"Very well," said "Pa" Stillwater. "I'll give him a chance."

Still, we have not got the real reason for Josh's getting what
Stillwater had publicly called "the opportunity of a lifetime."
The really real reason was that Stillwater wished, and calculated,
to kill a whole flock of birds with one stone.

Whenever the people begin to clamor for justice upon their
exploiters, the politicians, who make themselves valuable to the
exploiters by cozening the people into giving them office, begin
by denying that the people want anything; when the clamor grows so
loud that this pretense is no longer tenable, they hasten to say,
"The people are right, and something must be done. Unfortunately,
there is no way of legally doing anything at present, and we must
be patient until a way is discovered." Way after way is suggested,
only to be dismissed as "dangerous" or "impractical" or
"unconstitutional." The years pass; the clamor persists, becomes
imperious. The politicians pass a law that has been carefully made
unconstitutional. This gives the exploiters several years more of
license. Finally, public sentiment compels the right kind of law;
it is passed. Then come the obstacles to enforcement. More years
of delay; louder clamor. A Stillwater is put in charge of the
enforcement of the law; a case is made, a trial is had, and the
evidence is so incomplete or the people's lawyers so poorly
matched against the lawyers of the exploiters that the case fails,
and the administration is able to say, "You see, WE'VE done our
best, but the rascals have escaped!" The case against certain
Western railway thieves had reached the stage at which the only
way the exploiters could be protected from justice was by having a
mock trial; and Stillwater had put Craig forward as the conductor