ng the air of the lobby with its fragrance. "Away
along back at the beginning of this fight I told you what I was aiming
to do, and why. You wouldn't believe it then, and you don't want to
believe it now; but that's because you don't happen to have a son of
your own. When that boy of mine wired me that he was coming out here to
get into the harness, I began to turn over the leaves of the record and
look back a little. It was a mighty dirty record, McVickar. I don't know
that I'm any better man now than I was in the days when we made that
record--you and I--but when I looked it over, it struck me all in a heap
that I'd have to get out the bucket and scrubbing-brush if I didn't want
to make a clean-hearted, clean-minded boy plumb ashamed of his old
daddy."

"But, say--you haven't quit your scheming for a single minute, Blount!"
retorted the railroad tyrant. "You are just as much the boss of the
machine to-day as you've ever been!"

"I reckon, that's so, too," was the measured reply. "But there's just
this one little difference, Hardwick: a machine, in a factory or in
politics, is a mighty necessary thing, and we wouldn't get very far
nowadays without it. Here in America we're just coming to learn that
machine politics--which is sometimes only another name for intelligent
organization--needn't be bad politics unless we make 'em bad. To put it
another way, the machine will grind corn or clean up the streets and
alleys just as easily as it will grind up men and principles."

The vice-president made a gesture of impatience.

"Come to the point," he urged. "Do you mean to tell me that you can face
an investigation by the Supreme Court?"

"For this one time, Hardwick, I can. For this one time in the history of
the Sage-Brush State, the slate--the machine slate--is as clean as the
back of your hand. When the court comes to investigate, it will find
that every crooked deal in this campaign has had a railroad man or a
corporation man at the back of it. Let me tell you what's due to happen.
Chief Justice Hemingway had luncheon with me to-day, and he came early
enough to give me a quiet hour before we went to table with the ladies.
There is going to be an investigation, and some sharp, shrewd young
lawyer is going to be appointed by the court to take evidence. When this
young man gets to work, every wheel in the machine is going to roll his
way. Every bribe you've offered and paid, every false name you've put on
the registratio