“How could he do that unless I consented?”
“You would consent—the way they’d put it up to you. However, you won’t deal with him if you have any sense. Now, look here. You’re not twenty-five, just starting business. You think all there is to it is to cut your logs, bring down your drives, cut them up into lumber, and the demand will take care of the rest. That’s how it used to be. It isn’t so now. Timber is getting scarcer and prices are going up. There is a scramble for what timber limits are left, and the men with the pull get them. Same way with contracts. You’ll find it out. The big concerns are eating up the little ones in our line, just as in others. That’s why you’d better keep clear of any proposals of Ackerman’s.”
“I will,” Joe promised. At the same time he thought Crooks unduly pessimistic.
“Now about timber,” the old lumberman went on. “I’m starting men to cruise all north of Rat Lake to the divide. You’d better send a couple of cruisers into Wind River and let them work east over that stuff, so you will be in shape to bid for it. That was what your father intended to do.”
“We have two men there now,” Joe told him.
“Do you know how this bidding works?” asked Crooks.
“The government calls for tenders and accepts the highest,” Joe replied.
“Theoretically,” said Crooks. “Practically, if you’re not a friend of their rotten outfit you might tender the mint and not get a look in. They used to have sales by public auction, and those were square enough; though sometimes the boys pooled on ’em. Now what happens is this: The government may open any timber for sale on any man’s application, and they are supposed to advertise for tenders. If the applicant isn’t a friend they won’t open it. If he is, they advertise in a couple of issues of some backwoods paper that no one sees, nobody else tenders, and he gets it for a song. Of course some one high up gets a rake-off. Only you can’t prove it.”
“How do you buy, then?” Joe asked. “You’re not friendly to the present government, and I’m not.”
Crooks hesitated for a moment.