s
to Mr. Rogers he expressed complete satisfaction, and ordered me to
inform the Utah people that another 50,000 shares must be added to the
option, as he could not think of tacking the great name of "Standard
Oil" to an enterprise in which he had less than a third interest;
indeed, he was not sure that he would consider less than a one-half
ownership. This second request was a bitter pill to the
Clark-Ward-Untermyer crowd, who hated to surrender for such a low figure
this tremendous parcel of a stock that was now selling fast at 40 per
share. There was no gainsaying the soundness of Rogers' reasoning,
however: "Who made it worth 40? Who but 'Standard Oil'? And what will
happen if 'Standard Oil' declares that it will not take Utah into the
consolidation?" The bare suggestion threw the Utah contingent into one
of those hundred-in-the-shade, twenty-below-zero sweats, which resemble
the moisture upon steam-pipes that pass through cold-storage boxes. They
succumbed. At the moment the option was signed over to us it represented
a profit of $1,000,000 more, and when we sold it, it netted us
$1,250,000, for the market was still climbing. This latter phenomenon
was not surprising, for it should be borne in mind that when our demand
for the second 50,000 shares was made, the heavy Utah stockholders were
called together and it was explained to them by their own managers--not
by "Standard Oil" or by Mr. Rogers mind, for "Standard Oil" never makes
false statements--that the expert's examination had developed such
wealth that "Standard Oil," the mighty of mighties, had insisted on
having at least 100,000 shares; but that, of course, "Standard Oil"
could not be asked to pay over twenty for stock which had cost its
original owners but $2 to $4. What was there to do? The stockholders
just gave up, and then once more climbed over one another in the market
to get back their precious shares as best they could.

Just to keep the conditions of the transaction at this stage before my
reader's mind, I'll repeat that the Clark-Ward-Untermyer people had now
given us the right to buy of them 100,000 shares of their stock (_at a
price $2,250,000 less than we had already sold it for_), with the
understanding--not in words or in writing, of course, because "Standard
Oil" never makes a promise in writing, but implied as sacredly as though
it had been set down and attested under oath--that we would take and
pay for their stock and engage with them in