"I believe so, Mr. Fogg," agreed Julius Marston. "And that's why we feel
it's going to be a good thing for all the coast lines to be under one
management--our management."
"Exactly!"
"It's true progress--true benefit to travelers, stockholders, and all
concerned. Consolidation instead of rivalry. I believe in it."
"Exactly!"
"As a broad-gauged business man--big enough to grasp big matters--you
have seen how consolidation effects reforms."
"No two ways about it," affirmed Mr. Fogg.
"That was very good missionary work you did in the matter of the Sound &
Cape line--very good indeed."
"It's astonishing what high and lofty ideas some stockholders have
about properties they're interested in. In financial matters the poorest
conclusion a man can draw is that a stock will always continue to pay
dividends simply because it always has done so. I had to set off a
pretty loud firecracker to wake those Sound & Cape fellows up. I had to
show 'em what damage the new deals and competition and our combination
would do to 'em if they kept on sleeping on their stock certificates.
Funny how hard it is to pry some folks loose from their par-value
notions." Mr. Fogg delivered this little disquisition on the
intractability of stockholders with reproachful vigor, staring blandly
into the unwinking gaze of Mr. Marston. "I don't want to praise my own
humble efforts too much," he went on, "but I truly believe that inside
another thirty days the Sound crowd would have been ready to cash in at
fifty, in spite of that minority bunch that was hollering for par. That
was only a big yawp from a few folks."
"Fifty was a fair price in view of what's ahead in the way of
competition, but we have made it a five-eighths proposition in order to
clinch the deal promptly. I just sent one of our boys around with the
check."
Mr. Fogg beamed. He used his purple handkerchief on his cheeks once
more. He allowed to himself a few words of praise: "They'll understand
some day that I saved 'em from a bigger bump. But it's hard to show some
people."
"Now, Mr. Fogg, we come to the matter of the Vose line. What's the
outlook?"
Mr. Fogg looked sad. "After weeks of chasing 'em, I can only say that
they're ugly and stubborn, simply blind to their best interests."
"Insist on par, do they?"
"Worse than that. Old Vose and his sons and those old hornbeam
directors--retired sea-captains, you know, as hard as old turtles--they
have taken a stand against consolidation. They belong in the dark ages
of business. Old Vose had the impudence to tell me that forming this
steamboat combine was a crime, and that he wouldn't be a party to a
betrayal of the public. He won't come in; he won't sell; he's going to
compete."