n't answered my question, sir. I asked you what your State
Committee has done."

"What is there we can do when every interest in this State sits back on
its wallet like a hen squatting on the roost, and won't stand up and let
go until some assurances are given out? It isn't my fault! I went to
you! I laid the case down! You didn't give me anything to carry back to
'em."

"I'm here to talk business, Mr. Chairman. You are too vague."

"Well, I'll talk business, too." Presson snapped out of his chair. He
stood up and wagged his finger. He was too angry to choose words or
gloss brutal facts.

"You want to be Governor, don't you? You're asking men to support you
and back you with money? That's what it amounts to. Campaign funds don't
come down like manna--there's nothing heavenly about 'em--and you know
it as well as I do, General. You've scared Senator Pownal's crowd with
that anti-water-power-trust talk; they've got money to put into the
legislature, but none for you. The corporations won't do anything; your
tax commission talk has given them cold feet as far's you're concerned.
Even the office-holders are sore; you've been talking about abolishing
fees, and if that's the case they'd just as soon give up the offices.
And where's your party, then? You say you're going to enforce the
prohibitory law! I can get a little money out of the express companies,
the jobbers in gallon lots, and the fellows that get the promise of the
State liquor agency contracts. But the big wholesalers, the liquor men's
associations, the retailers--the whole bunch that's got the real money
and is willing to spend it haven't a cent for you--they'll even back the
Democrat against you! You wanted business talk. There it is."

He strode up and down the centre of the room in agitation, and then sat
down.

The other committeemen sighed with relief. Their chairman had said what
they wanted to say, said it bluntly and boldly, and they were glad it
was over.

"That is," drawled Thelismer Thornton, "the State Committee says, as the
fork says to the cook: 'I'm willing to be used for all reasonable
purposes, but not to pick your teeth with or pull out carpet tacks.'"

The pleasantry did not relieve the gloom.

"The State Committee can't do anything without money, General Waymouth,"
added the chairman, getting bolder as he allowed his rancor full play.
"You've fixed it so that we can't get the money."

"Then the State Committee would be able to go a