T TEN O’.LOCK the following morning, Vance sent in his card to the chief, and was immediately admitted to his presence. “Good morning, Mr. Gilder.”
“Good morning, sir,” was Vance’s prompt reply.
“I sent for you,” said the chief, as he industriously looked over a bundle of papers on his desk, “To discuss a matter I have had in mind for some time.”
“Yes, sir,” was Vance’s laconic reply.
The chief having found the paper he evidently had been searching for, motioned Vance to be seated, and turning to him, asked:
“Have you ever traveled much in the west?”
“Have never been west of Buffalo.”
“Your work,” observed the chief, “has been very satisfactory—I may say, especially so—and it is the policy of the Banner not only to reward those who have talent, but also to keep pace with the times, and give its readers reliable information upon all questions of moment and importance. The great Northwest has been opening up for the last half century. There have been booms and counter-booms out in that country, spasmodically, for many years, and a great many fortunes have been lost by ill advised investors, but I am not personally familiar with anyone who has bettered his condition in western speculations. Just at the present time the northwest is attracting, as you are doubtless aware, considerable attention, and the effort to popularize it by the western press, seems unabating. Our eastern people, even some of the oldest families of New York, are becoming poisoned with the virus of western investments. My private opinion is that instead of receiving dividends on these holdings, they will lose principal and all.