“It is true,” declared Griscom, “that our present revenue might be increased through the plan offered by the Cooperative Association. But to us, the plan seems to be a holdup. It is entirely unlike anything that we have ever before undertaken. We do not like it!”
“We don’t like it,” interjected Ballantyne, “and what’s more, we’ll have nothing to do with it!”
“Gentlemen,” declared Stanley Wilberton, “my apprehensions are not unfounded. Mr. Griscom has told me, in so many words, that your New York holdings — your most important assets — are threatened by the very difficulty which I have foreseen. Under the circumstances, I cannot lend my financial support to your merger!”
“This has got to go through, Mr. Wilberton!” Ballantyne was appealing. “We’ve got to have your support!”
“I cannot give it. I must be assured that your business is on a stabilized basis.”
“Mr. Wilberton,” one of the Cooper-Lowden men was speaking, “you said, a little while ago, that a business that complied with regulations imposed by racketeers might be regarded as a sound one.”
“Very much so,” agreed Wilberton. “Rats are found chiefly in houses where much food is available.”
“Suppose,” said the speaker, “that United Theaters should tie up with this Cooperative Association. How would that influence your decision?”
“I have just one wish,” declared the financier. “I must know that your combined business is going to be free from any artificial menace.
“I do not care what your expenditures may be, so long as a reasonable profit is shown. But I will not risk my capital in an enterprise which is threatened by an unnatural hazard. That, gentlemen, is final!”