Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 September 1906 — The Manager Of the B. & A. [ARTICLE]

The Manager Of the B. & A.

By VAUGHAN KESTER.

SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS. I—Dan Oakley, Manager of the Buckhorn and Antioch railroad (known as the • Huckleberry"), receives two letters, one telling him that bit convict father, Roger Oakley, has been pardoned, and the other that General Corniah, the owner of the B. & A., is about to visit Antioch. ll—Oakley visit* Dr. Emory and meets Constance Emory. Other visitors are Griff Ryder, owner of tbe Antioch Herald, and Turner Joice, the local artist. III —Oakley tells General Cornish that in order to keep tbe car shops running a cut in wages is necessary. CHAPTER IY. THE next morning Oakley saw General Cornish off on the 7:15 train, ffnd then went back to his hotel for breakfast. Afterward, cm his way to the office, he mailed a check to Ezra Hart for his father. The money was Intended to meet his expenses in coming west. He was very busy all that day making out bls new schedules and in figuring the cuts and Just what they would amount to. He approached his task with a certain reluctance, for it was as unpleasant to him personally as it was necessary to the future of the road, and he knew that no halfway measure would suffice. He must cut, as a surgeon cuts, to save. By lopping away a man here and there, giving his work to some other man or dividing it up among two or three men, he managed to peel off $2,000 on the year. He counted that a very fair day’s work. He would start his reform with no particular aggressiveness. He would retire the men he Intended to dismiss from the road one at a time. He hoped they would take the hint afid hunt other positions. At any rate, they could not get back until he was ready to take them back, as Cornish had assured him he would not be Interfered with. He concluded not to band the notices and orders to Miss Walton, the typewriter, to copy. She might let drop some word that would give his victims an Inkling of what was in store for them. He knew there were unpleasant scenes ahead of him, but there was no need to anticipate. ’When at last his figures for the cuts were complete be would have been grateful for some one with whom to discuss the situation. All at once his responsibilities seemed rather heavier than be bad bargained for. There were only two men in the office besides himself—Philip Kerr, the treasurer, and Byron Holt, his assistant. They were both busy with the payroll, as It was the 6th of the month, and they commenced to pay off in the shops on the 10th. He bad little or no use for Kerr, who still showed where he dared in small things his displeasure that an outsider had been appointed manager of tbe road. He had counted on the place for himself for a number of years, but a succession of managers bad come and gone apparently without its ever having occurred to General Cornish that an excellent executive was literally spoiling in the big, bare general offices of ttie line. This singular indifference on the part of Cornish to his real interests had soured a dis|>osition that at its best had more of acid in it than anything else. As there Avas no way in which he could make his resentment known to the general, even if he had deemed such a course expedient, he took it out of Oakley and kept his feeling for him on ice. Meanwhile he bided his time, hoping for Oakley's downfall and his own eventful recognition. With the assistant treasurer Dan’s relations were entirely cordial. Holt was a much younger man than Kerr, as frank and open as the other was secret and reserved. When the 6 o’clock whistle blew he glanced up from his work and said: “I wish you'd wait a moment, Holt. I want to see you.’’ Kerr had already gone home, and Miss Walton was adjusting her hat before a bit of a mirror that hung on the wall back of her desk. “All right,” responded Holt cheerfully. “Just draw up your chair,” said Oakley, handing his papers to him. At first Holt did not understand; then he began to whistle softly and fell to checking off the various cuts with his forefinger. “What do you think of the <»l>, Byron?” inquired Oakley. “Well, I’m glad I don’t get laid off, that’s sure. Say, just bear in mind that I’m going to be married this summer.” “You needn't worry; only 1 didn’t know that.’’ “Well, please don’t forget it, Mr. Oakley.” Holt run over the cuts again. Then he asked: “Who’s going to stand for this? You or the old man? I hear lie was in town last night.” “I stand for It, but of course he approves.” “I’ll bet he approves,” and tbe assistant treasurer grinned. “This is the sort of thing that suits him right down to the ground.” “How about the hands? Do you know if they are members of any union?” “No, but there’ll be lively times ahead for you. They are a great lot of kickers here.” “Walt until I get through. 1 haven’t touched tbe shops yet That’s to come later. I’ll skin closer before I’m done.” Oakley got up and lit his pipe. “The

plant must make some sorFof a showing. We can’t continue at the rate we have been going. I suppose you know What sort of shape it would leave the town in if the shops were closed.” “Very poor shape, I should say. Why, it’s the money that goes In and out of this office twice a month that keeps the town alive. It couldn't exist a day without that.” “Then it behooves us to see to it that nothing happens to tbe shops or road. I am sorry for the men I am laying off, but it can’t be helped.” “I see you are going to chuck Hoadley out of his good thing at the Junction. If he was half white he’d a gone long ago. He must lay awake nights figuring how he can keep decently busy.” “How do you think it’s going to work?" “Oh, it will work all right, because it has to, but they’ll all be cussing you," with great good humor. “What’s the matter anyhow? Did the old man throw a fit at the size of the payroll ?” “Not exactly, but be came down here with his mind made up to sell the road to the M. and W.” “You don’t say so!" “I talked him out of that, but we must make a showing, for he’s good and tired and may dump the whole business any day.” “Well, if he does that there’ll be no marrying or giving in marriage for me this summer. It will be just like a Shaker settlement where I am concerned.” Dan laughed. “Oh, you’d be all right. Holt You’d get something else or the M. gnd W. would keep you on.” **l don’t know about that. A new management generally means a clean sweep all round, and my berth’s a pretty good one.” In some manner a rumor of the changes Oakley proposed making did get abroad, and he was promptly made aware that his popularity in Antioch was a thing of tbe past. He was regarded as an oppressor from whom some elaborate and wanton tyranny might be expected. While General Cornish suffered their Inefficiency, his easy going predecessors had been content to draw their salaries and let it go at that, a line of conduct which Antioch held to be entirely proper. This new man, however, was clearly an upstart. cursed with an insane and destructive ambition to earn money for the road. Suppose It did not pay. Cornish could go down into his pocket for tbe difference, just as he had always done. What the town did not know and what It would not have believed even if it had been told was that the general had been on the point of selling, a change that would have l brought hardship to every one. The majority Of the men in the shops owned their own homes, and these homes represented the savings of years. The sudden exodus of two or three hundred families meant of necessity widespread ruin. Those who were forced to go away would have to sacrifice everything they possessed to get away, while those who remained would be scarcely better off. But Antioch never considered such a radical move as even remotely possible. It counted the shops a fixture. They had always been there, and for this sufficient reason they would always remain. The (lays wore on, one very like another, with their spring heat and lethargy. Occasionally Oakley saw Miss Emory on the street to bow to, but not to speak with. WJille lie was grateful for these escapes he found himself thinking of her very often. He fancied —and he was not far wrong—that she was finding Antioch very dull. He wondered, too, if she was seeing much of Ryder. He Imagined that she was, and here again he was not far wrong. Now and then he was seized w’ith what he felt to be a weak desire to call, but he always thought better of It In time and was always grateful he had not succumbed to the Impulse. But tier mere presence In Antioch seemed to make him dissatisfied and resentful of its limitations. Ordinarily he was not critical of his surroundings. Until she came, that he was without companionship and that the town was given over to a deadly Inertia which expressed itself In the collapsed ambition of nearly every man and woman he knew had scarcely affected him, beyond giving him a sense of mild wonder. He had heard nothing of his father, . and In the pressure of his work and freshened interest In the fortunes of the Huckleberry had hardly given him a second thought. He felt that since he had sent money to him he was In a measure relieved of all further responsibility. If his father did not wish to come to him, that was his own affair. He had placed no obstacle in his way. [TO be continued)