate wit, but Gamble was tough, and took it all with a cheerfulgrin.

　　He was a mystery which Montague could not solve. To be sure he wasrich, and spent his money like water; but then there was no scarcityof money in this crowd. Montague found himself wondering whether hewas there because Mrs. De Graffenried and her friends liked to havesomebody they could snub and wipe their feet upon. His eye ran downthe row of people sitting at the table, and the contrast betweenthem and Gamble was an amusing one. Mrs. De Graffenried was fond ofthe society of young people, and most of her guests were of thesecond or even the third generation. The man from Pittsburg seemedto be the only one there who had made his own money, and who borethe impress of the money struggle upon him. Montague smiled at thethought. He seemed the very incarnation of the spirit of oil; he wasgross and unpleasant, while in the others the oil had been refinedto a delicate perfume. Yet somehow he seemed the most human personthere. No doubt he was crudely egotistical; and yet, if he wasinterested in himself, he was also interested in other people, whileamong Mrs. De Graffenried's intimates it was a sign of vulgarity tobe interested in anything.

　　He seemed to have taken quite a fancy to Montague, for reasons bestknown to himself. He came up to him again, after the luncheon. "Thisis the first time you've been here, Oliver tells me," said he.

　　Montague assented, and the other added: "You'd better come and letme show you the town. I have my car here."

　　Montague had no engagement, and no excuse handy. "It's very good ofyou--" he began.

　　"All right," said Gamble. "Come on."

　　And he took him out and seated him in his huge red touring-car,which had a seat expressly built for its owner, not too deep, andvery low, so that his fat little legs would reach the floor.

　　Gamble settled back in the cushions with a sigh. "Rum sort of aplace this, ain't it?" said he.

　　"It's interesting for a short visit," said Montague.

　　"You can count me out of it," said the other. "I like to spend mysummers in a place where I can take my coat off. And I prefer beerto champagne in hot weather, anyhow."

　　Montague did not reply.

　　"Such an ungodly lot of snobs a fellow does meet!" remarked hishost, cheerily. "They have a fine time making fun of me--it amusesthem, and I don't mind. Sometimes it does make you mad, though; youfeel you'd like to make them swallow you, anyway. But then youthink, What's the use of going after something you don't want, justbecause other people say you can't have it?"

　　It was on Montague's lips to ask, "Then why do you come here?" Buthe forbore.

　　The car sped on down the stately driveway, and his companionproceeded to point out the mansions and the people, and to discussthem in his own peculiar style.

　　"See that yellow brick house in there," said he. "That belongs toAllis, the railroad man. He used to live in Pittsburg, and Iremember him thirty years ago, when he had one carriage for histhree babies, and pushed them himself, by thunder. He was glad toborrow money from me then, but now he looks the other way when I goby.

　　"Allis used to be in the steel business six or eight years ago,"Gamble continued, reminiscently. "Then he sold out--it was the realbeginning of the forming of the Steel Trust. Did you ever hear thatstory?"

　　"Not that I know of," said Montague.

　　"Well," said the other, "if you are going to match yourself againstthe Steel crowd, it's a good idea to know about them. Did you evermeet Jim Stagg?"

　　"The Wall Street plunger?" asked Montague. "He's a mere name to me."

　　"His last exploit was to pull off a prize fight in one of the swellhotels in New York, and one nigger punched the other through aplate-glass mirror. Stagg comes from the wild West, you know, andhe's wild as they make 'em--my God, I could tell you some storiesabout him that'd make your hair stand up! Perhaps you remember sometime ago he raided Tennessee Southern in the market and captured it;and old Waterman testified that he took it away from him because hedidn't consider he was a fit man to own it. As a matter of fact,that was just pure bluff, for Waterman uses him in little jobs likethat all the time.--Well, six or eight years ago, Stagg owned a bigsteel plant out West; and there was a mill in Indiana, belonging toAllis, that interfered with their business. One time Stagg and someof his crowd had been on a spree for several days, and late onenight they got to talking about Allis. 'Let's buy the----out,' saidStagg, so they ordered a special and a load of champagne, and awaythey went to the city in Indiana. They got to Allis's house aboutfour o'clock in the morning, and they rang the bell and banged onthe door, and after a while the butler came, half awake.

　　"'Is Allis in?' asked Stagg, and before the fellow could answer, thewhole crowd pushed into the hall, and Stagg stood at the foot of thestairs and roared--he's got a voice like a bull, you know--'Allis,Allis, come down here!'

　　"Allis came to the head of the stairs in his nightshirt, halffrightened to death.

　　"'Allis, we want to buy your steel plant,' said Stagg.

　　"'Buy my steel plant!' gasped Allis.

　　"'Sure, buy it outright! Spot cash! We'll pay you five hundredthousand for it.'

　　"'But it cost me over twelve hundred thousand,' said Allis.

　　"'Well, then, we'll pay you twelve hundred thousand,' saidStagg--'God damn you, we'll pay you fifteen hundred thousand!'

　　"'My plant isn't for sale,' said Allis.

　　"'We'll pay you two million!' shouted Stagg.

　　"'It isn't for sale, I tell you.'

　　"'We'll pay you two million and a half! Come on down here!'

　　"'Do you mean that?' gasped Allis. He could hardly credit his ears.

　　"'Come downstairs and I'll write you a check!' said Stagg. And sothey hauled him down, and they bought his mill. Then they openedsome more champagne, and Allis began to get good-natured, too.

　　"'There's only one thing the matter with my mill,' said he, 'andthat's Jones's mill over in Harristown. The railroads give himrebates, and he undersells me.'

　　"'Well, damn his soul,' said Stagg, 'we'll have his mill, too.'

　　"And so they bundled into their special again, and about six o'clockin the morning they got to Harristown, and they bought another mill.And that started them, you know. They'd never had such fun in theirlives before. It seems that Stagg had just cleaned up ten or twelvemillions on a big Wall Street plunge, and they blew in every dollar,buying steel mills--and paying two or three prices for every one,of course."

　　Gamble paused and chuckled to himself. "What I'm telling you is thestory that Stagg told me," said he. "And of course you've got tomake allowances. He said he had no idea of what Dan Waterman hadbeen planning, but I fancy that was a lie. Harrison of Pittsburg hadbeen threatening to build a railroad of his own, and take away hisbusiness from Waterman's roads, and so there was nothing forWaterman to do but buy him out at three times what his mills wereworth. He took the mills that Stagg had bought at the same time.Stagg had paid two or three prices, and Waterman paid him a coupleof prices more, and then he passed them on to the American peoplefor a couple of prices more than that."

　　Gamble paused. "That's where they get these fortunes," he added,waving his fat little hand. "Sometimes it makes a fellow laugh tothink of it. Every concern they bought was overcapitalised to beginwith; I doubt if two hundred million dollars' worth of honestdollars was ever put into the Steel Trust properties, and theycapitalised it at a billion, and now they've raised it to a billionand a half! The men who pulled it off made hundreds of millions, andthe poor public that bought the common stock saw it go down to six!They gave old Harrison a four-hundred-million-dollar mortgage on theproperty, and he sits back and grins, and wonders why a man can'tdie poor!"

　　Gamble's car was opposite one of the clubs. Suddenly he signalledhis chauffeur to stop.

　　"Hello, Billy!" he called; and a young naval officer who was walkingdown the steps turned and came toward him.

　　"What have you been doing with yourself?" said Gamble. "Mr.Montague, my friend Lieutenant Long, of the Engineers. Where are yougoing, Billy?"

　　"Nowhere in particular," said the officer.

　　"Get in," said Gamble, pointing to the vacant seat between them. "Iam showing Mr. Montague the town."

　　The other climbed in, and they went on. "The Lieutenant has justcome up from Brooklyn," he continued. "Lively times we had inBrooklyn, didn't we, Billy? Tell me what you have been doinglately."

　　"I'm working hard," said the Lieutenant--"studying."

　　"Studying here in Newport?" laughed Gamble.

　　"That's easy enough when you belong to the Engineers," said theother. "We are working-men, and they don't want us at their balls."

　　"By the way, Gamble," he added, after a moment, "I was looking foryou. I want you to help me."

　　"Me?" said Gamble.

　　"Yes," said the other. "I have just had notice from the Departmentthat I am one of a board of five that has been appointed to draw upspecifications for machine oil for the Navy."

　　"What can I do about it?" asked Gamble.

　　"I want you to help me draw them up."

　　"But I don't know anything about machine oil."

　　"You cannot possibly know less than I do," said the Lieutenant."Surely, if you have been in the oil business, you can give me somesort of an idea about machine oil."

　　Gamble thought for a minute. "I might try," he said. "But would itbe the proper thing for me to do? Of course, I'm out of the businessmyself; but I have friends who might bid for the contract."

　　"Well, your friends can take their chances with the rest," said theLieutenant. "I am a friend, too, hang it. And how in the world am Ito find out anything about oil?"

　　Gamble was silent again. "Well, I'll do what I can for you," hesaid, finally. "I'll write out what I know about the qualities ofgood oil, and you can use it as you think best."

　　"All right," said the Lieutenant, with relief.

　　"But you'll have to agree to say nothing about it," said Gamble."It's a delicate matter, you understand."

　　"You may trust me for that," said the other, laughing. So thesubject was dropped, and they went on with their ride.

　　Half an hour later Gamble set Montague down, at General Prentice'sdoor, and he bade them farewell and went in.

　　The General was coming down the stairs. "Hello, Allan," he said."Where have you been?"

　　"Seeing the place a little," said Montague.

　　"Come into the drawing-room," said the General. "There's a man inthere you ought to know.

　　"One of the brainiest newspaper men in Wall Street," he added, as hewent across the hall,--"the financial man of the Express."

　　Montague entered the room and was introduced to a powerfully builtand rather handsome young fellow, who had not so long ago beencentre-rush upon a famous football team. "Well, Bates," said theGeneral, "what are you after now?"

　　"I'm trying to get the inside story of the failure of Grant andWard," said Bates. "I supposed you'd know about it, if anyone did."

　　"I know about it," said the General, "but the circumstances are suchthat I'm not free to tell--at least, not for publication. I'll tellyou privately, if you want to know."

　　"No," said Bates, "I'd rather you didn't do that; I can find it outsomehow."

　　"Did you come all the way to Newport to see me?" asked the General.

　　"Oh, no, not entirely," said Bates. "I'm to get an interview withWyman about the new bond issue of his road. What do you think of themarket, General?"

　　"Things look bad to me," said Prentice. "It's a good time to reefsail."

　　Then Bates turned to Montague. "I think I passed you a while ago inthe street," he said pleasantly. "You were with James Gamble,weren't you?"

　　"Yes," said Montague. "Do you know him?"

　　"Bates knows everybody," put in the General; "that's his specialty."

　　"I happen to know Gamble particularly well," said Bates. "I have abrother in his office in Pittsburg. What in the world do you supposehe is doing in Newport?"

　　"Just seeing the world, so he told me," said Montague. "He hasnothing to do since his company sold out."

　　"Sold out!" echoed Bates. "What do you mean?"

　　"Why, the Trust has bought him out," said Montague.

　　The other stared at him. "What makes you think that?" he asked.

　　"He told me so himself," was the answer.

　　"Oh!" laughed the other. "Then it's just some dodge that he's upto!"

　　"You think he hasn't sold?"

　　"I don't think it, I know it," said Bates. "At any rate, he hadn'tsold three days ago. I had a letter from my brother saying that theywere expecting to land a big oil contract with the government thatwould put them on Easy Street for the next five years!"

　　Montague said no more. But he did some thinking. Experience hadsharpened his wits, and by this time he knew a clew when he met it.A while later, when Bates had gone and his brother had come in withAlice, he got Oliver off in a corner and demanded, "How much are youto get out of that oil contract?"

　　The other stared at him in consternation. "Good heavens!" heexclaimed. "Did he tell you about it?"

　　"He told me some things," said Montague, "and I guessed the rest."

　　Oliver was watching him anxiously. "See here, Allan," he said,"you'll keep quiet about it!"

　　"I imagine I will," said the other. "It's none of my business, thatI can see."

　　Then suddenly Oliver broke into a smile of amusement. "Say, Allan!"he exclaimed. "He's a clever dog, isn't he!"

　　"Very clever," admitted the other.

　　"He's been after that thing for six months, you know--and just assmooth and quiet! It's about the slickest game I ever heard of!"

　　"But how could he know what officers were to make out thosespecifications?"

　　"Oh, that's easy," said the other. "That was the beginning of thewhole thing. They got a tip that the contract was to be let, andthey had no trouble in finding out the names of the officers. Thatkind of thing is common, you know; the bureaus in Washington arerotten."

　　"I see," said Montague.

　　"Gamble's company is in a bad way," Oliver continued. "The Trustjust about had it in a corner. But Gamble saw this chance, and hestaked everything on it."

　　"But what's his idea?" asked the other. "What good will it do him towrite the specifications?"

　　"There are five officers," said Oliver, "and he's been laying siegeto every one of them. So now they are all his intimate friends, andevery one of them has come to him for help! So there will go intoWashington five sets of specifications, all different, but eachcontaining one essential point. You see, Gamble's company has apeculiar kind of oil; it contains some ingredient or other--he toldme the name, but I don't remember it now. It doesn't make it anybetter oil, and it doesn't make it any worse; but it's differentfrom any other oil in the world. And now, don't you see--whateverother requirements are specified, this one quality will surelyappear; and there will be only one company in the world that canbid. Of course they will name their own figure, and get a five-yearcontract."

　　"I see," said Montague, drily. "It's a beautiful scheme. And howmuch do you get out of it?"

　　"He paid me ten thousand at the start," said Oliver; "and I am toget five per cent of the first year's contract, whatever that maybe. Gamble says his bid won't be less than half a million, so yousee it was worth while!"

　　And Oliver chuckled to himself. "He's going home to-morrow," headded. "So my job is done. I'll probably never see him again--untilhis four prize daughters get ready for the market!"