Amongst those to whom his attention turned was Semple, member of the provincial parliament, in whom he recognized the official voice of the district in certain regions of authority. As the works grew in size and their importance increased, Semple found himself more and more the subject of attention. It flattered him, as well it might, for at this time the Consolidated Company was the largest single undertaking in the country. It did Semple good to refer to "my constituency" with the reflection that in the midst of that wilderness was an undertaking whose capital surpassed that of the greatest railway in the Dominion. In the house of parliament he was listened to attentively, and in St. Marys his office took on a new significance. It was on one of his informal visits to the works that Clark expressed pleasure at the way in which the community was represented.
"I'm all right as far as this company is concerned," said Semple, "but you know the Liberal majority in Ontario is mighty slim—and I'm a Liberal. It's here to-day and gone to-morrow."
"Not for you," answered Clark impressively, "and you haven't had much trouble in getting what we wanted."
"No," grinned Semple, "our majority is too small. The Premier couldn't very well refuse. But," he added with a little hesitation, "opinions differ down there."
"About the works?"
Semple nodded. "Yes, and about you—they're not true believers by any means, you must understand."
Clark grunted a little. "What do they say?"
"It's more what they don't say, since they're mostly Scotch. I mean the financial crowd—most of Toronto is like that. The Scotch got their hooks in long ago and it was a good thing for the country. They reckon it should take twenty-five years to build up a concern like this—not five. You're too fast for that lot."
"Ah! Perhaps I'd better go down and see them."
Semple gazed in astonishment, then concluded he had not made the other sufficiently aware of the criticism as to himself and his affairs that was now so widely spread.