XVIII
To this short and inconclusive interview, however, Baker did not fail toadd somewhat through Oldham. The agent used none of the circumspectionBaker had considered necessary, but rode openly into camp and asked forBob. The latter, remembering Oldham's reputed antagonism to Baker, couldnot but admire the convenience of the arrangement. The lank and sinisterfigure of Saleratus Bill was observed to accompany that of the landagent, but the gun man, at a sign from his principal; did not dismount.He greeted no one, but sat easily across his saddle, holding the reinsof both horses in his left hand, his jaws working slowly, his evil,little eyes wandering with sardonic interest over the people andbelongings at headquarters. Ware nodded to him. The man's eyes halfclosed and for an instant the motion of his jaw quickened. Otherwise hemade no sign.
Oldham drew Bob one side.
"I want to talk to you where we won't be interrupted," he requested.
"Talk on," said Bob, seating himself on a log. "The open is as good aplace as another; you can see your eavesdroppers there."
Oldham considered this a moment, then nodded his head, and took hisplace by the young man's side.
"It's about those Modoc lands," said he.
"I suppose so," said Bob.
"Mr. Baker tells me you fully intend to prosecute a suit for theirrecovery."
"I believe the Government intends to do so. I am, of course, only theagent of the Government in this or any other matter."
"In other words, you have received orders to proceed?"
"I would hardly be acting without them, would I?"
"Of course; I see. Mr. Baker is sometimes hasty. Assuming that you caredto do so, is there no way you could avoid this necessity?"
"None that I can discover. I must obey orders as long as I'm agovernment officer."
"Exactly," said Oldham. "Now we reach the main issue. What if you werenot a government officer?"
"But I am."
"Assume that you were not."
"Naturally my successor would carry out the same orders."
"But," suggested Oldham, "it might very well be that another man wouldnot be--well, quite so qualified to carry out the case--"
"You mean I'm the only one who heard Baker say he was going to cheat theGovernment," put in Bob bluntly.
"You and Mr. Welton and Mr. Baker were the only ones present at acertain interview," he amended. "Now, in the event that you were notpersonally in charge of the case would you feel it necessary tovolunteer testimony unsuspected by anybody but you three?"
"If I were to resign, I should volunteer nothing," stated Bob.
Oldham's frosty eyes gleamed with satisfaction behind their glasses.
"That's good!" he cried.
"But I have no intention of resigning," Bob concluded.
"That is a matter open to discussion," Oldham took him up. "There are agreat many reasons that you have not yet considered."
"I'm ready to hear them," said Bob.
"Look at the case as it stands. In the first place, you cannot but admitthat Mr. Baker and the men associated with him have done great thingsfor this country. When they came into it, it was an undevelopedwilderness, supplying nothing of value to civilization, and supportingonly a scattered and pastoral people. The valley towns went about theirbusiness on horse cars; they either paid practically a prohibitive pricefor electricity and gas, or used oil and candles; they drank well waterand river water. The surrounding country was either a desert given overto sage brush and jack rabbits, or raised crops only according to theamount of rain that fell. You can have no conception, Mr. Orde, of thecondition of the country in some of these regions before irrigation. Inplace of this the valley people now enjoy rapid transportation, not onlythrough the streets of their towns, but also by trolley lines far out inall directions. They have cheap and abundant electric light and power.They possess pure drinking water. Above all they raise their certaincrops irrespective of what rains the heavens may send."
Bob admitted that electricity and irrigation are good things.
"These advantages have drawn people. I am not going to bore you with alot of statistics, but the population of all White Oaks County, forinstance, is now above fifty thousand people, where before was a scantten. But how much agricultural wealth do you suppose these people_export_ each year? Not how much they _produce_, but their netexportations?"
"Give it up."
"Fifty million dollars worth! That's a marvellous per capita."
"It is indeed," said Bob.
"Now," said Oldham impressively, "that wealth would be absolutelynon-existent, that development could not have taken place, _did_ nottake place, until men of Mr. Baker's genius and courage came along totake hold. I have personally the greatest admiration for Mr. Baker as atype of citizen without whom our resources and possibilities would be inthe same backward condition as obtains in Canada."
"I'm with you there," said Bob.
"Mr. Baker has added a community to the state, cities to thecommonwealth, millions upon millions of dollars to the nation's wealth.He took long chances, and he won out. Do not you think in return thenational resources should in a measure reward him for the advantages hehas conferred and the immense wealth he has developed? Mind you, Mr.Baker has merely taken advantage of the strict letter of the law. It ismerely open to another interpretation. He needs this particular body oftimber for the furtherance of one of his greatest quasi-publicenterprises; and who has a better right in the distribution of thepublic domain than the man who uses it to develop the country? Thepublic land has always been intended for the development of resources,and has always been used as such."
Oldham talked fluently and well. He argued at length along the lines setforth above.
"You have to use lubricating oil to overcome friction on a machine," heconcluded. "You have to subsidize a railroad by land grants to enter anew country. By the same immutable law you must offer extraordinaryinducements to extraordinary men. Otherwise they will not take therisks."
"I've nothing to do with the letter of the law," Bob replied; "only withits spirit and intention. The main idea of the mineral act is to givelegitimate miners the timber they need for legitimate mining. Baker doesnot pretend, except officially, that he ever intends to do anything withhis claims. He certainly has done a great work for the country. I'llagree to everything you say there. But he came into California worthnothing, and he is now reputed to be worth ten millions and to controlvast properties. That would seem to be reward enough for almost anybody.He does not need this Basin property for any of his power projects,except that its possession would let him off from paying a veryreasonable tax on the waterpower he has been accustomed to getting free.Cutting that timber will not develop the country any further. I don'tsee the value of your argument in the present case."
"Mr. Baker has invested in this project a great many millions ofdollars," said Oldham. "He must be adequately safeguarded. To furtherdevelop and even to maintain the efficiency of what he has, he mustoperate to a large extent on borrowed capital. Borrowing depends oncredit; and credit depends on confidence. If conditions are proved to beunstable, capital will prove more than cautious in risking itself. Thatis elementary. Surely you can see that point."
"I can see that, all right," admitted Bob.
"Well," went on Oldham, taking heart, "think of the responsibility youare assuming in pushing forward a mere technicality, and a debatabletechnicality at that. You are not only jeopardizing a great andestablished business--I will say little of that--but you are risking theprosperity of a whole countryside. If Mr. Baker's enterprises shouldquit this section, the civilization of the state would receive a serioussetback. Thousands of men would be thrown out of employment, not only onthe company's works, but all along the lines of its holdings; electriclight and power would increase in price--a heavy burden to the consumer;the country trolley lines must quit business, for only withwater-generated power can they compete with railroads at all; fertilelands would revert to desert--"
; "I am not denying the value of Mr. Baker's enterprises," broke in Bob;"but what has a billion and a half of timber to do with all this?"
"Mr. Baker has long been searching for an available supply for use inthe enterprises," said Oldham, eagerly availing himself of this opening."You probably have a small idea of the immense lumber purchasesnecessary for the construction of the power plants, trolley lines, androads projected by Mr. Baker. Heretofore the company has been forced tobuy its timber in the open market."
"This would be cheaper," suggested Bob.
"Much."
"That would increase net profits, of course. I suppose that wouldresult in increased dividends. Or, perhaps, the public would reap thebenefit in decreased cost of service."
"Undoubtedly both. Certainly electricity and transportation wouldcheapen."
"The same open markets can still supply the necessary timber?"
"At practically prohibitive cost," Oldham reminded.
"Which the company has heretofore afforded--and still paid itsdividends," said Bob calmly. "Well, Mr. Oldham, even were I inclined totake all you say at its face value; even were I willing to admit thatunless Mr. Baker were given this timber his business would fail, thecountry would be deprived of the benefits of his enterprise, and thepublic seriously incommoded, I would still be unable to follow the logicof your reasoning. Mind you, I do not admit anything of the kind. I donot anticipate any more dire results than that the dividends will remainat their present per cent. But even supposing your argument to be wellfounded, this timber belongs to the people of the United States. It ispart of John Jones's heritage, whether John Jones lives in White Oaks orNew York. Why should I permit Jones of New York to be robbed in favourof Jones of White Oaks--especially since Jones of New York put me hereto look after his interests for him? That's the real issue; and it'svery simple."
"You look at the matter from a wrong point of view----" began Oldham,and stopped. The land agent was shrewd, and knew when he had come to an_impasse_.
"I always respect a man who does his duty," he began again, "and I cansee how you're tied up in this matter. But a resignation could bearranged for very easily. Mr. Baker knows thoroughly both your abilityand experience, and has long regretted that he has not been able toavail himself of them. Of course, as you realize, the great future ofall this country is not along the lines even of such great industries aslumber manufacture, but in agriculture and in waterpower engineering.Here, more than anywhere else in the world, Water is King!"
A recollection tickled Bob. He laughed outright. Oldham glanced at himsharply.
"Oh, the Lucky Lands," said he at last; "I'd forgotten you had ever beenthere. Well, the saying is as true now as it was then. The great futurefor any young man is along those lines. I am sure--in fact, I am told tosay with authority--that Mr. Baker would be only too pleased to have youcome in with him on this new enterprise he is opening up."
"As how?"
"As stockholder to the extent of ten thousand shares preferred, and asalaried position in the field, of course. But, that is a small mattercompared with the future opportunities--"
"It's cheering to know that I'm worth so much," interrupted Bob. "Sharesnow worth par?"
"A fraction over."
"One hundred thousand and some odd dollars," observed Bob. "It's a nicetidy bribe; and if I were any sort of a bribe taker at all, I'd surelyfeel proud and grateful. Only I'm not. So you might just as well havemade it a million, and then I'd have felt still more set up over it."
"I hope you don't think I'm a bribe giver, either," said Oldham. "Iadmit my offer was not well-timed; but it has been long undercontemplation, and I mentioned it as it occurred to me."
Having thus glided over this false start, the land agent promptly openedanother consideration.
"Perhaps we are at fatal variance on our economics," said he; "but howabout the justice of the thing? When you get right down to cases, howabout the rest of them? I'll venture to say there are not two privatetimber holdings of any size in this country that have been acquiredstrictly within the letter of the law. Do you favour generalconfiscation?"
"I believe in the law," declared Bob, "and I do not believe yourstatement."
Oldham rose.
"I tell you this, young man," he said coldly: "you can prosecute theModoc Company or not, as you please--or, perhaps, I should say, you canintroduce your private testimony or not, as you please. We arereasonable; and we know you cannot control government prosecutions. Butthe Modoc Company intends that you play no favourites."
"I do not understand you," said Bob with equal coldness.
"If the Modoc Company is prosecuted, we will make it our business to seethat every great land owner holding title in this Forest is brought intothe courts for the same offence. If the letter of the law is to beenforced against us, we'll see that it is enforced against all others."
Bob bowed. "Suits me," said he.
"Does it?" sneered Oldham. He produced a bundle of papers bound by athick elastic. "Well, I've saved you some trouble in your next case.Here are certified copies of the documents for it, copied at Sacramento,and subscribed to before a notary. Of course, you can verify them; butyou'll find them accurate."
He handed them to Bob, who took them, completely puzzled. Oldham's nextspeech enlightened him.
"You'll find there," said the older man, tapping the papers in Bob'shand, "the documents in full relating to the Wolverine Company's landholdings, and how they were acquired. After looking them over, we shallexpect you to bring suit. If you do not do so, we will take steps toforce you to do so--or, failing this, to resign!"
With these words, Oldham turned square on his heel and marched to whereSaleratus Bill was stationed with the horses. Bob stared after him, thebundle of papers in his hand. When Oldham had mounted, Bob looked downon these papers.
"The second line of defence!" said he.
The Rules of the Game Page 76