as long as they are disfranchised. The half million white farms are owned or controlled by five thousand wholesale merchants and three thousand big landowners, of whom you, Colonel Cresswell, are among the biggest with your fifty thousand acres. Ten banks control these eight thousand people‚ÅÝ‚Äîone of these is the Jefferson National of Montgomery, of which you are a silent director.‚Äù
Colonel Cresswell started; this man evidently had inside information. Did he know of the mortgage, too?
“Don’t be alarmed. I’m safe,” Taylor assured him. “Now, then, if we can get the banks, wholesale merchants, and biggest planters into line we can control the cotton crop.”
“But,” objected Harry Cresswell, “while the banks and the large merchants may be possibilities, do you know what it means to try to get planters into line?”
“Yes, I do. And what I don’t know you and your father do. Colonel Cresswell is president of the Farmers’ League. That’s the reason I’m here. Your success last year made you indispensable to our plans.”
“Our success?” laughed Colonel Cresswell, ruefully, thinking of the fifty thousand dollars lost and the mortgage to cover it.
‚ÄúYes, sir‚ÅÝ‚Äîsuccess! You didn‚Äôt know it; we were too careful to allow that; and I say frankly you wouldn‚Äôt know it now if we weren‚Äôt convinced you were too far involved and the League too discouraged to repeat the dose.‚Äù
“Now, look here, sir,” began Colonel Cresswell,