ere called--South, West, and North, and of these the Chicago Gas,
Light, and Coke Company, organized in 1848 to do business on the South
Side, was the most flourishing and important. The People's Gas, Light,
and Coke Company, doing business on the West Side, was a few years
younger than the South Chicago company, and had been allowed to spring
into existence through the foolish self-confidence of the organizer and
directors of the South Side company, who had fancied that neither the
West Side nor the North Side was going to develop very rapidly for a
number of years to come, and had counted on the city council's allowing
them to extend their mains at any time to these other portions of the
city. A third company, the North Chicago Gas Illuminating Company, had
been organized almost simultaneously with the West Side company by the
same process through which the other companies had been brought into
life--their avowed intention, like that of the West Side company, being
to confine their activities to the sections from which the organizers
presumably came.

Cowperwood's first project was to buy out and combine the three old
city companies. With this in view he looked up the holders in all
three corporations--their financial and social status. It was his idea
that by offering them three for one, or even four for one, for every
dollar represented by the market value of their stock he might buy in
and capitalize the three companies as one. Then, by issuing sufficient
stock to cover all his obligations, he would reap a rich harvest and at
the same time leave himself in charge. He approached Judah Addison
first as the most available man to help float a scheme of this kind.
He did not want him as a partner so much as he wanted him as an
investor.

"Well, I'll tell you how I feel about this," said Addison, finally.
"You've hit on a great idea here. It's a wonder it hasn't occurred to
some one else before. And you'll want to keep rather quiet about it,
or some one else will rush in and do it. We have a lot of venturesome
men out here. But I like you, and I'm with you. Now it wouldn't be
advisable for me to go in on this personally--not openly, anyhow--but
I'll promise to see that you get some of the money you want. I like
your idea of a central holding company, or pool, with you in charge as
trustee, and I'm perfectly willing that you should manage it, for I
think you can do it. Anyhow, that leaves me out, apparently, exce