urprised out of his attitude as much by
Austen's manner as by Austen's words.

"It doesn't matter," said Austen, "whether the Northeastern Railroads
have succeeded this time in nominating and electing a governor to whom
they can dictate, and who will reappoint railroad commissioners and other
State officials in their interests. The practices by which you have
controlled this State, Mr. Flint, and elected governors and councillors
and State and national senators are doomed. However necessary these
practices may have been from your point of view, they violated every
principle of free government, and were they to continue, the nation to
which we belong would inevitably decay and become the scorn of the world.
Those practices depended for their success on one condition,--which in
itself is the most serious of ills in a republic,--the ignorance and
disregard of the voter. You have but to read the signs of the times to
see clearly that the day of such conditions is past, to see that the
citizens of this State and this country are thinking for themselves, as
they should; are alive to the dangers and determined to avert it. You may
succeed in electing one more governor and one more senate, or two, before
the people are able to destroy the machinery you have built up and repeal
the laws you have made to sustain it. I repeat, it doesn't matter in the
long run. The era of political domination by a corporation, and mainly
for the benefit of a corporation, is over."

Mr. Flint had been drumming on the desk, his face growing a darker red as
Austen proceeded: Never, since he had become president of the
Northeastern Railroads, had any man said such things to his face. And the
fact that Austen Vane had seemingly not spoken in wrath, although
forcefully enough to compel him to listen, had increased Mr. Flint's
anger. Austen apparently cared very little for him or his opinions in
comparison with his own estimate of right and wrong.

"It seems," said Mr. Flint, "that you have grown more radical since your
last visit."

"If it be radical to refuse to accept a pass from a railroad to bind my
liberty of action as an attorney and a citizen, then I am radical,"
replied Austen. "If it be radical to maintain that the elected
representatives of the people should not receive passes, or be beholden
to any man or any corporation, I acknowledge the term. If it be radical
to declare that these representatives should be elected without
interference,