o a hundred police officials and they would laugh at your fears. But I
am not laughing. Because that letter was written on the same damaged
typewriter that the other letters were written on and those gangsters
have not failed to make any of their threats good."

"Suppose we pretend that they are honest, and answer their letter and
send them a check for the first week's protection?"

"They will laugh at you and send back the check."

"They may, at that. Then we will give them the cash. In either case, it
will give us time to think. I feel that they are only experimenting with
us. They are after larger game than five thousand a week. We shall see
and hear more of this rat business in a while. Write to them and tell
them that we will pay the cash, and put the entire matter in the hands
of the Chamber of Commerce. If it does not act soon, the entire city
will be in the hands of the gangsters."

The complaint of Moyer & Perkins was only one of a dozen similar ones
which reached the Chamber of Commerce that day. In a secluded room of
the Manufacturers' Club a dozen wealthy men met day after day, hearing
and weighing evidence against a hundred forms of racketeering which was
rapidly becoming a terrible and powerful enemy to the varied industries
of the Metropolis. Practically every business had been threatened and
more than one captain of industry blustered openly, but paid his weekly
tribute silently in order to protect his business, family, and home.

Up to this time the usual weapon had been the strong arm man and the
bomb. While these were bad enough, they were at least understood. When
it came to rats, it was different. Of course, everybody knew something
about rats--that they were supposed to be numerous around the river
fronts and warehouses--but on the other hand, rats were seldom seen in
daylight, and there were many New Yorkers who never saw one.

Not one of the dozen men had been raised on a farm and none had served
in the trenches during the World War. They did not understand rats, so,
they hesitated, and finally simply advised the merchants who had
received the rat letters to use their own judgement. As a result, some
paid tribute and some did not. There is no evidence to show that those
who paid were one hundred per cent free from rats in their warehouses,
but within a week there was ample proof that at least three wholesale
groceries and one laundry had been invaded overnight by rats in
sufficient quantity