THE COMMITTEE REPORTS PROGRESS.
As the time approaches for the carrying out of the plan of annihilation,
the spirits of the forty vacillate from joyousness to despair at the
thought, now of the glorious page they are to give to the history of the
world and now, of the terrible means that an inexorable fate compels
them to use. Each passes through varying moods. The ever present thought
that the day will soon arrive on which each will have to commit two
deeds of violence, the one, to take a public enemy out of the world's
arena once and forever; the other, the extinction of self, is enough to
keep the mental tension at the snapping point.
Yet, not a man weakens. The stolid march of trained men toward
inevitable death is the only counterpart to their action. And their
unfaltering fulfillment of the work allotted them is the more remarkable
as each works independently. It is one thing to be impelled forward by
the frenzy and madness of battle; to be nerved to deeds of valor and
self-sacrifice in the face of impending disaster, such as shipwreck and
fire; but it is quite another thing to deliberately carry out a plan
that taxes the will, the heart and the conscience, and that too, totally
unaided by the presence or sympathy of others. This is what these forty
men have determined it is their duty to perform.
Nevins is in New York to receive reports from the members of the
Committee. A month has passed since their departure from Chicago. From
most of the men he receives letters in which they tell of their success.
No mention is made of the men to whom they are assigned, yet the reports
seem to assure Nevins that the plan will not miscarry.
"I have twice been sorely tempted to abandon my mission," writes Horace
Turner, the plain, honest Wisconsin farmer. "My heart and not my
conscience has been weak. But strength of purpose has come to me. I
realize that our undertaking is one that the populace will not sanction
at the start; it is not one that we can hope to make acceptable to the
public mind until it comes to a successful issue.
"The world does not look with favor upon reforms or revolutions until
they are accomplished facts. And this is the reason history records the
events of every advance of man in letters of blood. This advance is not
to be an exception in this point so far as the spilling of blood is
concerned; it is to be exceptional in regard to the quantity that is to
be sacrificed.
"The revolutions in politics that have preceded it, the reformations in
religion, have necessitated the butchery of thousands of men and women;
the overturning of existing conditions and the impediment of the human
race for generations.
"This reformation will measure its sacrificial blood in drops. It will
have as many martyrs as it had tyrants."
It is the preponderance of reasons in favor of their adhering to their
oaths that prevents the members of the Committee of Annihilation from
faltering.
At forty points through the world these unheralded crusaders are
silently arranging their campaigns against the enemies of the common
weal. For the most part the men who have been named on the proscribed
list are residents of the chief city of their respective states; they
are men who have walked the path of life rough-shod and have stepped to
their exalted positions over the prostrate forms of their fellowmen.
They are what the world is pleased to call the "Princes of Commerce."
To become acquainted with the habits of his quarry; to fix upon a plan
for inflicting death upon him, which will be certain, and to be prepared
to carry this programme out at the appointed time, these are matters
that each of the forty has to arrange.
They call into requisition all of their talents, all of the skill that
has made them men of mark in their respective professions and vocations.
When Hendrick Stahl became sponsor for Nevins he felt that he had not
misplaced his confidence, yet it was impossible for him to be
unacquainted with the movements of the originator of the Committee of
Forty. He so arranges his affairs as to be in New York at the end of the
month to meet him. On his visits he seeks Nevins and spends the night
with him.
"I have perfected my plans," Stahl tells his friend. "At first it looked
as though I could not get acquainted with my man, but I finally struck
upon a course that led me directly to him. I perfected the details of a
mechanism to do away with manual labor on a machine which he employs in
his factory. When I suggested the adoption of it and proved that I could
make the improvement, he became interested. I meet him every day. On the
thirteenth of October we will examine the model."
Nevins opens a letter bearing a postmark, "Edinburgh, Scotland." The
letter simply states:
"I am enjoying the hospitality of one of the Transgressors. He and I are
great friends. We are arranging to substitute a counterfeit substance
for the new armor plate ordered by the government.
"By our plan the government will be defrauded of thirty million dollars.
The armor plate will not stand the test of heavy projectiles. But we can
'fix' the inspectors. My _friend_ is delighted at the prospect of giving
the United States Government another batch of worthless armor plate."
This particular Transgressor is Ephraim Barnaby, the Pennsylvania iron
king. He is the master of the greatest iron and steel concern in the
world. His wealth is counted by scores of millions; he has palaces in
this country and abroad. His domination over the lives of the thousands
who slave in his foundries is kept unshaken by reason of the fact that
he coats the bitter acts of oppression of which he is constantly guilty,
with ostentatious gifts in the name of benevolence. He presents the
cities of the country with public libraries.
This philanthrophic iron master has erected an armory for his private
detectives for every library he has established for the people. To make
a life of unparalleled achievement as an amasser of money terminate in
glory is well within his power, but avarice is the chief occupant of his
heart. With sixty and more years on his head and so much wealth that he
cannot by any possibility spend one twentieth part of his yearly income,
the iron master still has an insatiable thirst for gold. To the Forty
who know every detail of his career, this man above all others is the
one whom they despise. His hypocrisy makes him the most despicable of
the proscribed. Chadwick is proud that to him has fallen the lot of
exterminating this Transgressor.
From other letters received by Nevins it develops that not one of the
men has failed in locating his man and in laying the net which is to
enmesh him.
The proposal of a supposed inventor to create a machine that will reduce
cost of manufacture, leads the merchant prince into a trap. He rejoices
at the thought of reducing the expense of wage and of maintaining the
price of goods to the consumer.
An improved explosive interests the mine owner It will cost him less and
can be sold to the operatives at the same price. It is more dangerous to
use, but that does not deter him from seeking to utilize it; for it is
the operatives who will have to run the risk in the mines.
A substitute for oil is the lure that compels the Oil King to pay
respectful attention to another of the committee. The same prospect of a
substitute for sugar demands the attention of the Sugar King. To each of
the Transgressors there is held out as a bait the needed promise of gain
at the public expense.
Thus the details of the pending tragedy are perfected.