is raisin' hell," said he.

But I had no impulse to laugh or to gloat. "Good night," said I to
Roebuck and hastened away.

It was the end of the attempt to mine the foundations of my power. But I
did not neglect its plain warning. As soon as the legislature assembled,
I publicly and strongly advocated the appointment of a joint committee
impartially to investigate all the cities of the state, those ruled by
my own party no less than those ruled by the opposition. The committee
was appointed and did its work so thoroughly that there was a popular
clamor for the taking away of the charters of the cities and for ruling
them from the state capital. It is hardly necessary to say that my
legislature and governor yielded to this clamor. And so the
semi-independent petty princes, the urban bosses, lost their
independence and passed under my control; and the "collections" which
had gone directly to them reached them by way of Woodruff as grants from
my machine, instead of as revenues of their own right.

Before this securing of my home power was complete, I had my
counter-attack upon the Burbank-Goodrich combine well under way.
Immediately on my return to Fredonia from the disastrous dinner, I sent
for the attorney general of the state, Ferguson. He was an ideal
combination of man and politician. He held to the standards of private
morality as nearly as it is possible for a man in active public life to
hold to them--far more nearly than most men dare or, after they have
become inured, care, to hold. He always maintained with me a firm but
tactful independence; he saw the necessity for the sordid side of
politics, but he was careful personally to keep clear of smutched or
besmutching work. He had as keen an instinct for popularity as a bee has
for blossoms; he knew how to do or to direct unpopular things on dark
nights with a dark lantern, how to do or to direct popular things in
full uniform on a white horse. I have never ordered any man to a task
that was not morally congenial; and I was careful to respect Ferguson's
notion of self-respect. I sent for him now, and outlined my plan--to
bring suits, both civil and criminal, in the Federal courts in the name
of the state, against Roebuck and his associates of the Power Trust.

When he had heard, he said: "Yes, Mr. Sayler, we can break up the Power
Trust, can cause the indictment and conviction of Mr. Roebuck. I can
prevent the United States Attorney General from playing any of