I called them off, he listened patiently while I gave
him a full history of each.

Then I outlined my sensational but never before attempted plan of
campaign for educating the public, he vigorously questioning me as to
details and particulars the while.

It does not take Henry H. Rogers months, weeks, nor even days to grasp
any plan, however vast, nor many minutes to come to a decision after he
has grasped it. I believe he would, if the world were going to be
auctioned off next week, be the first man on earth to decide upon a
limit price that he would take it at, and three minutes after it was
knocked down to him he would be selling stock in it at 150 per cent.
profit.

Just before lunch-time I saw that the effect of my arguments on Mr.
Rogers was the exact opposite to that they had made on John Moore. When
I had come to a finish, Mr. Rogers simply said: "It's curious, Lawson,
why I have not listened to you before. I'll talk with William
Rockefeller to-morrow. No--I'll make it this afternoon if I can get at
him."

And his eyes snapped a bit when, as I was helping him on with his coat,
he said, "We must not lose a minute in getting to work."

As he left the hotel and before I crossed the street to the Grand
Central to take my train back to Boston--I suppose I should not say it,
but I shook my own hand in self-congratulation. How many times since I
have thought that had old Dame Fate but hung out a danger-signal for
this faithful servitor of her behests, or had but given him a glimpse
ahead through the years 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, 1903, and 1904, instead
of using his hands in cordial self-clasping he would have employed his
feet in the more fitting task of kicking himself.

If Henry H. Rogers had been slow at getting started on "Coppers," once
in he made up for his early tardiness. After our Sunday interview things
moved swiftly forward. Before noon next day he called me up on the
telephone to say that both he and William Rockefeller were impatient to
have my facts and figures verified, and would I at once send my data to
start his experts on? I mailed him a bale of "pointers," and from that
hour until the flotation of Amalgamated Mr. Rogers' enthusiasm on
"Coppers" constantly grew until there actually came a time when it went
beyond my own. It took him months to complete that rounding-up of the
situation which is the absolutely necessary preliminary to the making of
final decisions on any far-reaching and import