“It has come to a point where it isn't a question of money, Colonel.”
“We can't afford it.”
“Then let the cities and towns of the state buy in their water-plants and do it.”
“Good Jefferson! Don't you know that every city and town in this state where we have a water-plant has already exceeded its debt limit of five percent?”
“Do I understand you as intimating, Colonel Dodd, that there is no help for this present condition of affairs?”
“Look here—I'm neither a Herod nor a Moloch, even if some of the crack-brained agitators in this state will have it that way,” protested the magnate, with heat. “Are you going to print that report before you have given us time to turn around?”
“With one hundred deaths a day from typhoid fever in this state, Colonel, that matter of time becomes mighty important.”
“Look here, Dohl, don't you remember that it was my indorsement that gave you your job?”
“I do, Colonel Dodd. But I'm a physician, not a politician.”
“I see you're not,” retorted the colonel, dryly. “But you're a member of our political party, and you know that the Consolidated and its associate interests are the backbone of that party. There are a lot of soreheads in this state, and we're having a devil of a time to hold 'em in line. Every savings-bank in this state, furthermore, holds bonds of the Consolidated. Do you want to start a panic? You've got to be careful how you touch the first brick standing in a row. Dohl, you leave that report with me. I'll go over it. I'll take the matter up with the directors. We'll move as fast as possible.”