sure to question if presented less adroitly, or if they came from some other quarter. Yet all I was trying to accomplish was honest and best for all. Why might not his intentions be as fair as mine? However, the eye-snap determined me to steer nearer the wind.
"Well and good, Mr. Rogers," I went on. "I will tell the story I know is true and that you know is true, and that you have repeatedly given me your word you would stand by me in telling, but I will only do so in a way I deem safe and fair to myself. Is that agreed?"
He winced a bit. "What do you mean by that?" he said. "What do you mean by a 'way safe and fair' to yourself? You are not suspicious of any of us, are you?"
"Suspicious is not the word, Mr. Rogers. I brought you and Mr. Rockefeller this copper enterprise. We have gone ahead with it upon clearly laid down lines. I have done to the letter all I agreed, and, so far, the enterprise has more than fulfilled my promises. I realize that our success has largely come from our going to the public and openly telling it what we were doing and what we intended to do. Until now, I am the one who has made all the promises, and, legally, up to this point, I am the only one who can be called to account, but it is the fact that for any statement I have made, you and Mr. Rockefeller have been as much responsible as myself, and you as much or more than I have had the benefit which has come from what I have promised. Now we are ready for business with the public, and there must be a clear and distinct understanding with it or it will not part with its money. This understanding can have but one bearing—that what the public read, we must all be responsible for legally and morally, not some of us, but all of us, you, Mr. Rockefeller, the City Bank, James Stillman, and myself. For bear in mind it was you and Mr. Rockefeller who changed my plans by substituting companies and properties of which I knew nothing but what you told me. All the things we ought to tell, you say cannot be put into words,