of the New York
Life, as being a clerk in a State bureau office when he
first made his acquaintance. He said President McCall had
advanced, like other company executives, owing to his own
ability and genius for management.

In an early article in this series I stated that one of the favorite
operations of the "System" is to pick off those officials who have
exhibited unusual talent or energy in protecting the interests of the
National Government. In this way they secure the services of men who
know the secret workings of the people's institutions and how best to
guard the corporations against the consequences of their misdeeds.
During the Cleveland administration there developed a "financial
phenomenon," James H. Eckels, Comptroller of the Currency. It did not
take long for the astute Rogers-Morgan-McCall clique to see that this
young man's knowledge of finance in connection with his governmental
position might prove a dangerous obstacle to their machine if he were
not captured. It was not long before he was captured.

I met Mr. Eckels during the Cleveland bond performance. I need not enter
into the details of that extraordinary affair here, for it is one of the
sore spots in recent American history. Briefly, the Administration at
Washington attempted to issue $100,000,000 government bonds and deliver
them in a snap sale to the "System." The New York _World_ began a
crusade against the transaction, and was so successful that the
Administration was compelled to offer the issue to the public through
competitive bids. The result--the bonds fetched many more millions for
the Government than if the deal had been allowed to slip along the ways
the "System" had greased for it. I remember well the scene at the
opening of the bids. It was in the United States Treasury at
Washington. With many others who desired an allotment of the bonds, I
was present. We were crowded into a small room, and following the
direction of young Mr. Eckels, who handled the transaction, we gave him
our bids, which, according to the advertised programme, were in sealed
envelopes. After all the bids were submitted--mine was for a number of
millions--the envelopes were taken by Mr. Eckels into a rear room. Then
a few of the leading financiers present, among them John A. McCall, of
the New York Life, J. Pierpont Morgan, and one or two others of the
"System's" foremost representatives, got their heads together and began
an earnest conf