ave abused it?"

In the city election O'Brien went down to defeat. Only fragments of his
ticket were saved from the general wreckage. Next day Joe Powers wired
James Farnum to join him immediately at Chicago.

"I'm going to put you in charge of the political field out there," the
great man announced, his gray granite eyes fastened on the young lawyer.
"Ned Merrill won't do. Neither will O'Brien. Between them they've made a
mess of things."

"I don't know that it is their fault, except indirectly. One of those
populistic waves swept over the city."

"Why didn't they know what was going to happen? Why didn't they let me
know? That's what I pay them for."

"A child could have foreseen it, but O'Brien wouldn't believe his eyes.
He's been giving Verden an administration with too much graft. The
people got tired of it."

"What were Merrill and Frome up to? Why did they permit it?" demanded
Powers impatiently.

"They were looking out for their franchises. To get the machine's
support they had to give O'Brien a free hand."

"If necessary you had better eliminate Big Tim. Or at least put him and
his gang in the background. Make the machine respectable so that good
citizens can indorse it."

James nodded agreement. "I've been thinking about that. The thing can
be done. A business men's movement from inside the party to purify it. A
reorganization with new men in charge. That sort of thing."

"Exactly. And how about the state?"

"Things don't look good to me."

"Why not?"

"This initiative and referendum idea is spreading."

Powers drove his fist into a pile of papers on the desk. "Stop it. I
give you carte blanche. Spend as much as you like. But win. What good is
a lobby to me if those hare-brained farmers can kill every bill we pass
through their grafting legislature?"

The possibilities grew on Farnum. "I'll send Professor Perkins of Verden
University to New Zealand to prepare a paper showing the thing is a
failure there. I'll have every town in the state thoroughly canvassed by
lecturers and speakers against the bill. I'll bombard the farmers with
literature."

"What about the newspapers?"

"We control most of them. At Verden only the _World_ is against us."

"Buy it."

"Can't be bought. Its editorial columns are not for sale."

"Anything can be bought if you've got the price. Who owns it?"

"A Captain Chunn. He made his money in Alaska. My cousin is the editor.
He is the real force back of it."