I give a paragraph from a possible biography of Hugh Paret which, as then
seemed not improbable, might in the future have been written by some
aspiring young worshipper of success.
"On his return from a brief but delightful honeymoon in England Mr. Paret
took up again, with characteristic vigour, the practice of the law. He
was entering upon the prime years of manhood; golden opportunities
confronted him as, indeed, they confronted other men--but Paret had the
foresight to take advantage of them. And his training under Theodore
Watling was now to produce results.... The reputations had already been
made of some of that remarkable group of financial geniuses who were
chiefly instrumental in bringing about the industrial evolution begun
after the Civil War: at the same time, as is well known, a political
leadership developed that gave proof of a deplorable blindness to the
logical necessity of combinations in business. The lawyer with initiative
and brains became an indispensable factor," etc., etc.
The biography might have gone on to relate my association with and
important services to Adolf Scherer in connection with his constructive
dream. Shortly after my return from abroad, in answer to his summons, I
found him at Heinrich's, his napkin tucked into his shirt front, and a
dish of his favourite sausages before him.
"So, the honeymoon is over!" he said, and pressed my hand. "You are right
to come back to business, and after awhile you can have another
honeymoon, eh? I have had many since I married. And how long do you think
was my first? A day! I was a foreman then, and the wedding was at six
o'clock in the morning. We went into the country, the wife and I."
He laid down his knife and fork, possessed by the memory. "I have grown
rich since, and we've been to Europe and back to Germany, and travelled
on the best ships and stayed at the best hotels, but I never enjoyed a
holiday more than that day. It wasn't long afterwards I went to Mr.
Durrett and told him how he could save much money. He was always ready to
listen, Mr. Durrett, when an employee had anything to say. He was a big
man,--an iron-master. Ah, he would be astonished if only he could wake up
now!"
"He would not only have to be an iron-master," I agreed, "but a financier
and a railroad man to boot."
"A jack of all trades," laughed Mr. Scherer. "That's what we are--men in
my position. Well, it was comparatively simple then, when we had no
Sherman law and crazy statutes, such as some of the states are passing,
to bother us. What has got into the politicians, that they are indulging
in such foolishness?" he exclaimed, more warmly. "We try to build up a
trade for this country, and they're doing their best to tie our hands and
tear it down. When I was in Washington the other day I was talking with
one of those Western senators whose state has passed those laws. He said
to me, 'Mr. Scherer, I've been making a study of the Boyne Iron Works.
You are clever men, but you are building up monopolies which we propose
to stop.' 'By what means?'" I asked. "'Rebates, for one,' said he, 'you
get preferential rates from your railroad which give you advantages over
your competitors.' Foolishness!" Mr. Scherer exclaimed. "I tell him the
railroad is a private concern, built up by private enterprise, and it has
a right to make special rates for large shippers. No,--railroads are
public carriers with no right to make special rates. I ask him what else
he objects to, and he says patented processes. As if we don't have a
right to our own patents! We buy them. I buy them, when other steel
companies won't touch 'em. What is that but enterprise, and business
foresight, and taking risks? And then he begins to talk about the tariff
taking money out of the pockets of American consumers and making men like
me rich. I have come to Washington to get the tariff raised on steel
rails; and Watling and other senators we send down there are raising it
for us. We are building up monopolies! Well, suppose we are. We can't
help it, even if we want to. Has he ever made a study of the other side
of the question--the competition side? Of course he hasn't."
He brought down his beer mug heavily on the table. In times of excitement
his speech suggested the German idiom. Abruptly his air grew mysterious;
he glanced around the room, now becoming empty, and lowered his voice.
"I have been thinking a long time, I have a little scheme," he said, "and
I have been to Washington to see Watling, to talk over it. Well, he
thinks much of you. Fowndes and Ripon are good lawyers, but they are not
smart like you. See Paret, he says, and he can come down and talk to me.
So I ask you to come here. That is why I say you are wise to get home.
Honeymoons can wait--eh?"