"All of which the Consolidated Companies claims to be doing, or about
to do, upon a scale which makes similar past achievements seem
insignificant," interrupted Kenmore.

"Yes," Gorham assented, "but with a fuller appreciation that these
accomplishments are not the results alone of individual ability, but far
more of the exercise of the corporate power placed in its hands, not for
its unlimited personal gain, but intrusted to it by law for public
advantage. The law confers upon a corporate organization a power far
beyond that which any individual himself could obtain; it enables him to
make use of capital which thousands have contributed, toward whom he
stands in a relation of trust, and without whom he could not accomplish
the individual triumphs which become so magnified in his own mind, and
for which he demands so great a recompense. The Consolidated Companies
considers itself bound to use franchise privileges and corporate
organization for the equal benefit of all those who contribute of their
capital, with due regard for those public interests which corporations
are created to serve, and to rest content with a fair return upon its
own capital and a reasonable compensation for their services, on the
part of the officers of the enterprises of which it assumes the
responsibility and direction."

"How long do you think the Consolidated Companies can be run upon such
altruistic principles?"

"As long as Robert Gorham remains its president and as long as those men
whose names you have seen there remain its directors. This is my pledge.
When the Consolidated Companies, intrusted with the power, credit, and
resources of the many corporations which are and will be included in