"And the big operators are more or less frightened by what may be done to curb them. You understand all that, do you not?"
"Yes."
"Well, let us suppose a case, then."
"Yes, sir."
"Suppose that Mustushimi is working this affair, as I think he is; suppose he has decided to shield his activities behind some local employment-or the appearance of one."
"Great, Mr. President!"
"What is more natural than that he should apply to one of the big railroad men and should say to him something like this: 'I am in a position to get you all the information you require. I am in a position to tell you, beforehand, all that the government intends to try to do in regard to railroad legislation. I will give you that information for a price, and you need not pay me until the goods are delivered. Do you think that there is one of the railroads that would not jump at the opportunity?"
"No."
"Well, Mr. Carter, that is the guess I have made which I hesitated to confide in you, only because it is nothing more than a guess. But my own opinion is that the activities of Japan, through Baron Mustushimi, are as great now as they were when you took that other case, but that now the crafty fellow is biding himself and his men behind a local employment of some kind, and is prepared to make it appear, in case he is discovered, that the other information he gets-that which is of real use to him is only the side issue, and that he is really employed by the railroads, the coal barons, the packers, the oil interests, or by some local industry which might be interested in spying upon the government."
"Mr. President, you have hit the nail squarely on the head, there."