“Well, sir,” explained Phineas, “if our bakery here puts up the price of bread, the outside bakeries will ship in bread, if we don't buy out the outside bakeries. An' once we start, we've got to buy out every bakery in the country. An' when we do that we've got to own all the mills, so no one else can get any flour to start bakin'. An' to keep anybody else from startin' mills, we've got to own all the wheat-belt. It's only right to be on the safe side, Eph.” Eph crossed his knees and smoked silently, nodding his head slowly the while.
“I dassay you're right, Phin,” he admitted at length; “but you ain't far-seein' enough. S'pose—just s'pose, fer instance—it come time to ship a lot o' flour from our mills to our bakeries, an' them lumber fellers up North wouldn't furnish timber to supply our barrel-factories.”
Phineas laughed.
“We'd use sacks,” he said shortly.
“Well,” said Eph, “s'pose—just s'pose, fer instance—that 'bout the time we needed cotton to run our cloth-mills to make sacks fer our flour—” He paused. “We would run our own cloth-mills, wouldn't we, Phin?” he asked.
“Surely, surely,” replied Phineas.
“All right,” continued Eph. “S'pose them cotton-growers down South an' them timber-growers up North wouldn't let us have no cotton or no timber. What then?”
Phineas nodded that he comprehended the wisdom of the deduction.
“You're right, Eph,” he said. “American Pie has got to buy out the timber-belt an' the cotton-belt. I'm glad you thought of it. It shows you take an interest in the business, even if you did interrup' me when I was thinkin' on a mighty important point.”
“What's that?” asked Eph. “We got to buy out the railroads,” said Phineas. “Once we own them, we can get proper freight rates.”