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loan, Cowperwood was silent--but with delight. Two millions! His to play with! He had been
called in as a financial adviser, and he had given his advice and it had been taken! Well. He
was not a man who inherently was troubled with conscientious scruples. At the same time he
still believed himself financially honest. He was no sharper or shrewder than any other
financier--certainly no sharper than any other would be if he could.
It should be noted here that this proposition of Stener's in regard to city money had no
connection with the attitude of the principal leaders in local politics in regard to street-railway
control, which was a new and intriguing phase of the city's financial life. Many of the leading
financiers and financier-politicians were interested in that. For instance, Messrs. Mollenhauer,
Butler, and Simpson were interested in street-railways separately on their own account. There
was no understanding between them on this score. If they had thought at all on the matter they
would have decided that they did not want any outsider to interfere. As a matter of fact the
street-railway business in Philadelphia was not sufficiently developed at this time to suggest to
any one the grand scheme of union which came later. Yet in connection with this new
arrangement between Stener and Cowperwood, it was Strobik who now came forward to Stener
with an idea of his own. All were certain to make money through Cowperwood--he and Stener,
especially. What was amiss, therefore, with himself and Stener and with Cowperwood as their--
or rather Stener's secret representative, since Strobik did not dare to appear in the
matter--buying now sufficient street-railway shares in some one line to control it, and then, if he,
Strobik, could, by efforts of his own, get the city council to set aside certain streets for its
extension, why, there you were--they would own it. Only, later, he proposed to shake Stener out
if he could. But this preliminary work had to be done by some one, and it might as well be
Stener. At the same time, as he saw, this work had to be done very carefully, because naturally
his superiors were watchful, and if they found him dabbling in affairs of this kind to his own
advantage, they might make it impossible for him to continue politically in a position where he
could help himself just the same. Any outside organization such as a street-railway company
already in existence had a right to appeal to the city council for privileges which would naturally
further its and the city's growth, and, other things being equal, these could not be refused. It
would not do for him to appear, however, both as a shareholder and president of the council.
But with Cowperwood acting privately for Stener it would be another thing.
The interesting thing about this proposition as finally presented by Stener for Strobik to
Cowperwood, was that it raised, without appearing to do so, the whole question of
Cowperwood's attitude toward the city administration. Although he was dealing privately for
Edward Butler as an agent, and with this same plan in mind, and although he had never met
either Mollenhauer or Simpson, he nevertheless felt that in so far as the manipulation of the city
loan was concerned he was acting for them. On the other hand, in this matter of the private
street-railway purchase which Stener now brought to him, he realized from the very beginning,
by Stener's attitude, that there was something untoward in it, that Stener felt he was doing
something which he ought not to do.
"Cowperwood," he said to him the first morning he ever broached this matter--it was in Stener's
office, at the old city hall at Sixth and Chestnut, and Stener, in view of his oncoming prosperity,
was feeling very good indeed--"isn't there some street-railway property around town here that a
man could buy in on and get control of if he had sufficient money?"
Cowperwood knew that there were such properties. His very alert mind had long since sensed
the general opportunities here. The omnibuses were slowly disappearing. The best routes were
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