I was told by my introducer, after the interview was over, that the
President had already read a chapter in the Bible, and that it is his
custom to do so every morning before appearing in public. I then
understood the meaning and tone of his last words to me. Said he: "What
I have said, shall be done." He was alluding to the fact that the
Dynamite Monopoly and Railway Rates were the children of the State, but
they should be put into the hands of the Attorney-General, and if it
were discovered that the terms of the concessions were in any way
contravened, reparation should be made. The manner of his last words
reminded me of the Jovic way--"and what I will, is fate"--but when I
learned how he had been engaged, I knew he had been infected with the
style of the Pentateuch.