ounds to believe; I had read of strange doings in
connection with H. M. Whitney's West End Railway franchise obtained from
the Massachusetts Legislature amid an accompaniment of much public
scandal; but being quite without personal experience I had no clear
conception of how things were done and, innocently enough, I asked
Whitney before we parted:

"How is it possible for you to get this valuable charter from the
Legislature, particularly with such a strong and honest man as Roger
Wolcott in the governor's chair, when Addicks has been trying
continuously for four or five years, regardless of expense, to secure an
ordinary one under which he can combine our gas companies?"

George Towle answered for Whitney:

"Lawson, that part of the transaction is no affair of yours. Mr. Whitney
will absolutely guarantee to deliver all those goods, and should it
prove necessary to override the governor in getting them, he will
guarantee to do that too. You can call all that done the minute we sign
papers."

There was no doubt the new combination was a winner for both of us. If
Whitney got the charter, he would be in a position to make a lot of
money out of his Dominion Coal stock, which would surely go up with a
bound in company with Bay State Gas stock when it became known that our
companies were in the new deal. Besides, all the talk he would make over
the value of the charter would help create a market for new stock which
we would issue for the purpose of obtaining funds to buy Rogers out.
Later, if Whitney's invention was what he imagined, his own profit would
run into millions and our properties, having the sole right to
distribution, would be stronger than ever. That meant resuscitation of
Bay State Gas, and that all the stocks and bonds held by my friends and
the public would return splendid profits.

I tested the scheme in all its aspects and found only one weak spot in
it. We, the Boston companies, were to "go snags" with Whitney in the
results of a legislative game in which he was to bear the expense of
getting a charter, and as Whitney and Towle said it was to cost them
$250,000 to $300,000 to get it, it looked as if there would be some
nasty business done at the State House.

I do not set up for a saint, nor to possessing exclusive virtues which
distinguish me from the ordinary American citizen who does business for
gain. In reiterating that the bribery end of our "hitch-up" with Whitney
did not appeal to me, I am n