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necessary legislation passed. Yet it was no easy matter, seeing that others knew what the
general advantages of the situation were, and because of this Cowperwood, who saw the great
source of profit here, was able, betimes, to serve himself--buying blocks, a part of which only
went to Butler, Mollenhauer or others. In short he was not as eager to serve Butler, or any one
else, as he was to serve himself if he could.
In this connection, the scheme which George W. Stener had brought forward, representing
actually in the background Strobik, Wycroft, and Harmon, was an opening wedge for himself.
Stener's plan was to loan him money out of the city treasury at two per cent., or, if he would
waive all commissions, for nothing (an agent for self-protective purposes was absolutely
necessary), and with it take over the North Pennsylvania Company's line on Front Street, which,
because of the shortness of its length, one mile and a half, and the brevity of the duration of its
franchise, was neither doing very well nor being rated very high. Cowperwood in return for his
manipulative skill was to have a fair proportion of the stock--twenty per cent. Strobik and
Wycroft knew the parties from whom the bulk of the stock could be secured if engineered
properly. Their plan was then, with this borrowed treasury money, to extend its franchise and
then the line itself, and then later again, by issuing a great block of stock and hypothecating it
with a favored bank, be able to return the principal to the city treasury and pocket their profits
from the line as earned. There was no trouble in this, in so far as Cowperwood was concerned,
except that it divided the stock very badly among these various individuals, and left him but a
comparatively small share--for his thought and pains.
But Cowperwood was an opportunist. And by this time his financial morality had become special
and local in its character. He did not think it was wise for any one to steal anything from
anybody where the act of taking or profiting was directly and plainly considered stealing. That
was unwise--dangerous--hence wrong. There were so many situations wherein what one might
do in the way of taking or profiting was open to discussion and doubt. Morality varied, in his
mind at least, with conditions, if not climates. Here, in Philadelphia, the tradition (politically, mind
you--not generally) was that the city treasurer might use the money of the city without interest so
long as he returned the principal intact. The city treasury and the city treasurer were like a
honey-laden hive and a queen bee around which the drones--the politicians--swarmed in the
hope of profit. The one disagreeable thing in connection with this transaction with Stener was
that neither Butler, Mollenhauer nor Simpson, who were the actual superiors of Stener and
Strobik, knew anything about it. Stener and those behind him were, through him, acting for
themselves. If the larger powers heard of this, it might alienate them. He had to think of this.
Still, if he refused to make advantageous deals with Stener or any other man influential in local
affairs, he was cutting off his nose to spite his face, for other bankers and brokers would, and
gladly. And besides it was not at all certain that Butler, Mollenhauer, and Simpson would ever
hear.
In this connection, there was another line, which he rode on occasionally, the Seventeenth and
Nineteenth Street line, which he felt was a much more interesting thing for him to think about, if
he could raise the money. It had been originally capitalized for five hundred thousand dollars;
but there had been a series of bonds to the value of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
added for improvements, and the company was finding great difficulty in meeting the interest.
The bulk of the stock was scattered about among small investors, and it would require all of two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars to collect it and have himself elected president or chairman of
the board of directors. Once in, however, he could vote this stock as he pleased, hypothecating
it meanwhile at his father's bank for as much as he could get, and issuing more stocks with
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