llar we receive for it to support it in the market, to make it
sell afterward under all conditions at a big premium over cost, so that
every one would make big profits, and so, consequently, by the time the
second section came along, the demand for subscriptions would be
unprecedented. We could continue this until all the good 'Coppers' were
in our company, and then our consolidation would be a prodigious
success, just as you outlined at the start. There cannot possibly be any
loss to any one; in fact, success is so assured that William
Rockefeller, Daly, Stillman, and all the others who will be associated
with us, do not propose to sell a share of their stock, but, on the
contrary, will go along with us to the finish. So good does it look to
us that I feel it will really beat out Standard Oil itself as a
money-maker, and you must remember that whatever else they may say about
Standard Oil, no one who has ever owned a share has lost money; on the
contrary, every one has made large profits."

CHAPTER XVII

"EXTRACT EVERY DOLLAR"

"Standard Oil's" arguments always are absolutely flawless, and this was
one of their best. I was fast becoming imbued with the wisdom of the
plan which Mr. Rogers was revealing so adroitly, and began secretly to
wonder if after all I was not a novice in such business.

Unerringly Mr. Rogers followed my thoughts. He piled Pelions of better
things on Ossas of good ones. Surely it was after watching some parallel
hoodwinking put through by a remote ancestor of "Standard Oil" that Puck
enunciated his famous dictum, "What fools these mortals be." I fell in
like the veriest tyro--hypnotized and happy.

"How much of this first section do you figure, Mr. Rogers, that we are
to give to the public?" I inquired.

"We, Mr. Rockefeller and myself, have carefully considered this phase of
it, and as we all want to retain as much as possible of the stock, we
would not sell over $5,000,000 to the public."

"But can you do this?" I asked. "If the public know 'Standard Oil' is
retaining nearly all the stock they will sour on it."

"Leave that to us," he said, knowingly. "We can iron this out so easily
you need not give it another thought, for no one can have any possible
rights in the matter until he has been allotted stock, and as all those
who come in are to have big profits from the start, they will raise no
objection to anything we do."

"All right, if you think it's wise. You know," I respon