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already preempted. Still, there were other streets, and the city was growing. The incoming
population would make great business in the future. One could afford to pay almost any price
for the short lines already built if one could wait and extend the lines into larger and better areas
later. And already he had conceived in his own mind the theory of the "endless chain," or
"argeeable formula," as it was later termed, of buying a certain property on a long-time payment
and issuing stocks or bonds sufficient not only to pay your seller, but to reimburse you for your
trouble, to say nothing of giving you a margin wherewith to invest in other things-- allied
properties, for instance, against which more bonds could be issued, and so on, ad infinitum. It
became an old story later, but it was new at that time, and he kept the thought closely to
himself. None the less he was glad to have Stener speak of this, since street-railways were his
hobby, and he was convinced that he would be a great master of them if he ever had an
opportunity to control them.
"Why, yes, George," he said, noncommittally, there are two or three that offer a good chance if a
man had money enough. I notice blocks of stock being offered on 'change now and then by one
person and another. It would be good policy to pick these things up as they're offered, and then
to see later if some of the other stockholders won't want to sell out. Green and Coates, now,
looks like a good proposition to me. If I had three or four hundred thousand dollars that I thought
I could put into that by degrees I would follow it up. It only takes about thirty per cent. of the
stock of any railroad to control it. Most of the shares are scattered around so far and wide that
they never vote, and I think two or three hundred thousand dollars would control that road." He
mentioned one other line that might be secured in the same way in the course of time.
Stener meditated. "That's a good deal of money," he said, thoughtfully. "I'll talk to you about that
some more later." And he was off to see Strobik none the less.
Cowperwood knew that Stener did not have any two or three hundred thousand dollars to invest
in anything. There was only one way that he could get it--and that was to borrow it out of the city
treasury and forego the interest. But he would not do that on his own initiative. Some one else
must be behind him and who else other than Mollenhauer, or Simpson, or possibly even Butler,
though he doubted that, unless the triumvirate were secretly working together. But what of it?
The larger politicians were always using the treasury, and he was thinking now, only, of his own
attitude in regard to the use of this money. No harm could come to him, if Stener's ventures
were successful; and there was no reason why they should not be. Even if they were not he
would be merely acting as an agent. In addition, he saw how in the manipulation of this money
for Stener he could probably eventually control certain lines for himself.
There was one line being laid out to within a few blocks of his new home--the Seventeenth and
Nineteenth Street line it was called-- which interested him greatly. He rode on it occasionally
when he was delayed or did not wish to trouble about a vehicle. It ran through two thriving
streets of red-brick houses, and was destined to have a great future once the city grew large
enough. As yet it was really not long enough. If he could get that, for instance, and combine it
with Butler's lines, once they were secured--or Mollenhauer's, or Simpson's, the legislature
could be induced to give them additional franchises. He even dreamed of a combination
between Butler, Mollenhauer, Simpson, and himself. Between them, politically, they could get
anything. But Butler was not a philanthropist. He would have to be approached with a very
sizable bird in hand. The combination must be obviously advisable. Besides, he was dealing for
Butler in street-railway stocks, and if this particular line were such a good thing Butler might
wonder why it had not been brought to him in the first place. It would be better, Frank thought,
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