the matter of the reduction of the tariff on aluminium hydrates. The
people of Mississippi believe it has actually put back life into the
exhausted cotton lands. In Virginia they hope to use it on the tobacco
fields."

"Where does the pesky stuff come from?" asked the Senator.

"From South America," coached the secretary. "The South is in a hurry
for it, so the duty must come down. You'll have to bluff a
bit, because Peabody and his crowd will try to make a kind of
bargain--wanting you to keep up iron and steel duties. But you don't
believe that iron and steel need help, you will tell them, don't you
see, so that they will feel the necessity of giving you what you want
for the South in order to gain your support for the iron and steel
demands."

The office door opened and Senator Peabody appeared.

"Peabody," whispered the secretary.

Instantly the Mississippian had his cue. His back to Peabody, he
rose, brought down his fist heavily upon the desk, and expounded
oratorically to Haines:

"What we can produce of aluminium hydrates, my boy, is problematical,
but the South is in a hurry for it, and the duty must come down. It's
got to come down, and I'm not going to do anything else until it
does."

The secretary stretched across the desk.