Carnadine Hills, he was agreeably disappointed. A committee of citizens,
headed by Jasper Steuchfield, the "Paramounter" chairman for Carnadine
County, met him at the train, escorted him to the hotel, and, during the
afternoon which was at his disposal, gave him joyously and hilariously
the freedom of the camp.

The political meeting, called for an early hour in the evening, was held
in the Carnadine Mining Company's ore-shed, electric-lighted for the
occasion. When the hour came the big shed was packed with an
enthusiastic audience, and there were prolonged cheers and
hand-clappings when the railroad advocate took his seat on the
improvised platform as the guest of the local committee.

Later, when Judge Crowley, candidate prospective on the popular ticket
for the State Senate, opened the joint debate with a shrewd arraignment
of the methods of the railroad company, not only in its dealings with
the public as a common carrier, but also in the pertinacity with which
it invaded the political field, there was tumultuous applause; but it
was no heartier than that which greeted Blount when he rose to present
the railroad side of the argument.

During the journey from the capital, which had consumed the night and
the greater portion of the forenoon, he had prepared his speech. His
argument--the one unanswerable argument, as it appeared to him--was the
absurdity and injustice of a law which presumed to limit the earning
power of a corporation by fixing the maximum rates it might charge,
without at the same time making a corresponding regulation fixing the
price which the company should pay for its labor and material.

Upon this foundation he was able to build a fair structure of oratory.
The judge, his opponent, was a rather turgid man whose speech had
abounded in flights of denunciation and whose appeal had been made
frankly to prejudice and party rancor. Blount took his cue shrewdly.
Touching lightly upon the public grievances, some of which he
characterized as just and entirely defensible, he rang the changes
calmly and logically upon the square deal, no less for the corporations
than for the individual. "Take it to yourselves, you merchants," he
urged. "Imagine a law on the statute-books fixing the prices at which
you shall sell your goods, and that same law leaving you at the mercy of
those from whom you must buy! Take it to yourselves, you miners. Suppose
the legislature had enacted a law fixing the maximum price at