to be in
a position to buy out the sub-companies cheaply. The community was
pressed for ready money, and many men who would be slow in prosperous
times to extract gas shares from their tin boxes and stockings would be
glad to avail themselves of a reasonable cash offer. Elton was a
Republican on national issues. His experience had been that the
Republican Party was fundamentally friendly to corporations, in spite of
occasional pious ejaculations in party platforms to the contrary. He had
a Republican candidate for Governor in mind who would be faithful to his
interests; but this candidate was put aside in the convention in
deference to the sentiment that only a man of first-rate mental and
moral calibre could command the allegiance of independent voters, whose
co-operation seemed essential to party success. The Republican state
convention was held three weeks prior to the date fixed for that of
their opponents. Within twenty-four hours subsequent to the nomination
of Hon. John Patterson as the Republican candidate for Governor, while
the party organs were congratulating the public on his selection, and
the leaders of the party were endeavoring to suppress the murmurs of the
disappointed lower order of politicians who, in metaphorical phrase,
felt that they were sewed up in a sack for another two years by the
choice of this strong citizen, one of the most widely circulated
democratic newspapers announced in large type on its front page that
Hon. James O. Lyons was the only Democrat who could defeat him in the
gubernatorial contest. Behind the ledger sheet of this newspaper--which
was no other than the Benham _Sentinel_--lurked the keen intelligence of
Horace Elton. He knew that the candidate of his own party would never
consent to indicate in advance what his action on the gas bill would be,
and that he would only prejudice his chances of obtaining favorable
action when the time arrived by any attempt to forestall a decision.
This did not suit Horace Elton. He was accustomed to be able to obtain
an inkling before election that legislation in which he was interested
would not encounter a veto. His measures were never dishonest. That is,
he never sought to foist bogus or fraudulent undertakings upon the
community. He was seeking, to be sure, eventual emolument for himself,
but he believed that the franchise which he was anxious to obtain would
result in more progressive and more effectual public service. He had
never before