A Gentleman from Mississippi - Thomas A. Wise
The highest class lobbyists, those who "swing" the "biggest deals,"
concern themselves only with men who can "handle" or who control
lawmakers. They get regular reports and outline the campaign. Like
crafty spiders they hide in the center of a great web, a web of
bribery, threat, cajolery and intrigue, intent on every victim that is
lured into the glistening meshes.
Only the small fry mingle freely with the legislators in the open, in
the hotels and cafes and in the Capitol corridors.
Jake Steinert did not belong in either of these classes; he ranked
somewhere between the biggest and the smallest. He coupled colossal
boldness with the most expert knowledge of all the intricate workings
of the congressional mechanism. Given money to spend among members to
secure the defeat of a bill, he would frequently put most of the money
in his own pocket and for a comparatively small sum defeat it by
influencing the employees through whose hands it must pass.
"Sit down, Jake. Something to drink?" asked Peabody, reaching for a
decanter.
"No," grunted the lobbyist; "don't drink durin' business hours; only
durin' the day."
"Well, Jake," said the Pennsylvanian, "you probably know something of
what's going on in the naval affairs committee."
"You mean the biggest job of the session?"
"Yes."
"Sure thing, Senator. It's the work of an artist."
"The boss of the Senate" smiled grimly.
"Now, suppose a committeeman named Langdon absolutely refused to be
taken care of, and insisted on handing in a minority report to-morrow,
with a speech that read like the Declaration of Independence?"
Steinert jerked his head forward quickly.
"You mean what would I do if I was--er--if I was runnin' the job?"
"Yes."
Steinert leaned toward Peabody.
"Where do I come in on this?" he asked, suspiciously.
"Come, come, man," was the irritable retort. "I never let a few
dollars stand between myself and my friends."
"All right, Senator."
The lobbyist thrust himself down in his chair, puffed slowly at a
cigar, and gazed thoughtfully at the ceiling.
"Few years ago," he began, after a minute or two, "there was a feller
who was goin' to squeal about a bond issue. He had his speech all
really to warn the country that he thought a crowd of the plutocracy
was goin' to get the bonds to resell to the public at advanced rates.
Well, sir, I arranged to have a carriage, a closed carriage, call that
night to take him to see the President, for he was told the President
sent the carriage for him. When he got out he was at the insane
asylum, an' I can tell you he was bundled into a padded cell in jig
time, where he stayed for three days. 'He thinks he's a member of
Congress,' I told the two huskies that handled him, an' gave 'em each
a twenty-case note. The doctor that signed the necessary papers got
considerable more."
Stevens' gasp of amazement caused the narrator genuine enjoyment.
"I know of a certain Senator who was drunk an' laid away in a Turkish
bath when the roll was called on a certain bill. He was a friend of
Peabody's," laughed the lobbyist to the Mississippian.
"But in this case," said Stevens, "we must be very careful. Possibly
some of your methods in handling the men you go after--"
"Say," interposed Steinert, "you know I don't do all pursuin', all the
goin' after, any more than others in my business. Why, Senator, some
of these Congressmen worry the life out of us folks that sprinkle
the sugar. They accuse us of not lettin' 'em in on things when
they haven't been fed in some time. They come down the trail like
greyhounds coursin' a coyote."
The speaker paused and glanced across at Peabody, who, however, was
too busily engaged in writing in a memorandum book to notice him.
"Why, Senator Stevens," went on the lobbyist, "only to-day a Down East
member held me up to tell me that he was strong for that proposition
to give the A.K. and L. railroad grants of government timber land in
Oregon. He says to me, he says: 'What'n h--l do my constituents in New
England care about things 'way out on the Pacific Coast? I'd give 'em
Yellowstone National Park for a freight sidin' if 'twas any use to
'em,' he says. So you see--"
"I must go," broke in Stevens, rising and glancing at his watch. "It
will soon be daylight."
"If you must have sleep, go; but you must be here at 9 o'clock sharp
in the morning," said Peabody. "Steinert will sleep here with me.
We'll all have breakfast together here in my rooms and a final
consultation."
"You won't plan anything really desperate, Peabody, will you? I think
I'd rather--"
"Nonsense, Stevens, of course not. Our game will be to try to weaken
Langdon, to prove to him in the morning that he alone will suffer,
because our names do not appear in the land deals. The options were
signed and the deeds signed by our agents. Don't you see? Whereas his
daughter and son and future son-in-law actually took land in their own
names."
"How clumsy!"
"Yes. Such amateurism lowers the dignity of the United States Senate,"
Peabody answered, dryly.
"But suppose Langdon does not weaken?" asked Stevens, anxiously, as he
picked up his hat and coat.
"Then we will go into action with our guns loaded," was the reply.
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE HONEYBIRD
In the African jungle dwells a pretty little bird that lives on honey.
The saccharine dainty is there found in the hollows of trees and under
the bark, where what is known as the carpenter bee bores and deposits
his extract from the buds and blossoms of the tropical forest.
The bird is called the "honeybird" because it is a sure guide to the
deposits of the delicacy. The bird dislikes the laborious task of
pecking its way through the bark to reach the honey, and so, wise in
the ways of men, it procures help. It locates a nest of honey, then
flies about until it sees some natives or hunters, to whom it shows
itself. They know the honeybird and know that it will lead them to the
treasure store. Following the bird, which flits just in advance, they
reach the cache of dripping sweetness and readily lay it open with
hatchets or knives. Taking what they want, there is always enough left
clinging to the tree and easily accessible to satisfy the appetite of
the clever little bird.
Senator Stevens of Mississippi bears a marked resemblance to the
honeybird--so much so that he has well won the bird's appellation for
himself. Abnormally keen at locating possibilities for extracting
"honey" from the governmental affairs in Washington, he invariably led
Peabody, representing the hunter with the ax, to the repository. He
would then rely on the Pennsylvanian's superior force to break down
the barriers. Stevens would flutter about and gather up the leavings.
Equally as mercenary as "the boss of the Senate," he lacked Peabody's
iron nerve, determination, resourcefulness and daring. He needed many
hours of sleep. Peabody could work twenty hours at a stretch. He had
to have his meals regularly or else suffer from indigestion. Peabody
sometimes did a day's work on two boiled eggs and a cup of coffee.
The senior Senator from Mississippi had been the first to point out to
Peabody the possibilities for profit in the gulf naval base project,
but the morning following the conference with Steinert when he
rejoined them for breakfast at the Louis Napoleon he was far from
comfortable. He did not mind fighting brain against brain, even though
unprincipled methods were resorted to, but indications were that more
violent agencies would be called into play owing to the complications
that had arisen.
Stevens ate heartily to strengthen his courage. Steinert ate hugely
to strengthen his body. Peabody ate scarcely anything at all--to
strengthen his brain.
Waving away the hotel waiter who had brought the breakfast to his
apartment, Senator Peabody outlined the probable campaign of the day.
"If our best efforts to weaken and scare off Langdon fail to-day," he
said, "it will naturally develop that we must render it impossible in
some way for him to appear in the Senate at all, or we must delay his
arrival until after the report of the committee on naval affairs has
been made. In either event he would not have another opportunity to
speak on that subject.
"Of course, later, at 12:30, we will know his plan of action. Then we
can act to the very point, but we must be prepared for any situation
that can arise."
"Cannot the President of the Senate be persuaded not to recognize
Langdon on the floor? Then we could adjourn and shut him off," asked
Stevens.
"No," responded Peabody; "he has already promised Langdon to recognize
him, and the President of the Senate cannot be persuaded to break his
word. I am painfully aware of this fact."
But Stevens was not yet dissuaded from the hope of defeating the
junior Senator from Mississippi by wit alone.
"Can we not have a speaker get the floor before Langdon and have him
talk for hours--tire out the old kicker--and await a time when he
leaves the Senate chamber to eat or talk to some visitor we could have
call on him, then shove the bill through summarily?" he suggested.
"I've gone over all that." answered Peabody, quickly. "It would only
be delaying the evil hour. You wouldn't be able to move that old
codger away from the Senate chamber with a team of oxen--once he
gets to his seat. His secretary, Raines--another oversight of yours,
Stevens"--the latter winced--"will warn him. Langdon would stick pins
through his eyelids to keep from falling asleep."
"I've been thinkin'," put in Steinert, slowly, "that a little
fine-esse like this might keep him away: When Langdon's in his
committee room before goin' to the Senate send him a telegram signed
by one of his frien's' name that one of his daughters is dyin' from
injuries in a automobile collision a few miles out o' town. That
'ud--"
"Ridiculous," snorted Peabody. "He'd know where they were. They're
always--"
"Huh! then put in more fine-esse."
"How? What?"
"Hev some 'un take 'em out a-autoin'--"
"No, no, man!" snapped Peabody. "They'd stick in town to hear their
father's wonderful speech."
"Well," went on the lobbyist, "I'll hev Langd'n watched by a careful
picked man, a nigger that won't talk. He'll pick a row with the
Colonel on some street, say, w'en he's comin' from his home after
lunch. The coon kin bump into Langd'n an' call him names. Then
w'en ole fireworks sails into 'im, yellin' about what 'e'd do in
Mississippi, the coon pulls a gun on the Colonel an' fires a couple o'
shots random. Cops come up, an' our pertickeler copper'll lug Langd'n
away as a witness, refusin' to believe 'e's a Senator. I kin arrange
to hev him kept in the cooler a couple o' hours without gettin' any
word out, or I'll hev 'im entered up as drunk an' disorderly. He'll
look drunk, he'll be so mad."
"But the negro--how could you get a man to undergo arrest on such a
serious charge, attempted murder!" exclaimed Stevens.
"There, there," said Steinert, patronizingly; "coons has more genteel
home life in jail than they does out. An' don't forget the District of
Columbia is governed by folks that ain't residents of it, only durin'
the session. Th' politicians don't leave their frien's in the cooler
very long. Say, Senator Stevens, are you kiddin' me? Is it any
different down in your--"
The Mississippian choked and spluttered over a gulp of unusually hot
coffee, and Peabody again decided Steinert to be on the wrong tack.
"That proceeding would attract too much attention from the
newspapers," he added.
"Well, I thought you wanted to win," grunted Steinert. "I've been
offerin' you good stuff, too--new stuff. None of yer druggin' with
chloroform or ticklin' with blackjacks. Why, I've gone from fine-esse
to common sense. But, come to think of it, how about some woman? I c'n
get one to introduce to--"
"This is the wrong kind of a man," interrupted Peabody.
"Unless you got the right kind of a woman," went on Steinert.
Senator Stevens choked some more.
"The boss of the Senate" sank down in his chair, crossed one knee
over the other and drummed his fingers lightly on the table. He gazed
thoughtfully at Stevens.
"Yes," he observed, slowly, "unless you've got the right sort of a
woman."
Rising, he led the Mississippian to one side.
The lobbyist heard the Southerner give a short exclamation of
astonishment as Peabody whispered to him.
"It's all right. It's all right," he then heard the Pennsylvanian say,
irritably. "She'll understand. She can be trusted. _She expects you_."
Stevens gave a violent start at the last assurance, but his colleague
hurriedly helped him into his coat.
"Go in a closed carriage," was Peabody's final warning. "Be sure to
tell her to get hold of his two daughters on some pretext at once. She
knows them well. Maybe we can influence the old man through his girls,
don't you see?"
And while Senator Peabody and Jake Steinert recurred to a previous
discussion concerning one J.D. Telfer, Mayor of Gulf City, Senator
Stevens started on the most memorable drive of his career on
this bright winter morning, to the house of the fascinating Mrs.
Spangler--who for the past week had been considering his proposal of
marriage.
CHAPTER XXV
CAROLINA LANGDON'S RENUNCIATION
Senator Langdon's committee room at the Capitol presented a busy scene
at an unusually early hour the morning after the entertainment at his
home. Bud Haines, reinstated as secretary, was picking up the thread
of routine where he had dropped it the day before, though his frequent
thought of Hope and the words that had thrilled him--"I love you, I
love you fondly"--made this task unusually difficult. He impatiently
wished the afternoon to hasten along, as he knew he would then see her
in the Senate gallery, where she would go to hear her father's speech.
This speech had to be revised in some particulars by Bud, and the work
he knew would take up much of the morning. The Senator's speech was
"The South of the Future," which he would deliver when recognized by
the President of the Senate in connection with the naval base bill,
that officer having agreed to recognize Langdon at 3:30, at which time
the report of the naval affairs committee would be received. Just how
Langdon would turn the tables on Peabody and Stevens and yet win for
the Altacoola site not even the ex-newspaper man, experienced in
politics, had solved. Clearly the Senator would have to do some tall
thinking during the morning.
The junior Senator from Mississippi burst into the office with his
habitual cheery greeting, his broad-brimmed black felt hat in its
usual position on the back of his head, like a symbol of undying
defiance.
"A busy day for us, eh, Senator?" queried Bud.
"Now, look here, my boy, don't begin to remind me of work right off,"
he said, with a humorous gleam in his eye. "Go easy on me. Don't
forget I'm her father."
Bud laughed through the flush that rose in his cheeks.
"No, I won't forget that. But have you decided what to tell Peabody
and Stevens as your plan of action if they come in here at 12:30?"
"If they come?" exclaimed Langdon. "They'll come. Watch 'em."
Then he hesitated, worriedly.
"I'll have to incubate an idea between now and noon, somehow. But
don't forget this, Bud--we're worried about them, true enough, but
they're worried a heap more about us."
Senator Langdon stepped into an adjoining room, where he could be
alone, to "incubate."
As Haines resumed his work Carolina Langdon entered.
Avoiding the secretary's direct gaze, she asked for her father.
"He ought to be back shortly, Miss Langdon," responded Haines. "You
can wait here. I must ask pardon for leaving, as I must run over to
the library."
As the secretary bowed himself out of the door he almost collided with
Congressman Norton. Both glared at each other and remained silent.
"Carolina," spoke Norton, as he entered, "I hope--I know you won't
allow your father to influence you against me--because of last night.
I--"
Carolina would rather not have met Charles Norton on this morning. She
had hardly slept for the night. She had fought a battle with herself.
Her father had shown her plainly the mistake she had made. She saw
that her influence had not been without effect on Randolph. Probably
for the first time she realized that there are glory and luxury,
pleasure and prestige for which too big a price can be paid.
The Senator's daughter turned slowly and faced the man she had
promised to marry.
"Charlie, I have come to a decision. I came here to talk with father
about it."
Norton started toward Carolina, a look of apprehension on his face.
He gathered from the trend of her words and her demeanor that she had
turned against him.
"You couldn't be so cruel, Carolina," he protested.
"Charlie," she went on, determinedly, "I will always cherish our
friendship, our happy younger days down in Mississippi, but, I must
give up thinking of you as my future husband. We've both made a
mistake, mine probably greater than yours, but I now am convinced that
I should not marry you. Your way of thinking about life is all wrong,
and you are too deeply entangled with the dishonest men in Washington
to draw back. I cannot love you."
"But I am doing it all for your sake, Carolina. Don't let an
old-fashioned father come between a man and a woman and their love,"
he cried.
"Charlie, I must give you up."
The girl turned to one side, as though to give Norton a chance to
leave.
He looked at her in silence for a moment or two. Then a change came
into his bearing. Wrinkling his face into a sneer, he stepped before
the girl.
"You've been converted mighty sudden, I reckon, from land speculating
to preaching--and preaching, too, against folks who tried to make a
fortune for you."
Norton stopped, expecting a reply, but the girl remained silent.
"You think I'm done for, that I've lost my money; that's why you
turned from me so quickly," he laughed, scornfully. "But I'll show
you, you and your blundering old father. I'll win you yet, and I'll
ruin your father's political reputation. I'll--"
"Are you quite sure about that?" spoke a voice, sharply, behind the
Congressman. He swung around vigorously. Bud Haines had returned in
time to hear Norton's threat.
"Yes; and while I'm doing that I'll take time to show you up, too,
somehow. I guess a Congressman's word will count against that of a
cheap secretary--that's what Miss Langdon said you were."
Carolina looked appealingly to Haines to rid her of the presence of
this man, whose last words she knew Haines would not believe.
But Norton had had his say. He retreated to the door.
"Miss Langdon," he cried, as he backed out and away, "you have an idea
that I am dishonest, but kindly remember that, whatever you think I
am, I never was a hypocrite."
Haines advanced and procured a chair for Miss Langdon.
"I'm very sorry to have come back at such a time," he began.
The girl cut him short with a gesture.
"I want to say to you," she said, then halted--"that I want to
be friends with you. I want you to forget the happenings of
yesterday--last evening--so far as I was concerned in them. I want to
work together with you and father--and so does Randolph. Father and
you are standing together to uphold the honor of the Langdons of
Mississippi, and Randolph and I, no matter the cost of our former
folly, want to share in that work."
Before Haines could reply Senator Langdon burst into the room.
"Bud! Bud!" he cried, "I've got it! I've got it!"
"You've got what, Senator?" exclaimed the secretary.
"That idea, my boy, that idea! It's incubated all right, and Peabody
and Stevens can come just as soon as they want to."
CHAPTER XXVI
THE BATTLES OF WASHINGTON
At twenty minutes after 12 Senator Langdon and Secretary Haines were
still undisturbed by any move on the part of Peabody and Stevens,
who maintained a silence that to Haines was distinctly ominous. His
experience at the Capitol had taught him that when the Senate machine
was quiet it was time for some one to get out from under.
Miss Williams, the naval committee's stenographer, entered.
"Senator Langdon," she said, "Senator Peabody and Senator Stevens are
in committee room 6, and they told me to tell you that they'd be--I
can't say it. Please, sir, I--"
"D--d," interpolated Langdon, laughing.
"Yes, sir, that's it. They'll be--that--if they come in here at 12:30.
You must come to them, they say."
"Tell the gentlemen I'm sitting here with my hat on the back of my
head, smoking a good see-gar, with nails driven through both shoes
into the floor--and looking at the clock."
At 12:25 Senator Stevens entered.
"I came to warn you, Langdon," he said, "that Senator Peabody's
patience is nearly exhausted. You must come to see him at once if you
expect the South to get a naval base at Altacoola or anywhere else. If
you do not agree to take his advice this naval bill and any other that
you are interested in now or in future will be trampled underfoot in
the Senate. Mississippi will have no use for a Senator who cannot
produce results in Washington, and that will prove the bitterest
lesson you have ever learned."
"I'm waiting for Peabody here, Stevens."
"Oh, ridiculous! Of course he's not coming. Why, Langdon, he's the
king of the Senate. He has the biggest men of the country at his call.
He's--"
"He's got one minute left," observed Langdon, looking at the clock,
"but he'll come. I trust Peabody more than the best clock made at a
time like this, when--"
The figure of the senior Senator from Pennsylvania appeared in the
doorway.
"Good-day, Senator Langdon," he remarked, icily.
"Same to you. Have a see-gar, Senator?" said Langdon. He turned and
winked significantly at Haines.
The three Senators seated themselves.
"I suppose you wouldn't consider yourself so important, Langdon, if
you knew that we now find we can get another member of the naval
affairs committee over to our side for Altacoola?" began Peabody.
"That gives us a majority of the committee without your vote."
"That wouldn't prevent me from making a minority report for Gulf City
and explaining why I made that report, would it?" the Mississippian
asked, blandly.
Peabody and Stevens both knew that it wouldn't. Stevens exchanged
glances with "the boss of the Senate," and in low voice began making
to Langdon a proposition to which Peabody's assent had been gained.
"Langdon, we would like to be alone," and he nodded toward Haines.
"Sorry can't oblige, Senator," Langdon replied. "Bud and I together
make up the Senator from Mississippi."
"All right. What I want to say is this: The President is appointing a
commission to investigate the condition of the unemployed. The members
are to go to Europe, five or six countries, and look into conditions
there, leisurely, of course, so as to formulate a piece of legislation
that will solve the existing problems in this country. A most generous
expense account will be allowed by the Government. A member can take
his family. A son, for instance, could act as financial secretary
under liberal pay."
"I've heard of that commission," said Langdon.
"Well, Senator Peabody has the naming of two Senators who will go on
that commission, and I suggested that your character and ability would
make you--"
"Good glory!" exclaimed Langdon. "You mean that my character and
ability would make me something or other if I kept my mouth shut in
the Senate this afternoon! Stevens, I've been surprised so many times
since I came to the capital that it doesn't affect me any more. I'm
just amused at your offer or Senator Peabody's.
"I want to tell you two Senators that there's only one thing that I
want in Washington--and you haven't offered it to me yet. When you do
I'll do business with you."
"What's that? Speak out, man!" said Peabody, quickly.
"A square deal for the people of the United States."
"Good Lord!" exclaimed "the boss of the Senate. Is this Washington or
is it heaven?"
"It is not heaven, Senator," put in Haines.
"Man alive!" cried Peabody, "I've been in Washington so long that--"
"So long that you've forgotten that the American people really exist,"
retorted Langdon; "and there are more like you in the Senate, all
because the voters have no chance to choose their own Senators. The
public in most States have to take the kind of a Senator that the
Legislature, made up mostly of politicians, feels like making them
take. You, Peabody, wouldn't be in the Senate to-day if the voters had
anything to say about it."
The Pennsylvanian shrugged his shoulders.
"And now I'll tell you honorable Senators," went on Langdon,
thoroughly aroused, "something to surprise you. I have discovered that
you were not working for yourselves alone in the Altacoola deal, but
that you intend to turn your land over to the Standard Steel Company
at a big profit as soon as this naval base bill is passed. Then that
company will squeeze the Government for the best part of the hundred
millions that are to be spent."
The Senator sank back in his chair and gazed at his two opponents.
Those two statesmen jumped to their feet.