which are yours if you sign that measure. On the other hand, if you
refuse to sign it, I will take the bills to the newspaper men, and
tell them what I know about how you got them.' And the Governor
turned as white as a sheet, and, by God, he signed the bill and sent
it off to the Legislature while Davenant waited! So you can see why
he is sceptical about governors."

"I suppose," said Montague, "that was what Price meant when he said
he'd furnish the influence."

"That was what he meant," said the other, promptly.

"I don't like the prospect," Montague responded.

The younger man shrugged his shoulders. "What are you going to do
about it?" he asked. "Your political machines and your offices are
in the hands of peanut-politicians and grafters who are looking for
what's coming to them. If you want anything, you have to pay them
for it, just the same as in any other business. You face the same
situation every hour--'Pay or quit.'"

"Look," Curtiss went on, after a pause, "take our own case. Here we
are, and we want to build a little railroad. It's an important work;
it's got to be done. But we might haunt the lobbies of your State
legislature for fifty years, and if we didn't put up, we wouldn't
get the charter. And, in the meantime, what do you suppose the Steel
Trust would be doing?"

"Have you ever thought what such things will lead to?" asked
Montague.