The Madisonian., February 03, 1914, Image 8

About The Madisonian. (Richmond, Ky.) 1913-1914

Image provided by: University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY

                
T H E - M AD I S O N I A N
m
COPYRICfHTj9J2. THT
SYNOPSIS.
Percy Darrow, ' younif scientist In
earoh of a - Job. enters the office of
"Boss"" McCarthy of Ntw York. Mc
Carthy has Just been threatened by an
anonymous message ordering, him to flee
to ' Europe. He does not take the mes
ae seriocatfy. Darrow goes up the
levator t try for a position with Dr.
JCnox. Sflddenly the electric apparatus
In- the Atlas building goes out of busi
ness. Experts are unable to locate the
trouble. All at once, without apparent
reason, electric connections are restored.
The next evening McCarthy is warned
that unless he leaves at once for Europe
a sign will be sent him at six. Prompt
ly at that hour the entire electrio appar
atus of New York is cut oft. Percy Dar
row. thinks he has a, clue. He engages
the help of Jack Warford, a college ath
lete. They visit McCarthy and offer to
run down the cause of his mysterious
trouble. McCarthy has Just received an
other warning by wireless. At six a
deathly stillness falls on the Atlas build
ing, blotting out all sound. Next day the
whole town is thrown into darkness and
all hearing suspended. Prof. Eldridge,
the noted scientist, becomes interested in
the phenomena. Dai-row's theory is that
the man who is sending the warnings has
discovered some force by which he can
out through the vibrations of electricity,
light and sound. McCarthy has disap
peared. Darrow places Eldridge in pos
session of all the iacts in the case and of
his own theories in relation thereto and
challenges him to solve the mystery.
More terrifying messages come. Dar
row, through the newspapers, reassures
the people. He fears the Unknown will
stop the vibrations of heat which would
mean complete annihilation1 of- all life,
animal and vegetable. The Unknown
threatens to wipe out the city. Thous
ands of people flee. Darrow sits non
chalantly receiving wireless messages in
McCarthy's office while Eldridge experi
ment with the purpose of locating the
Unknown. Eldridge's experiments fall.
CHAPTER XVIII. Continued.
Eldridge detailed the same reason
ing, at greater length, to the men who
fiad employed him. These were very
impatient. Business waB being not
merely impeded, but destroyed. .Their
customers had no time for them; their
employes were in many cases leaving
their Jobs. They called in all the
help they could to assist Eldridge's
speculations, but in the end they had
to fall back on the scientist as the
beet on the market . The case was not
left in his hands alone, however. After
a meeting they offered a reward to any
one discovering and putting to an end
the disconcerting phenomena. '
"Here's where we make money,
Jack, big money," observed Darrow
when he read this offer. "It'll be big
ger before we get through. You and
I can have the little expedition to Vol
cano Island." '
"Nothing ' suits me better," '; said
lack. "Are you sure well get it?"
"Sure," said Darrow.
Monsieur X had of course honored
the waiting world with a message. It
followed the fifteen minutes of dark
ness :
"To the People: I have been patient
and have stayed my hand In order that
you may learn the vanity of your en
deavor. Who are ye that ye shall strive
to take me? Vanity and foolishness is
your portion. Now ye know my power
and ye will listen unto my words as to
the words of the master. Ye must hunt
down this man McCarthy and deliver him
over unto me. If every one of you gives
himself to the task, lo! it is quickly done.
Bestir yourselves against the wrath to
come!" -
These events occupied the three
days of the ordered exodus. ' The time
was further filled with rumor that ever
grew more dire. Gradually business
was suspended entirely. Those who
could not or would not go away stood
about talking matters over, and, as
He Stumbled to the Young Man and
Clung to His Neck.
is always the case, matters did. not
' Improve in the telling. The only ac
tivity in the city was that bent- on
seeking out the abiding place of Mon
Bier X. , .. - . .-- - . v-
Eldridge had now come to the con
clusion that he had perhaps been mis
taken in confining his efforts to so
small an area. In fact further exper
iments rendered hazy the . arbitrary
outlines formerly determined for the
ecne of danger. At times Monsieur X
answered well within the forty-five-mile
mark; at times somewhat beyond
the end of. the fifty-mile radius. El
drioge immediately undertook a series
of locsft Ucate experiments by means
BLAZED
JW ' CONJl?0J?Sf0USE.ErCE7C
BOT-SMITH,
HILL CQMRW.
of indicators especially designed by
him for the occasion. Once more the
little wireless office became the focus
of reportorial attention.
"Our major premises we find still to
be correct," announced Eldridge in the
coldly didactic manner characteristic
of the man. "This unknown operator
is at a distance; and probably at a
height One indication we did not take
sufficiently into consideration the fact
that, this instrument alone is capable
of communication -with the instru
ment of this individual." .
Percy Darrow for the first time be
gan to show signs of attention. He
dropped the legs of his chair to the
floor and leaned forward.
"That would indicate, gentlemen.
that the Instrument whose location we
are desirous of determining is. of a
peculiar nature. What that nature Is
we hare no means of determining ac
curately; but in conjunction with the
fact that our previous experiments
tailed to locate Monsieur X, we may
adopt the hypothesis that the wire
less apparatus of that individual is
not so delicately responsive as the av
erage. In other words, the zone
within which he may be found is in
fact wider than we had supposed."
Darrow leaned back against the wall
and closed his eyes. Eldridge contin
ued, explaining the means he had tak
en to determine "more accurately the
exact location of Monsieur X.
CHAPTER XIX.
. Percy Keeps Vigil.
The morning of the third day after
the failure of the search, and of the
sixth since McCarthy's disappearance,
had arrived. During that time Percy
Darrow, apparently insensible to fa
tigue, had maintained an almost sleep
less vigiL His meals Jack Warford
brought In to him; he dozed in his
chair or on the couch. Never did he
appear to do anything.
The very persistent quietude of the
man ended by making Its impression.
To all questions, however, Darrow re
turned but the one reply, delivered al
ways In a voice full of raillery:
"I couldn't bear to miss a single
step of Eldridge's masterly work."
About half past nine in the morning
in question, through the door to the
wireless office, always half opened,
somebody looked hesitatingly Into the
room. Instantly Darrow . and Jack
were on their, feet and in the hall
way. .
"Helen!" cried Jack.
"What is It? Anything happened?"
demanded Darrow.
She surveyed them both amusedly. . .
"You certainly look like a frowzy
tramp, Jack," she told her brother Ju
dlclously, . "and you need sleep," she
informed Darrow.
The young scientist bowed ironical
ly, his long lashes drooping over his
eyes in his . accustomed, lazy fashion
aa he realized that the occasion was
not urgent Helen turned directly to
him. . , ' ':'
"When are -you going to stop this?"
she demanded. .
Darrow raised his eyebrows. 1
"You needn't look at me like that
You said you could lay your hands on
Monsieur X at any moment; why don't
you do it?" -
"Eldridge is too amusing."
"Too amusing!" echoed the glrL
"All you think of is yourself."
"Is it?" drawled Darrow.
"Have you been out in the city?
Have you seen the people? Have you
seen men out of work?. Families leav
ing their homes? Panic spreading
slowly but surely over a whole city?
'Those pleasures cave been denied
me," said Darrow blandly. ;
The girl looked at him with bright
angry eyes. Her cheeks were glow
ing, and her whole figure expressed a
tense vibrant life in singular contrast
to the apparent indolence of .the men
at whom she was talking.
"You are ineufferable!" She fairly
stamped her foot in vexation. "You
are an egoist! You would' play with
the welfare of four million people to
gratify your little personal desire tor
getting even!" " . 1 ,
. "Steady, sis!" warned Jack.
Darrow had straightened, and his In
dolent manner had fallen from him.
"I have said I would permit no harm
to come to these people, and I mean
It." said he. v.. -
"No harm!" cried Helen. " What do
you call this" i . s
Darrow turned to the window look
ing out over the city.-
"This!" he said. "Why, this Isn't
harm! .There isn't a man out there
who is not better off for what has hap
pened to him. He has lost a little
time, a little money, a little sleep, and
he has been given -a new point of
view, a, new uanhood. As a city
dweller h was becoming a mollusk, a
creature that could not exist without
its shell The city transported him.
warmed him, fed him, amused him,
protected him. He had nothfng to
do with it any way; he didn't even
, know how it was done. Deprived of
his push-buttons,' he was as. helpless
as a baby. Beyond the little stunt he
did in his office or$ his store, and be
yond the ability to cross a crowded
street, he was no good. He' not only
didn't know how to do things, but he
was rapidly losing, through disuse, the
power todearn how to do things. The
modern cits dweller, , bred, born.
brought up oa this island, is about as
helpless and useless a man, considered
as a four-square, self-reliant individual,
as you can find on the "broad expanse
of the 'globe. I've got no. use for a
man who can't take care of himself,
who's got to have somebody else to
do it for him, whenever something to
which he hasn't been accustomed rises
up in front of him J" ,
His eye was fixed somberly on the
city stretching, away Into the haze of
the autumn day.
"You blame me for letting this
thing run!" he went on. "Of course
it tickles me to death to see Eldridge
flounder; but tliat isn't all. This is
the best thing thai could happen to
them out there! rm JuBt patriotic
enough to wish them more of it It's
good medicine! At last every man
jack of them is tip. against something
he's got to decide for. himselL The
police are useless; the fire department
is useless; the railroads and street
cars are crippled. If a man ie going
to take care of hU life and property,
he must do It himself. He's buying
back his self-reliance. Self-reliance is
valuable property. He ought to pay
something for it Generally he has
to pay war or lnsuvrection or bloody
riot In the present instance he's get
ting off cheap."' '
He turned back from the open win
dow. - Hie eye traveled1' beyond Helen's
trim figure down the empty hall.
Wait right here, Jack," he shot over
his shoulder, and rushed along the
hall and down the stairway before ei
ther the young man or his sister could
recover from their astonishment
i, . CHAPTER XX.
The Plague of Cold.
Without pauBe, and three steps at
a time, Darrow ran down three flights
of stairs. Then, recovering from his
initial excitement somewhat he
caught the elevator and shot to the
street There he walked rapidly to
the subway, which he took as far as
City Hall Square. . On emerging from
the 6ubway station he started across
for the Despatch office as fast as he
could walk. By the entrance to the
City Hall, however, he came tp an
abrupt halt From the open doorway
rushed hiB friend, Officer Burns, of
the City Hall Station.
The policeman's face was chalky
whi.te; his eyes were staring; his cap
was over one side, he staggered un
certainly. As he caught sight of Dar
row he stumbled to the young man
and clung to his neck, muttering in
coherently. People passing in andout j
locked at him curiously and smiled.
"My uoa: gaspea Burns, nis eyes
roving. "I says to him, 'Mike, I don't
wonder you've got cold feet' And
there he was, and the mayor Heaven
save and his secretary! My God!"
Darrow shook his shoulder;
"Here," he said decisively, "what are
you talking about? Get . yourself to
gether! Remember you're an officer;
don't lose your nerve thie way!" .
At the touch to his pride Burns did
pull himself together somewhat, but
went on under evident strong excite
ment.
' "I went in just now to the mayor's
office a minute," said he, "and saw my
friend Mike Mallory, the doorkeeper,
settin' in his chair, as usual. It was
cold-like, and I went up to him and
says, 'Mike, no wonder you feet cold
feet down here,' Just by way of a joke;
and when he didn't answer, I went up
to him, and he wae dead, there in his
chair!" .
"Well, you've ' seen dead men be
fore. There's no occasion to lose
your nerve, even if you did know him,"
said Darrow. ' . ' .
The brutality of the speech had its
intended" effect. Burns straightened.
""That's all very well," said he more
collectively. "But the man was froze!"
"Frozen!" muttered Darrow, and
whistled.
"Yes, and what's more, his little dog,
setting by the chair, was froze, too;
so when I stepped back sudden and
hit against him, he tumbled oyer bang,
like a cast-iron do"g! That got my
goat! I ran!" r -
"Come with me," ordered Darrow de
cisively. -
They entered the building and ran
up the single flight of stairs to. the
second-storyproom which the mayor- of
that term had fitted up as la sort of
private office of his own. A sharp
chill hung in the hallways; this in
creased as they neared the executive's
office. . Outside the door eat the door
keeper in his armchair. Beside him
was a dog, in the attitude of an ani
mal seated on its haunches, but 'ying
on its side, one fore leg sticking
straight out Darrow touched the man
and stooped over to peer in his face.
The attitude was most lifelike; the
color was : good. A deadly chill ran
from Darrows' finger tips up bis arm.
,,. He pushed open the door cautiously
and looked in. 1 ,
' "All- right Burns," said he.! "The
atmosphere has become gaseous again.
We can go in." WJth which strange
remark he entered the room, followed
closely, but uncertainly by the officer.
The private office possessed the at
mosphere of a cold-storage vault Four
men occupied it At , the desk was
seated the raayor, leaning forward in
an attitude of attention, his triple"
chin on one clenched fist, his heavy
face scowling In concentration. Op
posite him lounged two men, one lean
ing - against the table, the other
I against Hhe wall. One had his hand
raised in argument and' his mouth
open. ' The other was watching, an ex
pression of alertness on his- eharf
countenance. Ax a typewriter lolled
his clerk, his hand fumbling among
some papers. .
The group was exceedingly li'elike,
more eo, Darrow thought, than any ;
war figures the Eden Musee had ever
placed - for the mystification ' of Its
country visitors. Indeed, the pnly in
dication that the men had not merely
suspended action on the entrance of
the visitors was a fine white rime
frost that sparkled across the burly
countenance of the mayor. Darrow
remembered that, summer and winter,
that dignitary had always perspired!
Burns stood by the door, rooted to
the spot his jaw dropped, his eye
staring. Darrow quite calmly walked
to the desk. He picked up the ink
stand and gazed curiously at its solidi
fied contents, touched the nearest
man, gazed curiously at the papers on
the desk, and addressed Burns.
"These seem to be frozen,, too. This
ie a sweet gang to be getting together
on this sort of a job!"
Quite calmly he gathered the pa
pers on the desk and stuffed them into'
his pocket He picked up the desk
telephone, giving a number. "Ouch,
this receiver's cold," he remarked to
Burns. "Hello, Despatch. Is Hal
lowell in the office? Just In? Send
him over quick, keen jump, City Hall,
mayor's second-story office. No, right
now. Tell him It's Darrow."
He hung up the receiver.
"Curious phenomenon," he remarked
to Burns, who ' skill stood rooted to
the spot "You sea, their bodies were
naturally almost in equilibrium, and,
as they were frozen immediately, that
equilibrium was maintained. And the
color. I suppose the blood was con
gealed In the smaller veins, and did
not as in more gradual freezing, re
cede to the larger blood-vessels. I'm
getting frost bitten myself in here.
Let's get outside."
But Officer Burns heard none of
this. As Darrow moved toward the
door he crossed himself and bolted.
Darrow heard hi3 heels clattering on
the cement of the .corridors. He
smiled.
"And now the deluge!" he remarked.
The crowds, terrified. Inquisitive,
skeptical, and speculative, gathered.
"Send Him Over Right Quick."
Officials swept them out and took pos
session. Hallowell and Darrow con
ferred earnestly together.
. "He has the power to stop heat vi
brations, you see," Darrow said. "That
makes him really dangerous. His ac
tivities here are in line with his other
warnings; " but he is not ready to go
to extremes yet The city is yet safe."
"Why?" asked Hallowell.
"I know it But he has the power.
If he gets dangerous we must stop
him."
"You are sure you can do It?"
"Sure."
"Then, for God's sake, do it! Don't
you realize what will happen when
news of this gets out and people un
derstand what it means? Don't ycu
feel your guilt at those men's deaths?"
He struck bis hand in the direction of
the City Hall.
"The people will buy a lot of expe
rience, at cost of a little fright and
annoyance," replied Percy Darrow
carelessly. "It'll do them good. When
it's over, they'll come back again and
be good,. As for that bunch in there
when you look over those papers I
think you'll be inclined to agree with
what the religious fanatics will say
that it was a visitation of God."
SAID BY WITS OF THE PAST
Memoirs of London Merchant Told of
''. Many Good Quips He v
A ... Had Heard...
The late John Richard Clayton of
the firm of Clayton & Bell, glass paint
er of London England, had some good
stories of his experiences with the pre
Raphaelito brethren. J
He was once sought out by the paint
ers.; He called on Rosetti in his studio
and listened to the brilliant diatribes
of the young Ben against whom they
called the sloshlness of modern paint
ing. Sloshy was the term they applied
to all the art of that day, and they did
not spare Sir "Sloshua" Reynolds, him
self. Clayton was fond of telling how
he noticed that the studio was hung
all round with photagraphs of the
works of the great masters ; but . he
was astonished to see that they were
all either on their sides or upside
down. After a pleasant talk he ven
tured to inquire the reason of the
strange hanging. Rossetti affected to
be p-aizled at Clayton's discovery.
"Why," he added. . "aren't they
tfif
Mi ffw
If' I :
"But the old, the sick there'll be
deaths among them the responsibility
ie something fearful "
"Never knew a battle fought yet
without some loss," observed Darrow.
Hallowell was staring at him.
"I donlt Understand you," said the
reporter. "You have no heart. You
are as bad as this Monsieur X, and
between you you hold a city in your
power-rone way or the other!"
"Well, I rather like being a little
god," remarked Darrow.
Hallowell started once more . to
plead, but Darrow-cut him short ,
"You are thinking of the present,"
he said. "I am thinking of the future.
It's a' good thing for people to find
out that there's something bigger than
they are, or than anything they can
make. That fact is the basis of the
idea of God.. Thesetare getting to be
a godless people." . He turned on Hal
lowell, his sleepy eyes lighting up. "I
should be very sorry if I had not in
tellect enough and imagination enough
to see what this may mean to my fel
low people; and I should despise my
self If I should let an unrestrained
compassion lose to four million people
the rare opportunity vouchsafed them."
He spoke very solemnly. Hallowell
looked at him puzzled.
"Besides," Bald Darrow whimsically,
"I like to devil Eldridge."
He dove into the subway. Hallowell
gazed after him.
"There goes either a great man or
a crazy fool," he remarked to an Eng
lish sparrow. He turned over rapidly
the papers Darrow had found on the
mayor's desk, and smiled grimly. "Of
all the barefaced, bald-headed steals!"
he said.
Darrow soon mounted once more
the elevator of the Atlas Building. He
found Jack and Helen still waiting.
Before entering the wireless office Dar
row cast a scrutinizing glance along
the empty hall.
"It's all right" he said. "I'm surer
than ever. Everything fits exactly.
Now, Helen," he said, "I want you to
go home, and I want you stay there.
No matter what happens, do not move
from the house. This town is going
to have the biggest scare thrown into
it that any town ever had since Sodom
and Gomorrah got their little jolt In
the language of the Western prophet
'Hell will soon be popping.' Let her
pop. Sit tight; tell your friends to
sit tight If necessary, tell them Mon
sieur X is captured, and all his works.
Tell them I said so."
His air of languid indifference had
fallen from him. His eye was bright
and he spoke with authority and vigor.
"You take her home, Jack," he com
manded, "and return here at once,
Don't forget ;that nice new-blued pop
gun of yours; we're coming to the
time when we may need it"
. Jack rose instantly to his mood.
"Correct -General!" he saluted.
"Where'd you collect the plunder?" he
asked, point? jg to a square black bag
of some size that Darrow had brought
back with him.
"That," said Darrow, "is the first
fruit of my . larcenous tendencies. I
stole that from the mayor's office In
the City Hall."
"What is itr
"That." Bald Darrow. "I do not
know."
He deposited the bag carefully by
hie chair, and turned, smiling, to
Helen.
"Goodby," said he. "Sleep tight"
They went out Darrow seated him
self in his chair, drew his hat over his
eyes, and fell into a doze. In the
meantime, outside, all through the
city, hell was getting ready to pop.
(TO BE CONTINUED.)
Our Fairy Godmothers.
The world, out of fairy , books, is
chary in furnishing its fairy god
mothers, yet most of us have friends
at whose touch we become more truly
and happily ourselves than at other
times. They seem able to endow us,
through eame magic of their own,
with the beauteous vestments and the
glass, slippers that free the spirit
These are our (airy godmothers. We
do well to love them and pay them
good heed, for through them we may
enter into such possession of the pre
cious gifts -that we need have no dread
of the striking hour. This, we must
suppose, is wtai Cophetua did for his
beggar-maid. At his glance the queen
in her blossomed, which later all the
world could see.
right?" Then Rosetti shouted: "Here,
Hunt Millais, here's a fellow whe
knows the way these Eloshy - things
should be hung."
The motifs occasionally demanded of
him which he could not refuse made
him wince, and he smiled grimly once
when a member of the Arts club, of
which he was one of the oldest and
most esteemed members, declared that
"if you accept tnat "kind of order the
firm of Clayton & Bell will be known
as Satan & Hell!" .... , ,
Less Coal Used' In Making Coke.
The quantity of coal required to
produce a ton' of coke Is much less
than formerly. The average gain in'
1912, compared with ten years ago, is
probably at least 160 pounds. It is
doubtful If in the earlier years the
actual yield of coal in coke exceeded
60 per cent., whereas in 1912 it was 67
per ' cent., according to the United
States geological survey. This gain is
largely due to the increase in the
production of by-product coke, in which
the yield of coke from a ton of cop.! is
very much higher than lnm&klng bee
bivs coka. '
U. S. CONTROL OF
TELEGRAPH URGED
Postmaster General in Report to
Senate Favors Government
Ownership of Wire Lines.
WOULD LIGENSEALL GRANTS
Business Must Be Under One Head,
Statement Says, Quoting Vail of
Phone Company Points to
Foreign Record.
Washington, Jan. 31. Postmaster
General Burleson submitted to the sen
ate the recommendations of the de
partmental committee appointed by
him to investigate the practicability of
government ownership of telephone
and telegraph lines.
1. That congress declare a govern
ment monopoly over all telegraph, tel
ephone and radio communication and
such other means for the transmission
of intelligence as may hereafter de
velop. 2. That congress acquire by pur
chase at appraised value the commer
cial telephone network, except the
farmer lines.
3. That congress authorize the post
master general to issue, in his discre
tion and under such regulations as he
may prescribe, revocable licenses for
the operation, by private individuals.
associations, companies and corpora
tions, of the telegraph service and
such parts of the telephone service as
may not be acquired by the govern
ment. Report Is Unanimous.
The recommendations are signed by
Daniel C. Roper, first assistant post
master general; Merritt C. Chance,
chief clerk, postoffice department and
John C. Koons, svperintendent. divi
sion of salaries and allowances, com
posing the committee. They were ac
companied by statistical information
collected after one of the most ex
haustive investigations undertaken by
the postoffice department
The report states that the United
States is "alone of the leading nations
which has left to private enterprise
the ownership and operation of the
telegraph and telephone facilities,"
and that practically all of the econo
mists who have treated the subject are
agreed that telegraph and telephone
facilities 6hould be controlled by the
government
It declared further that Theodore N.
Vail,, president of the American Tele
phone and Telegraph company, by his
statement that the telephone business
must be "under common control" and
"sufficiently strong to onstitut prac
tically one system, intercommunicat
ing, interdependent, universal," has
himself pointed out that the most ef
ficient telephone service can be at
tained only under a condition of mon
opoly. . j
Trust Does Not Build Up.
The report continues: "The private
monopoly has to, incentive to exteod
its facilities to unprofitable territory;
but the government must serve all
the people. This universal service is
accomplished by the equalization of
rates. In fixing rates, the policy of
this government is to superimpose no
charge for taxation, but only to see
to it that the service as a whole is
self-supporting. The private monop
oly, on the other hand, must make a
profit, and, in providing for this, tends
to increase its rates to the highest
price that will not, by so greatly re
stricting the volume of business, im
pair the aggregate profit
"It is obvious that the longer the
acquisition by the government of the
facilities is deferred the greater will
be the cost Moreover, it is economic
waste to permit private enterprise to
build up vast properties that must
eventually be taken over by the gov
ernment in resuming its constitutional
monopoly at a cost out of all propor
tion to the value of the parts of such
properties that may be utilized to ad
vantage in the postal system.
"So far as the public generally is
concerned, the entire telegraph servioe
is owned and operated by two tele
graph companies. Telegraph facili
ties have not been extended to the
small towns and villages along with
the government postal facilities, nor
has the cost of the service been re
duced in the inverse proportion that
would seem warranted by the Increas
ing volume of business transacted.
Neither has ths volume of business is.
this country, in proportion to the pop
ulation, been as great as in countries
where this facility is owned and op
erated governmentally.
Advantage to People.
"It is needless to enter into the
manifold advantages and benefits that
would accrue to the people from a uni
versal telephone service. As it has
done with the mails, it is the duty of
the government to make this facility
available-to all of its citizens without
discrimination.-
"According to the best available .
data the capitalization of the long-distance
and toll lines represents approxi
mately ?200,000,000 and the capitaliza
tion of the entire commercial network
approximately $900,000,000. The cost
to the government would be less than
the appraised value, since it would ba
undesirable for the . government to
- purchase the real ' estate holdings of
the companies. Exchanges could br
leased until accommodations could be
provided In the postofflces and sta-
, tions." . ' .
The report was "sent to the Senate
1 in heponse to & resolution Introduced;
fey Senator Norris.
in
Pi