Anthony?"
"Why, yes, I suppose so."
"Colonel Jolson will be interested."
"Again I don't see the point."
"Your father is one of the most powerful and aggressive railroad
men in the country. Perhaps you know something about the railroad
opposition to the canal?"
Kirk smiled. "Well, to tell you the truth," said he, "the governor
doesn't consult me about his business as much as he ought to. He
seems to think he can run it all right without me, and we've only
been speaking over the telephone lately."
"One of the strongest forces the Government had to combat in
putting through the canal appropriations was the railroads.
Colonel Jolson has no reason to love your father."
"Yes, but _I_ don't object to this canal. I think it must be a
rather good idea."
Mrs. Cortlandt laughed for a second time. "The Colonel's dislike
for your father will not affect you, inasmuch as you are returning
so soon, but if you intended to stay it might be different."
"In what way?"
"Oh, in many ways. There are two classes of people who are not
welcomed on the Canal Zone--magazine writers and applicants for
positions who have political influence back of them. The former
are regarded as muckrakers, the latter as spies."
"That's rather rough on them, isn't it?"
"You must understand that there is a great big human machine
behind the digging of this canal, and, while it is more wonderful
by far than the actual machinery of iron and steel, it is subject
to human weaknesses.
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