oolness is the
fact that, at the very time when the market was closing on
Friday, when it was whispered all over the country that he
was arranging terms of peace for the Standard Oil with Mr.
Rogers, Mr. Lawson was actually explaining the peculiar and
beautiful qualities of his favorite flower.

A REASON FOR HIS LAST ATTACK

"But if Amalgamated Copper shares were worth $100 when you
were market manager for Mr. Rogers and his friends, how is
it that they are not worth that price now?" I asked.

Mr. Lawson leaned against the edge of an open door and
thrust his hands deeply into his pockets.

"I have tried to make that plain to the public," he said
quietly.

"The other day Mr. Rogers's lawyer was trying to get me to
stop. I told him that I intended to force the Standard Oil
crowd to put the price of Amalgamated Copper back to $100,
at which I advised my friends to buy it. He said that the
stock was not worth $100. I asked him how he knew. He
answered that Mr. Rogers, Mr. Stillman, Mr. Rockefeller, and
the other fellows in control had discovered that they had
been deceived when the property was bought. They did not
consider it worth more than $45 a share.

"That settled it in my mind. I appealed to the public to
test the situation. I advised them to sell Amalgamated at
once and keep on selling. If it was worth $100, the men in
the 'System,' having billions of dollars behind them, would
buy it. If it was worth only $45 a share, then the price
must fall to that point in the end. It was simply a question
whether the public could unload on the Standard Oil crowd
before the 'System' could unload on the public."

"Then you caught the leaders of Standard Oil at the
psychological moment."

Mr. Lawson's smile was beyond words to describe.

"That partly explains the crash," he said. "They were ready
to unload on the public, but the public moved too quickly.
Publicity destroyed the one great weapon of the Standard Oil
men, which is secrecy. I had been tricked and deceived, and
those who were responsible had used my name to deceive and
trick the public. I got out into the open and laid the plot
bare. I had been working up to that point for many years,
always waiting, waiting, waiting for the day when I could
begin a