& B. It showed them that the G. & B.
traversed a southerly corner of the state and had within its boundaries
some forty miles of track.
"The idee," said Scattergood, "is to make that forty mile of track
consid'able more of a worry to Castle than all the rest of his
railroad."
"Meddling with the railroads is a dangerous pastime," said Johnnie.
"Besides, how can you manage it?"
"We got a legislature, hain't we?"
"Yes, but the boys feel pretty friendly to the railroads, I
understand."
"Feel perty friendly to me, too," said Scattergood.
"I doubt if you could pass any legislation they wanted to fight hard."
"Um!... I'll look out for that end, Johnnie. Now what I want is for you
to draw up a bill for me that'll sort of irritate 'em where irritation
does the most hurt--which, I calc'late, is in the pocketbook. Here's my
notion: To make a pop'lar measure of it; somethin' that'll appeal to the
folks. We kin git the papers to start a holler and have folks demandin'
action of their representatives, and sich like. Taxes! That'll fetch 'em
every time."
"Yes," said Johnnie, dubiously, "but--"
"You _listen_" said Scattergood.
Pages:
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98