“It’s a hell of a world!” cried Haynerd. “I––I beg your pardon, Elizabeth. The fact is, either you or I will have to retire from this meeting, for I’m getting mad. I––I may say things yet!”
“Say anything you want to, Ned. I like to hear your sulphurous language to-day. It helps to express my own feelings,” replied the woman.
“The circulation of the Express,” Hitt went on, “is entirely artificial. Our expense is tremendous, and our revenue slight. And still Carmen insists on branching out and putting into practical form her big ideas. Limitation is a word that is not in her vocabulary!”
“Hitt, can’t we fight Ames with his own fire? What about that Wales affair?”
“Ames is very cunning,” answered Hitt. “When he learned that the cotton schedule had been altered in the Ways and Means Committee, he promptly closed down his Avon mills. That was to scare Congress. Then he resumed, but on half time. That was a plea of distress. I presume he will later return to full time, but with a reduced scale of wages. He’s trying to coerce Congress. Now how does he intend to do it? This way: he will force a strike at Avon––a February strike––four thousand hands out in the cold. Meantime, he’ll influence every other spinner in the country to do likewise. They’ll all follow his lead. Now, can Congress stand up against that sort of argument? And, besides, he will grease the palms of a large number of our dignified statesmen, you may be sure!”
“Mr. Hitt,” said Miss Wall, “I suggest that you send Carmen to Avon at once. I know of no one who can get to the bottom of things as she can. Let her collect the facts regarding the situation down there, and then––”
“Send her first to Washington!” interrupted Haynerd. “Have her hang around the lobbies of the Capitol for a while, and meet a lot of those old sap-heads. What information she won’t succeed in worming out of them isn’t in ’em, that’s all!”
“But,” objected Hitt, “if she knew that we would use her information for a personal attack upon Ames, she’d leave us.”
“There’s no objection to her getting the facts, anyway, is there?” demanded Haynerd, waxing hot again.