Whatever doubts he himself might have, he needed to reflect but a
moment to realise that his friends in Mississippi would not share
them. If he went back home with the name of Stanley Ryder and the
Gotham Trust Company to back him, he would come as a conqueror with
tidings of triumph, and all the old friends of the family would rush
to follow his suggestions.

Ryder waited awhile, perhaps to let these reflections sink in.
Finally he continued: "I presume, Mr. Montague, that you know
something about the Mississippi Steel Company. The steel situation
is a peculiar one. Prices are kept at an altogether artificial
level, and there is room for large profits to competitors of the
Trust. But those who go into the business commonly find themselves
unexpectedly handicapped. They cannot get the credit they want;
orders overwhelm them in floods, but Wall Street will not put up
money to help them. They find all kinds of powerful interests
arrayed against them; there are raids upon their securities in the
market, and mysterious rumours begin to circulate. They find suits
brought against them which tend to injure their credit. And
sometimes they will find important papers missing, important
witnesses sailing for Europe, and so on. Then their most efficient
employees will be bought up; their very bookkeepers and office-boys
will be bribed, and all the secrets of their business passed on to
their enemies. They will find that the railroads do not treat them
squarely; cars will be slow in coming, and all kinds of petty
annoyances will be practised. You know what the rebate is, and you
can imagine the part which that plays. In these and a hundred other
ways, the path of the independent steel manufacturer is made
difficult. And now, Mr. Montague, this is a project to extend a
railroad which will be of vast service to the chief competitor of