come to the office, and it was Harwood's
business to read them and cut out any items bearing upon local
political conditions. Bassett winnowed these carefully, brushing the
chaff into his wastebasket and retaining a few kernels for later use. He
seemed thoroughly familiar with the state press and spoke of the rural
newspapers with a respect that surprised Harwood, who had little
patience with what he called the "grapevine dailies," with their scrappy
local news, patent insides, and servile partisan opinions. Still, he
began to find in a considerable number of these papers, even those
emanating from remote county seats, a certain raciness and independence.
This newspaper reading, which Dan had begun perfunctorily, soon
interested him. It was thus, he saw, that Bassett kept in touch with
state affairs. Sporadic temperance movements, squabbles over local
improvements, rows in school boards, and like matters were not beneath
Bassett's notice. He discussed these incidents and conditions with
Harwood, who was astonished to find how thoroughly Bassett knew the
state.

Through all this Dan was not blind to the sins charged against Bassett.
There were certain corporations which it was said Bassett protected from
violence at the state house. But as against this did not the vast horde
of greedy corporations maintain a lobby at every session and was not a
certain amount of lobbying legitimate? Again, Bassett had shielded the
liquor interests from many attacks; but had not these interests their
rights, and was it not a sound doctrine that favored government with the
least restraint? Rather uglier had been Bassett's identification with
the organization of the White River Canneries Company, a combination of
industries on which a scandalous overissue of stock had been sold in
generous chunks to a confiding public, followed in a couple of years by
a collapse of the business and a reorganization that had frozen out all
but a favored few. Still, Bassett had not been the sole culprit in that
affair, and was not this sort of financiering typical of the time?
Bassett and Thatcher had both played the gentle game of freeze-out in
half a dozen other instances, and if they were culpable, why had they
not been brought to book? In his inner soul Dan knew why not: in the
bi-partisan political game only the stupid are annoyed by grand juries,
which take their cue tamely from ambitious prosecuting attorneys eager
for higher office.

Bassett's desk