transaction, for the most part pledged with Mr. Rogers and William
Rockefeller in stocks of the Butte & Boston and Boston & Montana
corporations.

This was, then, the nature of our connection when Mr. Rogers, suddenly
and without previous intimation of his schemes, notified me of his
purchase of the Daly-Haggin-Tevis properties, and practically ordered me
to put them upon the tray which I was preparing and take them to the
eagerly waiting public, who by this time were fairly howling for the
good things we had been promising them.

In support of this extraordinary change of plan Mr. Rogers urged the
secret wealth of the Anaconda and the great value of the other
properties which I myself had helped purchase, but I bitterly opposed
the new proposition until there was nothing before me but these
alternatives--to accept the change Mr. Rogers insisted on or break with
"Standard Oil." The latter would mean that I must announce to the public
that it was in danger of being tricked, and it was by no means certain
that my warning would carry weight against the denials and assurances of
"Standard Oil." However much influence I had obtained through my long
years of dealings with the public, independent of "Standard Oil," I
realized that "Standard Oil's" influence and prestige were much greater,
for it must be remembered that at this time the public had not had the
evidence since acquired of the "System's" cold-blooded trickery. If I
took this course it would mean not only my own ruin financially, for Mr.
Rogers and William Rockefeller could call my loans and wipe me out
completely, but also the ruin of my friends and allies, who, under my
direction, had invested their own millions in the properties concerned.
On the other hand, I had the most earnest assurances from Mr. Rogers and
William Rockefeller that the new properties were worth much more than
the $75,000,000 at which it was proposed to capitalize them. They took
me to task for my distrust of them, and went far to demonstrate to me
the accuracy of their estimates. They not only gave me Marcus Daly's
minute estimates of the values and legitimate possibilities of Anaconda,
but consented to have these verified by outside experts in whom I had
implicit confidence, and whose personal examination more than bore out
Daly's appraisal. I have never yet had reason to doubt the correctness
of the figures then shown me, although since I began this story
"Standard Oil," in an endeavor to