gislation.

It was old General Van Sickle who sought out Southack, having
remembered him from his earlier legislative days. It was Avery who
conducted the negotiations. Primarily, in all state scheming at
Springfield, Senator Southack was supposed to represent the C. W. I.,
one of the great trunk-lines traversing the state, and incidentally
connecting Chicago with the South, West, and East. This road, having a
large local mileage and being anxious to extend its franchises in
Chicago and elsewhere, was deep in state politics. By a curious
coincidence it was mainly financed by Haeckelheimer, Gotloeb & Co., of
New York, though Cowperwood's connection with that concern was not as
yet known. Going to Southack, who was the Republican whip in the
senate, Avery proposed that he, in conjunction with Judge Dickensheets
and one Gilson Bickel, counsel for the C. W. I., should now undertake
to secure sufficient support in the state senate and house for a scheme
introducing the New York idea of a public-service commission into the
governing machinery of the state of Illinois. This measure, be it
noted, was to be supplemented by one very interesting and important
little proviso to the effect that all franchise-holding corporations
should hereby, for a period of fifty years from the date of the
enactment of the bill into law, be assured of all their rights,
privileges, and immunities--including franchises, of course. This was
justified on the ground that any such radical change as that involved
in the introduction of a public-service commission might disturb the
peace and well-being of corporations with franchises which still had
years to run.

Senator Southack saw nothing very wrong with this idea, though he
naturally perceived what it was all about and whom it was truly
designed to protect.

"Yes," he said, succinctly, "I see the lay of that land, but what do I
get out of it?"

"Fifty thousand dollars for yourself if it's successful, ten thousand
if it isn't--provided you make an honest effort; two thousand dollars
apiece for any of the boys who see fit to help you if we win. Is that
perfectly satisfactory?"

"Perfectly," replied Senator Southack.

Chapter LV

Cowperwood and the Governor

A Public-service-commission law might, ipso facto, have been quietly
passed at this session, if the arbitrary franchise-extending proviso
had not been introduced, and this on the thin excuse that so novel a
change in the wo