DUKE UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 The Glenn Negley Collection 
 of Utopian Literature 
 
^Mo A 
 
 
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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 Duke University Libraries 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/morganrockefelleOOclar 
 
iHorgan Eocfeefeller'g Will 
 
 & Eomante of 1991=2 
 
 25u ifranns H. (Elarkc 
 
 Copyrightrb in 1909 by. Jfrancis li. (Clarkr 
 
 tlarkr-Crrr publishing (to. 
 
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"Man is born free, but everywhere enslaved." 
 
 — Rousseau. 
 
 "The State — I am the State." —Louis xiv. 
 

 PREFACE. 
 
 The author of this book presents it to the public 
 in the belief that it contains a message which it is proper 
 for its readers to receive and consider. It is not pre- 
 tended that the message is entirely new. Only the 
 form in which it appears may be thought by some to 
 be unique, and the author hopes it will give offense to 
 none. He does not presume to criticise any one or any 
 set of men, for he has no doubt that all are responsible 
 in a very large measure for each member of the human 
 family. His only hope is that his work will aid the 
 reader to acquire a better understanding of the an- 
 cient "Law of Life," which alone is a remedy for hu- 
 man ills. 
 
 March 1909. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Chapter. Page. 
 
 I. The Estate and the Man 1 
 
 II. The Man and the Estate 4 
 
 III. A Director in the Estate 7 
 
 IV. The Estate Strikes 9 
 
 V. The Outcast 14 
 
 VI. The Reapers of the World 18 
 
 VII. The Lady Harvester 22 
 
 VIII. The Estate's Ferret 29 
 
 IX. The Two Presidents 35 
 
 X. The Death of Money i 38 
 
 XI. The Estate's Military Chamber 45 
 
 XII. Lowell at Montraven 52 
 
 XIII. Helen Channing at Home 59 
 
 XIV. The Conference 66 
 
 XV. The Mirage Reflector 71 
 
 XVI. The Revolution in the Reflector 76 
 
 VXII. The Death of Morgan Rockefeller 81 
 
 XVIIL Who Shall be King 86 
 
 XIX. The Will 91 
 
 XX. The Niece of the King 98 
 
 XXI. The Reflector and the Detective 105 
 
 XXII. The Abduction 110 
 
 XXIII. General Jamieson 116 
 
 XXIV. Two Extremes 123 
 
 XXV. The Revolution 131 
 
 XXVI. President Adams' Perplexity 137 
 
 XXVII. The Life that Faded 143 
 
 XXVIII. A Leaf from a Life 149 
 
 XXIX. The Cabinet Meeting 155 
 
 XXX. That Special Session 162 
 
 XXXI. The Arrow Shoots Home 165 
 
 XXXII. The Heiress Unchanged 170 
 
 XXXIII. The Call of the Estate 178 
 
 XXXIV. The Estate's Envoy 184 
 
 XXXV. The Snare of Circumstances 192 
 
 XXXVI. A Plot 199 
 
 XXXVII. The Hall of History 205 
 
 XXXVIII. The Temptation 212 
 
 XXXIX. The Message 222 
 
 XL. Helen's Question 231 
 
 XLI. The Suit Rejected 238 
 
 XLII. Revelations 249 
 
 XLIII. The Society of Silence 257 
 
 XLIV. The Law of Force 267 
 
 XLV. TheLawofLove 274 
 
 XLVI. The Movement of the Many 283 
 
 XLVII. Fraternity 291 
 
 XLVIII. A. D. 2000 298 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 THE ESTATE AND THE MAN. 
 
 1990! 
 
 Morgan Rockefeller had been President of the 
 Standard Oil Company for thirty years. 
 
 In order to understand the situation it is necessary 
 to become acquainted with this great historical person. 
 
 The founder of his family was John D. Rockefeller 
 from whom he was descended in the seventh generation. 
 
 His father was Aldrich Rockefeller and his mother 
 was a Morgan. 
 
 It is interesting to note the stages by which so- 
 ciety developed this summit of power and wealth — 
 Morgan Rockefeller. 
 
 John D's estate was valued at one billion. 
 
 John D. Jr. left ten billion. 
 
 John D. 3rd left thirty billion. 
 
 John D. 4th married a descendent of Weyerhauser 
 the lumber king and administered the two estates so 
 wisely that in less than ten years he left an estate of 
 one hundred and sixty billion. 
 
 Aldrich Rockefeller was a genius. He organized 
 the Merger and when he died in 1960 the complete 
 socialization of ecomonic America was practically ef- 
 fected. 
 
2 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 But after Philip came Alexander. 
 
 After Aldrich came Morgan. 
 
 This marvel of energy and resource was thirty 
 when he succeeded to his estate. 
 
 In 1990 he was sixty. 
 
 As the owner of all the capital stock of Standard 
 Oil Company — except ten shares of a par value of one 
 dollar each — he had more power, personal, financial, 
 and political than any mortal ever had before. 
 
 No tyrant or despot, Czar, Emperor, King or 
 Dictator ever had so much power as he. 
 
 All wealth was his. 
 
 Therefore he could do as he pleased. 
 
 His land, his mines, his forests, his streams, his 
 springs, his factories, his foundries, his shops, his 
 stores, his railroads, his ships, his theaters, and his 
 everything — were at the disposal of his people, his 
 workmen and workwomen, so long as they obeyed his 
 will. 
 
 Morgan Rockefeller had no superior on earth. 
 
 All political officers were his creatures. 
 
 All religious heads bowed with equal submission 
 to their earthly and heavenly masters. 
 
 All educators accepted as the indisputable basis 
 of all education the divinity of vested rights as repre- 
 sented by Morgan Rockefeller. 
 
 There have been greater despots and worse tyrants 
 than the Roman Nero, but Nero's name stands for all 
 that is not too bad to be printed. It is possible for a 
 political or military despot like him to descend to al- 
 most inconceivable depths of degradation. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 3 
 
 Morgan Rockefeller was neither a political nor a 
 military tyrant. 
 
 It was not possible for him to greatly misuse his 
 power, vast as it was, because to misuse it was to dis- 
 turb and weaken the system which produced it. 
 
 He was simply a business proposition. 
 
 He found his estate made up of certain facts, fig- 
 ures, things and persons. 
 
 He developed no theories. 
 
 When he found a force he harnessed it. 
 
 When he saw a productive area he made it pro- 
 duce. 
 
 When he discovered mankind he divided it into 
 producers and consumers. 
 
 They were his producers and his consumers. 
 
 They could not escape it. 
 
 If a man wanted food Rockefeller furnished it. 
 
 If he wanted clothing Rockefeller made it. 
 
 If he wanted medicine Rockefeller provided it. 
 
 He was the universal landlord and the universal 
 undertaker. 
 
 But to get what he wanted a man must have 
 money. 
 
 To get money he must work for somebody who 
 had it. 
 
 Nobody had it but Rockefeller, so all men worked 
 for Rockefeller, and received his money . and bought 
 back what they made from him and paid his money 
 for it. Rockefeller regulated the prices of all things. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 THE MAN AND THE ESTATE. 
 
 Morgan Rockefeller, the business proposition, 
 the Merger of Humanity, the corporate uncrowned 
 King, the All in One, was not exactly like his ancestors. 
 
 He was, indeed, so unlike them as to be a freak. 
 
 At sixty he had done through business all that 
 Alexander had done by war. There was nothing 
 more to do except to improve his system. 
 
 But at sixty he felt tired. 
 
 He began to consider the object of his strenuous 
 work. 
 
 He had never married and had neither wife nor 
 children to strive for. In fact he had no heirs except 
 a niece who had no interest in him and in whom he 
 felt no interest. He thought of her when he made his 
 will, but it seemed absurd to put on her feminine 
 shoulders the burden of the vast Standard Oil system. 
 
 As a business proposition he created an aristocracy. 
 But it was an aristocracy of merit. Claims of blood 
 and money were altogether eliminated. 
 
 This is the way the aristocracy was distinguished. 
 The Standard Oil Company had ten directors. They 
 were the most expert, the brainiest and keenest busi- 
 ness diplomats whom the system had developed. The 
 Standard Oil did no business directly, but held the 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 5 
 
 stock of many thousand corporations which did the 
 business. 
 
 Every corporation represented the organization 
 of some interest and the boards of directors were com- 
 posed of men who occupied the highest stations in so- 
 cial and refined life. 
 
 At sixty Morgan Rockefeller turned his attention 
 to politics. But he shortly discovered that this af- 
 forded him no diversion. Politics was nothing more 
 than the art of hunting a place in the government. 
 
 Government was the creature of business. 
 
 It was instituted because the industrial system 
 required it to do police duty. 
 
 It was merely a machine made to serve the ends 
 
 of industry. . 
 
 In all ages the industrial system in force made 
 such government as it wanted. 
 
 So when feudal lords wanted a government suit- 
 able to their needs they made a king. 
 
 When the church needed protection for physical 
 incomes kingship was invested with divinity. > 
 
 In a competitive business age an industrial repub- 
 lic demanded a democratic government to protect 
 individual interests and created the republican form 
 and gave it a republican head. 
 
 In his time Morgan Rockefeller saw no need of 
 feudal or republican systems. 
 
 He was strong enough as an industrial power to 
 dictate all laws and enforce them. Indeed, in his mo- 
 nopolistic merger the severest punishment which could 
 be inflicted was to discharge the wrongdoer. Men lived 
 in mortal dread of losing their positions. To be 
 
6 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 stricken off the pay rolls of the universal bookkeeper 
 meant starvation. There was but one employer and 
 there were no longer any individual workers, except 
 in the waste lands where gold was to be found in al- 
 luvial or placer deposits. 
 
 Many men who had not yet taken positions with 
 the Merger — men of the old school — and men who had 
 lost positions, were, some of them, employed in the 
 goldfields — for gold was still money. 
 
 Such was the situation and such was Morgan Rocke- 
 feller in 1990 when our story begins. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 A DIRECTOR IN THE ESTATE. 
 
 Alden Lowell of Boston was one of the directors 
 of the New England Furniture Manufacturing Com- 
 pany. As such he was regarded as a person of im- 
 portance although his interest in the company was 
 limited to one share of its capital stock, par value one 
 dollar. His salary, however, was large enough to en- 
 able him to maintain a respectable state, suitable to 
 the station which Rockefeller's directors occupied. 
 Lowell was a young man, unmarried, son of Exmore 
 Lowell who had figured as one of Rockefeller's most 
 efficient lieutenants in New England. He owed his 
 position to the distinction of his father and the desire 
 of Mr. Rockefeller to show his appreciation of Exmore 
 Lowell's unselfish devotion to his service through many 
 years. 
 
 Director Lowell was not a practical furniture 
 manufacturer, but he was, as all conceded, sound in 
 his judgment of business, and, although not more than 
 twenty-five years old was highly valued as a counselor. 
 One of the advantages of his position was that he en- 
 joyed much leisure, for while his duties were exacting, 
 they required his attention for only two or three hours 
 during the day. Being of a studious turn of mind and 
 devoted to scientific research he engaged in a course 
 
8 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 of study and a series of experiments which finally be- 
 came of absorbing interest. 
 
 When a boy Alden had accompanied his father 
 on a journey through the Australian desert. The pur- 
 pose of the journey was to enable the father to observe 
 the atmospheric conditions, witness the phenomena 
 which are presented there perhaps more frequently 
 than any where else, in the various forms of mirage and 
 make copious notes of what he observed. Exmore had 
 a belief that if he could obtain a sufficient understanding 
 of mirage conditions, he could provide a machine which 
 would excel the most extravagant claims of clair- 
 voyancy or of what the spiritualists call ' 'materializa- 
 tion," repeating scenes as they occurred far from the 
 place of their enactment. 
 
 The father died, but the son was as zealous in the 
 quest as he and the genius of the latter was intensified 
 by the feeling that the father's untimely demise placed 
 upon him the double duty of living his own life and 
 living out, also, the life of the father. Therefore most 
 of Director Lowell's time was spent in perfecting an 
 invention which he called the "Mirage Reflector" 
 and incidently most of his money was spent in the same 
 way. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 THE ESTATE STRIKES. 
 
 One day in 1990 the young Director received a 
 notice from the president of the company citing him 
 to appear before the Board of which he was a member 
 at three o'clock p. m. on the following day and answer 
 certain charges which had been preferred against him. 
 
 "If the charges against you are true" continued 
 the notice, "you will be deposed and stricken from the 
 pay rolls." 
 
 Lowell was greatly surprised and not a little agi- 
 tated. He did not, however, feel any guilt in the mat- 
 ter. Probably the system had no more faithful ser- 
 vitor than he, but he was conscious of having offended 
 technically against the law of his company in a manner 
 which he had supposed to be entirely concealed. He 
 could hardly credit even with the menacing summons 
 inn is hands that his one offence was known. Yet in 
 no other respect would he believe he was under sus- 
 picion, for he was otherwise above suspicion. 
 
 Hoping the charges against him might prove to 
 be frivolous and far from the facts which he knew and 
 feared, he presented himself at the hour designated 
 and found the full Board present awaiting his advent. 
 Evidently the members did not regard the occasion as 
 serious and Lowell was received with the usual cordial 
 
10 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 greetings which were the manifestations of his popular- 
 ity. He lost no time, however, in calling for his in- 
 dictment. When it was placed before him he read it 
 eagerly but it was easy to see that he was greatly dis- 
 appointed and depressed at what he read. 
 
 "This indictment/' said he, addressing the Presi- 
 dent, "is very indefinite. It charges me with conspiring 
 with others to disturb the peace and good order of so- 
 ciety by organizing and maintaining a fraternal asso- 
 ciation known as the Reapers of the World. It is 
 signed by a man named Hughes whom I do not know 
 and of whom I have never heard. How can I be ex- 
 pected to answer such a charge." 
 
 "Mr. Lowell," said the President, smiling know- 
 ingly at the young man, "that charge is only serious 
 if it is true and its truth or falsity will be determined 
 by yourself. You know Mr. Rockefeller regards 
 labor unions, fraternal orders and voluntary associa- 
 tions as enemies to his rule. His ancestors were 
 much annoyed by labor unions. They, however, were 
 easily suppressed. When the perfected Merger was 
 established these fraternal associations proved to be 
 vexatious and dangerous beyond toleration. No sooner 
 was one form eradicated than another form sprang 
 into life and President Rockefeller has no patience 
 with them. But as a Director you are entitled to cer- 
 tain privileges. Your simple denial is all the rule re- 
 quires and it will be sufficient to exonerate you." 
 
 So saying the President placed a printed form of 
 denial on the table in front of which stood the indicted 
 Director and with his finger indicated where the latter 
 should sign. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 11 
 
 "I do not feel inclined to sign such a denial," de- 
 clared Lowell after a pause. ''Whether true or false, 
 is it not absurd that one should be thus restrained 
 from exercising the right of association which the po- 
 litical constitution guarantees him? Are we men and 
 submit to be treated as slaves?" 
 
 The President, an old man who had spent his long 
 life in the department of which he was the head, 
 straightened himself up and looked at the speaker in 
 amazement. The other directors who had been dis- 
 posed to regard the arraingment as a joke at the expense 
 of the accused now watched the young man with aston- 
 ishment and the aged President turned pale at this 
 unexpected turn affairs had taken. 
 
 "What!" exclaimed the latter recovering from 
 the shock of the event — "Sir, you do not — you cannot 
 mean to imperil your present position and your future 
 welfare and security by so rash a defiance. Why! sir, 
 it took me thirty years of hard work to reach the 
 station of director which you occupy at twenty-five. 
 Your contract with this company is such that if you 
 refuse to sign that denial you forfeit, not only this po- 
 sition — this high and honorable position — but every 
 position. You will leave this room self beggared, an 
 economic suicide, an outcast." 
 
 He placed his hand sympathetically on Lowell's 
 arm and his look of pain yielded to one of compassion. 
 
 "Sign it, my boy, sign it," he urged pleadingly. 
 
 Director Lowell was regarded as a strong person- 
 ality. He was recognized as a force beyond his years 
 and was greatly admired by his companions who ex- 
 pected him to become a man of great note. 
 
12 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 These men who were his business associates 
 were all his friends and were extremely solicitous that 
 his course be straight up to glory without fault or de- 
 fect. 
 
 The youth and beauty of the accused — the solici- 
 tude of the venerable President and the thought which 
 suddenly flashed into all minds that to be stricken from 
 Rockefeller's payrolls meant abject, hopeless bank- 
 ruptcy, and perhaps worse, converted an otherwise 
 commonplace scene into one of tragic meaning. 
 
 After a few seconds of meditation Lowell lifted 
 his eyes from the table and looked into the face of the 
 President. 
 
 "I am sorry" he said, "but I cannot bring my 
 mind to comply with your request. I know you intend 
 it for my welfare, but it is impossible. This curtail- 
 ment of personal liberty by President Rockefeller is 
 unbearable. Why should he enter into the private and 
 unimportant details of one's life and seek to regulate 
 them? My refusal to sign is not an admission that I 
 am a member of a fraternal society, but is made be- 
 cause I am unwilling, in free America, to submit to 
 such a limitation. I have never considered it before, 
 Mr. President, but now it is made an issue with me I 
 am unable to suppress my Americanism. I know 
 what it means. I am at issue with a power which 
 crushes. Perhaps I may escape the dire consequences 
 which you anticipate for me and perhaps not, but I 
 have stated my position and I will not recede from it. 
 Neither will I resign," he added. 
 
 The President picked up the oath of denial and 
 with a gesture of impatience and dsepair seated 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 13 
 
 himself at the table. "Very well," he exclaimed des- 
 perately, "you have none to blame but yourself." 
 
 Rapping loudly on the table with his gavel he then 
 called the directors to order and while Lowell contin- 
 ued standing, stated the case again. 
 
 "Your duty is plain, hentlemen. However much 
 we may regret the stand Director Lowell has taken and 
 the fact that he persists in his fault, his refusal to deny 
 his complicity as charged, must be regarded as a con- 
 fession and he cannot escape punishment." 
 
 A motion was made to declare the position of di- 
 rector occupied by Alden Lowell vacant and was car- 
 ried unanimously. 
 
 "This action" declared the President coldly 
 "means that although you have a right of appeal that 
 you are now expelled from this Board and can only be 
 restored by the action of President Morgan Rocke- 
 feller himself. You are no longer entitled to be present 
 at any of our meeetings." 
 
 "I shall not appeal," replied Lowell bowing re- 
 spectfully, as he left the room. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE OUTCAST. 
 
 Boston, in 1990 was a tangle of streets and a tumble 
 of buildings as in the old days of the former century. 
 Some suggestions of the new and artistic Boston of 
 today were manifested in the huge department stores 
 constructed along the well known lines of Rockefeller 
 architecture. 
 
 There were landmarks two centuries old which 
 Boston sentiment would not permit to be disturbed. 
 
 The Standard Oil Building, in which were the 
 headquarters of the Merger for Massachusetts, was 
 the most massive structure in the modern city. 
 
 When Lowell, minus his title "Director" and with- 
 out place in the system, left the office of the company 
 on that fateful day, he understood but did not realize 
 the precariousness of his position. As he passed into 
 the street, shorn of authority and cast out, so to speak, 
 he did not know whether to feel crushed or not. He 
 had clearly enough represented to himself the extreme 
 danger which confronted him, but he was so habituated 
 to the security which he had always enjoyed, that con- 
 fidence did not at once forsake him. 
 
 He knew what an outcast was and even contem- 
 plated the possibility of becoming one. But to behold 
 such a fate afar off and to actually experience it, are 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 15 
 
 very different things. There were, in those days, 
 many outcasts in Boston who were more or less 
 dependent on charity — the charity of Standard's em- 
 ployes. They were, however, regarded as objects 
 of either pity or aversion according as they were 
 harmless or vicious. Commercially they were toler- 
 ated because of the commandment "Thou shalt not 
 kill." Politically they were permitted to vote at elec- 
 tions, but although their votes were religiously counted 
 it was of no importance to the Merger how they were 
 cast as all candidates were primarily dictated by it. 
 Probably this outcast element numbered less than 
 fifteen per cent of Boston's population, and if they 
 followed any other occupation than professional beg- 
 gary or crime, it was something far beneath the dig- 
 nity of the Merger. Along legitimate lines Standard 
 disdained nothing. 
 
 Even the roasting of chestnuts was standardized. 
 
 In the economic system of the Rockefeller creation 
 there were no saloons. Its departmetn stores included 
 a drug department where distilled liquors were sold 
 only as drugs. The Rockefellers all contended that 
 as a commercial proposition, healthy appetites and 
 sober minds must prove far more profitable than dis- 
 eased inebriates without appetites. 
 
 It was from such a system that Lowell had just 
 been thrust. 
 
 It was into such a nondescript mass that Lowell 
 presently realized he had been summarily hurled. 
 
 The great question "What to do?" pressed vitally 
 and viciously for an answer. 
 
16 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 These outcasts, some of them, were able to pick 
 up a few pennies here and there by shining shoes, ped- 
 dling books, selling lemonade or doing odd jobs as por- 
 ters. Criminally disposed persons continued to prey 
 upon and annoy the industrious and "regular" classes 
 and were subjected to and punished by the laws de- 
 signed for their suppression. These were all outcasts 
 and as such were regarded by the police as likely, by 
 virtue of their desperate position economically, to be- 
 come enemies of or pests within the social order. 
 
 The outlook was certainly discouraging for Lo- 
 well. As he moved on through the crowded thorough- 
 fare his mind, which had accepted the judgment of his 
 associates with apparent complacency, began to waver. 
 The problem would have presented only a pleasant 
 exercise and the difficulty would have seemed like an 
 exciting adventure, if every step he took, every scene 
 he beheld, every street, building, sign and human 
 face did not spell "doom" for him. 
 
 He had no destination. Involuntarily and un- 
 consciously he strayed into the beautiful public gar- 
 dens. It was a perfect day and nature was glorious 
 with the delights of Spring. But the bright green 
 lawns, the budding flowers and the singing birds were 
 all unnoticed. Who could think of nature, however 
 delightful, in the presence of disgrace. Who could 
 enjoy the songs and sights of Spring, however en- 
 trancing, if an economic vice were pinching life 
 out of every hope. The more he considered his 
 predicament the more desperate it seemed. He was 
 like all men except the Master, without property and 
 had only enough funds to support him two or three 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 17 
 
 months at the most. He was without resources, be- 
 cause resources were all controlled by the system and 
 the system had been, by him, mortally offended. He 
 had no way of obtaining an income. The more he 
 deliberated the more useless deliberation seemed to be. 
 His condition was desperate indeed. 
 
 At last he turned his steps homeward — homeward 
 to the Standard Junior Hotel in which he had lived 
 now for several years. He almost ran and a number of 
 people whom he jostled in the crowded streets, stopped 
 and looked after him as after a madman. 
 
 When he reached his hotel the clerk handed him a 
 letter which he opened and read immediately. "Good" 
 he exclaimed to himself when he had finished "I had 
 entirely forgotten. There lies my hope and I will 
 surely be there." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 THE REAPERS OF THE WORLD. 
 
 The Reverend William Fuller occupied rooms 
 on Court Street in the heart of the City of Boston. 
 In former years the street was a legal center and the 
 upper rooms used as lawyers' offices. 
 
 The little dingy outer room of Mr. Fuller's suite 
 was that evening the scene of a devout gathering. 
 The lights were dim and the pastor and his people 
 spoke very low. They came together for prayer and 
 spiritual communion. Such, at least, would be the 
 opinion of a stranger if any should chance to enter. 
 But there were not more than eight, mostly ladies, 
 who in somber dress with serious and thoughtful faces 
 listened to their reverend leader or bowed their heads 
 in prayer. 
 
 One of Standard's large detective force had 
 been watching the people as they entered Rev. Mr. 
 Fuller's apartments. Finally it occurred to him that 
 he would step in himself. So he left the shadow of 
 Court Square and crossing Court Street went into the 
 little prayer meeting. Hughes, the detective was 
 surprised to find so few in the room for he could have 
 taken an oath that he had counted one hundred per- 
 sons going through that particular door and he had 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 19 
 
 expected to find quite a crowded meeting. He went 
 in and sat down, for his curiosity was aroused and he 
 decided to watch. As he sat down one of the worship- 
 ers arose, and retired to the anteroom so that the num- 
 ber in the little room remained the same. 
 
 Hughes noticed Alden Lowell, until that morning 
 a Director of the New England Furniture Manufact- 
 uring Company, come quietly in and sit down. He 
 also noticed that he did not remain seated long, but 
 soon arose and went to one of the side doors which he 
 opened and passed through. Lowell was known to 
 most Bostonians as the son of Exmore Lowell who was, 
 in his lifetime, one of New England's most prominent 
 men. Hughes, who was aware that Alden had been 
 that day deposed and who, as one of the ferrets of the 
 Rockefeller system, already classed him with the out- 
 casts and dangerous to the social order, became sus- 
 picious. He went to the door through which Alden 
 had passed and tried it. But it did not yield to his 
 pressure. He returned and seated himself. As for 
 those engaged in the devotional exercises they did not 
 look to the right or left but seemed to be lost in religious 
 meditation. 
 
 What had become of Alden? 
 
 The man who rose and passed out as Hughes en- 
 tered the meeting, had in fact recognized the visitor 
 and stepped out to warn all who might come, that a 
 spy was among them. When Alden arrived he was 
 advised to pass in and sit down, then, after a few min- 
 utes to join the company within. As Hughes vaguely 
 suspected, the prayer meeting was a blind. 
 
20 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 When Alden left the prayer meeting he found 
 himself alone in a small room. It was without lights 
 and he groped his way across to another door. Here 
 he pressed a hidden button twice and, thereupon, a 
 little aperture just large enough to admit his hand 
 was opened in the door. He thrust his hand through 
 and, the person in charge being apparently satisfied, 
 the door was opened and he was admitted. The door 
 was closed after him, but nobody appeared to greet 
 him. There were white masks and white robes hang- 
 ing on the wall. He took one of each and covering his 
 face with the mask and donning the robe, went to an- 
 other room and opening an aperture in that, thrust his 
 hand through as before. Again the door opened and 
 he entered a dark room, stopping just inside the 
 portal. Thereupon a voice spoke in evidently dis- 
 guised tones, as follows: 
 
 "Alden Lowell, repeat after me: 
 
 "I, Alden Lowell, swear on my honor as a Reaper 
 of the World that I will never repeat, except in a hall 
 of the Reapers of the World, anything which I hear or 
 read or say in this hall tonight; I further agree to sub- 
 mit to that rule of the order which says, 'Whoever, 
 having become a member of the Reapers of the World 
 shall sue said order or cause the same to be sued, in 
 any court of law, or who shall make or cause to be 
 made any complaint against it which shall be designed 
 or intended to bring it to the notice of the Government 
 of any city or state or of the Federal Government or the 
 military authorities, so that any proceeding shall be 
 instituted against it with a view to depriving it of its 
 property, disbanding it, or punishing its members, 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 21 
 
 shall be deemed a traitor to the order and shall be de- 
 livered over to the Avengers to be dealt with as they 
 shall deem best.' " 
 
 This oath having been taken, the voice thereupon 
 then continued: 
 
 "The Avengers will now step forward and repeat 
 the oath of vengance." 
 
 Thereupon six masked figures stepped forward 
 and ranging themselves in front of Alden chanted the 
 oath as follows: 
 
 "We, the Avengers, love one another and love all our 
 brethren, but the enemy of love is the traitor. It is 
 only against such that our vengeance shall be wreaked. 
 We swear that if any man, having become a member 
 of the Reapers of the World, shall sue the order in the 
 courts or shall seek its injury by placing it at the mercy 
 of the authorities, such person shall be, by us, destroyed. 
 Traitors shall not live." 
 
 This Avengers' oath was chanted in a slow meas- 
 ured and almost weirdly impressive tone and in per- 
 fect unison. Immediately on its conclusion the lights 
 went out and the room became dark again. When, in 
 three minutes the lights were again turned on, the as- 
 sembled people, men and women, had removed the 
 white robes and masks and fallen back to the rear and 
 sides of the hall. Not one knew the part the others 
 had played in the ceremony of opening. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 THE LADY HARVESTER. 
 
 The Hall of the Reapers of the World was crowded 
 to its greatest capacity. In fact it was not a hall, but 
 two rooms which opened into each other. There were 
 more than a hundred men and women present. 
 
 The presiding officer was a woman. 
 
 She was robed in white, and around her head was 
 a gold band above which a star glistened. 
 
 In her hand she held a sickle-shaped gavel. 
 
 The routine business was taken up first and dis- 
 posed of. 
 
 It was noted by Alden who was new to the order, 
 and who was therefore an interested observer, that one 
 of the reports offered showed that the order in the nation 
 contained some five thousand members, most of whom 
 still occupied positions in the system. 
 
 The same report showed that the organization 
 had been in existence four years. Each member paid 
 one dollar per month into what was called 'The Trust 
 Fund" and fifty cents into the expense fund. 
 
 The trust fund now amounted to one hundred 
 thousand dollars and was increased in the last month 
 by five thousand dollars. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 23 
 
 The lady who presided was a Miss Channing and 
 was addressed as "Lady Harvester" by those who 
 desired recognition from that officer. 
 
 While not very tall she was a little above medium 
 height. She was graceful, quick, firm and resourceful. 
 Her voice was soft and low as she spoke, and had a 
 wonderful cadence that held the attention and fascina- 
 ted the listener. Her words were apt and picturesque. 
 She presided with the dignity of a queen. 
 
 "The Order of the Reapers of the World," she said 
 when the report mentioned was finished, "is entitled 
 to congratulations. 
 
 "It has increased its membership in spite of drastic 
 prohibitory legislation, by more than two thousand 
 since a year ago. 
 
 "We have reason to expect it to double during the 
 coming year. 
 
 "Think, Reapers, what marvels can be accom- 
 plished by combined effort. 
 
 "The Reapers of the World do not design to dis- 
 turb society. 
 
 "They do not intend to change the system. 
 
 "They have no fight against Morgan Rockefeller, 
 the Standard Oil Company or the methods by which 
 they have achieved results. 
 
 "Once, in times past, back in 1908 for instance, 
 the several departments of industry were owned by 
 certain individuals. John D. Rockefeller was then 
 the head of that particular industry which controlled 
 the production and distribution of oil. But what did 
 Rockefeller get out of it? One man's portion only! He 
 could not eat more than one man's portion. He could 
 
24 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 wear only one suit of clothes at a time. He occupied 
 but one bed, one house, one man's space. Wealth 
 might multiply around him, but capacity and import- 
 ance never became enlarged except by fiction. 
 
 "What did this vast wealth bring him? Simply 
 burdens. He merely kept the books for the industry 
 he represented and his great distinction was that he 
 provided a system of bookkeeping which excelled all 
 others. Carnegie did the same for the iron industry. 
 Havemeyer and Spreckles for sugar, Weyerhauser and 
 a few others for lumber, F. H. Peavy & Company for 
 wheat and Harriman for the railroads. The leger- 
 demain of bookkeeping, better bookkeeping than the 
 smaller men used, enabled these several men to figure 
 the masses out of the control. Finally they figured 
 against one another. The Rockefellers were the best 
 bookkeepers and hence are now keeping the books for 
 all America. It is the survival of the fittest. 
 
 "But one thing thou lackest, Rockefeller! Thou 
 lackest Brotherly Love! 
 
 "The growing trusts seemed evil. They grew fat 
 on interest, rent and profits. Had mankind known 
 the truth, they would have known that if God permitted 
 a thing to exist which appeared evil, He also provided 
 a complete remedy, close at hand, for that evil. When 
 the remedy was applied the evil ceased. 
 
 "By carefully searching history we shall find that in 
 1908 the organizations of capital which challenged 
 attention, developed side by side with massive, won- 
 derful organizations of men and women who were not 
 capitalists. Labor was organized into unions. They 
 were merely militant forces. Their mission was to 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 25 
 
 compel capital to permit them to share in the three 
 evils, interest, rent and profits. Fraternal associations 
 were organized. In 1908 most of the people were 
 members of one or two of the fraternal orders then ex- 
 isting. But the fraternal orders did not understand 
 their own greatness and their members timidly advanced 
 with them into business. They were the greatest 
 collectors of capital the world ever saw. They were 
 the greatest and most honorable distributors of capi- 
 tal the system ever developed. 
 
 "At the time when the Northern Securities Com- 
 pany was formed eighty seven years ago the Indepen- 
 dent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of 
 America and the Ancient Order of United Workmen 
 numbered from half a million to a million members 
 each. 
 
 "The Northern Securities Company held the ma- 
 jority of the capital stock of three great railroad com- 
 panies, the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern and 
 the Burlington. 
 
 "But the holding company controlled the selec- 
 tion of their directors. 
 
 "It also collected the dividends due on the stock 
 it held. 
 
 "It simplified book keeping. 
 
 "It applied a scientific, impersonal system to the 
 absorption of the rent, profits and interest which might 
 be received by the railroad companies. 
 
 "It relieved the active companies of certain vexa- 
 tions, but did not interfere with their practical work. 
 
 "If the fifteen million voters of America had been 
 formed into a fraternal order at that time and as such 
 
26 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 had owned the stock of the three companies in the 
 place of the Northern Securities Company, no objec- 
 tion could have been made to their fraternal merger. 
 
 "What would it have meant? 
 
 "Suppose the fifteen million had paid a dollar 
 each into a trust fund every month, as we are doing. 
 
 "In a month they would have accumulated fifteen 
 million dollars. 
 
 "In two months it would have been thirty million 
 dollars. 
 
 "In a year it would have been one hundred and 
 eighty million dollars. 
 
 "In ten years it would have been one billion eight 
 hundred million dollars. 
 
 "At no period in American history has so much 
 money as one billion eight hundred million dollars 
 been in actual circulation. 
 
 "Thus, such a fraternal association would have 
 been in complete control of one of the necessary parts 
 of the machinery of commercial society, and all of that 
 machinery would be subject to its action. 
 
 "Fraternal organizations were timid. They 
 feared to become revolutionary. They declined to 
 enlarge their purpose beyond the temporary relief 
 of their members against sickness and death. 
 
 "They surrendered the power of economic revo- 
 lution to the Rockefellers and these latter became the 
 most successful revolutionists the world has ever seen. 
 What the Rockefellers accomplished, namely, the eco- 
 nomic conquest of the nation by correct and simple 
 bookkeeping, carefully accounting for the rent, profits 
 and interest of the system, might have been accom- 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 27 
 
 plished in the same way by a fraternal order. Rent, 
 profits and interest, the unfair distribution of which 
 renders society unequal and unjust, could have been 
 turned as dividends on stock, into a fraternal treasury 
 instead of an autocratic purse, and the just division 
 of these three surplus accumulations among the fra- 
 ternal members, would have been a solution of eco- 
 nomic evils. 
 
 "What would Jesus propose in such a social state? 
 
 "Would he not have said that this was scientific 
 brotherly love? Would he not have declared that 
 Caesar should have only a brother's part and that 
 what part was Caesar's as a brother's, should be rendered 
 unto him? 
 
 "It is not too late for us to induce the great body 
 of the one hundred and eighty million people of the 
 United States to enter our order, the Reapers of the 
 World, and we shall be able to develop Christ's spirit 
 in the economic system, so that it shall not be said 
 as it can be said to President Rockefeller, one thing 
 thou lackest. Let us solve this problem on the basis 
 of brotherly love. Again, I congratulate you on the 
 growth of our order." 
 
 Alden, in common with the others present, listened 
 to these remarks of the Lady Harvester, with delight. 
 She was so young, so beautiful and at the same time 
 so intelligent, that with the star glistening above her 
 forehead and the white robe of her office adding to her 
 naturally regal bearing, she seemed to him as one de- 
 scended from above to bring again to earth the divine 
 message of fraternal love. He could not forbear to say, 
 when the presiding officer seated herself, that the bright 
 
28 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 star which glistened in her helmet, representing the 
 star of Bethlehem, might still be the guiding star of 
 mankind. "This remedy" he said "is Christ's remedy." 
 
 "It is two thousand years old. But men have per- 
 sisted in misapplying it. They want us to believe that 
 it belongs to heaven, not to earth. They assure us 
 that it is not practical. 
 
 "I say that it is the only thing in this complex 
 system, this confusion of ideas, this false theory of 
 right and wrong, that is practical. 
 
 "All else leads to disaster. 
 
 "Henceforth I shall devote my life to fraternal 
 bookkeeping as proposed by this order, against auto- 
 cratic bookkeeping as proposed and enforced by Mor- 
 gan Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company. But 
 I honor Rockefeller and his company for the method 
 which they have introduced, while I fall at the feet of 
 Christ and reverence and adore that divine spirit which 
 has given the world its only hope of salvation." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 THE ESTATE'S FERRET. 
 
 The Reapers transacted much business that even- 
 ing. When at last the meeting adjourned the prayer 
 meeting adjourned, too. Dectective Hughes remained 
 to the end. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Fuller was well aware of Hughes' 
 presence. He saw no way, however, to avoid it and, 
 as there was but one exit for the lodge, he decided to 
 resort to a ruse to throw the detective off the scent. 
 
 He did not know that Hughes was a detective but 
 because he was a stranger and so under suspicion, the 
 pastor decided on his course. He recalled the fact 
 that only one member, Alden Lowell, had entered the 
 inner rooms since Hughes came in. Accordingly when 
 the little electric bell on his desk announced to the 
 initiated that the lodge meeting was over, he quickly 
 entered the inner room and notified the members that 
 a stranger was suspiciously watchful in the chapel. 
 
 Having put his brethren on their guard and in- 
 duced them, except Lowell, to delay their appearance 
 in the chapel, he and Lowell came out together and the 
 pastor engaged Hughes in conversation and prepared 
 to close the place. Hughes took the hint to depart, 
 and left, but arriving in the street, instead of going his 
 way as the pastor supposed, concealed himself in an 
 
30 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 alley where he could continue his investigations with- 
 out being observed. 
 
 In twos and fours the Reapers left their rendezvous 
 in such manner as they supposed would attract the 
 least possible attention. 
 
 Lowell waited for Miss Channing, who was a zeal- 
 ous devotee of the order to which she belonged, and as 
 its chieftainess was in demand by many and surrounded 
 by admiring throngs. She was the last to say "good 
 night" to the Reverend Mr. Fuller and then joining 
 her escort, together they took the subway car to Water- 
 town where Miss Channing resided. 
 
 Unobserved by them the detective quietly seated 
 himself where he could hear their conversation. 
 
 "You seem to be very serious tonight, Mr. Lowell," 
 remarked the young lady. 
 
 "Do I?" said he. "Perhaps I have reason enough 
 to be" he continued. "Today I ceased to be a Direc- 
 tor of the Standard System." 
 
 The young lady gave him a half frightened look. 
 If in 1910 a young man had said to his lady love that 
 he had that day assaulted and choked his employer, 
 she would not have been more startled. If he had told 
 her he had lost all his fortune and was now penniless 
 the girl of 1910 would have been inclined to pledge her 
 love anew in the firm belief that opportunities to suc- 
 ceed were still at their disposal. 
 
 But to lose fortune, honor, position and prospects 
 —that was Lowell's predicament. Miss Channing 
 did not shrink from him. Perhaps she had never re- 
 garded him in the light of a suitor and perhaps she was 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 31 
 
 not as prudent and wise as her predecessors of a former 
 century. 
 
 "Why, Mr. Lowell!" is all she could think of to 
 say. 
 
 "Yes," continued Lowell. "I am cast out — cash- 
 iered — expelled, sent like the lepers of old Jerusalem 
 to live with the dead, among the tombs, so to speak. 
 Do you not realize how loathesome I have become?" 
 
 The young lady looked pityingly at her companion. 
 
 "Was it because you have been discovered? 
 Do they know you are a member of our order?" she 
 asked. 
 
 "Even so," replied he with an expression of des- 
 perate resignation as his eyes met hers. "I did not 
 admit that I was a member. The company could not 
 punish me for punishment does not belong to it — but 
 should it some day become one with the government 
 I suppose it will hang such traitors as I am." The last 
 words were spoken very bitterly. 
 
 "Is it not already one with the government?" 
 she argued. "Is it not worse than that? The govern- 
 ment is its creature. But the government can not in- 
 flict, in these days, such a punishment as this company 
 inflicts. Public opinion would never permit the govern- 
 ment to sentence even the most hardened criminal to 
 death by starvation. Yet the company can do that 
 practically and effectively." 
 
 The conversation was discouraging and the young 
 lady saw the look of despair which came over his face. 
 
 "Somehow I have no fear for your future in spite 
 of the situation, Mr. Lowell," she said; "but have 
 you no plans?" 
 
32 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 Lowell had no plans. 
 
 "I have a little money," said he. "Enough to 
 last me a few months if I have no unusual expense. I 
 hardly know what to do when that is gone. It occurred 
 to me that I might go to Colorado or Alaska and search 
 for gold. " 
 
 "Or perhaps we might make you a paid lecturer 
 of our order. It is almost large enough to warrant such 
 a department," suggested Miss Channing. 
 
 "I have not dared to think of any position which 
 would make me dependent on the order." Lowell 
 paused as if revolving the subject in his mind. "I 
 would like to have you advise me on another matter 
 that I have been considering. You know I have been 
 at work on an instrument which I call a mirage re- 
 flector." 
 
 Miss Channing had been interested for some time 
 in the experiment which Mr. Lowell had explained to 
 her and had witnessed some of his trials. She was not 
 apprised as to the extent of his success. 
 
 "It now occurs to me," she said, "that you could 
 spend some time during the next few months perfect- 
 ing your invention. I thought when I saw it some 
 weeks ago that you were near success. Of course I 
 know little about so abstruse a subject but I think you 
 can make a great name for yourself if you can work 
 your idea out thoroughly. You ought to offer it to 
 Morgan Rockefeller personally." 
 
 "That is just what I was intending to ask your 
 opinion about," returned Lowell. "I have completed 
 the instrument so that now we are sure that it will be a 
 success. I can do wonders with it now and by simply 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 33 
 
 invoking the principle of the mirage, can, in the proper 
 atmospheric conditions, reproduce in the narrow limits 
 of my chamber, any scene in the world. I thought 
 our order might want it, but of course it is not finan- 
 cially strong enough to use it now. Besides it would 
 have to deal with Standard and that is out of the ques- 
 tion. If I offer it to Standard it will be another instru- 
 mentality of concentration for it will make all the 
 world subject to its observation at a moment's notice. 
 Nothing can escape it. To Omnipotence will be added 
 Omniscience." 
 
 Miss Channing had listened in astonishment to 
 this statement. She believed it was absolutely true, 
 for she had witnessed enough of the young man's ex- 
 periments to be able to anticipate something of his 
 expectations. 
 
 "Still, Mr. Lowell," she said, "I think you had 
 best offer your invention to Standard. You must take 
 care of yourself and you ought to go to St. Louis and see 
 Mr. Rockefeller personally. Your father's great in- 
 fluence with him and the profound friendship the Pres- 
 ident had for him will find a place for you, especially 
 if you can bring a valuable invention like the reflector 
 to him." 
 
 Just then the train stopped at Watertown. As 
 the two left the car a small man brushed by them and 
 gazed into the young lady's face which the radium 
 light of the station lighted up. A look of surprise 
 came into the little man's eyes. Lowell noticed the 
 movement and scowled at the intruder angrily but the 
 latter stepped back and gave no further offense. 
 
34 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 A short time after, when Lowell returned to the 
 station alone the little man was still there. He had 
 carefully marked in his memory the hotel where the 
 young lady resided. He stepped up to Lowell as the 
 latter paced the platform waiting for the train and 
 asked what time the next train was due to the city. 
 Lowell answered him shortly, repelling any attempt 
 at closer acquaintance. When the train arrived each 
 found his own place in the car and both returned to 
 their respective homes. 
 
 But the detective was elated. 
 
 He had made a discovery. 
 
 "I will have to befriend that young man", he said 
 to himself. "He is a little grouty now but that is not 
 surprising. I see that his action in quitting his place 
 on the Board was not as foolish as I suspected. Wonder 
 if he knows who that young lady is. Ha, but I am as 
 lucky as Lowell, for I do know who she is. I will guard 
 them both and this man Lowell will know me and lean 
 on me yet." 
 
 So the train rolled on to its destination. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 THE TWO PRESIDENTS. 
 
 St. Louis had been the capital of the Republic of 
 North America for thirty years. It had become a vast 
 city. Its central location in the imperial valley of 
 the Mississippi had invited the establishment of the 
 general office buildings of the Standard Oil Company. 
 These two would, in themselves, have employed a suffi- 
 cient number of people to constitute a metropolitan 
 city. 
 
 It was admitted the world over to be the most 
 splendid of all capital cities, excelling London, Paris 
 and Berlin in their best days. 
 
 The St. Louis of 1990 was not the St. Louis of 1900. 
 
 The transformation was an evolution from dingy 
 buildings to magnificent marble palaces and monu- 
 ments of shining glory. 
 
 Here dwelt the president of the greatest republic 
 in form and the president of the greatest corporation 
 in fact, the world had ever seen. 
 
 President Adams was the political chief of the 
 nation. 
 
 President Rockefeller was the industrial chief. 
 
 The industrial chief was the power. 
 
 The political chief was the reflection of power. 
 
36 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 The latter never did anything without consulting the 
 former. 
 
 The word of Rockefeller was law to Adams. 
 
 This was no new phase of power, governmental or 
 industrial. 
 
 It has always been so. 
 
 Washington in his time consulted the business 
 interests and acted as they dictated. 
 
 The farmers of the eighteenth century constituted 
 the business interests then. 
 
 Whether hydra-headed or single-headed, whether 
 scattered or concentrated, whether managed in a million 
 separate parts by as many individuals or as one great 
 whole in the form of a trust, the Business Interests, 
 have always dominated, directed and determined politi- 
 cal acts and conditions. 
 
 When President Adams found all interests united 
 in Rockefeller's hands he did neither more nor less than 
 Washington did when he consulted and obeyed that 
 power. 
 
 It was no secret that Rockefeller had for thirty 
 years nominated and elected every president of the 
 Republic P,ractically without opposition. 
 
 President Adams was considered a strong Presi- 
 dent. 
 
 His courage was unquestioned, for he never feared 
 to put both his person or his reputation to the test or 
 subject them to sacrifice whenever he was assured that 
 President Rockefeller approved. 
 
 The people knew this, and were anxious only to learn 
 the opinions of the great industrial master expecting 
 nothing more and nothing less than complete perfunc- 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 37 
 
 tory compliance on the part of his servant, the political 
 chief. 
 
 The two Presidents were devoted friends. 
 
 President Adams, like all other people who re- 
 garded themselves safe and sane, felt that President 
 Rockefeller's approbation was the highest reward which 
 he could hope to receive. 
 
 President Rockefeller regarded the counsel and ad- 
 vice of his learned friend, the chief magistrate, as emi- 
 nently wise and valuable. 
 
 In 1900 this relation which the President of the 
 Republic sustained to the President of the Standard Oil 
 Company would have provoked the popular wrath and 
 invited political destruction. But the spirit of 1990 
 rose to the enthusiastic recognition of the great truth 
 that political government is and has always been and 
 always must and will be subservient to the economic 
 system. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 THE DEATH OF MONEY. 
 
 The famous order of the Standard Oil Company 
 dated May 1st, 1990, was intended to be a complete 
 demonetization of gold. 
 
 Its purpose was to compel the gold miners of Colo- 
 rado, Nevada, Utah, South Dakota and Alaska, to 
 abandon their quest for that metal and take service 
 with the Merger. 
 
 It recited that certain persons were engaged out- 
 side of the company's industries in digging gold and 
 exchanging it for the benefits, pleasures, concessions 
 and commodities, which were at the disposal of the 
 company. 
 
 These pursuits were pronounced wasteful and un- 
 reasonable and useless to the system. 
 
 Gold had no value except for its use in the arts. 
 
 As the company was the sole producer and dis- 
 tributor of all values, except gold, the fictitious and 
 false value with which the latter was invested, was 
 delusive and fraudulent. 
 
 All employes of the company and its servient cor- 
 porations were instructed by this order to accept noth- 
 ing at any company store, theatre, house of amuse- 
 ment or in any department of its activities, except 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 39 
 
 checks issued by the Standard Oil Company for value 
 received by it. 
 
 Thenceforth no man who performed any service 
 for the company should receive from the company any 
 other pay than a check in words and figures as follows : 
 
 March 10, 1990, A. D. 
 
 Deliver to the bearer hereof one dollar's worth of 
 anything which the Standard Oil Company has for sale 
 or rent. 
 
 Notice: This company will sell only commodities, 
 amusements and transportation. 
 
 STANDARD OIL COMPANY, 
 
 Per Morgan Rockefeller, 
 President. 
 
 The order went into effect at once. 
 
 The result was that two thirds of its value was 
 squeezed out of gold. 
 
 A few weeks after this it developed that the quan- 
 tity of gold available for the arts so far exceeded the de- 
 mand that the company declined to pay more than 
 three dollars per ounce for it. 
 
 In the gold producing sections the effect was ap- 
 palling. 
 
 Over one hundred thousand families were practi- 
 cally shut off from supplies. 
 
 In the great city of Denver the depression was 
 felt much more seriously than in any other city, and 
 excitement ran high. 
 
 A revolution was threatened. 
 
 Not merely the gold miners, but their numerous 
 friends were involved. 
 
40 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 Besides this, many were seduced by the argument 
 that the demonetization of gold and the wreck of the 
 last remaining independent occupation cut off the sin- 
 gle avenue of escape from the grasp of Morgan Rocke- 
 feller's continental monopoly. 
 
 With the exception of the trusted agents of the 
 company, everybody in Denver was bitterly hostile 
 to the order. 
 
 Meetings were held in the streets and public 
 squares. 
 
 Orators discussed the order with inflammatory 
 fluency. 
 
 Men gathered in groups and gesticulated and 
 shouted at one another. 
 
 Officers in uniform stood idly by, not venturing 
 or caring to restore order. 
 
 It was evident that an outbreak might be expected 
 at any moment. 
 
 The people everywhere advocated the seizure and 
 confiscation of Standard's property. 
 
 Some wanted immediate action. 
 
 The more conservative were deterred by the prob- 
 lem of administration after seizure. 
 
 Should the political government undertake to do 
 business? 
 
 Should political socialism be established? 
 
 There were objections to such a revolution. 
 
 The government as constituted was the creature 
 of Rockefeller. 
 
 Its officers were his agents. 
 
 The constitution limited the powers of govern- 
 ment. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 41 
 
 It could do no business. 
 
 It was not needed for such purpose and was unfit 
 for it. 
 
 The administration of the business taken over 
 through revolution would devolve on certain heads, 
 but who would elect those heads, how elect them, 
 when elect them, and by what and whose authority? 
 
 Some favored electing a man to whom all the 
 Rockefeller interests should be conveyed through the 
 employment of military force. So habituated had 
 the people become to the "one man power" that many 
 could conceive no other way of operating the industries. 
 
 But sentiment did not, on the whole, favor the 
 selection of a substitute for Rockefeller and so the 
 problem did not lose any of its perplexities. 
 
 Could a plan be formulated whereby to admin- 
 ister the property after seizure? 
 
 If not, seizure would be followed by chaos, anarchy 
 and disaster. 
 
 Colorado had a world famous orator. 
 
 It was the only state in which the type of popular 
 orator represented by Thomas Masterson still survived. 
 
 The Rockefeller system was so exact and worked 
 so effectively elsewhere, that vocal speech was resorted 
 to in the pulpit, the lecture room and the halls of justice, 
 for argument and teaching only. Oratory was fast be- 
 coming a lost art. 
 
 No man had more influence than Masterson with 
 the irregular and unincorporated people of that state, 
 or of the mining states of the west. It may be said of 
 him that he was the last of the Democrats. 
 
42 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 In the city hall, nominally the property of the City 
 of Denver, a great crowd had gathered. Masterson was 
 there, genial, cordial, familiar and courageous. 
 
 When he mounted the platform to speak, the as- 
 semblage rioted in an excess of boisterous joy which 
 they intended as an ovation. 
 
 In him the Democrat spoke. 
 
 The theories of Jefferson, recast by that later 
 Democratic political socializer, Bryan, were dimly sug- 
 gested in the new dress with which custom and fashion 
 had habilitated them. 
 
 Proudly he assured them that he was a Democrat; 
 that he believed in the individual method of producing 
 wealth and distributing it; that the days of the individ- 
 ualist, when each person had his separate business, be- 
 fore the Merger had absorbed everything, were halcyon 
 da^s; that then men were free and in competition had 
 an incentive to strive for wealth, for superior positions, 
 for rewards; that in his opinion the Rockefeller interests 
 should be seized at once and a provisional committee 
 appointed to take charge; that the political machinery 
 should be seized and a new constitution adopted which 
 should provide a new government; that the amount of 
 wealth each person should be permitted to own ought 
 to be limited; that all the property seized by the pro- 
 visional committee should be confiscated by the new 
 constitutional government and divided equally among 
 all the people of the state; that such division should 
 be made so that the workers in any one department of 
 industry might be able to carry on an effective co-part- 
 nership. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 43 
 
 The crowd was completely entranced by the vivid 
 picture, which the orator painted in glowing and beauti- 
 ful words, of that Colorado of 1876 when the Demo- 
 cratic system was active in its simplest and purest form. 
 They saw again in imagination the mountains, valleys 
 and plains occupied by a simple and courageous race; 
 saw those plains gradually reclaimed from the wild state, 
 the mountain slopes to deepen their verdure with their 
 abundance, the valleys to assume the rich heritage of a 
 cultivated Eden. They saw the free man, rough-hewn 
 and mighty in his strength, contending for material 
 things and growing mightier and stronger as he con- 
 tended. And this was the best state of man "for", 
 said he, "competition makes character." 
 
 In the outburst of applause which greeted the or- 
 ator when he finished his appeal, the voice of one Social- 
 ist, at least, was drowned and only the close bystanders 
 heard him cry out : 
 
 "Yes, competition made character. It made Shy- 
 lock and the free-booter. It never made a good man 
 nor a Christian." 
 
 The big miner next to the Socialist silenced him 
 with a blow. 
 
 Resolutions were adopted providing for the ap- 
 pointment of a provisional committee of three to take 
 possession of Standard's property and organize the new 
 state. 
 
 This seemed to have been fully arranged before- 
 hand, for Masterson, Larrabee, and Toy were immedi- 
 ately designated as such committee by the chairman 
 and proceeded to act. 
 
44 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 Then began the enthusiasm and the tumult. 
 Masterson was made the head of the committee with 
 the title of general. 
 
 Volunteers were called for to assist in the proposed 
 seizure. 
 
 While the movement seemed impromptu and vol- 
 untary, in fact it had been carefully planned; and a 
 large number of assistants were busy at once with pa- 
 pers to be signed by volunteers. 
 
 Before the next morning over twenty thousand 
 had been organized into regiments and companies. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 THE ESTATE'S MILITARY CHAMBER. 
 
 While these events were transpiring in Denver, 
 Morgan Rockefeller was in his palatial home on the 
 banks of the Mississippi above the capital city. 
 
 He was fully advised of proceedings in Denver. 
 
 The country west, south and north of the rebel- 
 lious city was sparsely settled and it was not possible 
 to learn what the straggling bands of gold miners were 
 doing. 
 
 Rockefeller did not underestimate the seriousness 
 of the Denver uprising. It affected other sections sym- 
 pathetically, but so entirely were those parts under 
 monopolistic control that he apprehended no danger 
 there. 
 
 The general of the Army of the Republic of North 
 America, General Edison Grant, was a man of note in 
 two spheres. 
 
 He was a commanding general and a great inventor. 
 As an inventor he was known only to the near counsel- 
 lors of Rockefeller. 
 
 His principal device was the Military Chamber. 
 
 Here, military power was concentrated. 
 
 It was General Grant's belief that all power should 
 be so concentrated, financial, industrial and military, 
 
46 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 that its full force could be commanded at a moment's 
 notice. 
 
 When General Grant called on President Rocke- 
 feller at the latter's castle in response to an invitation 
 or command, they repaired to the military Chamber 
 to consider the Denver situation. 
 
 A brief description of this chamber is proper. 
 
 The four walls were covered with buttons, and each 
 of these buttons contained the name of some American 
 city. 
 
 The room was large and the buttons very numer- 
 ous. 
 
 Twenty of the latter bore the name of New York, 
 six carried the name of Philadelphia, ten that of Chi- 
 cago, ten San Francisco, ten Seattle, ten Boston, six 
 Denver, and so on. The name of St. Louis was printed 
 on twenty of these buttons. 
 
 An electric wire connected each button with a mag- 
 azine of powerful explosives lodged in the city whose 
 name the button bore. 
 
 General Grant or Morgan Rockefeller or a little 
 child could press the six buttons which connected with 
 Denver, and wreck that city, so that one stone would 
 not rest upon another, and so that one human being 
 would not be left alive within its precincts. 
 
 Of this the people of Denver had no knowledge, 
 for, until now, no necessity for a demonstration had 
 arisen. 
 
 The consultation between the Autocrat and his 
 military servant was not long. 
 
 "Is not this mechanism perfect!" exclaimed Gen- 
 eral Grant, as he sat down opposite his master and 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 47 
 
 looked around proudly. "Consolidation, concentra- 
 tion! These two words express it all." 
 
 "Yes, General," began the President with a note of 
 sadness in his voice. "This chamber is wonderful, but 
 it is monstrous, awful and damnable, like the cavern of 
 an Octopus. Why did the good God ever select me to 
 be master in Hell?" 
 
 General Grant looked at the President with the 
 faintest expression of surprise. He could scarcely be- 
 lieve that this was the Rockefeller whose unflinching, 
 unyielding will had constructed and held together an 
 economic system so great that a suggestion of its like 
 was to be found nowhere in extant history. 
 
 "You are now in a position, Mr. President," re- 
 marked the General, "to make a very satisfactory trial 
 of our device. You must suppress this Denver insur- 
 rection and my system is so perfect that you can wipe 
 Denver from the face of the earth, and destroy every 
 man, woman and child in the rebel town." 
 
 The General spoke with as much enthusiasm as his 
 nature permitted. The prospect of trying his inven- 
 tion was evidently one which pleased him, and the pic- 
 ture of the doomed city wrecked and, its inhabitants 
 blown to fragments, while it did not bring a smile to 
 his grim visage, made a cold piercing light to shine out 
 of his small gray eyes. What a difference between the 
 face of this iron embodiment of scientific, conscience- 
 less war and that of his heart-whole progenitor, the 
 blood and iron hero of Appomattox! 
 
 President Rockefeller sat silent and grimly thought- 
 ful. To look at him one would have been convinced 
 
48 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 that a great heart beat in that form where men looked 
 only for grasping mentality. 
 
 Seeing that the President was silent, the grim 
 General continued. 
 
 "If the Denver insurrection succeeds, even for a 
 short time, it will inspire your people with false ideas. 
 They may arise and destroy all your property, or at the 
 best, instead of destroying one city, you may be com- 
 pelled to destroy many. I have advised President 
 Adams to dispatch the army to subjugate the country, 
 but if you press those six buttons bearing the name of 
 Denver, you may be sure Colorado and all other dis- 
 affected districts will submit." 
 
 "General," began the President, and then looking 
 down at the floor, paused for some seconds. "General, 
 do you think I should put upon my soul the stain of 
 two million murders? Shall I destroy the entire popu- 
 lation of my beautiful city of Denver?" 
 
 "That or necessity will force you to do worse," 
 was the decisive answer. 
 
 "General!" almost shouted the President, rising 
 suddenly and towering six feet six with his erect hercul- 
 ean frame. "I am but flesh and blood and not a fiend. I 
 have a heart which beats with human sympathy. The 
 world does not know me. It thinks me a machine and 
 my position makes me a hermit. I am the most soli- 
 tary of beings. Kings can have their courtiers, but I 
 can have only business advisers. My servants think, 
 but do not feel. I, who am the consolidated owner of 
 this nation's wealth, never got more than one man's 
 portion in my life, except of misery. The owner of this 
 wealth is not I, but merely my name. I say my name, 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 49 
 
 but it is really not my name, only the name of this vast 
 ownership. Humanity does not know Rockefeller. 
 They know a name,but it is the name of a business. They 
 know a form, but not the inhabitant of that form. The 
 tongue speaks and commands, and what it says is im- 
 portant. It is not I who speak, it is the business, the 
 property. I am the most obscure and unknown thing 
 that breathes. But look you, General, I claim the 
 right,in the presence of such a catastrophe as your plans 
 propose,to put property and business aside and to man- 
 ifest the love I feel for mankind. You insist I must 
 not permit that heart to influence me. I must not 
 voice its feelings, because every word I speak is fraught 
 with danger. No one criticises me, but no man has less 
 freedom of action than I. I must do that which is 
 logical or my interests suffer. Love is not extended to 
 me. There is no love in business, and I am only what 
 my interests make me, a Business Proposition. Sym- 
 pathy is not felt for me, because power never receives 
 sympathy, and I am power personified. General," he 
 paused again,and then, speaking more calmly and look- 
 ing at the cold immovable figure of the sphinx in mili- 
 tary attire, said in a deep, impressive voice, "if it were 
 possible for me to act freely; if I were my own master, 
 then would I do as I wish, and the world would see that 
 I am human and full of human sympathy. When I am 
 gone they will learn all this. But while I do not say, 
 General, that I will not destroy Denver, I do say I am 
 in no frame of mind to do it now." 
 
 The old general was unmoved. His master's 
 words and manner would have been highly dramatic 
 if an appreciative soul had been present. But the re- 
 
50 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 gal presence, the profound emotion, the passionate 
 words, had no significance to the soldier and mathemati- 
 cian who counted humanity as figures and as so many 
 more or so many less according as the engines of war 
 did their work. 
 
 "Then," asked the General, "what will you do? 
 You cannot permit the people of Denver to seize your 
 properties and become independent of your system. 
 The example would be fatally bad and would result in 
 the complete disintegration of your system." 
 
 "True," replied Rockefeller. "All that is true. My 
 order against the acceptance of gold for my commodi- 
 ties was just and right. The people engaged in my in- 
 dustries are co-operating and when they part with the 
 products of their co-operative labor for a fiction, a pre- 
 tended value, a value which has no existence except 
 in the fancies of prejudices of men, it is ruinous. I 
 have solidified and consolidated my industries and have 
 eliminated all wasteful features except this. I have 
 left this until the last because it is the most difficult 
 to handle. 
 
 "Gold hunters must enlist in my service. 
 
 "It is business. 
 
 "It is logical. 
 
 "I must suppress all sentiment. 
 
 "First, however, we must try and settle these Den- 
 ver troubles without war. Let us seek through diplo- 
 macy to save them and if after one week they still per- 
 sist, I will adopt your plan. 
 
 "I will then press the buttons." 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 51 
 
 So saying, the President indicated that the con- 
 ference was at an end and the two left the chamber to- 
 gether. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 LOWELL AT MONTRAVEN. 
 
 Montraven was the name of the Rockefeller Castle. 
 
 It was as famous almost throughout the world as 
 the name of its great master. 
 
 Not to the White House, the palatial and beauti- 
 ful successor to the Democratic miniature of royalty 
 in old Washington, went the deputations of power as in 
 the old days. Pilgrimages were made to Montraven 
 instead. 
 
 It was situated on a high elevation overlooking the 
 Mississippi in the center of the most extensive and beau- 
 tiful park which landscape artist ever designed. 
 
 The building itself was constructed entirely of 
 white Georgia marble and was the largest and most ex- 
 pensive private dwelling the world had ever seen. 
 
 Over a square mile of ground comprised the eleva- 
 tion or hill on which the edifice stood, and this was sep- 
 arated from the rest of the park by a retaining wall 
 built one hundred feet above the base of the hill and all 
 around it. Above this the structure stood nine hundred 
 feet and seventy stories high. 
 
 For many miles this marvel of architectural 
 skill could be seen across the plains or towering above 
 the neighboring hills. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 53 
 
 There were long tunnels, however, which opened 
 through the wall around the base into the hill and 
 which furnished spacious passages to the interior. 
 
 The doors at the entrance of each passage were 
 guarded by unarmed sentinels who were courteous to 
 all comers, but admitted no one except those who had 
 passports. Even those were not permitted to enter 
 beyond the first inside station, until their presence was 
 announced to the office in the watch tower. If their 
 business was such that they could be accommodated 
 without disturbing the perfect system of the castle they 
 were permitted to enter. 
 
 All the passages and stations were light as day at 
 all hours, being abundantly illuminated by radium 
 lamps. 
 
 Alden Lowell did not present himself at the outer 
 gate of the main entrance to Montraven as became the 
 state and condition of a Director. 
 
 He felt that it was incumbent upon him to con- 
 serve his resources which he saw dwindling day by day. 
 
 He had not lost courage, but was affected by the 
 world's estimate of one who had no place in its estab- 
 lished system. 
 
 He was anxious to see President Rockefeller per- 
 sonally. 
 
 The news of his removal from the directorship of 
 the New England Furniture Manufacturing Company 
 had not yet become public property in a large or record 
 sense; but it had leaked out, and he had been cut to the 
 quick by the heartless desertion of his former compan- 
 ions and friends. Many, indeed nearly all of these, 
 
54 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 completely ignored him. He presented himself in 
 dusty apparel and on foot at Montraven. 
 
 The great Rockefeller was not usually a respecter 
 of persons. 
 
 As a business proposition everybody was equal 
 to everybody else before him. He regarded only the 
 business in hand, and even the political president of the 
 Republic would have to wait his turn unless his busi- 
 ness was of a pressing nature. He was therefore rarely 
 interrupted by the great, unless by special appointment, 
 and never by common humanity, unless they believed 
 that they had matters of large importance to be con- 
 sidered. 
 
 Recent events had made the President of Standard 
 somewhat less exacting than ordinarily. 
 
 He longed for companionship. 
 
 For the first time in his life his nerves seemed af- 
 fected and he felt that he would give much for the ad- 
 vice of a friend. Not that he would exhibit his heart 
 to such a friend, or disclose the cause or even the fact 
 of his perturbation; but the presence of such a friend 
 and the disinterested counsel which he could give on 
 matters of perhaps little moment, would lighten the 
 burden of life. He had several times of late recalled 
 his old friend Exmore Lowell of Boston and wondered 
 if the son was like the father. 
 
 Alden presented his passport at the outer gate of 
 Montraven. Like all who were similarly equipped he 
 was freely admitted and went forward through the 
 splendid passageway, noting with delight and interest 
 the far-famed wonders of its architecture and structure. 
 
 Arriving at the first inner station he gave the card 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 55 
 
 containing his name and a short statement that he de- 
 sired to see the President in regard to a new invention 
 which he believed would be of inestimable value to His 
 Excellency, to a courtly and very polite attendant, and 
 then seated himself with the large crowd of people who, 
 while waiting, were entertained by a high class vaude- 
 ville performance. 
 
 He had perhaps waited about an hour when the 
 same attendant who had received him, gently tapped 
 him on the shoulder and whispered: 
 
 1 'President Rockefeller will see you now." 
 
 The people who had been waiting were evidently 
 surprised that this very recent arrival would be recog- 
 nized so soon. 
 
 Alden felt some trepidation as he followed the at- 
 tendant to one of the many elevators which lead to the 
 upper floors. His recent experiences and his consci- 
 ousness of being out of the System diminished that as- 
 surance which had formerly distinguished him without 
 giving offense. 
 
 It was several minutes before they arrived at the 
 President's ante-room. Here he waited for some min- 
 utes longer when he was ushered into the inner office of 
 the economic king. 
 
 Mr. Rockefeller rose to welcome the young man. 
 
 Alden was almost embarassed with astonishment 
 at what he saw. 
 
 As the President took his hand he towered above 
 his caller fully six inches and appeared the very per- 
 sonification of power. Alden, himself, was six feet 
 tall and athletic, and he was hardly prepared to face 
 a giant such as this Economic King now proved to be. 
 
56 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 The extreme plainness of the Master's personal 
 surroundings also surprised him. There was not the 
 slighestt sign of ornamentation of any kind in this busi- 
 ness sanctum of the world's autocratic bookkeeper, ex- 
 cept that the walls were a perfect picture gallery from 
 which peered the strong faces of those who had con- 
 tributed largely to the creation of the Rockefeller sys- 
 tem. The portrait of John D. Rockefeller and his 
 descendants in the direct line, J. Pierpont Morgan 
 and his descendants, of James J. Hill, E. H. Harriman, 
 Andrew Carnegie, Weyerhauser and others who were 
 illustrious accountants and system builders in their day 
 and generation, looked sternly down upon the stranger. 
 
 "Son of my old friend, welcome, welcome!" ex- 
 claimed Rockefeller grasping the hand of Alden. "Be 
 seated," he continued, resuming his own seat. 
 
 From the running fire of questions with which the 
 President plied him, Alden concluded that he was un- 
 aware of his deposition. 
 
 It was some minutes before Alden was able to sug- 
 gest his own matter. At last he said : 
 
 "Mr. President, I am not here merely as the son of 
 my father, but I feel deeply grateful to you for your 
 kindly consideration of his memory. I am here to call 
 your attention to an invention in which he was deeply 
 interested during his life, and which I have the honor 
 to have perfected." 
 
 The President looked at him wearily but with an 
 evident wish to humor him. 
 
 "I know," said he, "that Exmore was interested in 
 something visionary. No doubt you are prepared to 
 exhibit your machine. I am glad that you have fur- 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 57 
 
 nished me this explanation of your refusal to resist your 
 exclusion from the Furniture Directorate. I will afford 
 you ample opportunity to set your machine up and will 
 ask you to allow me to witness its operation at the 
 earliest opportunity. It must be quite a machine to 
 induce you to make so great a sacrifice as to vacate 
 the Directorate of one of my best companies." 
 
 Alden started perceptibly when the President 
 showed that he was informed as to his record. He also 
 felt impressed that his father's devoted friend was de- 
 termined not to believe in his culpability as judged by 
 the Rockefeller standard. He was about to explain fur- 
 ther, for he felt that he could not afford to appear in a 
 false light even at the risk of another rebuff. 
 
 "But,"— he began. 
 
 "You shall make no explanations," declared the 
 President decisively. "You will perhaps recognize my 
 right to command. It is my will that you be prepared 
 to exhibit your machine as speedily as may be. When 
 can you be ready?" 
 
 "Tomorrow afternoon, Your Excellency." 
 
 "Good! Let it be at three o'clock then." 
 
 So saying he summoned an attendant and gave 
 directions that every attention be shown Alden as an 
 honored guest and that whatever orders Alden should 
 give be obeyed. 
 
 Having withdrawn from the Executive Presence 
 Alden and his attendant proceeded to select a room 
 suitable for his purpose, and that having been found 
 in one of the subterrnaean chambers, he gave orders 
 
58 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 to have his machine and chemicals brought over from 
 the station and made all arrangements to be prepared 
 for the exhibition at the time designated. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 HELEN CHANNING AT HOME. 
 
 Helen Channing lived in the Watertown Standard, 
 a small hotel in one of Boston's suburbs. The people 
 of the locality knew very little about her, except that 
 she was regarded as highly aristocratic and exclusive, 
 and that she seemed to be possessed of ample means 
 to live well in her retired position. She was not known 
 to be in the Rockefeller service, but rumor had it that she 
 was an annuitant of the Great Master himself, as the 
 New Englanders called the President of Standard. 
 
 New England people were ever of an inquiring 
 turn of mind. Curiosity was and has ever been one 
 of their prominent traits of character and they have 
 always claimed a democratic right to know all about 
 their neighbors. Although the ancient Puritan has 
 practically disappeared from the soil and his descend- 
 ants have been washed away by the tidal wave of pop- 
 ulation which, early in this century and late in the last, 
 set in from Italy, Greece, Ireland and France, yet he 
 seems, in departing, to have thrown his character and 
 traits right into the teeth of the races he left behind. 
 An Irish, French, Italian and Greek mortal born in 
 Yankee Land, is covered all over with the Puritanic and 
 Yankee birth marks of the old school. 
 
 So the people around the Watertown Standard 
 
60 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 were anxious to learn all about Miss Helen Channing. 
 They were baffled it is true, but so beautiful was her 
 face, her form and manner, and so proudly and yet so 
 benignantly did she carry herself, that she was abso- 
 lutely above suspicion and was beloved by all. There 
 were those things the people noticed, however, which 
 puzzled them. She went to New York every quarter 
 with a middle aged lady whom she called "Auntie," and 
 with whom she apparently lived. She went to Boston 
 once a week in the evening, being escorted thither by 
 Mr. Lowell, a handsome young man who came out 
 from the city. She was a constant attendant at the 
 Baptist church. 
 
 It should be known also that Helen spent much 
 time in writing. She was a deep student of literature, 
 history and politics, and had written some poetry which 
 had made her pen name "Lustra" a household word in 
 Boston. Few people knew, however, who "Lustra" 
 was. She was undoubtedly gifted as a platform speaker 
 and on those occasions when she had occupied the lec- 
 ture platform, her low, sweet voice, so fascinating and 
 persuasive in woman, held her audience spell-bound and 
 her sublime ideals to which her life seemed devoted, 
 left their impression on her audience and lifted up their 
 spirits long after the meeting was closed. 
 
 She was a born organizer, too, but the populace 
 never knew this. Her work was done in secret; and, as 
 she confidently believed, in violation of Morgan Rocke- 
 feller's business rules. Personally she did not fear being 
 discharged from Standard's employ, for she was, as the 
 people suspected, an annuitant. 
 
 Lowell had known her for something over a year at 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 61 
 
 the time of the meeting which has been described. They 
 were both members of the same church, and Lowell had 
 not proven immune to the fascination of this 
 beautiful, gifted and remarkable young woman. She 
 had so far influenced him, indeed, that without ever 
 suspecting her own personal power over him, she had 
 induced him to become a member of the fraternal 
 order which she had organized, and to sacrifice every- 
 thing, as she believed, for her. When at last it became 
 evident to her how large that sacrifice was, she was 
 deeply solicitous for his welfare, and yet, woman-like, 
 and fanatical as she was, never felt in the slightest 
 degree to blame or in the least remorseful. When she 
 learned a few days after his departure for St. Louis 
 that he had met with a cordial reception from the 
 President of Standard she was greatly relieved. 
 
 It was Helen's custom to take long walks in the 
 country, where she delighted in the study of nature. 
 Mrs. Locksley, "Auntie", would frequently accompany 
 her on these "tramps", as she called them, but some- 
 times she went alone. She always strove to return 
 before sundown, so that Mrs. Locksley, who had a 
 motherly interest in her and who idolized her, would 
 have no occasion for worry. 
 
 On the very next evening, however, after Alden 
 Lowell arrived at Montraven she did not return. In 
 vain Mrs. Locksley waited and long into the night she 
 kept her vigil. Not being able to bear the suspense 
 any longer, she reported to the police that her ward 
 had gone out that afternoon and had not returned. 
 But, while this drove Mrs. Locksley almost frantic, 
 
62 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 knowing Helen as she did, she was not able to give the 
 police any facts which could arouse their interset 
 more than to say that it was very unusual. 
 
 "How old is Miss Channing?" they asked. 
 
 ' 'Twenty-four," she answered. 
 
 "Do you suspect anything is wrong? Has she any 
 enemies?" 
 
 "I don't know what is wrong. I never thought 
 she had enemies." 
 
 "Oh, well, it is one o'clock. Probably she is with 
 friends. No doubt she will come home in the morning." 
 
 "But she never did that before." 
 
 "Maybe this is an exception. Always has to be a 
 first time." 
 
 In the morning a detective came to the hotel and 
 asked for Mrs. Locksley. 
 
 When the lady appeared he requested her to ex- 
 plain the circumstances of Miss Channing's disap- 
 pearance. 
 
 Now, Mrs. Locksley was not given to answering 
 questions about Helen, especially if they were asked 
 by strangers. 
 
 "You will have to tell me who you are before I 
 answer you," she said brusquely. 
 
 The stranger handed her a card on which was 
 printed "Moreland Hughes, Captain of Standard De- 
 tective Force." 
 
 "Who sent you?" persisted Mrs. Locksley. 
 
 "Mrs. Locksley," said Hughes in a high falsetto 
 voice, "I have information which leads me to believe 
 that Miss Channing is far away from here. I must ask 
 you questions if I am to be of any service to her. I 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 63 
 
 am especially anxious to help her as I have orders from 
 very high authority to aid and protect her in every 
 possible way." 
 
 Hughes spoke so positively that Mrs. Locksley 
 sat down, and, asking him to be seated, promised to 
 answer any questions she could. 
 
 "I know who Miss Channing is," he began, "and 
 I think you must be fully aware of her high connection. 
 The municipal and political police know nothing about 
 her and it is not necessary that they should. When 
 you have answered my questions, I will tell you my 
 suspicions. Is Miss Channing your ward?" 
 
 "She was before she came of age." 
 
 "Have you seen any strange persons around here 
 lately?" 
 
 "I never noticed. Helen was always good to 
 everybody. I don't think she has any enemies." 
 
 "Did anybody ever make an attempt to abduct 
 her, to your knowledge?" 
 
 Such a thought had never occurred to her. Why 
 should they? Mrs. Locksley had known Helen from 
 birth; had held her in her arms; had known her won- 
 derful father and mother; had known, too, that these 
 had powerful relations, but understood that they were 
 ignored by those relatives. When the father and 
 mother had died, Mrs. Locksley had been made her 
 guardian and supplied with ample funds to properly 
 maintain and educate her ward; but she did not know 
 who was responsible for this attention. It had never 
 occurred to her that her Helen was a person of such 
 importance that anybody would care to steal her. 
 
 "No, indeed!" she said. 
 
64 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 "Do you know who she is?" 
 
 "I guess I do. I knew her father and mother, and 
 was with them when Helen was born." 
 
 But there had always been a mystery about 
 Helen's parents and their influence in Mrs.Locksley's 
 mind. 
 
 "There were many things which I never did under- 
 stand," she added. 
 
 "I do not want to frighten you, Mrs. Locksley," 
 said Hughes, "but I have reason to believe that Miss 
 Channing has been seized by a band of outlaws who 
 are holding her for a ransom." 
 
 If Mrs. Locksley was noted for anything, it was 
 her resolution and courage. Nobody could ever say 
 that she was personally afraid of anything, and she 
 was ready to face any odds where her ward or her 
 principles were at stake. There was something so 
 mysterious, so unexpected, so indefinite and yet so 
 probable about what had now been suggested that she 
 was completely upset. 
 
 "Oh!" she exclaimed. "It may be true. They 
 will kill my darling! What can I do?" 
 
 "You can do nothing," replied Hughes coolly and 
 almost nonchalantly. "If Miss Channing is in the 
 power of the outlaws, as I suspect, she is perfectly safe 
 from any physical harm. They will not abuse her, and 
 will make her life comfortable, if she is not frightened 
 to death. Their interest lies in caring for her, for to 
 destroy her would be to lose the reward they demand." 
 
 This was no consolation to Mrs. Locksley. She 
 was nearly frantic. When the detective left her, how- 
 ever, she was calmer, but if she could have had the 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 65 
 
 slightest intimation of the direction taken by the sup- 
 posed outlaws, she would have hurried, without hesi- 
 tation, to the rescue of her darling. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 THE CONFERENCE. 
 
 President Josiah Quincy Adams, Chief Magistrate 
 of the United States of North America, was a man of 
 great and varied learning. Descended from the early 
 Presidents of that name, he inherited their independent 
 spirit and eminent talents. Self-reliance was the key- 
 stone of his character as it was of his forebears; but 
 self-reliant and independent as he was he could not 
 escape the inevitable, and wasted no time in such vain 
 effort. He was proficient in every phase of statecraft. 
 His memory was a vast storehouse of historical know- 
 ledge which his logical and finely traine dmind arranged 
 and employed with telling effect. In his department 
 he was easily the foremost man in the nation, but some- 
 how, in the estimation of all but foreign governments, 
 his government had become very much like a gilded 
 throne of ancient days in modern Europe, purely 
 ornamental. 
 
 The difficulties in Denver were well known to 
 President Adams. But they were not political diffi- 
 culties. They were, however, serious enough to war- 
 rant the convocation of congress in extraordinary 
 session, and it was decided that such session should 
 be called if the difficulties were not settled. President 
 Adams made haste to offer President Rockefeller the 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 67 
 
 services of the army if they should be needed to re- 
 store law and order, and preparations for the trans- 
 portation of immense bodies of troops were begun. 
 The propriety of this action was not questioned except 
 in the disaffected districts. 
 
 Shortly after his conversation with General Grant 
 in the military chamber, President Rockefeller invited 
 President Adams to call at Montraven Castle. Such 
 an invitation would not have been considered, coming 
 from another source, but coming from President Rocke- 
 feller it had all the impressiveness of a command. Mr. 
 Adams no more thought of disobeying than his ancient 
 ancestors, John and John Quincy, would have ignored 
 a unanimous demand of the business interests. He 
 accepted the invitation without delay and proceeded 
 at once to the castle. 
 
 The procession of His Excellency, the President of 
 the United States of North America, presented an 
 imposing spectacle with its vanguard of cavalry and 
 its gilded autos as it proceeded through the principal 
 streets of the capital city. 
 
 Heralds preceding notified the people who crowded 
 the streets of the city of the approach of the greatest 
 American representative of political power. 
 
 In 1900 such a procession would have been viewed 
 with contempt. 
 
 The political presidency represented real power in 
 those days because the citizens of the Republic had 
 then a belief in its reality. 
 
 In 1990, political power meant little or nothing. 
 
 As it had become scarcely more than ornamental 
 and as the real power belonged to the economic govern- 
 
68 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 ment> men felt that the former should be possessed of 
 something like imposing pomp. 
 
 It had become, therefore, a passing show. 
 
 When President Adams and his party arrived at 
 Montraven, the procession passed up the grand passage 
 to the first inner station. In anticipation of the visit, 
 this station was decorated with patriotic emblems, 
 and the company awaiting His Excellency consisted of 
 attaches of the Castle. Here the distinguished arrivals 
 were conducted from their autos to the elevators and 
 taken to the splendid reception hall above where Presi- 
 dent Rockefeller, without display, but with the polite- 
 ness and consideration of a finished gentleman and a 
 simple democrat, met them and extended a cordial and 
 heartfelt welcome. 
 
 The formalities being soon concluded, the Presi- 
 dent of Standard led the President of the Republic into 
 his private sanctum, the same as that into which 
 Lowell had been ushered, and took up several matters 
 which were supposed to be of mutual importance to 
 the state and the Merger. In the course of the con- 
 versation, President Rockefeller mentioned the name of 
 Exmore Lowell as a fellow-townsman of President 
 Adams. 
 
 "Exmore's son, Alden, was appointed a director 
 in the New England Furniture Manufacturing Company, 
 but it was learned that he had been influenced by those 
 fanatics, the Fraternalists, and the company deposed 
 him. The company can not and should not reinstate 
 him, but there are strong reasons why I do not wish 
 him to suffer. He is here in the castle now, and will, 
 at three o'clock, give an exhibition of his mirage re- 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 69 
 
 flector. As Exmore was a particular friend of yours 
 also, and as I rather think this invention may prove of 
 great scientific interest, I shall take the liberty to ask 
 you, with some members of your cabinet, to be present." 
 
 President Adams was pleased. 
 
 "I am glad," he said, "that you find it possible to 
 take care of Alden's future. I understood that he had 
 been deposed and felt sorry. Indeed, it was my pur- 
 pose today to ask if you had any objection to his being 
 appointed to some suitable office. Your business rules 
 very properly exclude Fraternalists from your employ- 
 ment, but politically we do not in theory object to 
 them. Of course, Your Excellency will not expect us 
 to appoint a Fraternalist to office against your object- 
 ions." 
 
 "As to the appointment, I will be glad to consider 
 that at another time, Mr. President," rejoined Presi- 
 dent Rockefeller. "We may both find a satisfactory 
 solution of our little problem when we see what he has. 
 These inventions I usually refer to a committee or to 
 the corporations whose mechanism they improve. But 
 Exmore's son is entitled to some consideration from his 
 father's friend." 
 
 "I shall be deeply interested," remarked Mr. 
 Adams. "I was Mr. Exmore Lowell's confidential 
 adviser for some time in my younger days." 
 
 Mr. Adams was apparently about forty-five years 
 of age. 
 
 The two great men returned to the reception hall 
 and later to the buffet, where they lunched together. 
 The occasion was one of festivity, and nearly every 
 conceivable diversion was provided for the visitors and 
 
70 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 habitues of this vast castle wherein resided, together 
 with the President and his immediate suite, over 
 twenty thousand persons. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 THE MIRAGE REFLECTOR. 
 
 The reflector was installed in one of the subter- 
 ranean chambers of the castle which Lowell selected 
 because he found it to have suitable atmospheric con- 
 ditions. At the proper time the two executives and 
 several of their most distinguished advisors, including 
 the Secretary of Applied Sciences and the President of 
 the Standard National Laboratory, accompanied by a 
 guide, proceeded in corridor cars and down elevators, 
 to what thenceforth was known as the Mirage Chamber. 
 This was semicircular in form and scarcely more than 
 twenty by forty feet in size. 
 
 After the distinguished company were seated, 
 President Rockefeller graciously introduced Alden 
 and President Adams took particular pains to step 
 forward and whisper words of encouragement to his 
 fellow townsman. 
 
 "Alden," said he, "Boston will be honored in 
 your success. I saw several of your father's experi- 
 ments in this line and I believe you will win out some 
 day. Even if you fail now, believe me, I will give 
 you every opportunity in my power to succeed here- 
 after." 
 
 "Your words are doubly appreciated by me, 
 Your Excellency," returned Alden, his eyes filling 
 
72 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 with tears of gratification. "I thank God that I 
 am able to assure you that my reflector is a success.' 7 
 
 A few preliminaries having been attended to, 
 Alden stated to the assembled party that his exhibi- 
 tion must of necessity seem mysterious and would 
 partake of the supernatural in appearance. He de- 
 sired it understood that he had no claims on the super- 
 natural, but that the effects they were about to wit- 
 ness were accomplished purely by the application 
 of a natural law. 
 
 "Now," said he, "in concluding, let me request 
 Your Excellencies, President Rockefeller and Presi- 
 dent Adams to state what scene or part of the world 
 you desire to view. In producing such scene I shall 
 make use of the mirage principle, with which you are 
 more or less familiar. I should also say to you that 
 this room is peculiarly adapted, though small, to 
 reproduce any scene which is being enacted in any 
 part of the world. I shall be glad if Your Excellen- 
 cies will express your wishes." 
 
 "I shall place that burden on President Adams," 
 exclaimed Mr. Rockefeller. "What scene will you 
 have my friend produce, Mr. President?" 
 
 President Adams was not quite prepared to make 
 a selection, but in an off-hand manner suggested 
 mid-ocean. 
 
 Suddenly, as if by magic, a vapor began to arise 
 in front of the east wall of the room. This quickly 
 became light and in the mist, the blue and troubled 
 waters of the unstable sea appeared. The billows 
 seemed to be rolling toward the audience and grew 
 so plain, in a few minutes, that the room itself seemed 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 73 
 
 to rise and fall with the swelling sea. Nothing could 
 be more desolate than this restless waste where was 
 no sign of life and where was no silent shore to limit its 
 will. 
 
 As they watched it, awestruck by the perfection 
 of the representation and impressed by the marvel 
 and mystery of the ocean and all the wonderful shades 
 of color which the reflector preserved, suddenly 
 there came into the scene another object. With a 
 rapidity of flight equal to that of a bird, which it some- 
 what resembled, it skimmed along the surface of the 
 sea with wings drooping and spreading alternately, 
 as it came on. From a tiny speck against the horizon 
 where the water and sky met, it grew into a great ship 
 which seemed to leap from wave to wave, sometimes 
 with its keel in the sea, sometimes above it. 
 
 "Is not this wonderful?" cried President Adams. 
 "That is certainly our good ship Mayflower. If, 
 indeed she is now in mid-ocean, as our friend, the Pro- 
 fessor tells us, then she will reach New York tonight 
 and will be here tomorrow morning." 
 
 On it came until its great front filled the scene 
 with so realistic an effect that the company arose 
 and turned as if to fly before a terrible and destructive 
 projectile. Like a ghost it floated straight on through 
 the little room, an impalpable mist. The winged 
 ship, the glory of the latter part of the twentieth 
 century, had passed the tract of mid ocean embraced 
 in the mirage and the reflection was gone. 
 
 The two presidents and their guests and coun- 
 selors, men of great experience, men who had seen near- 
 ly everything of note, men with critical minds which 
 
74 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 had long ceased to be deceived or impressed, watched 
 the scene like innocent children. Before them still 
 palpitated the ocean, substantial in the distance, 
 flowing ever towards them, becoming a mist, not to 
 the sense of touch, but to the sense of sight, as it surg- 
 ed around them and flowing on to become again sub- 
 stantial on the western wall of their room. 
 
 "Verily," said President Adams, "we dwell in 
 the midst of the ocean." 
 
 "The half was surely not told to us," declared 
 President Rockefeller. "Your exhibition is remarkable, 
 Professor." Then addressing the assembled company, 
 he said, "Gentlemen, we have beheld three marvels 
 of this age. The sea, the material manifestation 
 of God's greatest power. The mirage reflector per- 
 fected by my great friend, Alden Lowell, and the mod- 
 ern ship, half swallow and half waterfowl, a compro- 
 mise between the sea and the air and capable of sweep- 
 ing across the land on wheels and wings." 
 
 "I think," interposed Secretary Agassiz, "that 
 the ship is the glory of the age, although this new in- 
 vention may have uses which I have not yet antici- 
 pated. The old scheme of aerial navigation was vis- 
 ionary. But when Maldrum conceived the idea of 
 the winged ship which could rise into the air or settle 
 into the water as its safety required, the problem was 
 solved. That the same ship could fly above the earth's 
 surface where obstacles impeded its progress on that 
 surface or, balancing itself with its wings, roll swiftly 
 on its bicycle wheels to its destination, revolutionized 
 the methods and system of transportation." 
 
 "Excuse me, gentlemen," interrupted Alden, "but 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 75 
 
 I must enter a claim now for my mirage reflector. 
 I am convinced that its utility is far greater than 
 you have considered. With this instrument I can 
 search the earth and can, at a moment's notice, give 
 you accurate information of what is taking place. 
 Shall I show you what is at this moment occuring 
 in the rebellious state of Colorado?" 
 
 The company looked incredulous. Then the new 
 thought seemed to strike each one with astounding 
 force. They had not considered the subject at all 
 and merely viewed it as a novelty. 
 
 What, indeed, if it should be true that he, the 
 the Master of All Wealth, the Master of All Men, 
 the Master of All the Forces of Creation and Des- 
 truction of which men had knowledge, was now to 
 become well nigh omniscient through this new instru- 
 ment! 
 
 Even the great Rockefeller was staggered by the 
 thought. 
 
 He knew better than they how complete would 
 be the concentration of his power with this new in- 
 vention, in connection with the military chamber 
 and the elimination of the one safety valve of in- 
 dividualism, namely, gold as a money metal. 
 
 Almost fearfully these stalwart men, the nation's 
 brainiest and best, seated themselves again and with 
 serious faces quietly consented to continue the ex- 
 hibition. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 THE REVOLUTION IN THE REFLECTOR 
 
 The scene which Alden introduced to the now 
 serious attention of the statesmen and savants who 
 comprised his audience, was not precisely what they 
 expected. 
 
 Instead of representing Denver, the reflector 
 showed a mountain road and wild surroundings. 
 
 An old man wearily and slowly descended the 
 mountain with a long staff in one hand and a bundle 
 in the other. 
 
 A company of horsemen was making its way 
 down the same road, each rider having the appearance 
 of preparation for military duty. 
 
 Behind these, carriages came containing important 
 looking persons, men and women. 
 
 Then the scene was again shifted to another 
 locality where men arrayed like soldiers, but display- 
 ing little of the training of soldiers, were marching 
 along the highway. Alden exhibited in quick suc- 
 cession many such scenes, all calculated to show war- 
 like movements at the seat of war. 
 
 Finally he showed a great public square in the 
 City of Denver and a vast multitude listening to an 
 orator who was dressed in military attire. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 77 
 
 President Rockefeller recognized the orator as 
 Masterson. 
 
 It was an active but silent scene which the reflec- 
 tor produced. 
 
 Silent, because there was no way to present 
 both sound and action. 
 
 Active, because it was plain that some great 
 movement was in progress which was intensely in- 
 teresting to the people there gathered. 
 
 In a few minutes the orator ceased to speak 
 and the crowd made manifestations of frantic en- 
 thusiasm. 
 
 Hands and handkerchiefs were waved and hats 
 were thrown in the air. 
 
 Shortly after, the men began to fall into line with 
 military regularity. 
 
 It was noticeable that they were formed into 
 companies and officered. 
 
 Masterson left his place on the platform and 
 mounted a horse. Then all moved forward as if a 
 command had been given. 
 
 The men who were watching them knew that 
 they were witnessing the unopposed development 
 of a revolution. 
 
 With his reflector Alden followed the proces- 
 sion of armed citizens down the wide and stately 
 streets of the beautiful city of the plains. 
 
 The scene was very strange as presented, for 
 magnificently uniformed bands leading some division 
 or regiment would seem to be marching straight into 
 the little hall playing on instruments from which no 
 sound proceeded. On they marched, and ghost-like, 
 
78 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 their misty forms moved through the room, paying 
 no heed to material objects, and in the mirage thus 
 conjured up by the seeming magic of the youth, there 
 were no walls except the apparitions of buildings 
 in the distant metropolis. 
 
 Yet the audience knew it was a real scene which 
 was being enacted. 
 
 Soon the marching hosts halted. 
 
 Alden once more sought the head of the proces- 
 sion. There Masterson sat on his horse, evidently 
 giving orders to his men. 
 
 The procession had stopped before a tall imposing 
 office building. 
 
 President Rockefeller knew it was the headquarters 
 of the Standard Oil Company for Colorado. 
 
 The men to whom the leader had given orders 
 entered the building and presently returned, escort- 
 ing certain other men whom they conducted to Master- 
 son. 
 
 Evidently some conversation was had which 
 did not satisfy Masterson, for his men compelled the 
 others to submit to be handcuffed. 
 
 President Rockefeller started perceptibly and 
 frowned. 
 
 He knew that his managing officers, among the 
 rest, Standard Director Bell, one of his strongest and 
 most trusty lieutenants, had been taken captive by 
 the lawless rebels. 
 
 He knew that the movement of the many to 
 take control of his property had begun. 
 
 The scene was intensely dramatic. Every man 
 in the audience had risen to his feet. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 79 
 
 The form of the giant President of Standard 
 towered high above all the rest and his lion face, 
 strikingly similar to the features of his mother's great 
 ancestor, J. Pierpont Morgan, resembled a thunder 
 cloud. 
 
 While the intangible reflections flitted around 
 him and with indescribable weirdness occupied the 
 same place as that occupied by some of the audience, 
 producing an effect like a light thin veil thrown over 
 them, he raised his hand as if speaking to the men 
 in the mirage, and shouted. 
 
 "You rob my companies! You take possession 
 of my property! Wretched people! Do you not 
 know that I have designed everything for the best? 
 I proposed to give you a thousand benefits. Your 
 inexcusable action puts it beyond my power to help 
 you. Oh, that Grant were here to witness this out- 
 rage!" 
 
 The President of Standard indicated he had seen 
 enough of Alden's invention for that day and extended 
 his congratulations on having achieved the most im- 
 portant success of years. President Adams was even 
 more expressive than his superior and the other mem- 
 bers of the assemblage overwhelmed the young in- 
 ventor, now recognized by them all as one of the most 
 distinguished men of the nation. 
 
 Only about an hour and a half had been spent 
 in watching the scenes reflected by Alden's machine. 
 The information obtained from it was sufficient to 
 apprise them that the Colorado and Denver revolu- 
 tion had progressed so far that it could not be ignored. 
 
80 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 The only question was how far the Federal Gov- 
 ernment could be concerned. 
 
 It was not a secession movement. 
 
 It did not violate any rights which the Federal 
 constitution guaranteed. There was no interfer- 
 ence with the mails. 
 
 So far it did not appear that any overt act had 
 been committed against even the state officers. 
 
 But so large and so consequential was the move- 
 ment that President Adams was inclined to consider 
 it the proper occasion to establish a needful prece- 
 dent so that henceforth no doubt could exist in similar 
 predicaments what course to adopt. 
 
 He therefore, without hesitation, announced his 
 purpose to send the army into Colorado and restore 
 law and its observance. 
 
 The day was, for all but the Master, a gala day 
 at Montraven. Rockefeller was a magnificent host. 
 But there were no excesses indulged in that city 
 within Montraven Castle. The President of Stan- 
 dard was not only the soul of business honor, but 
 he expected and exacted no less of all who were in his 
 employment. He was temperate, moral, prudent and 
 considerate in all things. No better example of a 
 master of the commercial sphere, and no better pat- 
 tern for the servant ever lived. As a citizen, a mas- 
 ter and a gentleman, this wealthiest and most power- 
 ful of all mankind was above reproach. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 THE DEATH OF MORGAN ROCKEFELLER. 
 
 The next day, when the presidential party was 
 gone, President Rockefeller hastily summoned the 
 commanding general of the army, General Grant, 
 to Montraven. 
 
 The General was at this time busy making pre- 
 parations for his expected campaign. 
 
 Yet he left all and obeyed the summons of the 
 economic master. 
 
 When he arrived at the castle he was ushered 
 into the military chamber where he found the Presi- 
 dent of Standard awaiting his advent. 
 
 But when he looked into the great man's face, 
 the cold eye of the General at once detected some- 
 thing unusual. 
 
 The President's complexion was naturally florid. 
 Although sixty, his cheeks were adorned with a color 
 which ordinary persons, at first glance, regarded as 
 the flush of health. But some knowing ones whis- 
 pered that the great man would some time suddenly 
 develop an organic weakness. 
 
 When General Grant found him in the military 
 room, the President received his guest, sitting in a 
 reclining chair with his hand pressed in the region 
 
82 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 of his heart, and his countenance contracted with 
 pain. 
 
 "What's the matter, Mr. President?" asked 
 General Grant in his usual brusque tone. 
 
 "Oh! nothing," answered the President, chang- 
 ing his attitude and speaking with difficulty. "A 
 little heart trouble. But I am better now," he con- 
 tinued, after a short pause. 
 
 "I hope Your Excellency is in no danger," re- 
 marked the General. 
 
 The President had now resumed his upright 
 normal attitude, and his pain seemed to have dis- 
 appeared. 
 
 "I have decided that you are right in regard to 
 the Denver trouble, General," he said. 
 
 The General sat silent and grim and made no 
 answer. 
 
 "Your plan of exemplary punishment must be 
 applied," continued Mr. Rockefeller, his own face 
 assuming the cold, sphinx-like, expressionless look 
 which characterized that of the old general. "We 
 must destroy that rebellious city." 
 
 "When?" asked the general shortly. 
 
 "Tonight. At midnight." 
 
 "Your Excellency might better do it now. If 
 Your Excellency will but say the word I will press 
 those buttons. Why wait?" urged the man of arms 
 and war. 
 
 "It is an execution, General, and midnight is a 
 better hour for that. Denver has been tried by 
 me and found guilty." 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 83 
 
 Then he related to the General the scenes pre- 
 sented by the mirage reflector and the manner in which 
 that marvelous invention had come into his control. 
 Even Grant was astonished and showed it. 
 
 "That and the military chamber are the ex- 
 tinguishers of war," exclaimed he. 
 
 "I feel," resumed the President, ignoring the 
 General's remark, "that this is the greatest trial and 
 the most unhappy event of my life. The wars which 
 have thus far disturbed me have been solely political, 
 and I was glad to beat my enemies in fair battle. 
 But this nearly unmans me. We seem to steal on 
 the people unawares and destroy them when they 
 least expect it." 
 
 "But your power, like your property, is concen- 
 trated," argued the General. "If you admit that 
 your right to your property is not absolute, you make 
 a concession which will lose it all. If you should 
 apprise Denver people of your purpose to ignite the 
 magazines stored within their city limits, they would 
 find means to thwart your plans. If Denver escapes 
 punishment your interests are doomed. If other 
 cities find that it is easy to appropriate all the pro- 
 perty in their limits, they will need only slight pro- 
 vocation to do it. If you do not strike soon you 
 will lose all." 
 
 "General, you have, no idea how deeply I have 
 felt the misery which I seem foredoomed to precip- 
 itate. Never have I been unsympathetic. In fact, 
 my life which has seemed so selfish, has been a sacri- 
 fice for the good of mankind. I am as complete a 
 martyr to the great cause of human progress as any 
 
84 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 of the saints. I have denied myself all pleasures; 
 have never married, although I yearned for home 
 and children; have been concerned altogether with 
 the concentration of business for a single purpose. 
 It was my wish to compel the gold miners of the 
 Southwest to come into my system. Gold has no 
 value to me except in the arts. I would rather put 
 a value on an hour's work and fix that value per- 
 manently. Then I could give a man who worked 
 for me an hour, a check to show that I had the value 
 of an hour's work which he had performed and that 
 such value was added to my accumulated wealth. 
 If he wants anything in the world, I have all the facil- 
 ities to get it for him — land, sea, forests, mines, tools, 
 ships, theatres, hotels, parks. If he will return his 
 check, I will give the value of the hour's labor it rep- 
 presents. It was 'business' that I should adopt the new 
 plan. It was best for me and for my people. Yet 
 I am now involved in war by the men who are wedded 
 to old customs and influenced by old prejudices." 
 
 The discussion continued for some time during 
 which President Rockefeller seemed to age visibly 
 with each passing minute. No other subject seemed 
 to interest him and he was loathe to leave the place. 
 It was late in the afternoon when the General re- 
 turned to his headquarters, leaving the President 
 in the Military Chamber. It was agreed that he 
 should report at midnight and that the magazines 
 of Denver, of whose existence Denver people knew 
 nothing, should be touched off by the hand of the 
 General as a military necessity. 
 
 President Rockefeller remained alone in the cham- 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 85 
 
 ber. In the bright light, the light of an overhead 
 radium lamp, he sat in the chair in which the General 
 found him. Except the General, whose supervision 
 of the construction of this chamber made him fami- 
 liar with that part of the castle, no person knew where 
 the President was, because this military chamber was 
 jealously guarded. Only the operator of the eleva- 
 tor in the remote part of the castle saw him as he 
 entered the corridor which led thither, but even he 
 knew not where the Master had gone. 
 
 In his reclining chair the great man sat gazing 
 at the wall and straight at the ivory buttons on which 
 were printed the word "Denver". The gaze became 
 a fixed stare. Poor Rockefeller! 
 
 The minutes flew and grew into hours and still 
 he sat in the same position, staring neither to the right 
 nor the left, but fixedly at the same printed name, 
 and when at midnight, two men opened the door of 
 that chamber, they found him motionless, silent, and 
 cold. 
 
 The hour had struck. 
 
 The day of power and destiny was done. 
 
 The great man, the most potent of any age and 
 clime in this old world of sin and death, had died of 
 a broken heart. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 WHO SHALL BE KING? 
 
 Independence day, July 4th, 1990, the world was 
 shocked at the news that Morgan Rockefeller was 
 dead. So momentous was the event regarded that 
 government, society, business and all forms of human 
 activity were deeply affected as if some awful cata- 
 clysm were impending. 
 
 It meant that all of North America and large in- 
 terests abroad and millions of human beings who were 
 attached to the Rockefeller estate, as serfs in ancient 
 Russia were attached to the soil, were to be trans- 
 ferred to a new master. 
 
 None could foresee what would come next. 
 
 Even in Denver, rebellion failed to take on the 
 finish of a revolution. 
 
 Nor will anybody ever know whether General 
 Grant forgot to press the buttons which would destroy 
 Denver, or they failed, for some reason, to respond to 
 his touch. 
 
 Howsoever that may be, Denver still reared her 
 stately form to catch the sunshine glow upon the eter- 
 nal plains. 
 
 President Adams, the trusted friend of Rocke- 
 feller, was also the custodian of the last will and testa- 
 ment of the deceased. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 87 
 
 It was sealed in an envelope and deposited in 
 the President's vault in the executive mansion. 
 
 It was to be removed from the envelope, opened 
 and read in the presence of the Senate and House of 
 Representatives in joint session. 
 
 As it disposed, by its terms, of all wealth of a con- 
 tinent, those august bodies did not disdain the honor 
 thus conferred. 
 
 But "Congress" in 1990, as in 1890 and 1790, was 
 composed of creatures of the business interests. 
 
 In 1990 the expression could be simplified by say- 
 ing that they were the creatures of Rockefeller. 
 
 Therefore Congress accepted the duty assigned 
 with a full consciousness of its great importance. 
 
 Before the contents of the will were known to any 
 person, other than the scrivener who wrote it, it was 
 the subject of universal discussion. 
 
 The daily prints were all and everywhere in Amer- 
 ica the property of the Rockefeller estate. 
 
 Those in Denver, however, were in the hands of 
 the Revolutionists. Masterson's friends dictated their 
 policy. 
 
 The Denver Herald did not exult over the death 
 of Rockefeller. With becoming dignity it "bowed be- 
 fore the will of Almighty God and recognized that 
 in removing Morgan Rockefeller by death He had inter- 
 vened to prevent the complete demonetization of 
 gold and the continuation of that monopolistic form 
 of Socialism which Rockefeller represented." 
 
 But even the newspapers of the gold states coun- 
 seled moderation in the conduct of the revolution. 
 
 It was evident that death was producing a re- 
 
88 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 action in economic thought and the people were quite 
 ready to return to the great consolidation, if some con- 
 cession were made by the new heirs. 
 
 President Adams had been deeply impressed by 
 Alden Lowell's mirage reflector. Believing that all 
 men were interested in the will of Morgan Rocke- 
 feller, he called that young gentleman into consulta- 
 tion and, although Alden was almost prostrated at 
 the news he heard from Boston, and the inability of 
 his friends to give him any clue as to the whereabouts 
 of Miss Helen Channing, yet he was able to make 
 provision, that on the day when the will should be 
 read before the chosen witnesses, the Senate and House 
 of Representatives, mirage reflections should be given 
 of the scene in every metropolitan city of the land. 
 
 So complete was the Rockefeller system of manu- 
 facture and distribution and so simple the principle 
 of the mirage when it was explained, that in thirty 
 days after the death of the President of Standard, 
 arrangements were completed and the vast cities of 
 New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Minnea- 
 polis, Mobile, Galveston, San Francisco, Portland and 
 Seattle, and a hundred others of equal importance 
 were supplied with the reflectors and wireless tele- 
 phones. 
 
 Thus the witnesses of the reading were to be multi- 
 tudinous, so that no room might exist for doubting 
 the genuineness of the document. 
 
 On the eventful day the nation's great men as- 
 sembled at the nation's capital. 
 
 Friends of the deceased were they all. 
 
 They had enjoyed his bounty and had been use- 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 89 
 
 ful to him beyond the ordinary and had been rewarded 
 by annuities. 
 
 Outside of this and their official salaries, if they 
 held public office, they had no income. 
 
 But they constituted a glorious and distinguish- 
 ed company. 
 
 Learning was there in the persons of the most 
 eminent savants of any age or country. 
 
 Genius was there in forms of actual inventors and 
 famous authors who had been recognized by the in- 
 dustrial head. 
 
 Industry was there invested with the greatness 
 of achievement and the consciousness of power. 
 
 But except in the spheres of sentiment all were 
 equal or nearly so. 
 
 In the great hall of the representatives the legis- 
 lators had gathered. The President himself was to 
 be present, and the will was to be read by no less a 
 personage. 
 
 The Speaker of the House of Representatives was 
 to preside. 
 
 It was probably the first time in the history of 
 the nation that a President had appeared for any pur- 
 pose in the legislative branch except to take the oath 
 of office. 
 
 During the thirty days which had elapsed since 
 the great man died, President Adams had fruitlessly 
 searched for the missing heir, daughter of a sister of 
 the deceased, who was believed to be in the city of 
 Boston. 
 
 She was, without dispute, the only heir of the 
 House of Rockefeller, and few doubted that the great 
 
90 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 bulk of the estate would be given her. She was sought 
 for as diligently as if she were the heir to a throne, 
 and the mystery surrounding her disappearance grieved 
 and perplexed His Excellency and the people. As 
 for Alden, he had learned from the President himself 
 that the heir they sought was none other than the 
 beautiful girl, whose influence had been both his 
 undoing and his good fortune, and whose loss had 
 now nearly prostrated him. 
 
 Thus the distressing situation caused by the 
 death of the Master, and the disappearance of his sole 
 heir, increased the uncertainty of the nation, and when 
 the Chief Magistrate and Cabinet officers entered 
 the great hall, beyond the noise of many persons 
 rising to quietly greet the nation's political head, 
 no sound was heard. The scene was solemn and 
 impressive and when the chaplain led in prayer, the 
 reverence shown and undoubtedly felt by the multitude 
 of spectators, not only in the capital, but in the myriad 
 cities all over the land, betokened the sincere regard 
 in which religion was held. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 THE WILL 
 
 President Adams preceded the ceremony of break- 
 ing the seal which enveloped the will by a brief address. 
 
 "Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Repre- 
 sentatives and Fellow Citizens : We are met to witness 
 the transfer of interests so vast that it is almost im- 
 possible for the mind to comprehend the importance 
 of this event. Our great and noble friend, the strong 
 and upright master, the . learned and capable di- 
 rector, the providential trustee of unlimited wealth, 
 is dead; and, although we deeply mourn his death, yet 
 we are compelled to turn from our sorrow and con- 
 cern ourselves with the affairs of life. 
 
 "We realize that the stability of human society 
 depends upon the recognition of the right of each 
 person to acquire and own property, and the remark- 
 able family from which the deceased is descended 
 has displayed abilities in that respect unparalleled in 
 the history of man. It is safe to say that all things 
 having any value are, under the forms of law, the 
 property of the Rockefeller estate. We are about 
 to learn from the last testament of this great man 
 how he wishes his estate to be distributed, and I 
 am happy in the belief that religion and educa- 
 tion have fitted the one hundred and eighty million 
 
92 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 people of the republic to approve any disposition 
 he may have made of it. I will now break the seal." 
 
 Holding the envelope containing the will be- 
 fore him, the President slowly and with impressive 
 dignity removed the cover, and ostentatiously ex- 
 hibited the document. 
 
 Probably all present rather expected that an 
 instrument which transferred possession of so vast 
 an estate, estimated at over three hundred billion 
 dollars, would be bulky and voluminous, but were 
 surprised to observe that it was, in truth, extremely 
 short. 
 
 Even President Adams looked surprised, but 
 said nothing and read as follows : 
 
 "Last Will and Testament of Morgan Rocke- 
 feller: 
 
 "I, Morgan Rockefeller, of Montraven, Missouri, 
 being of sound and disposing mind and memory 
 and in good health do make and declare this in- 
 strument to be my last will and testament; 
 
 "Item: I hereby revoke all former wills here- 
 tofore made by me. 
 
 ' ' Item : I give, devise and bequeath all my prop- 
 erty of whatsoever name and nature, both real and 
 personal, to the United States Government, as it 
 now is or hereafter may be constituted, in trust for 
 the people of the United States, and authorize said 
 trustee to operate the industries or to sell and dis- 
 pose of the said property, or any part thereof, and 
 use the proceeds for the public good or distribute 
 the same equally among the beneficiaries, as it may 
 be deemed proper. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 93 
 
 "Item: Said bequest is so made subject to the 
 annuities heretofore by me granted, and said annui- 
 ties shall be continued in force during the natural 
 life of each annuitant. 
 
 "Item: Said bequest is further subject to an 
 annuity of one million dollars which I hereby di- 
 rect shall be paid to my niece, only daughter of my 
 deceased sister Helen, each year during her natural 
 life. 
 
 "Item: I hereby constitute and appoint Hon. 
 Josiah Quincy Adams, of Boston, Massachusetts, to 
 be the sole executor of this will." 
 
 The will was executed as provided by the laws 
 of the State of Missouri. 
 
 To say that the people all over the nation, 
 everywhere, were astonished, does hardly more than 
 suggest the condition of mind in which this inex- 
 plicable conduct of a proprietor and this remarkable 
 will of a grasping monopolist, left the people. 
 
 They were for a moment dazed. 
 
 President Adams could not believe his eyes, 
 his ears or his own voice. 
 
 In evident confusion he referred back to the 
 item involving the bequest to the government, clear- 
 ed his throat again and again, turned pale, and look- 
 ed up blankly at the audience, as if he had made 
 some palpable blunder and could find no way to 
 correct it. 
 
 Finally he recovered his composure. 
 
 "The will of God be done!" he exclaimed de- 
 voutly. "This extraordinary generosity on the part 
 of Mr. Morgan Rockefeller is made apparent to 
 
94 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 all the nation in an instant. What can or shall be 
 done with it remains to be seen. But/' continued 
 he, "I hold in my hand another writing which is 
 taken from the same cover with the testament and, 
 as requested by Mr. Rockefeller, in his life time, I 
 will read it as a companion piece to his will." He 
 then read with an unsteady voice, as follows: 
 'TO THE PEOPLE OF THIS AND ALL COM- 
 ING AGES: 
 
 "You have heard the will of him who during 
 his life was denounced openly and secretly as an 
 autocrat, a monopolist, a dictator and a tyrant. 
 
 "You are surprised at its contents, for you sup- 
 posed his efforts at consolidation and concentra- 
 tion were the outcome of a selfish desire for power. 
 
 "You gave him no credit as a lover of the human 
 race. 
 
 "You saw him intent on completely eliminat- 
 ing all competition and creating an economic system 
 which he and his successors should control per- 
 petually. 
 
 "That this has been accomplished is beyond 
 dispute. 
 
 "The development of system among men is all 
 that makes history interesting. 
 
 "The three evolutionary stages which are now 
 apparent are the tribal or semi-barbarous, the 
 military or feudal and the commercial. 
 
 "The splendid cooperation, discipline and uni- 
 formity of the military system was made possible 
 by educating large bodies of men and women to 
 act, move and think together. It was the develop- 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 95 
 
 ment of the principle of concentration and con- 
 solidation which united many small, nomadic tribes, 
 and made a great nation. 
 
 "The Military system stole into the world and 
 took possession of it when the tribal system was 
 asleep. 
 
 "The commercial system stole in and took ad- 
 vantage of the weakness of the Military system. It 
 was not placed on its foundation by the Military 
 system, but in spite of it. 
 
 "The president of the Standard Oil Company 
 has taken advantage of the weakness of the com- 
 mercial system, and has made the great Merger a 
 fact. 
 
 "The world has been mistaken about the power 
 of government. 
 
 "It has no power which it did not borrow from 
 the economic system just as the moon is supposed 
 to borrow its light from the sun. 
 
 "Government, in view of the perfection of the 
 economic system, is a dead planet and has no light 
 or power of its own. 
 
 "In the time of John D. Rockefeller men 
 thought government was the sum of all earthly 
 power. 
 
 "Because they held to that error the Rocke- 
 feller and Morgan families were able to dominate 
 the people and own all property and the national 
 and state governments. 
 
 "No government ever created an economic 
 system. 
 
96 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 "Every economic or business system creates 
 its own government and makes it what it will. 
 
 "The Feudal government made an absolute 
 monarchy, but that was needed by the landed aris- 
 tocracy, whose sole business was landlordism. 
 
 "The Military system, which included the Feu- 
 dal, required a dictator. 
 
 "The Commercial system developed slowly and 
 finally compelled the military king and dictator 
 to be governed by, and take orders from, a parliament 
 whose members were elected by the commercial 
 interests. 
 
 "The consolidated merger or autocratic system 
 of the Rockefellers does not concern itself much with 
 any other government than its own, and tolerates 
 the political system as an empty compliment to a 
 vain but submissive people. 
 
 "LISTEN, AMERICA, AS MY WORDS 
 ARE READ TO YOU NOW! 
 
 "Had I, Morgan Rockefeller, chosen to dis- 
 pose of the property under my control by transfer- 
 ring it to another industrial autocrat, I would have 
 perpetuated a system of selfishness. My life has 
 been unselfish. It is not immodest for me to say 
 none more unselfish than I ever lived except the 
 Nazarene. I may say this because in the desolation 
 and isolation which my position on the barren summit 
 of wealth placed me, I have had neither the love nor 
 the fellowship of my fellow men, and have lived a 
 life of loneliness more complete than Cruso on his 
 desert isle. My plan has been to consolidate all 
 wealth and inaugurate a system of Democratic 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 97 
 
 Socialism. I have accomplished my purpose as 
 to consolidation. I leave the rest to you." 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 THE NIECE OF THE KING. 
 
 The world looked very bright to Alden Lowell 
 after his great exhibition of reflectors at Mont- 
 raven Castle that afternoon in July. He cared 
 very little for the fame which he had now achieved, 
 for that had been so long in contemplation as to be 
 both familiar and contemptible. He cared little 
 for the plaudits of the multitude or the great politi- 
 cians. He did, however, value very highly the 
 applause of President Rockefeller and President 
 Adams, but even that was of but slight importance 
 as compared with the pleasure which he knew the 
 Lady Harvester of the Reapers would feel on learn- 
 ing of his reinstatement and success. 
 
 But his elation was doomed to end in confu- 
 sion and gloom. His effort to get the Lady Har- 
 vester at the Watertown Standard by telephone, 
 failed. He could neither reach that young lady nor 
 Mrs. Locksley, her guardian. The next day he 
 received two shocks which threw him into a condition 
 of despair. It must be admitted, however, that the 
 death of President Rockefeller was a circumstance 
 of comparatively slight importance to Alden. The 
 disappearance of Helen Channing was almost terrify- 
 ing. He could not account for it. He was informed 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 99 
 
 that abduction had been suggested, and there was 
 no other theory which appealed to him. 
 
 But why should anybody wish to abduct a 
 young lady who could not possibly have any enemies? 
 He bethought himself of her association with the 
 fraternal order, 'The Reapers", and his own ex- 
 perience as one under suspicion, but he was sufficient- 
 ly acquainted with the Standard system to know 
 that, whatever men might believe or rumor might 
 allege, its methods were not in violation of the law. 
 When it wanted to pursue a course which was found 
 to be unlawful, it invariably, in these days, abandon- 
 ed such course until it could get the law changed. 
 Abduction was out of the range of its possibilities. 
 
 President Adams had, shortly after the decease 
 of President Rockefeller, requested Alden to call at 
 the Executive Mansion. The subject was the pos- 
 sibility of installing mirage reflectors for use at the 
 reading of the Rockefeller will. Incidentally the 
 President referred to the deceased President's niece 
 who was supposed to be somewhere in the vicinity 
 of Boston. 
 
 "I am sure," said Alden, "I do not recall that 
 any person by the name of Rockefeller lived in 
 Boston or its suburbs in my time. It seems to me 
 I would have heard of it for no doubt society would 
 have been clamorous for her presence." 
 
 "But," quickly declared President Adams, look- 
 ing surprised, "her name was not Rockefeller. Mr. 
 Rockefeller's sister married a gentleman of New 
 England descent who had some revolutionary ideas. 
 They had a daughter whom they named Helen and 
 
100 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 they, shortly after, died. The one weak thing in 
 Mr. Rockefeller's life was his determination not to 
 see this niece, and although he provided for her and 
 placed her in the charge of a reliable person who was 
 in the mother's family, yet he remained a stranger 
 to her and she to him." 
 
 Alden had turned pale during the President's 
 recital and seemed quite agitated. 
 
 "But you have failed to state her last name, 
 Mr. President," he exclaimed. 
 
 "Oh! Did you not know that the name of the 
 niece was Channing? Helen Channing?" The Presi- 
 dent was also surprised. 
 
 "Your Excellency," said Alden with agitation, 
 "I know her well. Never did I suspect that she 
 was the niece of the President of Standard." 
 
 It was now the President's turn to be agitated. 
 He whirled his chair around to face Alden and leaned 
 forward. 
 
 "You know her, Alden? You know her! Where 
 is she then?" 
 
 Alden then related all he knew of Helen and 
 her residence in Watertown. He told about her 
 association with the Baptist church, but never a 
 word about her connection with the Reapers of the 
 World. Then he explained his efforts to reach the 
 Watertown Hotel by telephone and his inability 
 to have Miss Channing placed on the line. 
 
 "I did learn from the lady in charge of the 
 Watertown Standard," he continued, "it was sus- 
 pected by Mrs. Locksley and her friends that the 
 lady had been seized on one of her walks in the 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 101 
 
 country and was, perhaps, being held for ransom." 
 
 "That may be," assented the President, "as 
 she is now a great heiress. Still, we have no proof, 
 no clue. The Boston police, Standard's police and 
 all the forces of the nation are searching for her. 
 By the way, Alden," the President had assumed 
 quite a familiar manner toward the young man, 
 "can't you put the reflector into service to find her?" 
 
 "Indeed, I could, Your Excellency, if I had any 
 intimation of her whereabouts." 
 
 The time of the President was, of course, very 
 valuable and the interview with Alden had to be 
 brought to a close. Arrangements were made for 
 the latter, not only to set in motion the machinery 
 which would manufacture and distribute the Mirage 
 Reflector, but also to search everywhere to find the 
 stolen girl. 
 
 But Alden did not feel elated over the discovery 
 that Miss Channing was a Rockefeller and the heir- 
 ess. Although he had never spoken to her about the 
 state of his mind toward her, yet he had begun to 
 realize that she was pretty well bound up in his life, 
 or rather that his life was pretty well bound up in 
 hers. But the fact that she was heir to everything 
 and likely to be entitled to exercise dominion over 
 him also, seemed to place a gulf between them which 
 looked impassable. He went to his quarters in 
 Montraven Castle feeling that the world was gloomy 
 enough. 
 
 When he arrived at the grand entrance, there 
 stepped out from the crowd, which always waits 
 around that famous gate, a little, thin man whom 
 
102 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 he thought he had seen somewhere before. The 
 little man spoke to him. 
 
 "Mr. Lowell," said he, taking off his hat and 
 appearing quite deferential, but not in the least 
 abashed, "may I speak to you a few minutes?" 
 
 Alden was not in a confidential or even gracious 
 mood. 
 
 "I am in a hurry," he growled, without stop- 
 ping. He had an unpleasant impression in his 
 mind of something which he could not quite recall. 
 
 "I wish to talk with you," persisted the man, 
 still preserving his deferential but unabashed man- 
 ner, "about Miss Helen Channing. I am just in 
 from Boston." Alden stopped short and caught 
 the little man almost roughly by the shoulder. 
 
 "What do you know of her?" he demanded in 
 a gruff whisper. 
 
 "I can not tell you here," was the answer. "I 
 am a detective, and have been at work on the case 
 since the night of her disappearance. Let us go 
 into the castle." 
 
 Placing his hat back on his head the little de- 
 tective walked on with Alden, who had not les- 
 sened his pace. 
 
 "Can you get in?" asked Alden pointing ahead. 
 
 "I have the freedom of the castle," answered 
 the detective. "I have passports also," he continu- 
 ed. 
 
 They went in silently, ascended to Alden's 
 apartments and entered. 
 
 "Now," demanded Alden as he turned on the 
 lights, "your name, please?" 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 103 
 
 "Moreland Hughes, Boston, Massachusetts," 
 responded the detective. 
 
 It should be stated here that, since he dis- 
 covered that Miss Helen Channing was a member 
 of the Reapers, having learned in the course of 
 business that she was Morgan Rockefeller's niece 
 and only heir, his views had greatly changed, not 
 only with regard to Alden and Helen, but also with 
 regard to Fraternal Societies, or rather with regard 
 to the Reapers of the World. It was his firm be- 
 lief that the young lady would inherit the entire 
 continent from her uncle, and that it would be a 
 good stroke of policy to join the Fraternal order 
 which was her pet society. More than this, he had 
 made some investigations, and they had been so 
 far successful that he knew and understood what the 
 Reapers believed, and had come to be something of 
 a Fraternalist himself. 
 
 "Do you know, Mr. Hughes, where Miss 
 Channing is?" asked Alden. 
 
 "I do not, but I have some information which 
 may furnish a clue," began Hughes. 
 
 The detective then told of his efforts to gather 
 evidence in and around Watertown relating to the 
 heiress of the Rockefellers, and her disappearance; 
 how he had not been able to find any person who had 
 any recollection of seeing a young lady answering 
 the description of Miss Channing that evening ex- 
 cept a boy who was too young to be credited. But 
 the little boy had told him that while he was run- 
 ning home from a neighbor's house after dark he 
 saw what looked like a ladv in the darkness. He 
 
104 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 was walking very fast and quite a distance ahead. 
 He saw some men, he thought they were men, 
 rush out and surround her. He couldn't say how 
 many there were, but they made no noise and she 
 didn't even scream. They threw a sheet or blanket 
 over her. He had thrown himself face down in 
 the grass and was frightened almost to death. 
 What became of these people he didn't know, but 
 he lay there on his face a long time and, when he 
 recovered courage, he went home. 
 
 "Now," continued Hughes, "I have found that 
 some strange looking men were seen about the 
 streets of Watertown that day, several of whom look- 
 ed like Mexicans. I have found that persons in the 
 vicinity of Lynn, Salem and the cities on Cape Ann, 
 saw a company of strangers pass through those cities, 
 keeping to the most unfrequented roads. They say 
 that some of them were Mexicans and that they rode 
 in autos. They do not mention seeing a lady with 
 them. A small winged ship was in the offing near 
 Rockport for several days and this disappeared the 
 day following the disappearance of Miss Channing. 
 I believe that the young lady has been seized by the 
 outlaw, Phil Jamieson, and his band who have their 
 rendezvous at Medellin, in the Little Andes in the In- 
 terior of Colombia, South America, and that the seizure 
 has been made because they knew she was the Rocke- 
 feller heir and that Rockefeller would pay a large ran- 
 som to rescue her." 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 THE REFLECTOR AND THE DETECTIVE. 
 
 The detective's statement was far from satis- 
 factory, but it was at least suggestive. Alden and he 
 were long together that evening discussing the methods 
 to be employed for solving the mystery which per- 
 plexed and distressed them. It was agreed that on 
 the next day, five days from the departure of the ship 
 from the coast of Cape Ann, the mirage chamber would 
 be called into requisition. It was the opinion of Hughes 
 that if his conclusions were correct, allowing for 
 the rapid flight of the ship and the inaccessibility of 
 the Andes to conveyances of that description and the 
 necessity which the captors would find, for traveling 
 on horseback on all interior trails in Colombia, Jamie- 
 son would be somewhere on the great trail from Porto 
 Berrio to Medellin. 
 
 Early in the afternoon Alden and Hughes met 
 in the Mirage Chamber, and Alden lost no time in 
 adjusting his reflector to search for the lost maiden. 
 In order to do this it was necessary to ascertain the 
 latitude and longitude of Porto Berrio. This having 
 been done, the reflector was put in motion and the 
 atmosphere prepared by the use of chemicals and 
 lights. 
 
 Thereupon the Medellin trail appeared. High 
 
106 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 above the torrential Nus, and its miasmatic valley 
 along the slopes of the Little Andes, its narrow length 
 and winding way stretched westward to the towering 
 peaks beyond. A profusion of tropical foliage, be- 
 wildering flowers, jungles whose every branch and 
 tree were intertwined and intertwined again with 
 deathless vines, burst upon the view. Snow clad 
 mountains rose to touch the sky. Groves of orange 
 and cocoanut spread down the slopes to hide beneath 
 the valley's lake of mist. The trail built by the Span- 
 ish conquerors at a date which makes Plymouth's 
 foundation seem a modern incident, is a marvel of 
 life and traffic. Day by day the strange, motley, 
 burden-bearing hordes of tropical humanity push and 
 crowd to and from the city of trade and pleasure. 
 
 Such a scene of ill regulated commerce belongs 
 to the middle ages, not to well ordered and system- 
 atized civilization. An army of mules, heavy laden, 
 but broken up into a multitude of small bands, jostle 
 one another, and wreck many a cargo on the way up 
 and down the steep declivities along the road to Medel- 
 lin. Black and brown peons, negro and Indian, with 
 backs burdened with freight, climb the cliffs bare- 
 footed. Women of many tribes, brief skirted, shoe- 
 less and dark eyed, with forms toughened by exposure 
 and faces wrinkled with work and worry, balance big 
 bundles on steady heads without aid of hand or cord. 
 Gay cavalcades of well dressed and handsome men 
 and ladies, mounted on dashing steeds, move proudly 
 along the great highway to Medellin. On this road 
 no wheel may turn for the constant tramp of heavy 
 beasts of burden has worn deep ruts in the way and 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 10T 
 
 equestrians must lift the stirrup high, in many places, 
 to avoid being caught in the narrow walls. 
 
 This is what Alden and Hughes saw. But not 
 yet did anything suggest in that strange land the 
 object of their search. All that day, in truth, until 
 the sun refused to make mists and pictures in the cham- 
 ber at Montraven, they scanned the road to Med- 
 ellen. But their search was vain. 
 
 Next day they took up the work where it was left 
 the day before. 
 
 Again the reflector brought to them the road to 
 Medellin. The River in the Nus Valley where the 
 boas are pets of native dwellers; La Florida, Christa- 
 lis, San Roche, Santo Domingo, Hiradota, all were 
 reproduced in the chamber to the vigilant eyes of the 
 youth and the officer. But no train of lawless riders 
 appeared along the way. 
 
 They were almost convinced that there would be 
 no relief offered in this quarter, when the level road 
 beyond Hiradota came within the scene. The trail 
 was now no longer in the mountains. Nearly two 
 hundred mles of it, two hundred miles of thirst and 
 breathless heat, two hundred miles of wilderness and 
 barren peaks relieved by quaint old Spanish towns and 
 Inca rest-houses, had been scanned. Now the smooth, 
 level road became an avenue on the polished banks 
 of the beautiful Porce river. Vast and precipitous 
 hill-sides, denuded of forest and devoted to the culture 
 of corn or cane, or used as grazing fields for white 
 cattle which looked like little spots of snow against a 
 green background, rose on either side of the river and 
 road. White ribbons of water seemed to leap from 
 
108 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 the sky and drop great distances below the hill tops in 
 their hurry to reach the Porce. 
 
 The scene was so entrancing that even Alden and 
 Hughes, despite their intense anxiety, could not for- 
 bear to remark its beauty. But here the busy life 
 has taken on that settled character which denotes the 
 approach to a great city. The road is no longer a 
 trail but a broad avenue. Many trails have entered 
 it and new forms of industry appear. Gay cavalcades 
 of richly dressed ladies and gentlemen are more in 
 evidence now. In addition to those features which 
 distinguished the trail across the divides, little children 
 are seen, barefooted, and with straight black hair and 
 swarthy complexions, bearing burdens braced by bands 
 across forehead and around waist, while stalwartlndian 
 women carry great bundles of faggots on their heads. 
 In that hot climate fuel is not for warmth but only 
 for the oven. 
 
 And as they viewed this great multitude moving 
 toward the city, a company, which had entered the 
 avenue from one of the lesser trails, challenged their 
 attention. It was composed of horsemen, all appar- 
 eled in khaki, and after the fashion of the rough riders 
 of Roosevelt's time. There were at least forty riders 
 and they moved forward with a regularity suggestive 
 of discipline, two by two, twenty leading, then a cov- 
 ered car like the riksha of the Japanese, borne by four 
 stout, barefooted peons, then the twenty horsemen 
 ranged two by two, and apparently acting as a rear 
 guard. The leader, white haired and gray bearded, 
 rode a coal black horse, and if, in place of the peaked 
 panama, a crown had adorned his head, might have 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 109 
 
 been mistaken for one of the kings of antiquity who 
 had somehow been able to escape from his position in 
 some old picture. 
 
 It' was impossible to discover what the car con- 
 tained. The company of horsemen came on into the 
 mirage chamber and moved with their mysterious 
 charge along the broad avenue which entered Medellin. 
 Several times Alden placed himself in front of the mov- 
 ing figures, but he could find no solution of the mystery 
 of the car, and the fact that the cavalcade accompany- 
 ing moved slowly and that everywhere as they 
 approached, the people received them with respect, 
 caused both Alden and Hughes to think that the 
 leader was, perhaps, a great dignitary of the Hermit 
 republic. 
 
 As they watched, suddenly 'a single horseman 
 came galloping at full speed up to the leader and as he 
 checked his steed and seemed to speak to him, the 
 whole cavalcade stopped. The curtain of the car was 
 moved aside and Alden caught sight of a face, the face 
 of a lady, but so languid and listless was its expression 
 that he would have concluded at once not to continue 
 his quest further in that direction, only on closer in- 
 spection he felt sure there was something familiar 
 about the form and manner which he could not define. 
 The curtain was parted scarcely a second and then 
 closed. The cavalcade moved on faster, the porters 
 carrying the car stepped into a trot and the horsemen 
 urging their horses forward at the same pace. The 
 cavalcade was just entering the City of Medellin when 
 the tropical night fell suddenly and the reflector re- 
 fused to continue the scene. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 THE ABDUCTION. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to amplify the description 
 given by the boy whom Hughes quoted when he re- 
 lated the facts upon which he based his suspicion that 
 Phil Jamieson, in North America called the outlaw, 
 in South America known as the head of the Liberal 
 Party in Colombia, had secured possession, by violence, 
 of the person of Morgan Rockefeller's only legal heir. 
 
 What the boy saw, what the mirage suggested, 
 and what Hughes concluded, were all true and even 
 the victim of the assault, the seizure and the captivity, 
 could not have given a fuller account. All Helen 
 Channing knew was that while she was out in the 
 country near her home, somewhat 'belated and in the 
 darkness, in a lonely and secluded place, a blanket or 
 muffler of some kind was suddenly thrown over her 
 and she was seized and overpowered. She was neither 
 able to resist nor cry out and was just conscious that 
 an anaesthetic was being administered before she lost 
 consciousness, altogether. 
 
 When she regained consciousness she was in a 
 covered automobile which was moving very rapidly. 
 She had no compani on and there was no opening through 
 which she could see the country. Her first thought 
 was to jump out blindly regardless of consequences. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 111 
 
 But she soon found that she could not release herself 
 from the chains which bound her securely, around the 
 waist and ankles, to the carriage. 
 
 The auto moved rapidly, flew in fact, until it 
 came to a stop in a wild place on the shores of the ocean. 
 She had no idea where they were. Four large, power- 
 ful men opened the carriage door, unfastened the 
 chains and with a politeness and grace of manner, not 
 possible in ordinary ruffians, and with a gentleness not 
 associated with restraint, asked her to kindly accom- 
 pany them to the boat near by. It was evident that 
 these men were ready to compel her to accompany 
 them despite their gentle manner. She besought them 
 to explain. They assured her that she was in no 
 danger and that she would be treated with the highest 
 consideration, but that circumstances required them 
 to insist on her going with them. They begged her 
 to go quietly as they would wish not to use force. 
 
 "Believe me, young lady," said the man who 
 seemed to be in charge and whose face was as kindly 
 in expression as his manner was in gentleness, "your 
 safety and honor I will defend with my life, if necess- 
 ary." 
 
 She saw no alternative, and entering the boat, 
 was conveyed to a winged ship which lay some distance 
 off the shore. Almost immediately on her being placed 
 aboard, the ship weighed anchor and made for the 
 open sea. Her surroundings would have been comfort- 
 able if she had not been distressed by the terror of 
 her misfortune. She was a prisoner and could neither 
 understand why, nor what her destination was. Yet 
 she was closely watched that she might not be in want 
 
112 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 or do violence to herself. Now that she was, in a 
 measure, certain that she was a prisoner and yet that 
 for some reason she was not only in no danger person- 
 ally, but that her captors were anxious about her wel- 
 fare, Helen had no thought of desperate expediencies, 
 for she had a courage which belongs only to those who 
 look for the good in life and not for the evil and who 
 believe that truth and not error overcomes. 
 
 She did not know the direction the winged ship 
 took. The air, however, became, in the course of 
 time, oppressively sultry. She saw a great many 
 islands as they proceeded. Books and evidences of 
 refinement were all around in her stateroom. On 
 the monotonous waste of the ocean she read much, 
 although her agitation was still such that this occupa- 
 tion could not be long sustained. 
 
 At last they arrived at a shore which she knew 
 from the sultry heat and the foliage of the trees, more 
 particularly the palm groves, was in the tropical 
 south. Up a great river they ploughed. The current 
 was swift and the banks were inhabited by a people 
 who were nearly or quite savage. Even when they 
 passed towns the inhabitants came out on the river- 
 side and the children were naked and grown people 
 were nearly so. Interminable banks of vegetation, vast 
 forests whose trunks were covered with a dense mass 
 of flowering vines, stood high on either side and above 
 them a great tree which spread its foliage from the 
 summit of a tall column like an umbrella. She had 
 never seen the far south before, but now she knew she 
 was in the tropics. But where? 
 
 She questioned one of her guards. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 113 
 
 "I shall be pleased to serve Senorita in every way," 
 he said, bowing and smiling as only a Latin can bow 
 and smile, "but I am prohibited from giving answers 
 to questions affecting your whereabouts." 
 
 She did not seek information again. She would 
 have given the world to be able to communicate with 
 Mrs. Locksley whom she loved as a mother. She 
 feared that the Reapers would suffer in the absence 
 of the Lady Harvester. She thought of the certain 
 agitation of Mr. Alden Lowell, whom she felt a deep 
 interest in, a deeper interest than she had been able 
 to define. 
 
 Finally they reached a miserable little town on 
 the bank, composed of huts of adobe, at which they 
 disembarked. There was a machine shop here and 
 some of the running gear of the ship had become so 
 worn that its wings and wheels were inoperative. 
 Quite a party of horsemen came down to meet the 
 boat and Helen was carried in a car, which four peons 
 bore on their shoulders by means of poles, to a hotel. 
 Helen understood that the people spoke Spanish and 
 she suspected that they were in South America. But 
 she was not able to talk with anyone, only the women, 
 she observed, were ready to fall at her feet, while the 
 men stood apart and eyed her with curiosity. 
 
 The heat was constant night and day and enervat- 
 ing. She had become affected by it so that she felt 
 quite indifferent to her surroundings and wanted to 
 sleep. Indeed, she spent most of her time in partly 
 conscious slumber. The polite Latin, smiling and bow- 
 ing, assured her, calling her Senorita, that she would 
 soon be acclimated. 
 
114 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 She was extremely tired and almost sick before 
 she arrived at the place where, unknown to her, Alden 
 found her with the mirage reflector. She had been 
 allowed some liberty since they began to climb the 
 great mountain trail and could put aside the curtains 
 and look around. This she did frequently, but the 
 sleepy condition, the sultry heat and the lack of know- 
 ledge as to where she was, destroyed her curiosity. 
 
 It was dark when they came into the narrow 
 streets of Medellin. 
 
 Again she put aside the curtains and saw crowds 
 of people in the doorways and on the balconies. The 
 occasion seemed of great moment to them. She closed 
 the curtain again and wished that she might enjoy a 
 breath of cool air. 
 
 The escort of horsemen moved through several 
 streets and at last stopped. Helen opened the curtains 
 of her car and found that they were now in front of 
 a large building which, facing on the narrow street, 
 without windows, had the appearance of being a wall, 
 yellow and forbidding. A gateway opened and the 
 horsemen and peons carrying her car passed into a large 
 inner court which, while it had a well paved street ex- 
 tending through was, for the most part, a most luxuri- 
 ant and beautiful flower garden. She realized that 
 she was in a palace of Spanish architecture, and for 
 the first time since her captivity, felt interested. Her 
 Latin attendant came to her, as had been his custom 
 at every stopping place, and politely and respectfully 
 assisted her to alight, saying that her destination had 
 now been reached. The car having been removed the 
 horsemen went forward and were soon lost to sight. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 115 
 
 A gracious and stately lady wearing a rich mantella 
 came forward and greeted Helen in Spanish, but, 
 although Helen had some acquaintance with the lan- 
 guage, she scarcely recognized it as spoken in this 
 country. The Latin attendant addressed the lady as 
 Senora and informed Helen that she would show her 
 every attention. 
 
 The Senora conducted her charge to a large room 
 on the second floor which was well lighted and which 
 was quite luxurious and gave her to understand that 
 it was to be hers. The atmosphere here was very warm 
 but far more refreshing than she had experienced for 
 some days. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 GENERAL JAMIESON. 
 
 For the first time Helen felt some of the pleasures 
 of freedom. Still her perplexity was distressing. She 
 had no idea why she was brought into this unknown 
 and isolated country. She could not understand why 
 she should be restrained, or what her doom might be. 
 Still, she was fully convinced that she was in no per- 
 sonal danger, but that some mistake had been made, 
 and that her captors must assuredly have intended to 
 gain possession of some other person. 
 
 She slept soundly that night. Early in the morn- 
 ing a female attendant, whose dusky skin and large 
 brown, sad eyes disclosed her Indian character, brought 
 black coffee. Bitter as it was, Helen had begun to 
 relish it as one of the beverages of the country. The 
 girl was able to understand a little English and Helen 
 availed herself of the opportunity to ask a few ques- 
 tions. 
 
 The girl's name was Inez. Her mistress was 
 Senora Jamieson, wife of General Jamieson. Her 
 master was a very great man and very brave. All 
 the people of Antiochia would be willing to die for 
 him, and he was free to do whatever he chose, although 
 he held no office. He was a very rich man, too, but 
 hated North America and Morgan Rockefeller. Inez 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 117 
 
 informed Helen that she, Inez, was sent to serve her 
 as an attendant. She also said that they were allowed 
 to go where Helen desired if they did not leave the city. 
 
 At eleven o'clock a light breakfast was served in 
 the room, after which Helen, accompanied by Inez, 
 went out into the court, which was a perfect revelation 
 of floral beauty and artistic arrangement. Helen was 
 gradually becoming inured to captivity. She had been 
 supplied with the clothing of the country, for when she 
 persistently declined to ask for anything, abundance 
 was showered upon her. She wanted for none of the 
 material necessities of life, but partook of them spar- 
 ingly, with the vague idea that she must not place 
 herself under obligations to people who had thus vio- 
 lently transported her to a foreign land. 
 
 Toward evening a note was brought by Inez, 
 couched in English, saying that General and Mrs. 
 Jamieson would call on her that evening at eight 
 o'clock. 
 
 When the hour arrived, the General and Mrs. 
 Jamieson, the latter being the stately Spanish lady 
 whom she had seen the preceding evening, came as 
 promised. The General was far from looking like 
 what Helen had pictured an outlaw to be. He was 
 tall, erect, and well proportioned. He had the manner 
 and appearance of a polished gentleman. His white 
 hair and long, flowing white beard added to his natural 
 dignity, and a kindly smile played on his lips and 
 twinkled in his gray eyes. 
 
 "Miss Channing," he said as he entered the room 
 with his wife, the latter assuming to introduce them, 
 "I hope you will be able to find diversion and comfort 
 
118 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 in these rooms and in our beautiful city of Medellin." 
 
 Helen had barely risen from her chair and received 
 them indifferently. She did not even invite them to 
 be seated. 
 
 "I believe you are General Jamieson," she said. 
 "I have heard of you." 
 
 "And you have heard nothing good, I know," 
 returned the general, smiling. 
 
 "Nothing!" assented Helen shortly. 
 
 "Well, Miss Channing," began the General, offer- 
 ing his wife a seat, and taking one himself while he 
 beckoned to Helen to do likewise, "let us get better 
 acquainted. You are here under circumstances which 
 will not incline you to feel kindly toward us. Per- 
 haps, after awhile you will feel differently. That you 
 may be at ease, I think it proper to let you know now 
 that I am well acquainted with your history and know 
 that you have been kept in ignorance of your true 
 position. You suppose yourself to be a comparatively 
 humble person. You are not. I believe I am the 
 first, am I not, to say that you are the sole heir of 
 Morgan Rockefeller, President of Standard, and the 
 owner of all North America?" 
 
 Helen stared at the speaker in amazement. She 
 did not deign to speak. The statement struck her as 
 doubly absurd, particularly as she reflected that she 
 was pledged to fight the magnate through the Reapers 
 of the World. General Jamieson noted the attitude 
 of the young lady and seemed rather to relish it, 
 while his eyes surveyed her as an artist who appreci- 
 ates a fine picture and admires a beautiful woman. 
 The stately woman by his side, whose beauty was still 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 119 
 
 striking, although she did not understand fully what 
 was being said, was conscious of its purpose and the 
 effect it had. 
 
 The General continued: 
 
 "Years ago I was in possession of an independent 
 business and fortune in the City of New York, and 
 Morgan Rockefeller's father, Aldrich Rockefeller, ruth- 
 lessly crushed my business, and in so doing reduced 
 me to poverty. I thought it was an effrontery for 
 him to offer me a place as director in the enterprise 
 which I had been compelled to surrender, and I swore 
 eternal enmity to him and his. My bitterness was 
 increased by the fact that the misfortune did not 
 affect me alone but broke the heart of my widowed 
 mother. I refused his insulting offer of position and 
 made haste to abjure the country. I had not a dollar 
 in it, not a place in it, not an opportunity in it, and 
 not a hope in it. I therefore fled to Colombia. You 
 have heard, no doubt, that I did not hesitate to appro- 
 priate forcibly all I needed to subsist on and to aid 
 me in my flight hither. I gathered around me many 
 bold spirits, who elected me their leader. In Colombia 
 I and my American associates have been strictly up- 
 right according to the old school. But whenever I 
 can, I have laid tribute on your uncle and have now 
 caused his only heir to be brought to me that I may 
 do for Antiochia, my chosen state, what nations feel 
 proud of doing for themselves at another's expense — 
 demand tribute and enrich her. Morgan Rockefeller 
 shall pay a large ransom for you, or if he fails, it is 
 very likely, in case of his death, you will be glad to 
 favor Antiochia with a donation." 
 
120 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 The General spoke earnestly, but without gesticu- 
 lating, as is the habit of the South. Only the smile 
 faded from his lips and the twinkle died out of his eye. 
 But he spoke in a low, mild and almost gentle tone, 
 which did not give offense. However, it was plain 
 enough that he spoke like one whose passion con- 
 sumed him. 
 
 "Your uncle," he resumed again, "has reduced all 
 North America to slavery, but I think the Coloradans 
 will rouse the whole nation against him and, perhaps, 
 restore the Democratic rule. If I were younger, I 
 would enlist in the service of their General Master- 
 son. But at seventy- two a man must remain at home. ' ' 
 
 He paused again. Helen still sat looking at him 
 without speaking. 
 
 There was a rap at the door. Inez answered the 
 tap, and as the general finished his expression of appro- 
 val of the Colorado war, she brought him a letter which 
 she placed in the General's hands. 
 
 "Pardon, Miss Channing," he said, "it is a matter 
 of pressing importance. I will read the missive with 
 your permission." 
 
 He did not wait for her permission, however, but 
 tore the envelope open and hurriedly scanned the con- 
 tents of the note. Then, without changing his manner, 
 he passed the note, evidently a wireless telegram, to his 
 wife. When she had finished she looked up at him in 
 speechless astonishment. 
 
 "This is very important information, Miss Chan- 
 ning," remarked the General turning again to Helen. 
 "I would hesitate to announce it to you if I was not 
 aware that, except for its relation to your personal for- 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 121 
 
 tune, the welfare of Mr. Rockefeller does not concern 
 you. I will say to you, therefore, that this note apprises 
 me of the death of Morgan Rockefeller and your ac- 
 cession by law to his vast estate." 
 
 If Helen had been without words before because 
 of indifference or sentiment, she was now without them 
 because of her surprise. She managed to say: 
 
 "Mr. Rockefeller dead!" Then suddenly recover- 
 ing herself, she turned to General Jamieson and spoke 
 in the low, rich tones of her musical voice. 
 
 "I am not expected, surely, to credit anything 
 which may be said to me by those who have criminally 
 disregarded my rights. I have never heard that I was 
 Morgan Rockefeller's neice and so I do not believe it. 
 Neither do I have reason to believe that he is dead, but, 
 even if he is, it can not concern me. No doubt his 
 wealth will pass to another autocrat. You are mis- 
 taken, General Jamieson, you are entirely mistaken. 
 You can never gain profits for your country from me, 
 for I have very little and, even if you are correctly in- 
 formed that Rockefeller is dead, that very little may go 
 too. You, sir, spurned your country in its need, and 
 declared vengeance because you suffered. I, on the 
 contrary, love my country and, while I recognize its 
 need as fully as you claim to, I shall not hope that you 
 can bleed it or Masterson can make war upon it, but 
 rather that the spirit of Jesus may enter into its system 
 and purify and redeem it. Sir, I hope we may some 
 day help to infuse into the American system the spirit 
 of brotherly love which is the only remedy for all our 
 economic ills." 
 
 The General listened to this address with evident 
 
122 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 interest. But when it was finished, he assured Helen 
 that all he had said to her was true, and that he had 
 made no mistakes. As the news was very important 
 and made it incumbent on him to change some of his 
 plans, it would be necessary for him to close the inter- 
 view. He hoped, however, to renew it on the morrow, 
 and he believed it might even be possible that he could 
 be of service to her, whose position he regarded as 
 that of the wealthiest and most powerful person in the 
 world, on her return to the States. 
 
 He therefore withdrew with his wife, leaving 
 Helen to her own excited thoughts, and to a sleepless 
 night. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 TWO EXTREMES. 
 
 Philip Jamieson was in many respects a great man. 
 While he held no political office in Colombia, he was 
 possessed of greater personal power than any man in 
 that republic. His influence was always cast on the side 
 of law and order within the nation, and he had, on sev- 
 eral occasions, organized the army of the government 
 against revolutionary assaults. In fact, it was fear 
 of his power and genius which deterred many ambi- 
 tious spirits from unworthy outbreaks. But Colom- 
 bia, in 1990, was a transformation, so far as the politi- 
 cal system was concerned, from Colombia of 1900. 
 From a centralized republic it had become a federal 
 republic. That is, the states retained independence 
 except so far as they delegated certain powers to the 
 government at Bogata. In 1990 the states had no 
 powers except as they were conferred by the central 
 government. 
 
 General Jamieson had derived great wealth from 
 operating certain mines in the interior. Now, however, 
 a very large part of his wealth had been depreciated by 
 Morgan Rockefeller's order prohibiting the acceptance 
 of gold as money. The General's stock of gold was 
 still large, and at three dollars an ounce, he was rich. 
 He was inclined to make common cause with Colorado, 
 
124 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 but reflected that his age prevented his leading his con- 
 tingent, which consisted largely of bright and daring 
 men whom he had helped to Colombia after they had 
 been stricken from Standard's pay rolls. He had 
 therefore determined on carrying into execution a 
 strategic move by which he hoped to compel the great 
 Rockefeller to change his gold order. This move was 
 none other than to get possession of Rockefeller's heir, 
 whose life history was well known to his paid emissar- 
 ies in the States, and to surrender her only on terms. 
 
 But with all his scheming General Jamieson was a 
 kind hearted man who would sacrifice his life for others, 
 if need be. But he had a large mind and a large heart, 
 and his sacrifices were never planned or proposed ex- 
 cept for a large purpose. Although an individualist, 
 and opposed to such a centralized and autocratic form 
 of socialistic solidarity as that which the Standard had 
 fastened on North America, yet, if justice, equality and 
 happiness could be obtained for all, he would gladly re- 
 sign any form of physical or material advantage which 
 he possessed, and take his place as one of the masses. 
 
 He felt a genuine interest in Miss Helen Channing 
 after his first meeting. He resolved that she should 
 know him as he was and, if possible,- that she should 
 repose trust in him. It therefore occurred that he and 
 his excellent wife were frequent callers at Helen's apart- 
 ments and, in time, Helen, whose knowledge of Span- 
 ish was greatly increased by indefatigable application, 
 called at the portion of the Jamieson palace which Mrs. 
 Jamieson treated as her separate suite. In fact, in less 
 than a week Helen felt somewhat at home and would 
 not have deemed herself a prisoner if it had not been 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 125 
 
 for the prohibition which prevented her sending mail 
 beyond the gates of the palace and the absence of her 
 friends at home. Mrs. Jamieson was really a most 
 admirable companion and knew the history of her 
 country as few others did. 
 
 The disposition of Helen made it possible for her 
 to forget her personal wrongs whenever she had an 
 interested and intelligent audience which was willing 
 to listen to her as she discussed her favorite theme. 
 General Jamieson soon discovered this and engaged 
 her in conversation on the subject, not only because he 
 wished to interest her, but because her views really ap- 
 pealed to him. 
 
 "Miss Channing," he said one evening, "the will 
 of Rockefeller will be read in St. Louis in a few days 
 now, and I shall hope that, when you become mistress 
 of the continental estate of your deceased uncle, you 
 will not forget altogether your beautiful theories on 
 Fraternalism." 
 
 "You have not convinced me, General Jamieson," 
 declared Helen, a look of annoyance returning to her 
 face, "that I am concerned in that will. But even if 
 what you insist were true, I would never surrender my 
 conviction that the remedy for human ills was prescribed 
 by the Christ who lived two thousand years ago. You 
 tell me that Colombia is now developed to what the 
 states were, politically, ninety years ago. Your people 
 refuse to let the Rockefeller system gain a foothold. 
 Yet your system is crude and your inhabitants make 
 little progress. You have insisted on individualism 
 and you accomplish little. You have no railroads, no 
 great factories, no scheme of distribution. The backs 
 
126 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 of mules and men and the heads of women constitute 
 your freight cars. Rockefeller's system would make 
 your lives better, give you better roads, better schools, 
 better communication, better distribution and a higher 
 civilization. Co-operation alone will rescue Colombia 
 from its wild state." 
 
 "There is freedom in this wilderness," interrupted 
 the General. 'There is nothing but slavery in North 
 America under Rockefeller." 
 
 "But your wilderness and your freedom produce a 
 few intellects which are worthy and a host of miserable, 
 ignorant and impoverished individuals, half savage and 
 half man, who live by turns in slavery and revolution. 
 The only co-operation you have in this country is the 
 army. In the States there is nothing but co-operation. 
 The System produces the very best results and the very 
 greatest intellects. But its defect is the same as yours, 
 it lacks fraternity." 
 
 "What would you do to rescue Colombia?" asked 
 the General. "How would you develop your fraternal 
 ideas here?" 
 
 "I sometimes think," answered Helen thoughtfully, 
 "that it would be easier to introduce them here than in 
 the States. Here the army alone would be an obstacle. 
 In North America the autocratic system works so satis- 
 factorily to the masses who are a part of it, that it has 
 become second nature to them. You have a popula- 
 tion, you tell me, of ten millions. You have a total 
 vote of one and one-half millions. Now you say that 
 these are not intelligent enough to understand a fra- 
 ternal system. But ten per cent of them surely are. 
 If you should organize your one hundred and fifty 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 127 
 
 thousand men and an equal number of women into a 
 fraternal order, each to pay two dollars a month into a 
 trust fund, that would be six hundred thousand dollars 
 a month or seven million dollars a year. Adopt the 
 well tried system of business incorporation which has 
 developed North America, let your fraternal order own 
 only the majority of the stock in them, and in a short 
 time your ignorant operators will discover that the pro- 
 fits, rent and interest which they produce are being, to 
 borrow the phrase of an early twentieth century writer, 
 'syphoned' in to the fraternal treasury. The great merit 
 of your order will be 'the open door.' You allow any 
 person to become a member whose moral character is 
 good. You will not permit large local lodges, but 
 limit the number of members of each lodge to five hun- 
 dred, so that discussion and free speech will be general. 
 This will be effective as an educator." 
 
 These conversations between the General and 
 Helen brought a new light into the old General's life. 
 He was not prepared to admit that it was practical, but 
 declared on one occasion that it was better to live in 
 such dreams than to indulge in "night mares," because 
 the latter were practical, that is, possible. 
 
 The news reached Medellin by wireless that the 
 will of Rockefeller had been read and that the entire 
 estate had been devised to the government in trust for 
 the people. General Jamieson was surprised. His 
 plans did not contemplate such an event. He now 
 found that, instead of having a great heiress in his 
 possession, he merely had a very beautiful and intelli- 
 gent young lady. He went with his senora that even- 
 ing to call on Helen. 
 
128 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 "I have rather bad news," he said. 
 
 "What may it be?" asked Helen thinking it con- 
 cerned only himself. 
 
 "That your uncle's will has been read and that 
 you are not his heir." 
 
 "Did I not tell you so?" 
 
 "Yes, but you can hardly guess to whom the es- 
 tate goes?" 
 
 "It does not matter much. Did you not tell me 
 that President Adams had rescinded the order which 
 troubled Colorado, the order demonetizing gold?" 
 
 "Yes. And Colorado has returned to its master." 
 
 "Well. No matter who the heir is, the fraternal 
 order, the 'Reapers of the World' will acquire the en- 
 tire estate if gold continues to be money. That is 
 Standard's weakness. Let her have a money of her 
 own creation, and her power will last for centuries." 
 
 "But the will has given everything to the govern- 
 ment in trust for the people. There you have demo- 
 cratic Socialism. There you have public ownership. 
 Morgan Rockefeller has solved your economic problem." 
 
 Helen was astonished by this information. 
 
 "To the government!" she exclaimed. Then after 
 a pause, during which she gazed at the General in 
 amazement, she said: "Even so. Rockefeller who is 
 greater than Caesar renders up all to Caesar. Do you 
 not see? Rockefeller, the greatest exampler of com- 
 mercialism, has rendered up to Caesar, the govern- 
 ment, the greatest of politicians, the things which the 
 politician is no more capable of handling than a disor- 
 ganized mob." 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 129 
 
 The General laughed outright, both at the plain 
 language and the earnestness of the young lady. 
 
 "Do you feel that you could have handled it better 
 than the Government?" he asked with a tinge of irony 
 in his voice, but with paternal kindness. 
 
 "No! No! General!" she hastened to say. "You 
 cannot after all, be expected to understand. Standard 
 is a business merger. It is cooperation's autocratic 
 form of government for the industrial system. It is 
 better than any political government can be for the 
 business system and is an evolution from it. Your po- 
 litical government is nothing but an evolution of feudal- 
 ism. It has always the weakness of vanity. Its 
 power is as insignificant in comparison with the power 
 of organized corporate government in the economic 
 system of commerce as the power of picturesque barons 
 and nobles. I saw an old paper in the museum the 
 other day in Boston which told how King Edward and 
 Emperor William met and kissed each other. That 
 was vain show. It was hypocrisy. It certainly wasn't 
 business and Judas was outdone. Imagine Rocke- 
 feller and Morgan meeting and kissing each other for 
 business purposes. Commercial government, the gov- 
 ernment of the business system, doesn't require that. 
 The old vanity has passed away in the States. Stan- 
 dard is the ideal government, only, instead of being a 
 'syphon' to direct the wealth into a few private pockets, 
 it should be fraternalized so as to direct into the treas- 
 ury of the fraternal all of that surplus wealth which in- 
 cludes interest, rent and profits." 
 
 General Jamieson was too good a man, although 
 his methods were in some instances predatory, to un- 
 
130 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 dervalue the personal purity and intelligence of his 
 captive guest. He was too wise a man not to make 
 further complete inquiries and investigation into the 
 situation of Helen's affairs in the States before reach- 
 ing a final decision. He was too kind a man not to 
 feel deeply interested in the welfare of one with whom 
 he and Mrs. Jamieson had spent considerable time, 
 and he resolved, even if the news of her disinheritance 
 should prove true, to see that she would not come to 
 want. But he did not disclose his thoughts and in- 
 tentions to Helen. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 THE REVOLUTION. 
 
 The atmosphere of Colombia was ever surcharged 
 with revolution. Masses of citizens in the midst of 
 ill regulated and poorly distributed abundance were 
 always ready to follow any leader who would voice a 
 proclamation and provide "plantains." 
 
 Individualism was pronounced and competition 
 was keen. 
 
 So pronounced and acute were they, that parti- 
 cipants in the economic war, more properly called eco- 
 nomic brigandage, wasted time, vitality and substance 
 in non-essentials and a vainglorious effort to gain no- 
 toriety. 
 
 It was grand. 
 
 It made and strengthened ^character. 
 
 But what character! 
 
 It was artistic. 
 
 What other mission can art have than to produce 
 perfection. 
 
 Here were perfect beggars. 
 
 Here were perfect thieves. 
 
 Here were perfect drones. 
 
 Here were perfect rascals. 
 
 Here were perfect robbers. 
 
 Here were perfect saints. 
 
132 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 What a system. 
 
 Only competition could stir up every mean ele- 
 ment in a man's nature so as to create these delight- 
 fully strong types. 
 
 Since Helen had become a captive in Colombia, 
 some ten weeks, a change had occurred throughout the 
 republic. 
 
 Revolution, which had been asleep and dreaming 
 was now awake, and prepared to fight. 
 
 Yesterday's idols were today in contempt. 
 
 Beggars without hope were ready to take a chance 
 in the game of change. 
 
 Why? 
 
 Neither they nor anybody knew. 
 
 The times were out of joint. 
 
 How? 
 
 Neither they nor anybody knew. 
 
 The system was wrong. 
 
 In what respect? 
 
 Neither they nor anybody knew. 
 
 What could be gained by the change? 
 
 Neither they nor anybody knew. 
 
 But the condition of most men could not be worse. 
 It might accidently improve in the case of one, even 
 if the rest went to destruction. 
 
 Each was ready for revolution on the theory that 
 the one chance of prosperity might come to him. 
 
 So revolution blazed up suddenly and frightfully. 
 
 Every beggar who could get red tape for stripes 
 on his overalls was ready to inlist. Plantain was 
 cheap and abundant and money was necessary only 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 183 
 
 to gamble with. But in Colombia, not to gamble is 
 not to live. 
 
 Who lead this sudden revolution? 
 
 A new man had appeared on the scene. 
 
 Did anybody know who General Romero was? 
 
 He had been a ranchero. He had turned adven- 
 turer. The adventurer had become a soldier and the 
 soldier had developed into a revolutionist and a gen- 
 eral. Did anybody have proof of these facts? What 
 matter? He had plenty of money and spent it freely. 
 Old General Jamieson was too superannuated to cut 
 any figure now. Someone else should have a chance. 
 Why not Romero who had money to spend? 
 
 Death was better than beggary. 
 
 Off with the old revolution; on with the new. 
 
 The multitude in front of the cathedral and el 
 Banco de Popular crowded into the pretty little plaza. 
 
 Incendiary speeches were punctuated by wild 
 roars of approval. 
 
 Suddenly the sound of fire arms was heard in the 
 distance. 
 
 The crowd vanished. 
 
 No one knew where it had gone for everybody 
 was intent on saving himself. Even the speakers had 
 disappeared and the silence of death prevailed, except 
 for the rattle of musketry in the neighboring streets. 
 
 What was happening? 
 
 A company of revolutionists was approaching 
 Medellin from Hiradota, east of the city. This was 
 unusual. Engagements of this character in the city 
 scarcely ever rose above the dignity of a riot. 
 
134 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 The governor of Antiochia had sent a small de- 
 tachment of soldiers from the barracks out to intercept 
 the invaders. 
 
 This detachment had been driven back into the 
 city. Thereupon the whole of the Colombian army 
 stationed in the city was ordered out. 
 
 But the soldiers of two regiments mutinied and 
 refused to obey orders. The army had been revolu- 
 tionized, too, and as the invaders approached, instead 
 of encountering opposition, they received reinforce- 
 ments. 
 
 The revolutionists were victorious. 
 
 Dollars, not bullets, carried all before them. 
 
 The leaders were pushing toward General Jamie- 
 son's house. 
 
 Dollars had paved the way for Colombia's soldiers 
 to march to the palace of their former chief. 
 
 It was wonderful how practical, or to be more 
 specific, and speaking politically, how corrupt these 
 patriots had become. 
 
 Dollars filled the air with gunpowder smoke and 
 sent bullets and cannon balls against General Jamie- 
 son's palace gate. 
 
 Dollars battered down the barriers which the in- 
 dividuals had raised, and when Colombian soldiers, 
 full of dollar inspiration, and the prospect of dollar 
 ease, rushed through the battered gates into the court 
 yard, even the courage and splendid skill of the old 
 warrior and Democrat proved unavailing. There was 
 treachery in the court, and this revolution which had 
 been shrewdly and quietly planned and thus vigorously 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 135 
 
 carried out, was the most effective and complete Colom- 
 bia ever experienced. 
 
 Let us speak truly. It was the dollar behind the 
 man which won the day. 
 
 General Jamieson was taken prisoner, and several 
 of his most faithful retainers died defending him. 
 
 But what of Helen? 
 
 During the affray she had remained in her own 
 apartments. The shutters of the windows which 
 looked into the court were closed, but when the con- 
 flict was at its worst and noise of rifles and shouts of the 
 victorious invaders was loudest, she opened the shutters 
 slightly and looked out. She saw General Jamieson 
 deprived of his arms and overpowered. 
 
 Her first impulse was to rush to the aid of this man 
 who, in spite of the resentment which she still harbored, 
 she felt had many traits of nobility. As she stood in 
 the darkened room, listening intently, and not daring to 
 look out again, she heard steps approaching along the 
 stone paved corridor which led to her room. She re- 
 called the fact that she had left the door unlocked and 
 started forward to turn the key, but before she could 
 do so the door flew open and the figure of a man stood 
 looking in. The shutters being closed, the room was 
 dark, but the person in the doorway moved in and 
 pressed the button which turned on the light. There 
 stood Helen, not afraid, but hopeless and desperate. 
 
 The man in the doorway was small of stature and 
 slender. He was dressed in the uniform of high rank, 
 but whether of the revolution or of old Colombia, Helen 
 could not have told even if she had been able to think 
 
136 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 calmly. Behind him stood a much larger man, also in 
 uniform. 
 
 In a high, shrill voice and in good English, the 
 little man addressed her. 
 
 * 'Madam, I am General Romero, of the Liberal 
 Army of Colombia. You must surrender yourself for 
 you are my prisoner. General Gonzales, I place this 
 lady under your charge and in your protection. Madam, 
 you have nothing to fear." 
 
 The General's English was so much like that of 
 a native of some English speaking country that even 
 Helen, in the midst of her perplexity, remarked it. 
 
 "A Jamaican!" she thought. 
 
 She had expected nothing good and had anticipated 
 everything bad. Now that she was face to face with 
 one of the exigencies of war her heart stood still and 
 she could not even cry out. 
 
 Colonel Gonzales stepped towards her. 
 
 She had not noticed him closely but now in the 
 light, as she saw him advance and bow, she screamed 
 and fainted. 
 
 Colonel Gonzales caught her in his arms as she 
 fell fainting. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 PRESIDENT ADAM'S PERPLEXITY. 
 
 As President Adams left the Senate Chamber after 
 reading the Rockefeller will, he felt as if the world had 
 gone all to pieces. It was as if the social order had 
 been annihilated and a new system with which he was 
 entirely unfamiliar, and the prospect of which he had 
 always viewed with abhorrence, had been forced upon 
 him. Like a man who had donned a hat ten sizes too 
 large for him, he was groping in darkness beneath its 
 crown. 
 
 No practical statesman was ever before confronted 
 with so mighty a problem. He was not a dreamer, 
 this descendant of stern unyielding Puritanic statesmen. 
 He did not like dreams, and the more he considered 
 the situation in which he found himself, the more it 
 seemed like a dream. The will of Rockefeller was not 
 merely unexpected, but was very distasteful to the 
 President. He regarded it as either a very great and 
 unaccountable mistake, on the part of his friend, or 
 the product of an insane mind, and knowing Mr. Rocke- 
 feller as he thought he did he was inclined to the be- 
 lief that this strange and inexplicable testament was 
 the impulse of mental aberration. Yet he also knew 
 that he, Josiah Quincy Adams, either in his individual 
 capacity or in his capacity as President of the United 
 
138 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 States, would never be able to impress his belief on the 
 people of the United States or to have this will set aside. 
 
 He held himself accountable for a great blunder. 
 He should have known the contents of that will before 
 he consented to read and publish it to the nation. Presi- 
 dent Adams was an upright and thoroughly conscien- 
 tious man, but he did not trust public judgment at all, 
 and he belonged to a school of high minded statesmen 
 who were in the habit of educating the people to cer- 
 tain views by degrees. Had he known the contents of 
 Rockefeller's will, he would have delayed the publica- 
 tion, and in the meantime would have caused all the 
 public prints to suggest, very gently at first, very em- 
 phatically at last, the incapacity of Rockefeller to make 
 a will. He would have caused the most vigorous arti- 
 cles to appear in every issue of all the daily papers 
 against state or public socialism and would have sup- 
 plemented such arguments with secret instructions to 
 every postmaster, every public official, every superin- 
 tendent of a farm, factory or railroad, to educate the 
 common working classes along the lines suggested by 
 the public prints. Then in due time he would have 
 caused the will to be read when he could be reasonably 
 certain it would be received with disapproval. 
 
 But now his blunder in not pursuing such a course 
 weighed heavily upon him. The people had heard the 
 will and had their opportunity to think before he and 
 his wise associates could properly educate them and 
 mould their opinions. He could not now make them 
 believe Rockefeller was insane. It was too late. He 
 also knew that no court or jury would dare to pronounce 
 him insane or to impeach his will on any ground. Such 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 139' 
 
 a court would never be able to survive the storm of 
 popular indignation if it reached such a conclusion. 
 
 The more he thought of it the more the President 
 felt that a misfortune worse than civil war had befallen 
 his beloved country. He was not, however, the man to 
 despair. He wanted time to think. He was a believer 
 in precedents. He wanted to examine them. Not that 
 he expected to find a situation in history like that in 
 which he was placed, but he could determine what 
 human nature would submit to by observing what it 
 had submitted to in the past. 
 
 When he arrived at the Executive Mansion, he 
 found a large number of the country's most famous 
 statesmen awaiting his arrival. They, too, were anx- 
 ious about the future. To these he spoke with great 
 confidence and professed to be overcome by the mag- 
 nificence and patriotism of the deceased magnate. 
 
 His confident bearing reassured them, but it was 
 plain enough that they, too, entertained serious mis- 
 givings as to the outcome of the revolutionary change 
 about to occur. The situation demanded a cabinet 
 meeting and in response to their request, such a meet- 
 ing was called for the following day. Hon. William 
 C. Endicott, a descendant of that William Crownin- 
 shield Endicott, who was Secretary of War in the 
 eighties in the former century, was President Adam's 
 Secretary of War. 
 
 President Adams and Secretary Endicott spent 
 the evening together. 
 
 "Endicott," said the President, as they sat to- 
 gether in the latter's library in the Executive Mansion, 
 "is not this situation political socialism of the very 
 
140 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 worst kind? I never anticipated such an issue, especi- 
 ally from such a source. Do you remember the social- 
 ist leader, Bristow, who was a candidate for President 
 in 1952? That was forty years ago. I understand 
 that he is still alive and very clear headed and wise. 
 How would it do for us to hunt up the old man and 
 have a talk with him tonight?" 
 
 Endicott was as much opposed to state or politi- 
 cal socialism as the President, but under the circum- 
 stances was not averse to an adventure. He was the 
 youngest member of the cabinet and not without some 
 lingering traces of sentiment in his make-up. 
 
 "If we go disguised, I am ready," he said, with a 
 mildly derisive smile on his lips. "I don't believe in 
 Bristow or any form of Socialism." 
 
 It did not take long for the two distinguished 
 gentlemen to lay aside any evidence of distinction 
 which might attract attention to them. If any one had 
 thought it worth while to follow the portly, middle-aged 
 gentleman and the young man who accompanied him, 
 both attired like well-to-do officials of some Standard 
 Corporation, through the crowded streets of the capi- 
 tal city, they would not have recognized the President 
 of the United States and his proud aad aristocratic 
 Secretary of War. 
 
 It was a wonderful' scene which St. Louis pre- 
 sented in those days of partial radium illumination. 
 The lighted streets where little stars emitted beams 
 which flooded the thoroughfare with white light in a 
 succession of shining worlds, were crowded with a 
 prosperous and happy people. Here the scientific 
 correctness of economic government, autocratic to be 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 141 
 
 sure, but not oppressive to its faithful servants, re- 
 moved from the multitude the hope of sudden and 
 dazzling preferment, and accustomed mankind to 
 moderation and contentment. Here the game of 
 chance was gone and in its place a light-hearted 
 security which overflowed with innocent gayety. 
 Paris was never gayer with all its dissipations, but the 
 gayety of St. Louis in 1990 was healthy, temperate 
 and simple. Girls and boys, men and women, gray- 
 beards and ancient matrons, all wore the smile of 
 appreciation in Rockefeller's favored capitol. "There 
 is no government like an absolute monarchy (eco- 
 nomic despotism) if the king be a good and wise man." 
 Such had come to be the universal belief. But St. 
 Louis tonight was subdued and unusually quiet, even 
 in the shining streets. Gayety was there, but more 
 quietly manifested. It was not fear which produced 
 this change. The people could not be said to be 
 thinking. They were in a maze of wonderment. "What 
 next?" was the universal thought — the universal 
 question. 
 
 Through the light, out of the light, into the dark 
 side avenue, up a stairway in the old building where 
 the radium lights did not shine — the two men of power 
 went and after some groping about, finally ventured to 
 rap on a door dimly seen in the meagre light of an oil 
 lamp. 
 
 The door opened. An old man, poorly clad, 
 white head and beard, bent form, appeared. 
 
 "Mr. Bristow, I am W. C. Endicott, Secretary of 
 War. This," the Secretary pointed to the portly 
 President Adams, "is my friend, John A. Andrew of 
 
142 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 Massachusetts. We would be glad to have a talk 
 with you, if you are at leisure." 
 
 "Come in, come in, gentlemen," said the old man, 
 turning to place chairs for his visitors. "Always glad 
 to see and talk with the people." 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE LIFE THAT FADED. 
 
 John R. Bristow was over ninety years old. Born 
 with the twentieth century, he was one of the most re- 
 markable of its children. For ten years prior to 1952 
 he was the guiding star of the socialist party and the 
 most forceful and beloved of all its orators. In 1952 
 he was his party's nominee for president and was de- 
 feated by a narrow margin. His adherents alleged 
 that he was cheated out of the election by the corrupt 
 practices of the Standard Oil Company. Some urged 
 a resort to arms as a method of inducting him into 
 office. Bristow was not averse to such a course, for he 
 was a man of strong, positive character, and would 
 have led an attack on his opponent fearlessly enough, 
 if the army and supplies had been available. But the 
 Standard Oil Company had all the money and supplies 
 and the people were not in distress. So no army and 
 supplies came to hand, and Bristow and the socialist 
 party being just like human beings in every age and 
 clime, did what human beings have always done, sub- 
 mitted, subsided and finally disbanded. The business 
 system had conquered, and although it was a monopo- 
 listic system, and in its war against competition pro- 
 duced some distress, as it was the best system the peo- 
 ple knew anything about practically, no serious dis- 
 
144 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 turbances occurred and the grim old world went whirl- 
 ing to its fate. 
 
 Bristow, however, was too great a man to become 
 soured by defeat. Although he had lived for forty 
 years in retirement, and although he no longer had a 
 mission to perform, life was still good to him and he 
 lived it. But the great man of action of 1940-52 had, 
 in 1990, become the great man of thought. The 
 leader of material units of former years was now a 
 philosopher whose life was thought. Like the dark 
 man of destiny — the hero of Austerlitz and the pris- 
 oner of St. Helena — his words in exile and isolation 
 were greater than his acts as revolution's man of iron 
 and death. 
 
 Bristow was no part of Standard's system. He 
 was no part of any system. He had written his auto- 
 biography and Standard had printed it. Had it been 
 other than philosophical, it would still have commended 
 itself to Standard's consideration. Thousands of peo- 
 ple remembered Bristow and the book sold well. 
 Nothing could disturb Standard and it feared no the- 
 ories or visions. Bristow derived a fair income from 
 the book, but spent it all in relieving such cases of 
 misfortune as came under his notice. He did not re- 
 lieve the deserving. As a business proposition Stan- 
 dard looked after what it called deserving cases. Bris- 
 tow helped a few of the miserable undeserving — on the 
 theory that as all were responsible for all the bad con- 
 ditions which produced sin in all ages — he was in duty 
 bound to help them. 
 
 'To what may I attribute this call, gentlemen?" 
 asked the old campaigner, as he seated himself. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 145 
 
 "You are aware, Mr. Bristow," began the Secre- 
 tary, "that a singular and unusual thing has occurred." 
 
 "You refer to the will of Rockefeller giving all his 
 property to the United States?" 
 
 "Precisely." answered the Secretary. "You are 
 a Socialist. What do you think as to the wisdom of 
 Rockefeller's course. It has been reputed that you 
 and he were the extremes of thought. Now it would 
 appear that he entertained your views. He was a 
 Democratic Socialist after all." 
 
 "Yes," answered Bristow, dryly. "He was an 
 autocratic socialist during his life and a Democratic 
 Socialist after death." After a short pause during 
 which he looked at his visitors searchingly and yet not 
 unkindly, he said, "But what does it matter to an old 
 man like me what Morgan Rockefeller has done! It 
 is merely one of many startling incidents in my long 
 life. Every turn has been a surprise. Nothing can be 
 or ever is anticipated. What do you gentlemen wish 
 me to say?" 
 
 President Adams had remained silent as he had 
 no wish to disclose his identity. To visit the defeated 
 candidate of former years was not undignified so long 
 as he remained incognito. He allowed the Secretary 
 to conduct the conversation. 
 
 "Mr. Bristow, we would like to have you tell us 
 what you would do, if you were now president and the 
 will had made you executor to carry out its provisions." 
 The Secretary spoke rather low. 
 
 "I think I understand you" — Bristow put one hand 
 up to his ear. "I am a little deaf — for I am quite old. 
 I do not feel called upon to decide such a question as 
 
146 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 you propound. In the political system which my suc- 
 cess would have created — no such sudden and revolu- 
 tionary change would have occurred." 
 
 "But could you not," persisted the Secretary, 
 "could you not imagine yourself in this position and, 
 as a Democratic Socialist, advise us as to how Demo- 
 cratic Socialism will handle the situation?" 
 
 "Mr. Endicott, I do not think a system of Demo- 
 cratic Socialism can ever succeed. Democratic Social- 
 ism was once the light by which my life was guided. I 
 take it, gentlemen, because Mr. Endicott is the Presi- 
 dent's Secretary of War, that the President also is per- 
 plexed. Well, he may be. He will find the constitu- 
 tional system of the government entirely incapable of 
 handling this vast property. Once I believed that the 
 government should own everything. I am older now 
 and wiser, and know that political government is merely 
 a sort of a bodyguard of the economic system. Mr. 
 Rockefeller was no doubt a sincere believer in Demo- 
 cratic Socialism as I was formerly. Gentlemen, I have 
 progressed beyond that theory. I am still a Socialist— 
 that is, I still belive that before God's purpose for the 
 human race shall be entirely revealed and the race 
 shall become what he intends — Socialism must super- 
 cede all other systems. Rockefeller was a business or 
 economic Socialist in practice. He made millions 
 work together for his advancement. Caesar was a 
 Socialist, too, only Caesar's Socialism made many hun- 
 dred thousand soldiers work and fight together for the 
 establishment of his empire." 
 
 The President was interested. He was surprised 
 to hear this man whom he had been taught to look upon 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 147 
 
 with abhorrence and almost hatred, express such modi- 
 fied views. He could not forbear to enter into the con- 
 versation. 
 
 "Mr. Bristow," said he, "your analysis is good, 
 but can you give us a practical solution of the great 
 problem before us? You have meditated on these sub- 
 jects long and profoundly. What should President 
 Adams do?" 
 
 "President Adams must remember that Govern- 
 ment Socialism can never be successful. No system can 
 be unless it is an outgrowth rather than a creation. 
 Systems are developed through countless years of ex- 
 periment and cannot be forcibly revolutionized. If 
 its activities are stopped by violence or otherwise, 
 chaos results and the reorganization means a return 
 to that system which men understand. Society will 
 perfect itself, but those who work for its uplifting must 
 be satisfied to have the patience of God. Let President 
 Adams do the best he can. If he seeks a government 
 for the great system different from that which it has 
 created for itself, he will make a complete and dismal 
 failure. We Socialists believe the economic system 
 develops its own government and that no other form 
 is fit for it. In other words, the economic system is 
 the primary consideration, the government of that sys- 
 tem is a secondary consideration." 
 
 "You think then," said the President, "that Mr. 
 Rockefeller's plan of uniting the political and economic 
 in one system must fail?" 
 
 "I think it will destroy both the political and the 
 economic. Give the economic system to the govern- 
 ment and the government will be overburdened, over- 
 
148 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 borne and overcome. President Adam's government 
 during Rockefeller's life was only a shadow. After 
 Rockefeller's death it will, if this plan of having it 
 merge the economic is carried out, become a disaster." 
 
 President Adams was visibly affected. Had Bris- 
 tow's eyes been clear he would have noticed that his 
 visitor's face turned deathly pale. 
 
 "What is to be done?" almost gasped the Presi- 
 dent in a low and subdued voice. 
 
 "Sir," exclaimed Bristow, turning toward Mr. 
 Adams with a note of earnestness in his voice, "I said 
 to you that Socialism in some form will continue 
 until God will have his way. In another decade 
 two thousand years will have passed since a remedy 
 for all human ills was given to man. God sent his only 
 begotten son to be the bearer of an inestimable gift to 
 man. What was it? Brotherly love! I am an old 
 man. In my long life I have seen those on whom this 
 unspeakable gift was bestowed, seek every remedy but 
 the one which is simplest and best. Let Mr. Adams 
 know that if he will inject brotherly love — Christ's 
 remedy — into the business or economic system, he will 
 be successful in administering Mr. Rockefeller's be- 
 quest." 
 
 "So that is what the old Socialist's life fades into," 
 remarked Endicott after they bade Bristow good even- 
 ing and were on their way back to the Executive Man- 
 sion. "He admits that his theories were all impracti- 
 cal, and is now, at the close of his life, dreaming dreams 
 of brotherly love." 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 A LEAF FROM A LIFE. 
 
 The President was disappointed. 
 
 He had hoped that Bristow, out of the fullness of 
 his long life and experience, could shed a ray of light 
 upon this dark problem. 
 
 There was a dim suggestion of such a ray in what 
 had been said, but after all, the generalities of the con- 
 versation were too misty for his practical mind to ap- 
 preciate. He wanted a plan. He wanted facts. He 
 wanted details. Was it possible that the hot political 
 campaign of 1952 was fought on such intangible theo- 
 ries as Bristow had advanced that evening? It 
 seemed incredible. The President suspected that ex- 
 treme old age had weakened Bristow's perceptions. He 
 called for the autobiography of John R. Bristow, which 
 was in the library, but which he had never had time to 
 read. 
 
 When it was placed in his hands, he opened it 
 carelessly and read : 
 
 'The Democratic republic of commercial America 
 was well described by the historian Macauley as being 
 'all sail and no rudder/ Fortunate or unfortunate as 
 this may be, it is rendered subject to the strongest 
 influences which the activities may develop. I saw, 
 
150 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 prior to 1952, the very conditions which Macauley pre- 
 dicted. He said: 
 
 " The day will come when, in the State of New 
 York, a multitude of people, none of whom have had 
 more than half a breakfast or expects to have more 
 than half a dinner, will choose a legislature. Is it pos- 
 sible to doubt what sort of a legislature will be chosen? 
 On one side is a statesman preaching patience, respect 
 for vested rights, strict observance of public faith. On 
 the other is a demagogue ranting about the tyranny of 
 capitalists and usurers, and asking why anybody should 
 be permitted to drink champagne and to ride in a car- 
 riage while thousands of honest folks are in want of 
 necessities. Which of the two candidates is likely to 
 be preferred by a working man who hears his children 
 cry for more bread?' " 
 
 "In 1952, not the State of New York alone, but 
 all America furnished the example proposed by the 
 historian. I was the candidate of the Socialist party for 
 President. S.N.Cleveland was the candidate of the vest- 
 ed interests, then mostly controlled by Aldrich Rocke- 
 feller. The people were impoverished. Millions could 
 obtain little more than half a breakfast. They were 
 ready to vote for me if I could guarantee them food for 
 their children. I could not do so and they knew it. 
 But Cleveland was supported by the vested interests 
 and the people believed the vested interests could re- 
 lieve their present distress. Therefore Cleveland be- 
 came President, partly because the people looked to 
 him for food and partly because the interests were 
 able to count votes which I am sure were never cast. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 151 
 
 Therefore the example proved precisely the contrary 
 of what the historian felt certain it would. 
 
 "It was a contest between the men who controlled 
 the Socialist political party on the one side, and the 
 Republican party of the Standard Oil Company and all 
 the wealth of America, on the other. The propaganda of 
 the Socialists was maintained by a press which, be- 
 cause only slight capital sustained it, was considered 
 irresponsible. All the great papers and most of the 
 great writers were owned by Standard. 
 
 "Why was not the Socialist party successful? 
 
 "We called it the party of liberty, of fraternity and 
 of the people. 
 
 "We proposed to get control of the government 
 first and then to take the industries away from Rocke- 
 feller and give them to the government. 
 
 "We proposed that the new government would 
 operate all industries as it managed the post office de- 
 partment. 
 
 "How could we get control of the government? 
 
 "By voting our candidate into office. 
 
 "When we obtained the offices, how would we 
 administer them so as to place the industries at their 
 disposal? How get them away from Standard? 
 
 "I now see that we began at the wrong end. 
 
 "Government is only a shadow of the economic 
 power. 
 
 "Had we possessed control of the economic power 
 we would have had no difficulty in creating and main- 
 taining any form of government we chose. 
 
 "But government is incapable of either creating 
 or conducting a business independently. Germany 
 
152 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 could not do it even within confined limits, were it not 
 for the aid and assistance of the so-called business in- 
 terests. 
 
 "I can now see clearly enough that we sought to 
 seize the shadow and then, through the imaginary force 
 contained in the shadow, seize and operate the indus- 
 tries. 
 
 ' 'Suppose the government were suddenly annihi- 
 lated. The industries would rebuild it almost in- 
 stantly. But if the industries are destroyed, govern- 
 ment can never rebuild them and men nust proceed 
 to do so by the same slow, laborious, systematic method 
 and work which created them in the first instance. 
 
 "Whosoever owns the instrumentalities of pro- 
 duction and distribution will own and control the gov- 
 ernment. If the Socialist party had owned the eco- 
 nomic instrumentalities, it would not have needed the 
 government except as society needs a watchman or a 
 police officer. 
 
 "The defeat of the party which I represented 
 was the last stand humanity made for popular govern- 
 ment in America. The success of Rockefeller was com- 
 plete, and universal Socialism was established in the 
 interest of an autocrat. 
 
 "Is there any redemption? 
 
 "Yes. The redemption will come through the 
 operation of God's eternal law. It will come in God's 
 appointed time. Feudalism developed despotism ages 
 ago. Despotism in the military system submitted by 
 compulsion to the modification introduced by the 
 commercial system. In England the commercial 
 gained absolute control but did not banish the sem- 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 153 
 
 blance of feudalism. The feudal government and the 
 commercial were welded. But in America the system 
 became purely commercial. The feudal conditions 
 had no place. Titles were abolished. Hereditary 
 privileges were prohibited. 
 
 "John D. Rockefeller, Morgan Rockefeller's great 
 ancestor, was an evolution of the commercial system. 
 No trace of the old barbaric, picturesque feudal idea 
 could be discovered in his make up. He was possible 
 only because America was full of would be Rockefellers. 
 He obtained the prize and when the innumerable like- 
 nesses of this great man found he had captured the 
 prize they sought, he was denounced on all sides. He 
 was without doubt the best type of the commercial 
 system as Caesar was the best type of the military. 
 As the commercial was greater and higher than the 
 military, so Rockefeller, the highest exponent of that 
 power, was and is greater than Caesar, the highest ex- 
 ponent of the latter. 
 
 "The absolutism of Morgan Rockefeller, Amer- 
 ica's dictator, will be modified. 
 
 "How? 
 
 "I do not know. 
 
 "Nobody knows except God. 
 
 "God's law is expressed in the rule which men 
 call Golden. 
 
 "It is brotherly love. 
 
 "If somebody can organize brotherly love as 
 Christ taught it and apply it to God's kingdom on 
 earth — then His will will be done — His kingdom will 
 come on earth as it is in heaven. 
 
 "I have some times imagined the possibility of 
 
154 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 Morgan Rockefeller or some descendant assuming 
 to transfer the system which he controls to the govern- 
 ment which he permits to exist. 
 
 "If he did so, what would happen? 
 
 "But after all, it is not to be expected, and time 
 spent in such speculation is wasted. Whatever new 
 system is to supercede the dictatorship of the Rocke- 
 fellers, will steal in unawares, as the commercial stole 
 in on the military. Let us hope, in the providence of 
 God that the new system will be the fraternal." 
 
 The President closed the book almost impatiently, 
 then burying his face in his hands, sat in silence for a 
 long time. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 THE CABINET MEETING. 
 
 May we enter the cabinet meeting which occurred 
 the day after the reading of the will? 
 
 May we listen to the discussion and view the faces 
 of its members unobserved? 
 
 The most eminent statesmen of the age are there, 
 each at the head of a department of the political gov- 
 ernment. There is Blaine,Secretary of State, descendent 
 of James Gillespie Blaine who nourished in the latter 
 part of the nineteenth century. Is it a case of atavism? 
 How strikingly like his great ancestor in manner and ap- 
 pearance — only James G., the ancestor had the bold 
 commanding look of a king, as if there was no power 
 to which he could not attain. The descendant gave 
 the impression that his bold and commanding manner 
 was assumed in the name of some other — and a court- 
 ier's gentle smile played lightly on his face. 
 
 There is Endicott, Secretary of War, young and 
 handsome, but of somewhat cynical expression. 
 
 There are Evans, Secretary of Navy; Thompson, 
 Secretary of Interior; Garfield, Secretary of Commerce; 
 Wanamaker, Postmaster General; Holmes, Attorney 
 General. Other departments are also represented. 
 
 But why are they assembled? 
 
156 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 What has a political body to do with the will of 
 Morgan Rockefeller or the economic system? 
 
 President Adams, not the government, is executor 
 of the will. 
 
 But the estate has been devised to the government. 
 
 What department shall exercise for the govern- 
 ment, the functions of trustee? 
 
 Shall each department assume a responsibility? 
 Or shall the President assume all responsibility and 
 leave the several departments to their present work? 
 
 Tremendous questions those! 
 
 A more important question than all of them, how- 
 ever, presses for solution. 
 
 "The industries which have come into the hands 
 of the President, as executor of the will, must be contin- 
 ued in operation." Thus speaks the Attorney General. 
 "To stop the mills, workshops, railroads, ships and 
 stores of this estate would be equal to a decree of death 
 to all humanity. President Adams, as executor of this 
 will, has a greater responsibility than as President of the 
 government. By a single word he can close the indus- 
 tries and crush both the government and society, 
 which shows, plainly enough, that the government is 
 the least important of the President's present responsi- 
 bilities. Still the constitution of the republic does not 
 permit the government to do business. None of its 
 provisions suggest that its makers contemplated that 
 the federal government should take, hold and operate 
 any enterprise of a purely industrial or commercial na- 
 ture. This will, therefore, provides for the transferrence 
 of the estate to officials who have no legal authority to 
 employ the functions of their offices in commercial or 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 157 
 
 industrial pursuits. Will any government official dare 
 to assume to perform duties not legally attached 
 to the office? I cannot see how the government can 
 run these vast industries. In order to do so you must 
 change the constitution radically — so radically as to 
 abolish the present system of political administration 
 and create a new form of government altogether." 
 
 "How would it do, General/' suggested Secretary 
 Blaine, "to sell the estate to the highest bidder?" 
 
 Secretary Blaine smiled as he made the suggestion. 
 
 "You must not forget, Mr. Secretary, that the 
 Rockefeller estate owns all the nation's wealth and 
 consequently is the only possible purchaser who is 
 able, ready and willing. Where would any proposed 
 purchaser get the money to pay the purchase price? 
 The assessed valuation is over three hundred billion 
 dollars. Again, even if any person had the means to 
 purchase, has not the order demonetizing gold, and 
 making all bills due the estate payable in labor ex- 
 change checks, so completely deprived gold of its pur- 
 chasing power as to make a purchase and sale impos- 
 sible? In other words — the system has become auto- 
 matic, and, unless somebody stops the machinery for- 
 cibly, it will continue to operate successfully and per- 
 petually and to govern itself by its own rules and regu- 
 lations." 
 
 The great men of the cabinet sit back with serious 
 and thoughtful faces. They have never considered 
 the problem in this light before and they are annoyed 
 that such an avenue of escape is cut off. They feel 
 still more profoundly their overwhelming responsibil- 
 ity. While they realize that a strong government can 
 
158 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 do anything it wishes, they know that no official or 
 combination will dare to exceed the limits of legal au- 
 thority. They themselves have no conception of what 
 their duties in the new order will be. However, relief 
 comes so far as one phase is concerned. 
 
 His excellency, the President, has been silent, but 
 now speaks: 
 
 "I desire to inform the cabinet that, as executor 
 of this will, I made a compromise with the Colorado 
 Provisional Government, as it calls itself, whereby all 
 property has been restored by that government to the 
 estate on condition that I rescind the order demone- 
 tizing gold. I have agreed to rescind the order to- 
 morrow." 
 
 What boisterous applause! The cabinet is de- 
 lighted. The members rush forward and congratulate 
 the President. "He is the greatest statesman that 
 ever lived," they declare to one another. 
 
 Three plans are proposed for consideration. 
 
 First, to sell the entire plant. 
 
 Second, to apportion the property among the sev- 
 eral states with permission to lease each plant to com- 
 petent men at a stipulated rental. 
 
 Third, to find the heir of the estate, Morgan Rock- 
 efeller's niece, have her contest the will and arrange to 
 have it set aside in her favor on the ground that the 
 government had no capacity to accept such a legacy 
 and that the testator was of unsound mind when the 
 will was made. 
 
 "I believe," says President Adams, "that the last 
 plan is the best. Mobs cannot manage business enter- 
 prises, and now that the government, which is the 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 159 
 
 voice of the mob muffled by the constitution, and this 
 estate are one, the greatest corruption is bound to 
 creep in. Cliques will organize to acquire privileges, 
 and democratic socialism will destroy civilization and 
 restore barbarism quicker than any disintegrating in- 
 fluence I know of." 
 
 "What are the prospects," asks Secretary Blaine, 
 "of rescuing the lost heiress, Miss Channing?" 
 
 "I have the honor to report," replies Secretary 
 Endicott, accepting the question as directed to him, 
 "that the executor of the will has placed at my disposal 
 a large fund to be employed in that work. I have 
 sent one of our skillful manipulators, Moreland Hughes, 
 to Colombia, in South America, with ample means to 
 inaugurate and carry forward a revolution. He is fa- 
 miliar with Spanish, which he speaks like a native, and 
 has spent much time in Colombia in former years. The 
 people of Colombia are easily corrupted. Revolution is 
 a matter of money. Whoever can distribute the most 
 money among them will win. We expect to capture 
 the outlaw, Jamieson, and bring him to this country for 
 trial. Mr. Alden Lowell has discovered by means of 
 his most remarkable invention that the young lady is 
 in Medellin, but since her arrival there the reflector 
 has not been able to reach behind closed doors and 
 brick walls. The plan is to search Jamieson's house 
 and, if necessary, every house in Antiochia, to find her." 
 
 The decree rescinding the order by which gold 
 was demonetized was popular everywhere. 
 
 It was a triumph of weakness manifested in poli- 
 tical action, over logic, strength and justice. It was a 
 step backwards. The cabinet did just what might be 
 
160 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 expected of men who were guided merely by a political 
 sense. A government through which blazed the fires 
 of prejudice, superstition and passion, and in which 
 the dogwood of illogical habit grew most luxuriantly, 
 could not be expected to do otherwise. The commercial 
 power of the nation never made such mistakes. It 
 might vary its methods, to increase its profits, but it 
 never changed its system except to improve it. 
 
 Colorado having returned to the political and in- 
 dustrial union, the reputation of the President shone 
 with dazzling lustre and his personal influence increased 
 with all classes of people. His power or influence now 
 exceeded that of any president the republic ever had 
 and his popularity was altogether unusual for one who 
 controlled the industrial interests. 
 
 But the absorbing question which took precedence 
 of all others remained unsolved. 
 
 "What shall the government do with the business 
 system?" 
 
 "What shall the business system do with the gov- 
 ernment?" 
 
 It was becoming apparent every day that neither 
 was suited to the other's needs. 
 
 The political was entirely unnecessary to the com- 
 mercial. 
 
 The commercial was not in the least degree sub- 
 missive to or under the control of the political. The 
 masses were contented enough, but murmurs of dis- 
 content arose here and there, not very pronounced at 
 first, yet growing louder among the favored and privi- 
 leged classes, the annuitants and geniuses, as the med- 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 161 
 
 alized and distinguished inventors and literary or scien- 
 tific experts were called. 
 
 These disturbed the cabinet, members of Congress, 
 officials and rulers. They made sentiment. Their 
 opinions dropped to the social station below them. 
 Revolutionary influences were beginning to work. 
 Fermentation was in progress. 
 
 A special seession of Congress was called. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 THAT SPECIAL SESSION. 
 
 September, 1990, saw Congress in session, and en- 
 gaged in a parliamentary discussion over the govern- 
 ment's unexpected bequest. The President in his 
 message recommended that the representatives of the 
 people make some disposition of it by which the burden 
 would be removed from the President's shoulders. He 
 pointed out, briefly, the legal difficulties which the con- 
 stitution presented to the realization of Mr. Rocke- 
 feller's dream, and suggested the three plans which had 
 been formulated by the cabinet. He reminded 
 Congress that it was not confined to the three plans 
 suggested, but that it would be entitled to the highest 
 credit, if it could and would dispose of this three hun- 
 dred billion dollar property by some better plan than 
 any of those suggested. 
 
 Congress approached the subject gravely and cau- 
 tiously. 
 
 Its members had to deal with constituencies which 
 now felt their importance as they had never felt it be- 
 fore. They did not dare to act in defiance of the will 
 of their electorates. The nation was alive to the possi- 
 bilities which the bequest suggested, but not to the 
 difficulties confronting their rulers. 
 
 The long discussions of that famous session form 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 163 
 
 a compendium of learning and eloquence which never 
 before emanated from a parliamentary body. Every 
 fact or pretended fact, every theory or pretended theory, 
 every dream, or fancy, which literature, science or de- 
 bate ever developed will be found in the speeches which 
 appear in the congressional record. In 1890 such a 
 discussion would have paralyzed business, destroyed 
 confidence and precipitated an avalanche of misery. 
 In 1990 it had no effect on business, but it did produce 
 a degree of unrest among the people which took on a 
 revolutionary character. The upshot of it all was that 
 the President and cabinet were directed to dispose of 
 the estate, in whole or in part, by sale to the highest 
 bidder, and that all values must be appraised by a com- 
 mission appointed from each state. 
 
 It was estimated that the work of the commission 
 would require at least a year. 
 
 If there should be no bidders within sixty days 
 after the valuation had been fixed, then the President 
 was expected to recommend another plan. 
 
 This decision was distasteful to the President. 
 His inclination was to veto it, but after consideration 
 he concluded to allow it to become effective without 
 his signature. 
 
 He could not see where the problem had been sim- 
 plified. 
 
 It was as complex, as unsolvable, as exasperating 
 as ever. His own burdens as President and executor 
 were so heavy as to be well nigh unbearable. In order 
 to perform his duties he was obliged to delegate the 
 political government to the vice-president and to give 
 more and closer attention to the industrial. 
 
164 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 He also developed a theory that the more satis- 
 factory his business operations proceeded, the less im- 
 portant the political government appeared to be. He 
 was convinced that if the industrial system was all 
 right, if it produced abundantly and distributed fairly 
 and justly, the governmental system could not go far 
 astray. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 THE ARROW SHOOTS HOME. 
 
 The winged ship, Arrow, flew out of the harbor 
 of little old Cartegena under a blue sky and through 
 equally blue waters. It was delightful to sit on the 
 shady side of the boat and look back at the walled city, 
 the high hills, the ancient fortress and the gray, de- 
 serted monastery. What traditions of a period of the 
 world's history, more romantic than the wildest and 
 fiercest conflict of knight or crusader, these scenes re- 
 vived Helen, as she sat on the deck and viewed the 
 rapidly receding shores, recalled the stirring events 
 with which fortress and monastery were associated. 
 In her imagination the Great Admiral groped his way 
 doubtfully along these strange shores, and buccaneers 
 ploughed boldly through this boisterous sea to bid de- 
 fiance to the walls and forts which defended Cartagena, 
 the treasure vault of the Spanish West. Here Drake, 
 undaunted and savage as the age in which he thrived, 
 engaged the ships of Spain and sent many a stout ad- 
 venturer to his fate beneath the wave. 
 
 But the Arrow heeded not the musings nor the in- 
 teresting associations and with the swiftness of a meteor 
 sped on its way across the Caribbean sea. Helen — 
 rescued and homeward bound — reveled in the balmy 
 breezes of that tropical ocean. She felt as if life were 
 
166 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 beginning anew with her. Nearly three months before 
 she had been torn away from her home and the work 
 she dearly loved and detained in a land of isolation. 
 Now it was past and seemed like a horrible dream 
 from which she was awakening. As she reclined in the 
 deck chair and thought of all the strange events of her 
 recent life, she was completely lost to what was occur- 
 ring immediately around her. 
 
 "Oh! Helen, I say, Helen," called a feminine voice 
 beside her and Helen, startled from her reverie, looked 
 up and saw Mrs. Locksley in the act of placing a chair 
 on the deck beside her. 
 
 "I declare," said Mrs. Locksley, "I never knew 
 you to be so absent-minded." 
 
 "Well, I guess, Auntie," declared Helen, smiling 
 happily into Mrs. Locksley's beaming countenance, 
 "I guess you would be a little absent minded if you had 
 gone through as many sudden changes as I have." 
 
 "Well, Helen, if you had stayed for three weeks, 
 all sole alone in a place like that Cartegena with its 
 narrow street, its strange food and outlandish people, 
 waiting in terrible suspense to learn the whereabouts of 
 the one who was dearest in the world to you, you 
 might be excused for getting absent-minded." 
 
 "I know, Auntie," returned Helen self -reproach- 
 fully, "you must have had a terrible time. I wonder 
 if it is worse to be in suspense over the whereabouts of a 
 lost friend than it is to be in suspense because your 
 friends don't know where you are and are worrying 
 about you." 
 
 "But you were telling me, Helen, at the hotel, last 
 evening, how Alden Lowell and General Romero found 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 167 
 
 you and I was quite desperate when Mr. Lowell inter- 
 rupted. Can you finish now?" 
 
 "Not much to finish, Auntie. There they were— 
 revolutionists — right in my room and I taken prisoner. 
 Of course I supposed it was another capture just as bad 
 as when I was seized in Watertown, and prepared for 
 the worst. Then there was Colonel Gonzales whom 
 General Romero ordered to take charge of me as his 
 prisoner and when I looked behind the blazing uniform 
 of the revolutionist and saw the face of Mr. Alden 
 Lowell — why, I just fainted and he caught me so I 
 didn't fall. Of course I recovered consciousness just 
 as soon as I could and then it turned out that the gov- 
 ernment of the United States had sent General Romero, 
 whose real name isn't Romero at all, and who is just 
 a plain American citizen, down to rescue me and Mr. 
 Lowell went down with him. So the revolution was 
 all about me after all." 
 
 "Well, that General Jamieson, as they call him 
 in Cartagena, will get his deserts when he gets to the 
 States." Mrs. Locksley was not smiling when she 
 made this threat and the look which came over her 
 face was quite fierce. "The idea, that he should abduct 
 a young lady, and that young lady the richest in the 
 world." 
 
 "Oh, Auntie!" exclaimed Helen, "am I really re- 
 lated to Morgan Rockefeller?" 
 
 "Well, I guess you are!" Mrs. Locksley spoke 
 very positively. "I guess you are and you are the only 
 blood relation near enough to be his heir. Didn't Mr. 
 Lowell tell you? All the people in the United States 
 know it and more than half, I think, believe you ought 
 
168 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 to have his whole property instead of the little million 
 a year he left you." 
 
 "A little million a year!" Helen laughed quite 
 heartily. "Little — why, a million a year is so big that I 
 couldn't spend it. What can one do with a million a 
 year, but worry about it? I am sure I don't want to be 
 his heir and take all the burdens of the country myself. 
 It wouldn't be just to make me do it. Let each bear 
 his own share of the burden of wealth. I am sure it is 
 a burden. I was reading a book only the other day 
 which showed how the children of wealth were ruined 
 by their wealth. Each had to cultivate expensive 
 habits to enable him to distribute what he had to 
 spend and didn't really need. They ate too much 
 and got others to eat too much. They drank too much 
 and got others to do the same. They dressed too much 
 and wasted their time that way. They made poor citi- 
 zens, poor husbands and wives, poor fathers and moth- 
 ers, poor sons and daughters, and were corrupt, 
 degenerate and dissipated. They were poor in all 
 things but money. They had everything they ought 
 not to have, and no time to get what they should have. 
 Each should be compelled by law to take his own share 
 of the burden of wealth and not force it with all its dis- 
 tressing results, on one or two persons." 
 
 Mrs. Locksley looked at Helen in blank astonish- 
 ment. But after a pause and without modifying the 
 expression of surprise, she said under her breath: 
 
 "Well, I believe that is right." 
 
 "Good morning, Miss Channing — good morning, 
 Mrs. Locksley!" said a cheery voice just then, and look- 
 ing up the ladies saw Mr. Lowell, hat in one hand and a 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 169 
 
 deck chair in the other, awaiting an invitation to be 
 seated. The invitation having been joyously extended 
 and accepted, the conversation turned away from Co- 
 lombia, whose shores were now but a faint and fading 
 line far to the south, to that land of hope to which they 
 were hastening. 
 
 "You will be received in Boston like an empress, 
 Miss Helen,' ' said Alden. "The whole nation is await- 
 ing you and a good many of them wo uld be glad to help 
 you get your uncle's estate." 
 
 "And I would not thank them," insisted Helen. 
 "Mr. Lowell, if I am really the niece of Morgan Rocke- 
 feller and all this fortune — I do not call it 'good' as you 
 and Auntie do — has come to me, do you not think it 
 wonderful that God should have so ordered, that I, a 
 woman, should be placed at the head of the Reapers of 
 the World? That I, the Lady Harvester, should be an 
 instrument, perhaps, to show men and women a gift so 
 great that all the wealth of this world is not equal to 
 it? That I, the heir of Morgan Rockefeller, should be 
 appointed to illuminate the mission of Jesus, who 
 taught men that brotherly love was the only remedy 
 for their ills and that if they would use it as such, this 
 old earth is capable of supplying all who live with 
 abundance? I long to correct the mistake which Mor- 
 gan Rockefeller has made — not by taking this burden 
 of wealth myself, but by sharing it fraternally with my 
 brothers and sisters who are joint heirs with me." 
 
XXXII. 
 THE HEIRESS UNCHANGED. 
 
 "Have you not forgotten the Reapers after these 
 terrible experiences?" asked Alden. 
 
 "Forgotten them! Why, Mr. Lowell, do you 
 think anything can make me forget the Reapers? 
 Never! I shall return to Watertown and do just as I 
 have done before and if I have any influence, as you 
 seem to think, I shall use it to repeal those laws which 
 President Rockefeller caused to be enacted to suppress 
 fraternal and secret orders. I still believe the Reapers 
 have a great mission to perform. I did not think you 
 would backslide." She looked reproachfully at Alden. 
 
 "Well," said he, "I assure you that I have not 
 deserted the Reapers. If you believe in them, I do — but 
 I already feel that I understand how the order may be- 
 come of wonderful importance now. To tell you the 
 truth, Miss Channing, I am more profoundly inter- 
 ested in the fraternal redemption of the world than 
 ever before. Indeed, you may be sure that I am 
 greatly relieved by your decision to continue your 
 work in so great a field. But if you will allow me to 
 change the subject — What do you think the govern- 
 ment will do with General Jamieson?" 
 
 "You know better than I do." She looked down 
 at the floor of the deck thoughtfully and sorrowfully. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 171 
 
 "I do not want to see him punished and I would like 
 to see him released and sent back to Colombia." 
 
 "Well, I should hope not!" exclaimed Mrs. Locks- 
 ley. "The rogue ought to be hanged." 
 
 "But suppose he has changed his views, Auntie," 
 pleaded Helen. "I think," she continued, "he ought 
 to go back to Colombia and, although he is old, he 
 could start the fraternal system there." 
 
 "Start the fraternal system in Colombia!" 
 laughed Alden. "Preposterous! It will require the 
 strongest kind of a government to keep Colombia 
 quiet. Fraternalism would find no good soil to grow 
 in there." 
 
 "You are wrong, Mr. Lowell. If an association 
 like the Reapers of the World had been organized in 
 America in the time of John D. Rockefeller and had 
 endeavored to acquire the industries just as Rocke- 
 feller did, its success, instead of being delayed eighty- 
 two years, would have been accomplished in ten or 
 fifteen years. Let me illustrate." Helen had be- 
 come very earnest and argumentative. "Suppose 
 there had been twenty thousand members of a fra- 
 ternal order in Mr. Rockefeller's time. Suppose each 
 had been devoted to his order and paid two dollars a 
 month into a trust fund. That would be forty thou- 
 sand dollars in one month, eighty thousand in two 
 months, four hundred and eighty thousand in a year, 
 four million eight hundred thousand in ten years.. 
 Now, suppose after the ten years of such accumulation 
 the chief of the order directed three members to form 
 a townsite company such as they used to have. The 
 company has a capital stock of half a million. The 
 
172 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 fraternal order buys the stock and puts that sum in 
 its treasury. The order is now the only stockholder. 
 As such it has a right to elect all the directors. It 
 therefore elects the most practical men among its 
 members who understand real estate." 
 
 "Ah!" interrupted Alden, "you don't think they 
 would make a wise selection, do you?" 
 
 "Why not? The stockholders of John D.'s time 
 were wise, and a fraternal order would be as ready to 
 select honest men as anybody." 
 
 "But the board of directors would not be compe- 
 tent to handle the townsite business, Helen," again 
 interposed Alden. 
 
 "In those early days they were. Why would they 
 not? They would elect a first-class manager and make 
 him responsible. The only question would have been — 
 Can a fraternal order be as wise and honest a stock- 
 holder as an old line life insurance company? But don't 
 interrupt, please. I want to continue. The manager 
 of the townsite company finds himself in possession of 
 half a million which he is to invest for the townsite 
 company. He finds a tract of land — say two sec- 
 tions — located on a navigable bay. He makes a bar- 
 gain for it and reports it to the board of directors. 
 They investigate and decide to purchase, paying one 
 hundred and fifty thousand dollars for it. The com- 
 pany proceed to lay out a town and build a store- 
 building or two and a number of houses. The chief of 
 the fraternal order has, in the meantime, appointed 
 three others to organize a saw mill company. The 
 capital of this is another half million. The fraternal 
 .order is also the stockholder. It elects the board of 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 173 
 
 directors. These in turn elect a first class manager 
 and pay him a salary. He proceeds to deal with the 
 townsite company and purchase a site for his mill of 
 that company." 
 
 ' 'Isn't that foolish !" exclaimed Mrs. Locksley. 
 "Why not have one company do it all?" 
 
 "That's just where all those co-operative associa- 
 tions which tried to do business failed!" exclaimed 
 Helen patiently. "Business methods are an evolution. 
 The main thing in business is system. That system 
 is most valuable which inspires the superintendent or 
 manager with the greatest sense of responsibility. The 
 townsite company could keep good records of its trans- 
 actions and feel proud to show a better record in mak- 
 ing profits than the sawmill company. Each would vie 
 with the other. Even Mr. Rockegeller had hundreds 
 of different corporations. He merged them into one, 
 where it was plain an advantage could be gained. But 
 for the convenience of bookkeeping hundreds of corpor- 
 ations were not merged. 
 
 "I would have the fraternal order organize a shoe 
 factory under the control of a separate corporation. 
 This factory would also purchase a site from the town- 
 site company. Perhaps the townsite company would 
 find it convenient to make a donation of a site, but as a 
 rule I believe it would be best not to. With a townsite 
 company employing five hundred carpenters, masons, 
 laborers and others in constructing the necessary 
 buildings, such as houses, stores, factories and ware- 
 houses, also streets, parks and public buildings, that 
 company alone would make a city of twenty-five hun- 
 dred. The other eight companies would easily em- 
 
174 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 ploy five hundred each, making four thousand di- 
 rectly dependent, with their families, on the several 
 businesses of the corporations. That would justify 
 a calculation that all the workers and their families 
 would number twenty two thousand persons. Now 
 the land has been covered with houses. There are 
 valuable buildings. There are public improvements, 
 street cars, water works, gas and electric plants and 
 everything which contributes to the comfort of a city 
 of that size. All the profits belong to the corporations. 
 All the rent goes to the corporations. All the interest 
 goes to the corporations. All the increase in land val- 
 ues goes to the corporations. These pay dividends to 
 the fraternal order. The fraternal order scrutinizes, 
 from the watch tower of its weekly or monthly meetings, 
 all the enterprises, and sees that a proper part of the in- 
 terest, rent and profits is distributed among its mem- 
 bers. When it comes to earning wages the workmen 
 may not be on equal terms, but profits, rent and inter- 
 est are divided equally among the partners — the mem- 
 bers of the order. 
 
 "Such a city, if it could be true to its fraternal pur- 
 pose and would keep to beaten tracks of business 
 methods — changing only when an advantage or profit 
 could be calculated — would prove a greater conquerer 
 than any city in history. But it could well afford to 
 open its doors and allow all to become members whose 
 morals and character justified. Fraternal co-operation 
 would save Colombia as it might have saved America. 
 I believe Mr. Rockefeller never cared for his wealth, 
 but he had some pride in the success of his plans and 
 pleasure in the hope that his children would be equal 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 175 
 
 to their trust. Could he have introduced the fraternal 
 system he would have done so. But the time, perhaps, 
 was not ripe until he had demonstrated the possibili- 
 ties of combined wealth." 
 
 "They thought in the days of John D. Rockefeller 
 that the negro question was the most difficult one of 
 that age," remarked Alden. "How would you have 
 dealt with that in the fraternal system?" 
 
 "Brotherly love is the only solution of that prob- 
 lem now and was the only solution then. If men will 
 not accept the fraternal solution they must and will 
 suffer. In an economic sense the negro's muscle is as 
 good as that of his white brother. In the same sense 
 his intellignce is as acceptable as an equal degree of 
 intelligence in any other race. It is only necessary to 
 organize on a fraternal basis and adopt the best 
 methods of economic progression known to man. I 
 have no doubt that if that race would organize in a fra- 
 ternal union on the plan which I have suggested, they 
 would speedily outstrip the white race in the acqui- 
 sition of wealth and perhaps of intelligence. Organize 
 Christ's plan and Caesar's portion will dwindle to one 
 man's size." 
 
 "But you would not admit the negro to your fra- 
 ternal society, would you?" asked Mrs. Locksley. 
 
 "Why not?" asked Helen. "If the negro is useful 
 he should be treated as he deserves. But if the time is 
 not ripe for fraternal association it may be 
 that the races will form their separate local lodges and 
 have representatives only in the grand lodge. Race 
 prejudice is not possible in the atmosphere of true 
 brotherly love." 
 
176 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 "What! would you have the negro and the white 
 man live together — their children marry and all mingle 
 in the same society?" demanded Mrs. Locksley. 
 
 "No indeed! I do not propose that. It is not 
 necessary. Human society will still continue to be 
 regulated by the customs and the common sense of 
 ages. We do not propose to change society any more 
 than we propose to change nature. It is only intended 
 to infuse brotherly love into the economic system, and 
 by so doing take from society the danger of faulty dis- 
 tribution of the necessaries and comforts of life. In 
 other words — to dispose of the three evils, rent, interest 
 and profits, so that they will not oppress the white man 
 or the black man or the brown or the yellow man. The 
 negro question will be no question at all if the negro is 
 not a menace, and he will not be a menace if he is re- 
 quired by the force of a just and powerful society to 
 work for himself as well as for the common good. In 
 other words economic equality secured through frater- 
 nal union, will be an application of Christ's remedy- 
 brotherly love. You know the Standard Oil Company 
 never asked whether a man was black or white but 
 paid the same dividends on every share." 
 
 The ship sped on across the sea and Helen, Alden 
 and Mrs. Locksley spent the hours in conversation or in 
 such diversions as have always been employed by 
 voyagers to vary the monotony of the sea. They did 
 not, however, discuss questions as profound as that 
 which engaged them that morning. General Jamieson 
 was a prisoner aboard the ship which left Cartagena 
 harbor just before the Arrow. Helen, now that she 
 was again with her friends and released from captivity, 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 177 
 
 felt none of the resentment which had filled her heart 
 in captivity, and her defense of General Jamieson, 
 while it astonished both Alden and Mrs. Locksley, al- 
 most persuaded them to forgive him also. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 THE CALL OF THE ESTATE. 
 
 Some three months had passed since the Arrow 
 arrived in Boston harbor. President Adams had been, 
 much to his sorrow, prevented by his multitudinous 
 duties as executive and executor from being present 
 on that gala occasion. Secretary Endicott had per- 
 sonally represented him, as chief magistrate, at the re- 
 ception, which was one of the most brilliant ever seen 
 in America. His Excellency had read the reports in 
 the newspaper press and had heard from Endicott that 
 Helen had completely captured the hearts of all classes. 
 
 "It was wonderful!" declared Endicott. "No 
 queen of antiquity, whether Elizabeth, Victoria or 
 Wilhelmina was ever so admired. Helen Channing 
 was close to the hearts of the people." 
 
 The President was pleased. Somehow he felt 
 that this occasion was providential. He was at a loss 
 to determine just how to turn it to account. The 
 strain upon him, acting as political and economic head 
 of the nation, had been terrible. He was mentally and 
 physically ill. He could not think. He could find 
 none to help him bear the overwhelming burden. In 
 vain had he consulted the members of his political 
 cabinet. Each, in turn, had declared his inability to 
 serve except within the narrow limits of constitutional 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 179 
 
 authority. The political and economic systems were 
 useless to each other in their present forms. They 
 would not mingle. They would not embrace. They 
 would not aid each other. Sometimes His Excellency 
 felt that he would go insane. Wherever he went the 
 populace rent the air with their plaudits. They pro- 
 nounced him the greatest man who had ever lived. 
 Personally, it grieved him to occupy so large a place. 
 Knowing how great his problem was and how far from 
 solution, he believed he dwelt on the summit of a slum- 
 bering volcano. He slept little and had no appetite. 
 People remarked his shrunken form and said "he is 
 growing old." 
 
 "Miss Channing is a beautiful and accomplished 
 young woman," said Endicott. "She has all the 
 majesty of a queen, and I believe the people would be 
 delighted if the estate of Morgan Rockefeller could be 
 restored to her." 
 
 "I wish it could be, Endicott." The President 
 looked up with an expression of hope in his eyes. "I 
 wish it could be!" he repeated with a sigh. The Secre- 
 tary gazed upon his chief with profound sympathy. 
 Endicott, although cynical and apparently cold in his 
 dealings with all men, appreciated the difficulties 
 which beset the path of this man upon whom the world's 
 burdens had truly fallen. He was unable to lighten 
 those burdens by any suggestion which he regarded 
 as practical. But a thought had been running through 
 his mind since his visit to Boston, and he had deter- 
 mined to develop it in the mind of the President. 
 
 "I have never seen vast crowds so unanimous in 
 their idolatry of man or woman as those which gathered 
 
180 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 in and crowded the streets and public places along the 
 line of march when Miss Helen and her party were es- 
 corted to the state house where the reception was held. 
 They came from everywhere, from Illinois as well as 
 from all parts of New England. The capacity of 
 Standard's vast hostelries was taxed to the utmost. 
 Did you ever reflect, Mr. President, that humanity 
 will, like individual men, do anything for the woman 
 they love? Did you ever know the people to depose a 
 queen who ruled in her own right? Marie Antoinette 
 was never beloved by the French. But Maria Theresa 
 of Austria, Elizabeth and Victoria of England, Wilhel- 
 mina and all others who have reigned alone, were per- 
 fectly safe from popular violence. The voice of dis- 
 content was silent in a world of chivalric affection. A 
 woman could enslave a world where force would meet 
 its most obstinate resistance." 
 
 "But you do not believe I could permit this nation 
 to be enslaved, whether by a beautiful woman or a male 
 genius on horseback!" 
 
 "0, No!" The Secretary smiled cynically. "Not 
 that, Mr. President. We do not wish to surrender our 
 liberties, though to tell you truly, I am at a loss to de- 
 fine what our liberties are. Like our ancestors, we still 
 cheer the old flag. We celebrate on the fourth of July. 
 We glorify the deeds of our history and our heroes. 
 But we do what we must to get enough to eat and 
 drink and keep our positions. We could not have less 
 if this beautiful and accomplished woman owned the 
 system." 
 
 "Impossible! Impossible!" declared the President. 
 "In spite of all you say the people are really restless and 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 181 
 
 dissatisfied. The old Socialist party has been revived 
 and is gaining strength rapidly. They want to change 
 the constitution in order to have the government fitted 
 for commercial and industrial enterprise. This 
 would require an absolute transformation of the 
 system provided by the forefathers. You know as 
 well as I do — and history teaches plainly — that such 
 radical changes will unsettle conditions and upset 
 society. The result — revolution, anarchy and chaos." 
 
 The Secretary eyed the President triumphantly. 
 The latter did not observe it, however, but if one could 
 have seen it the Secretary's expression indicated, not 
 only triumph, but aggiession. He raised his clenched 
 fist and brought it down on the table in front of him 
 with such force as to nearly upset it. 
 
 "You are right!" he exclaimed. "You must act 
 at once if you would save your country, Mr. President. 
 You are overborne by responsibilities which no man 
 should assume. They will kill you if you do not place 
 them on shoulders where they will rest less heavily. 
 So complicated is the plan to blend the political and 
 economic, that no one will risk his reputation in trying 
 to help you. But if the economic system can be turned 
 over to Rockefeller's heir, a thousand strong minds 
 will spring to her assistance and a chivalric nation will 
 sustain and encourage them." 
 
 The President, startled by the energetic words and 
 action of his adviser, sat upright and the old fire 
 sprang to his eyes. He grasped Endicott's hand as it 
 rested where it had descended. 
 
 "Right!" he said. "You are right. It must be 
 done. We have gone through the farce of offering this 
 
182 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 vast estate for sale. We all know that no syndicate 
 could be formed powerful enough to purchase it. The 
 estate alone has the money to buy. The property can 
 not be administered as a government. Everybody 
 who has an idea wants to interfere. The situation is 
 intolerable. Even now it seems probable that we will 
 shortly be compelled to suppress certain radical ele- 
 ments by force. Miss Helen is, however, for some rea- 
 son averse to coming to St. Louis." 
 
 "I know it, Mr. President," interrupted Endicott. 
 "But that is because she is anxious to prevent the pun- 
 ishment of Jamieson who is to be tried in the Federal 
 courts in Boston. Release him, Your Excellency, and 
 she will come to St. Louis at once." 
 
 "But I cannot release him. That is not possible 
 until he is convicted. Meantime he is in the hands of 
 the judiciary." 
 
 "True, but if you will, he can be tried quickly and 
 acquitted." 
 
 "Impossible, illogical and disastrous! If tried, 
 no jury could acquit. If convicted, no president could 
 pardon." 
 
 The two sat silent and thoughtful for a time. At 
 last the Secretary, his face lighting up with hope, sug- 
 gested that if the President extended an invitation to 
 Miss Helen and placed it on the ground that the re- 
 lease of General Jamieson would be discussed, the true 
 situation and its difficulties might be made plain to her. 
 
 "I think it would be wise to entrust your message 
 and invitation to Alden Lowell," he continued. "Mr. 
 Lowell has been of great service in more ways than one 
 and her gratitude to him has been publicly manifested." 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 183 
 
 It was thus arranged, and the arrangement was 
 eminently satisfactory to both of these practical men. 
 They felt that anyway to shift the crushing re- 
 sponsibility of political and economic mesalliance 
 would be justified, if its method was sustained by pre- 
 cedent or had its origin in well tried customs. To them 
 it seemed clear that mankind was habituated to the rule 
 of an economic superior, for they had never been free 
 from one, and for more than eighty years had been at 
 the feet of a remarkable line of economic masters whose 
 natural and legal successor was or ought to be Helen 
 Channing. They believed that the world was ready 
 to submit to her sway and while it was inconceivable 
 that she could be a queen — yet, it was proper that she 
 should exercise, in her proprietary capacity and char- 
 acter, greater power than queen, empress or czarina. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 THE ESTATE'S ENVOY. 
 
 Since his return from Colombia, after witnessing 
 with mingled pleasure and despair, the universal ova- 
 tion and adoration extended to Helen in Boston, Alden 
 Lowell had been an honored guest of the President at 
 the Castle of Montraven. He had been disappointed 
 in the failure of the mirage reflector to search behind 
 the walls of Medellin and it was his desire to perfect 
 his invention and extend its scope and power. Thus 
 he was occupied constantly in the mirage chamber of 
 the Castle. He did not realize that he had become a 
 hero of international reputation and that his exploit 
 in Colombia was famous the world over. He was 
 quite oblivious of the fact that his scientific 
 fame had placed him in the gallery of earth's greatest 
 benefactors. He was conscious of a great and absorb- 
 ing love for the lady whose station was, he believed, 
 far above his, and also of a great desire to impress her 
 with a worthiness which he feared he would never pos- 
 sess. 
 
 He was, however, delighted to be intrusted with 
 the President's message. For three months he had 
 not seen the face of the adored one. Letters came 
 irom her and he wrote her in return, but the lady's 
 were mostly about the Reapers of the World, and he 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 185 
 
 answered very respectfully. To read this correspond- 
 ence one would never suspect the presence of the ten- 
 der passion. That very morning she had written: 
 
 "Dear Mr. Lowell: 
 
 The Reapers are becoming quite numerous. We 
 have over twenty thousand in the United States now. 
 I have a plan and if ever I see you again, I want to talk 
 it over with you. You might think of it in the mean- 
 time and perhaps you will be better able to advise me 
 when we meet. My plan is to buy the Rockefeller es- 
 tate. It is valued at only three hundred billion dol- 
 lars and, you know, gold is money and gold can be 
 used to buy it. 
 
 "I am very weary of all the attention of society. It 
 is nothing to me. I do not believe I am a social being. 
 My early ancestors, the Rockefellers, were not strictly 
 social. Of course John D. Rockefeller had a rather 
 homely way of attending church and treating the mem- 
 bers with informal cordiality. But his controlling 
 characteristic was his genius and passion for organiz- 
 ing. I have the same passion. Only there is this 
 difference. He wanted to organize and systematize 
 for the sake of acquiring dollars and power. I wanted 
 to organize for the sake of compelling people to take 
 their own dollars and wield their own power. But 
 John D. Rockefeller, in his day, did just what all the 
 world wanted to do, and I have no doubt what he did 
 then was the best that could be done. 
 
 ''You must write me, Mr. Lowell. I shall always 
 appreciate your devotion to your friend and your he- 
 roic act in coming to Colombia to rescue me. Of 
 
186 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 course you were in duty bound, as a Reaper of the World, 
 to rescue your Chief, but nobody could do it as 
 well as you could. 
 
 I am, Fraternally Yours, 
 
 Helen Channing." 
 
 Alden read this letter many times. Cold and mat- 
 ter of fact as it seemed, the hand writing was her own, 
 and to him, was full of vivid pictures of youth and 
 beauty, not to say love. He had answered immediately, 
 for Alden was no ' 'laggard in love" or at least would 
 not have been one, if the wall of wealth had not been 
 so grim and forbidding between him and the object of 
 his affection. Habit, education and the world's thought 
 had invested money with a divinity which seemed to 
 stand like a flaming sword at the gateway barring his 
 entrance to happiness. 
 
 It was sometime before Alden understood the let- 
 ter which his beloved one had sent him. After a while 
 he recovered from the delight which her familiar hand 
 writing afforded and read her sentences with some 
 thought as to her meaning. "My plan is to buy the 
 Rockefeller estate." He read it again and again. 
 "Buy the Rockefeller estate! Three hundred billion 
 dollars! Dear me!" he thought — "what a wonderful 
 girl she is! But what magic is she dreaming of now?" 
 
 While he was engaged in such thoughts, the sum- 
 mons came from the executive mansion and the lover 
 lost no time on his return to his apartments in Mont- 
 raven Castle in donning his seven league boots, so to 
 speak, and striding toward Boston. 
 
 Six hours later he landed at the great South Sta- 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 187 
 
 tion and was soon at the Boston Standard, home of the 
 elite of New England society. The hour was late, but 
 so important a person as the presidential envoy was 
 speedily accommodated with suitable quarters and 
 retired to dream of the sunshine which the next day 
 would bring. 
 
 As for Helen, she had left the Watertown Standard 
 and was now living in semi-regal splendor, because she 
 could not help it. The world would have it that way. 
 All New England came to Watertown to meet the heir of 
 the Rockefellers. The little hotel which was Helen's 
 home before recent events had placed her on the pin- 
 nacle of fame, was not sufficient to enable her to do the 
 honors of the least of those "occasions" which pressed 
 into her life. Isolation was out of the question. In 
 order to escape the multitude and find time to do her 
 chosen work, she must surround herself with a wall of 
 pomp and ceremony through which only the chosen 
 few could penetrate. This was alien to her nature. She 
 resisted it as being opposed to principle until it became 
 evident that her life would be squandered and wasted if 
 she did not obtain protection. So she submitted to the 
 importunity of both old and new friends and reluctantly 
 abandoned the simple life. 
 
 She was, as may well be suspected from what is 
 known of her previous life, the child of her inherited 
 genius for organization. The fraternal idea which was 
 embodied in the organization of the Reapers of the 
 World was her life and conscience, but her spiritual 
 nature dominated it all. She believed that, if the fra- 
 ternal idea could be introduced into material systems, 
 the world would have time and opportunity to study 
 
188 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 and become accquainted with the religious thought 
 of men and the spiritual power of God. She had come 
 to believe that Alden Lowell was important to her 
 work, but in her respect for his powers and gratitude 
 which she felt for his services to her, she had thought 
 only of his value to her cause, and not his relation to 
 her personally. She was capable of vast love — so vast 
 that she could make any sacrifice for it, even the sac- 
 rifice of life or the lives of those dearest to her. Does 
 such a character make martyrs rather than heroes? 
 Did she love Alden? She had never asked herself that 
 question. She knew that she enjoyed greater peace, 
 more complete rest in his society than in that of any 
 living person. 
 
 When therefore, she learned next morning that 
 Alden was in Boston, she was impatient until he ap- 
 peared at the apartments occupied by her and Mrs. 
 Locksley. How delightful it was to have him back 
 again. How pleasant to put aside all cares and cancel 
 all appointments that she might entertain him. Social 
 engagements were rarely broken by this young 
 lady — engagements involving her fraternal work were 
 never broken. But now society must wait — and the 
 all important and sufficient reason was — the arrival of 
 the President's envoy. 
 
 The mission of the President's envoy was one 
 which he regarded as delicate. It was not until late in 
 the afternoon that he ventured to approach it at all. 
 They were speeding along the great highway which 
 extended through Salem, Gloucester and Rockport, 
 recalling, in view of the rocky cliffs and the ocean, the 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 189 
 
 events which recently formed so stirring a part in the 
 history of their lives. 
 
 "When will Jamieson's trial take place?" incident- 
 ally asked Alden. 
 
 Helen turned upon him a look of reproachful sur- 
 prise. 
 
 "Did you not read the papers this morning?" she 
 asked. 
 
 "Miss Channing," he said, "do you think I would 
 waste time reading papers in Boston?" 
 
 "I did not know you were prejudiced against your 
 native city!" She looked at him playfully, but immedi- 
 ately her expression changed to one of sadness. 
 
 "I understand." she continued. "Of course you 
 have had little time to read. But if you had read the 
 papers, you would have seen that General Jamieson 
 died last night in the federal prison at Charlestown." 
 
 "Died!" exclaimed Alden in surprise and almost 
 with a note of exultation in his voice. "Died! Can it 
 be possible that the old rebel and professional revolu- 
 tionist is dead!" 
 
 "Mr. Lowell," she said sadly, turning and looking 
 him full in the face, "you are glad that this old man 
 is dead, and you feel that he deserved punishment for 
 his acts toward me and toward Rockefeller's regime. 
 For my part, I have read history and I am sure that 
 General Jamieson was what may be called one of the 
 best types of the 'old school' — the sort of a man, gen- 
 tleman and leader who was not only admired in the 
 days when John D. Rockefeller was hated, but who was 
 imitated and whose example furnished an inspiration to 
 the youth of that period. Is it not true, as Macauley 
 
190 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 says in substance, that we change our customs with 
 our fashions and wonder why our ancestors were so 
 wicked? Today the type of Rockefeller is admired 
 and the heroic figures of nineteenth century gentlemen 
 move through the corridors of the twentieth century 
 like so many barbarians. The grandest note of har- 
 mony in one song becomes a note of discord if intro- 
 duced into another." 
 
 Alden felt embarrassed. If the nature of man 
 could divest itself of its reverence for artificial things, 
 such as wealth; for delusive things, such as birth 
 and for sentimental things, such as fame, he would 
 probably have made a jest of her philosophy. But he 
 was inclined to take it seriously. It occurred to him, 
 after a while, that the death of Jamieson had removed 
 an obstacle in the way of Helen's visit to St. Louis. 
 He recovered his courage and made bold to explain 
 the object of his mission. 
 
 "Do you say that the President wishes to consider 
 my attitude toward poor General Jamieson's trial?' ' 
 she asked. 'Then, perhaps the general's death makes 
 it unnecessary for me to go to St. Louis." 
 
 Probably the worst diplomat in the world is a 
 lover who doesn't know whether his affection is recip- 
 rocated. Alden felt again that he had blundered. He 
 could only say: 
 
 "But you had better go anyway." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "I think the President wants to see you." 
 
 "And why?" 
 
 "I have no answer except that everybody does." 
 
 "Why doesn't he come to Boston if he wants to 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 191 
 
 see me?" Helen was inclined to tease her friend. Then 
 she changed the subject. The auto car in which they 
 rode suddenly shot out upon a portion of the highway 
 which overlooked Massachusetts Bay near Manchester 
 by the Sea. The scene which burst upon their view 
 was one which could be described as neither bewilder- 
 ingly grand nor majestic, but fascinating, restful and 
 harmonious. The islands which cluster beyond the 
 shore and dot the shining blue with green and black, 
 the myriad boats which flit an I fly along and above the 
 dimpled surface of the deep, the rugged cliffs whose 
 summits were decked with many a summer hotel for 
 Standard's happy employes, and the jutting promon- 
 tories where cities reared the glistening spires of 
 churches — presented a picture which captured and 
 held the fancy spellbound. For a space the road ran 
 in full view of this beautiful scene, and both Alden and 
 Helen gazed upon it silently and with a feeling of deep 
 enjoyment. What a feast for two loving souls. 
 
 Helen broke the silence first. 
 
 "I will go to St. Louis, Mr. Lowell; I will see the 
 President. I really think he needs me more than I 
 need him." 
 
 Alden was startled. In his happiness to be near 
 this delightful being, he had, for the moment, forgotten 
 that he was really there as an envoy. He had forgotten 
 his embarrassment of a few minutes before and had 
 ceased to think. Now he was brought back to earth 
 by the sudden success of his mission. If the skies had 
 opened and let a crown fall into his lap without notice 
 he could not have been more surprised or better pleased. 
 
 "When will you go?" he asked. 
 
 "Tomorrow," she answered. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV. 
 THE SNARE OF CIRCUMSTANCES. 
 
 St. Louis, like Boston, was chivalric and faithful. 
 The newspapers of the city had given the inhabitants, 
 on the morning after Alden announced to the President 
 the acceptance of his invitation, the news that Miss 
 Helen Channing, heir of all the Rockefellers, would 
 arrive on the morning train from the East. The same 
 papers announced that in honor of the event, Mr. 
 Adams, as executor of the Rockefeller will, had declared 
 a holiday and that all factories and shops should be 
 closed without loss of wages. 
 
 Although the train was not due until ten in the 
 morning the people began to gather around the depot 
 two hours in advance, and long before it arrived every 
 street, window and roof in the vicinity was filled with 
 eager and crushing crowds. It was with difficulty that 
 way was made for the auto occupied by the President 
 and Mrs. Adams, who came in person to meet their dis- 
 tinguished and all but royal guest. The people were 
 devoted to their great chief magistrate and as his equip- 
 age slowly made its way through their midst, they 
 cheered him with evidence of enthusiasm and appreci- 
 ation. But the people shared with the President a 
 disposition to recognize an economic superior and in 
 addition to this, felt an unrestrained curiosity to see the 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 193 
 
 original of those portraits which had everywhere pic- 
 tured a face and form of marvelous feminine beauty. 
 
 When the train arrived, which it did almost im- 
 mediately after the President's auto took its place at 
 the platform, a deep silence fell upon the vast crowd. 
 It was the hush of expectancy, such as might precede 
 the rendition of a judgment or the performance of some 
 great and difficult feat. All eyes and ears became in- 
 tent on the developments around the station. Police 
 officers cleared the platform and made way for His 
 Excellency and the First Lady of the Land( politically) 
 as they proceeded into the station. 
 
 It was not long — probably less than five minutes, 
 although to the crowd it seemed longer — before the 
 President and Miss Helen, followed by Mrs. Adams and 
 Alden, appeared at the door. At the same instant the 
 band played and the crowd pushed forward anxious, to 
 catch a glimpse of the. guest of honor. A second later 
 and the verdict was rendered. Helen never appeared 
 to better advantage. Her face was spiritual and ex- 
 pressive. Her form, tall, erect and graceful, draped 
 in the simple costume for which she had become noted, 
 gave no evidence of pride. The world gazing at her, at 
 that moment beheld a vision of purity and loveliness and 
 the silence of inspection was in a moment followed by 
 an outburst of approval which moved from the avenue 
 through which she passed in rapid waves, until the whole 
 city seemed to vibrate with joy. Amid these unceas- 
 ing plaudits the party took their places in the autos and 
 slowly made their way to the Executive Mansion. The 
 President was especially pleased. He conversed with 
 the young lady at his side, smiled and bowed to the 
 
194 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 beaming multitude and seemed delighted at the re- 
 ception which his guest was receiving. 
 
 'The capital city is pleased," he said, addressing 
 Miss Channing, "to see the descendant of the great 
 house of Rockefeller — but I am better pleased than 
 they." 
 
 "Your Excellency is entitled to the thanks of the 
 House of Rockefeller," was Helen's reply. 
 
 It was a remarkable day, a memorable occasion. 
 The whole city after that continuous morning ovation 
 went mad with joy and the President, the executor and 
 the municipal corporation provided all manner of 
 sports and festivities to increase the general delight. 
 For days following, the society of the capital, led with 
 semi-royal pomp and glitter of official and diplomatic 
 pageantry, revolved around the dazzled but always 
 self-poised and graceful daughter of the ruling race. 
 The President and his guest were often together, but 
 the occasion which the former sought, the psychologi- 
 cal moment which his mind and heart yearned to em- 
 brace, seemed far off 
 
 Helen felt herself, so to speak, in the snare of 
 circumstances. She realized that though a guest in 
 the house of power, she was being treated more as if she 
 were its royal mistress. Waiting ladies, refined, cul- 
 tured and elegant attended to her wants and her 
 lightest wish was accepted as a command. The 
 "First Lady of the Land" (politically), the punctilious 
 and ceremonious, but intellectual and sympathetic 
 Mrs. Adams, and her distinguished husband approached 
 with great formality. Do what she would to restore 
 social equality between herself and those around her 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 195 
 
 —all persisted in acting as if she was of different clay, 
 of purer mould. A system of etiquette, which she had 
 no power to control or check, developed, so that in a 
 few days after she arrived, she felt as if she were chained 
 to a throne. The court of Helen had come into her 
 life as inexplicably, unexpectedly and as unbidden as a 
 dream. At first she protested — but her protests were 
 ignored as completely as if unheard. At last she re- 
 alized that all were implicated in a conspiracy to honor 
 her beyond what she believed her right an finding 
 how futile her objections and protests were, she ac- 
 cepted the situation and acted the queen as grandly 
 as she looked it. If she expressed a wish to ride, a 
 magnificent automobile with a chaff eur and attendants 
 in gorgeous livery received her at the door and with 
 a lady in waiting who sought to interest and entertain 
 her, she was whirled through the beautiful streets and 
 picturesque parks of St. Louis. Mrs. Adams fre- 
 quently accompanied her on those delightful spins, 
 but always and everywhere the highest and the lowest 
 treated her either with profound deference or with 
 distant but enthusiastic devotion. 
 
 One day the President called and when the at- 
 tendants had by command of Helen retired, she ex- 
 pressed her mind quite plainly. 
 
 "Mr. President/' she said, "I am distressed be- 
 cause of the mystery by which I am surrounded. All 
 the people whom you have caused to attend me treat 
 me, not as a guest, but as a mistress, and more like 
 what I suppose to be the treatment accorded a royal 
 person. It is not pleasing to me." 
 
 "I hope, Miss Helen," replied the President, 
 
196 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 standing before her and bowing low, "that you will 
 accustom yourself to the situation in which your lin- 
 eage and fortune place you. You can not be un- 
 mindful of the fact that all America regards you as its 
 most distinguished citizen or that the peace and order 
 of society depend upon you for their preservation." 
 
 "But I have never been consulted by you or even 
 taken into your confidence in regard to these matters, 
 Mr. President. You cause me to be placed in a posi- 
 tion before the people which I neither anticipated 
 nor hoped for. You must realize that the people will 
 sooner or later strike down the sham idol which you 
 are trying to lift up before them." 
 
 "You are much mistaken, Miss Helen." The 
 President still remained standing although Helen had 
 seated herself and invited him to do the same. He 
 looked at her almost triumphantly, his face beaming 
 with satisfaction. 
 
 "The whole world is today urging that your 
 rights as Morgan Rockefeller's heir be recognized 
 and that the estate of your deceased relative be re- 
 stored to the family of which you are the only living 
 representative." 
 
 Helen had for several days suspected that the 
 President was responsible for her exaltation. She 
 did not resent it, but being only a mortal after all, 
 began to feel that it was due her. Even the fraternal 
 plan, so dear to her in the years gone by, seemed to 
 have faded a little. Like one borne swiftly and safely 
 on the bosom of a rushing stream, dazzled by a myr- 
 iad of lights and constantly changing scenes, she had 
 little time for other thoughts than her mysterious and 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 197 
 
 not unpleasant position. The world was beckoning her 
 and bewildering her with its smiles. Only she real- 
 ized that something was wanting to her happiness. 
 She wondered why she saw no more of Alden Lowell. 
 Sometimes she would half awaken from her dreams and 
 feel guilty and distressed and then she would give all 
 the world of whirling visions, if she could but see 
 Alden and ask and receive his advice. But the pomp 
 and ceremony and royal visions would begin again 
 and conscience had no time to warn, and mind had no 
 time to think. Neither did the heart have time to 
 love. As the President spoke, reminding her of her 
 relation to the great Rockefeller's life, a feeling of 
 pride arose in her soul. It must have found distinct 
 expression in her beautiful face — for the spiritual look 
 which had hitherto distinguished her was less apparent 
 and its heavenly loveliness gave place to a loveliness 
 in which a trace of the hauteur of the material world 
 appeared. 
 
 The keen and observant statesman before her had 
 large experience in reading the human mind. He 
 saw and understood the expression of the face which 
 meant so much to him. Wise and skillful in the man- 
 agement of any incident he grew wiser and more skill- 
 ful as his hopes seemed to promise success. 
 
 "Miss Helen," he continued, his voice and man- 
 ner full of compliment and admiration, "in the great 
 castle of Montraven is a gallery of action pictures in 
 which you should feel interested. All your great an- 
 cestors are there. Wonderful films and wonderful 
 scenes are at your disposal. Will you appoint a time 
 to accompany me there and you shall see your great 
 
198 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 ancestors face to face. You may also see the faces 
 of many others who have helped to build up your 
 illustrious and all-commanding house." 
 
 "Mr. President," answered Helen, "I thank you. 
 I have heard of this gallery and am anxious to see it. 
 I will accept you invitation for tomorrow after lunch 
 if it will suit Your Excellency's convenience." 
 
 The President withdrew from the presence of 
 the heiress and with a light heart returned to his own 
 apartments, believing that no possible obstacle would 
 prevent his plans from being successful. 
 
XXXVI. 
 
 A PLOT. 
 
 President Adams, according to his lights, was a 
 patriot above all things else. He loved his country. 
 It may well be doubted if he loved anything else, al- 
 though he was devoted to the lady who shared with 
 him the honors of the White House in a most exem- 
 plary and eminently creditable sense. He was a just 
 man, too, and believed the highest mission which his 
 country could serve, was to administer justice with 
 exactness and improve the instrumentalities by which 
 wealth is produced and intelligence is increased. As 
 has been already made clear, he believed in the Rock- 
 efeller estate as the foundation of his country's pros- 
 perity and was determined to preserve the integrity 
 of that estate at any cost. 
 
 He believed that the Rockefeller system of pro- 
 duction and distribution was the glory of the age, 
 and that political government was charged with no 
 higher duty than that of marshaling humanity, for 
 its own good, to husband and foster the economic estate. 
 
 Now that a great and overtowering occasion had 
 arisen in his life, the President had not the least scruple 
 as to what sacrifice might be made to save the estate 
 from disintegration and destruction. When Helen 
 arrived in St. Louis his resolution was fixed. She 
 
200 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 would not escape him. But it never occurred to him 
 that she would wish to escape. Still, with a master 
 hand and mind he lead her into the psychological con- 
 ditions which he created, that she might become un- 
 consciously habituated to her manifest destiny. 
 
 One thing occurred to the President on the very 
 day of her arrival. He must eliminate Lowell from the 
 problem which confronted him. Lowell he regarded 
 as exceedingly deserving and he Had been glad to find 
 the young man useful. Indeed, no one rejoiced in 
 Lowell's celebrity and success more than the Presi- 
 dent. Still he remembered that Lowell was deposed 
 from the New England Furniture Company because 
 of some heretical notion which would have broken a 
 youth of less family distinction and he was suspicious 
 of the young man's influence on that account. He 
 could not be trusted so near the throne as the suscepti- 
 ble heart of a maiden might make it possible for him 
 to arrive. The President therefore determined to 
 send Alden away and Helen had not been in the Capi- 
 tal more than ten hours before the ever-active Chief 
 Executive summoned him to his office. 
 
 Great was the consternation of Alden when the 
 President, in a kindly but decisive manner, told him 
 that he had been selected to proceed to China on a 
 mission which was exceedingly important and honor- 
 able. Great was his despair when he learned that he 
 was expected to be ready o depart at a very early 
 hour the following morning In those days, as now, 
 the public business took precedence of all things else, 
 and it was a point of honor, not to be ignored by any 
 one who entertained the pride of gentle blood and hon- 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 201 
 
 orable position, to obey implicitly the command of 
 either the political or the economic chief of the repub- 
 lic. 
 
 The President observed the confusion of the youth 
 and suspected the reason. He also knew that Alden 
 would have no thought of resisting. 
 
 "Your Excellency will recall that I have just re- 
 turned from a mission today," Alden had said, his 
 disappointment finding faint expression. "I will, how- 
 ever, be ready. Still, Your Excellency, if I take the 
 early train, I will not be able to say farewell to those 
 to whom that courtesy is due." 
 
 "You will prepare at once to go," said the Presi- 
 dent, pretending not to notice the distress he had 
 caused. "Your instructions are being prepared and 
 will be placed in your hands on the train. You will 
 study them on the way. And now, Alden," he con- 
 tinued, taking the latter's hand, "I will personally 
 say farewell for you to those who deserve that courtesy 
 from you and make your apologies to them." 
 
 So Alden was at the train promptly in the morn- 
 ing and received his instructions. He had also written 
 a note to Miss Helen which it is just as well the reader 
 should know now never, got by the secretary, whom 
 the President had provided to help Helen in her cor- 
 respondence. 
 
 The next day President Adams was in consulta- 
 tion with Secretary Endicott. 
 
 "Endicott!" said he, "Miss Helen is all you have 
 described her to be. I think I may say that she has 
 no superior in all that constitutes nobility and virtue." 
 
202 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 "Your Excelency is pleased?" asked the Secre- 
 tary indifferently. 
 
 "Endicott," exclaimed the President, leaning con- 
 fidently toward that gentleman and touching his 
 shoulder with his hand, "she should be married, and 
 her great estate requires that her consort be a man of 
 affairs, of wide experience, of education and distin- 
 guished family." 
 
 "Have you spoken to her on the subject?" asked 
 the Secretary with a smile of amusement. 
 
 "Not yet, Endicott," he answered. "I have 
 thought it best to find a suitable person to recommend. 
 When we have found such a person, I will speak to her." 
 
 The Secretary looked at his chief again, this time 
 not with indifference, but with a smile which was almost 
 a laugh. 
 
 "Endicott," the President grew more confidential 
 now, and his own face seemed to reflect the unpleasant 
 expressiveness of his adviser. "You are unmarried. 
 You have experience in handling affairs. You are of 
 a distinguished family." 
 
 The two looked at each other in silence for some 
 seconds, but the smile faded from the face of the 
 younger. He scrutinized the chief searchingly, evi- 
 dently with an effort to determine whether he was in 
 earnest. 
 
 "You say you have not spoken to her on the sub- 
 ject, Mr. President," he said at last. "Has it occurred 
 to you that she may have some wish to be consulted?" 
 
 "I have her pretty well in my power. I expect 
 her to act wisely." These words were spoken with 
 some decision. 
 
MORCxAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 203 
 
 "Is it your wisdom, Your Excellency, or her wis- 
 dom," asked the Secretary, "which you expect will 
 control? I think you will find Miss Helen Channing 
 a pretty worthy descendant of her distinguished an- 
 cestors and I have never read of one of that family 
 who was not of a dominating rather than a submisssive 
 factor in his or her own affairs." 
 
 Endicott was thinking, however. He certainly 
 did admire Miss Channing. He had never seen a 
 woman whom he had admired so much. But at 
 thirty-eight he had settled into the life of a bachelor 
 and believed he would never marry. Until the Presi- 
 dent suggested it, the thought of an alliance with Miss 
 Channing had never occurred to him. 
 
 The President's suggestion took root in the Sec- 
 retary's mind. He was in no sense a grasping or avari- 
 cious man. He was not ambitious for power other 
 than what his own force could acquire. The 
 prospect of coming into the possession of such a prop- 
 erty and being allied with such a woman, pleased his 
 fancy. It did more than that. It interested his mind 
 so much that the picture of a feminine face of striking 
 beauty and fascination was continually before him. 
 The mind, after all, is not far from the heart. Before 
 Alden Lowell had reached his destination on the other 
 side of the world, the cold, cynical Endicott had dis- 
 covered that he, too, could feel as well as think, and love 
 as well as judge. He continually sought Helen's 
 society when he could find leisure from the duties of 
 his position. In the glare and glitter of the social 
 whirl into which the President had thrown his guest, 
 
204 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 Helen was pleased with the attention of this courtly and 
 handsome man and received it as a natural and de- 
 lightful accompaniment of her novel and unsought 
 glory. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 THE HALL OF HISTORY. 
 
 The Hall of History in Montraven Castle was one 
 which in the early part of the twentieth century would 
 have suggested the supernatural. Since the days of 
 John D. Rockefeller, Junior, it has grown in import- 
 ance until it is the chief repository of those films which 
 contain, in pictured form, the spectacular and oral 
 records of the great historical scenes and events of 
 public life; 
 
 The house of Rockefeller is there represented, in 
 life-like activity. The forms and faces of all members 
 of the national family are in the films, in some scenes 
 of national importance. 
 
 It was never permissible for any but the members 
 of the immediate family to enter this hall of history, 
 except by special invitation and only the most favored 
 and trusted servants of the age ever received such an 
 invitation during the lives of Aldrich Rockefeller and 
 his successor, the great Morgan. Once a month, in 
 Aldrich's and Morgan's time, the hall was open to all 
 members of the family and their invited guests and 
 such films were represented as were called for, or if 
 none were called for then such as the operators arbi- 
 trarily selected. 
 
 The day after the President suggested the visit of 
 
206 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER S WILL. 
 
 Helen to the Hall, the Presidential party, consisting 
 of the President and Mrs. Adams, their illustrious 
 guest and Secretary Endicott, arrived in state at the 
 castle. The Democratic crowds which greeted Helen 
 on her arrival at the capital city were not in evidence 
 now. 'They are all industriously employed," the 
 President explained to her. The truth was that every 
 effort was being made by the government to maintain 
 around the heiress an exclusiveness which was not to 
 be removed except on great occasions. The President 
 was becoming a past master in the exploitation of his 
 plans and an air of mystery was producing a proper 
 reverence for the young lady among the people. But 
 several invited guests were in the great reception room 
 of the castle where they awaited anxiously the almost 
 royal party. 
 
 As a descendant of the house of Rockefeller, 
 Helen took precedence as they entered the Hall of 
 History, and she was with great ceremony ushered to 
 her place of observation. 
 
 "I have taken the liberty," said the President, 
 addressing her after they were seated, "to direct the 
 operator to present the famous film in which Orlando, 
 the great actor, simulating John D. Rockefeller, the 
 founder of your branch of the family, delivers his fa- 
 mous speech against competition." 
 
 "I thank you, Mr. President," replied Helen, look- 
 ing around with genuine interest. "I believe I am 
 more deeply interested in the character and career of 
 the founder of our fortune, than in all his successors." 
 
 Helen used the phrase "our fortune" with a note 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 207 
 
 of pride which the President noticed and at which he 
 smiled with evident pleasure. 
 
 The operators had been prepared for some time and 
 were in readiness to proceed when the Presidential 
 party gave the signal. 
 
 The scene was realistic in the extreme. The sub- 
 ject was 'The Inquisition" and Mr Rockefeller sat in 
 the so called witness chair in a celebrated case which 
 was tried in New York City, in the year 1908. The 
 operator explained by way of preface that the incident 
 presented had become one of the most famous in his- 
 tory. 
 
 "Little did the people of that day and age," said 
 he, "suspect the importance of the great words de- 
 livered by Mr. John D. Rockefeller when subjected to 
 the baiting of that inquisition. It is probable that he 
 did not use the language put into his mouth by the 
 exhibitor, but it is certain that the thought was ex- 
 pressed on that occasion with startling effect. Not 
 until years after was their full force recognized. It is 
 to be regretted that Mr. Rockefeller failed to have 
 these scenes preserved in original films, but Orlando's 
 splendid reproductions will aid us to understand the 
 situation." 
 
 The scene presented an old man — apparently 
 approaching seventy — seated on an elevated chair 
 and facing a group of men whose prejudices glared 
 fiercely from their faces. Their questions were thun- 
 dered at the man of giant achievement with a view to 
 eliciting the information that his action in seeking to 
 destroy competition was little short of treason. It 
 was a perfect representation. The strong, determined 
 
208 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 and yet kindly and thoughtful countenance of the 
 ''founder" was misconstrued by the men who sought to 
 antagonize him. The changing color of the disputants, 
 their attitudes and expressions were those of a real 
 scene. 
 
 "Is it not true, Mr Rockefeller," asked the keen 
 and persistent Kellogg, "that the Standard Oil Company 
 has always endeavored to eliminate and suppress com- 
 petition in the field of oil production and distribution?" 
 
 Evidently, the crude and semi-civilized court and 
 spectators regarded the question as a crucial one. Evi- 
 dently, they expected the witness to evade, and con- 
 sidered that not to evade would be an effrontery which 
 would subject him to the contempt of mankind. All 
 eyes were riveted upon him and his answer was awaited 
 in dramatic silence. 
 
 "The Standard Oil Company is a corporation in 
 the nature of a trust," declared Mr. Rockefeller, slowly 
 and without defiance or dramatic affectation. "You 
 fail to appreciate the evolutionary value of this modern 
 economic invention and seem to think that the great- 
 est and most admirable feature of the economic system 
 is competition. I say to you — and coming ages will 
 understand me if you do not — that both war and com- 
 petition are wasteful and disastrous to humanity. I 
 say to you that war and competition are equally selfish, 
 equally injurious, equally terrible. Death is the re- 
 ward of both for such 'is the wages of sin.' Every 
 business which preys on another business is not only 
 assaulting it, but is destroying those engaged in it. 
 War is a brutal hell. Competition in the business 
 world is a refined but a thousand times more cruel hell 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 209 
 
 than war. You seek to keep competition alive and per- 
 secute me because I oppose it. I say to you that the 
 age of the non-competitive trust has just begun, and 
 that in the years to come, this instrumentality of the 
 economic system will move successfully hand in hand 
 with international arbitration to establish among men 
 the peace of God, and the justice of fair distribution 
 of God's bounties." 
 
 "Splendid! Splendid!" exclaimed Helen. "John D. 
 Rockefeller was a hero, indeed. How calmly he ac- 
 cepted the situation and how nobly and truthfully he 
 expressed his views. I have seen the competitive 
 world in Colombia. It is a world of confusion, disaster, 
 selfishness and death." 
 
 "It is surprising to us in this age that anybody 
 should seek to justify either competition or war," re- 
 marked Secretary Endicott, in recognition of Helen's 
 comments. "The Inquisitor in those days was a hero 
 —but his day of popularity was short. Such a con- 
 stant disturber of the prevailing current of business as 
 the Inquisitor could not be tolerated and the trusts 
 assumed undisputed sway." 
 
 "But was not my ancestor assailed by another 
 enemy?" asked Helen. "I think I recall a plan devised 
 by a Boston man to defeat the system of the Standard 
 Oil Company." 
 
 "True," replied the President. "That was Law- 
 son's remarkable effort to organize the speculators in a 
 great movement to bear and buy up the stocks of all 
 corporations controlled in Wall Street. Lawson was 
 a very resourceful and capable man. The plan 
 failed because it did not introduce a principle of jus- 
 
210 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 tice, but merely proposed that Lawson and his suc- 
 cessors should be substituted for Mr. Rockefeller and 
 his successors. The people could see no advantage in 
 the substitution and would not waste time or interrupt 
 the progress of development by aiding in so fruitless 
 a revolution." 
 
 The films which followed were varied and interest- 
 ing. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., interested Helen much. 
 He was a man whose life was not affected by the sus- 
 picions which were attached to the actions of his great 
 father. The film presented showed him in the act of 
 delivering his famous speech wherein he illustrated the 
 necessity of making many sacrifices for the accomplish- 
 ment of the greatest good by instancing the American 
 Beauty rose whose singular beauty was obtained by 
 leaving it on the bush alone to bud and blossom at the 
 expense of its companion buds. At the time when this 
 speech was delivered it was widely and unfavorably 
 commented on by an unappreciative and prejudiced 
 public. 
 
 Aldrich Rockefelller appeared to be the most dra- 
 matic figure presented by the films. He was a man of 
 splendid attainments and rather inclined to display. 
 In his administration of the Standard the contest be- 
 tween the political and economic powers became acute. 
 But in truth there was never a doubt as to the result. 
 It was not a question in his time, indeed, it never had 
 been a question in the history of the republic, what the 
 majority wanted, but what the majority was willing to 
 tolerate. Aldrich found means to have majorities 
 counted in favor of business stability and the business 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 211 
 
 world had neither money nor inclination to disturb the 
 count. 
 
 When the party left the Hall of History that after- 
 noon, Helen felt that these remarkable people, men and 
 women of the Rockefeller family, belonged to her. Yet 
 while she admired the great Morgan most of all, a 
 slight resentment arose in her heart, because he had ig- 
 nored her during his life, and had not considered her 
 worthy to be his successor in the control of the estate. 
 But the resentment was not pronounced and she did 
 not clearly define a wish to assume the burdens of 
 wealth. It was plain, however, that she was growing 
 into her station and President Adams announced to 
 Secretary Endicott that evening that the conditions 
 were ripe for the institution of legal proceedings for the 
 transfer of the estate to Miss Channing and the annul- 
 ment of the devise to the government, on the ground of 
 the government's constitutional incapacity to take such 
 a devise or operate such a business. 
 
XXXVIII. 
 THE TEMPTATION. 
 
 Helen retired to rest that night, after her return 
 from the Hall of History, feeling that she owed a duty 
 to her ancestors. 
 
 Precisely what that duty was, she did not try to de- 
 termine. 
 
 Neither did it occur to her that during all her life 
 she had been a stranger to the fact of relationship and 
 that both that and the supposed duty were unwelcome 
 to her until now. 
 
 All the world conceded that the Rockefeller family 
 had a right to be proud. Such was the world's habit of 
 thought, and what is in the world's thought none but 
 God — or one close to the strength and knowledge of 
 God — can be expected to resist. 
 
 The President had gone a little more into detail 
 with Helen in regard to his plans, that afternoon. 
 
 "The government," he said "can not take this leg- 
 acy of Morgan Rockefeller without a radical amend- 
 ment of the federal constitution. There is nothing left 
 for me to do but sell, and that is impossible as none can 
 buy. If the government retains it as trustee, it must 
 operate the industries and the best legal opinion is 
 that the will may now be set aside and the property 
 turned over to you as the only heir of Morgan Rocke- 
 feller. It will require a court proceeding. I will have 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 213 
 
 the necessary papers prepared for you to sign and pre- 
 sent them for your signature. Will it be your pleasure 
 to receive me and a deputation of attorneys for the pur- 
 pose, tomorrow?' ' 
 
 Helen had assented. 
 
 "So then," she thought, "the marvels continue to 
 develop. I am to be the owner of all North America 
 and its people. Well — I shall do great good with this 
 wealth." 
 
 It was certainly pride which was being enthroned 
 in a heart which had never before felt superiority in a 
 worldly sense. 
 
 And what was this pride? 
 
 That she should receive the credit for being charit- 
 able and relieving suffering everywhere! 
 
 That men and women would bless her for her good- 
 ness! 
 
 That her name would be the synonym of everv vir- 
 tue! 
 
 That history would place her among her ancestors 
 and since she now succeeded them when all their work 
 of amassing and assembling wealth and power was 
 completed, she would enjoy where they suffered, and 
 avoid the contamination whose stains were only re- 
 moved by glorified success. 
 
 Helen felt exalted. 
 
 Yet she dimly recognized that her enjoyment of 
 this power which had come to her was different and far 
 less satisfying than the enjoyment which she remem- 
 bered as springing from unselfish action where good was 
 done without ostentation, not in her own name, but in 
 the name of God to whom belonged all glory. 
 
214 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 It was sometime before she could compose her agi- 
 tation sufficiently to sleep. 
 
 What wonder! 
 
 Was the world being tossed like a ball into her 
 keeping? 
 
 WTien at last she did sleep, her mind winged its 
 way from the consciousness of material delusions to 
 that realm which men call unreal — the realm of dreams. 
 
 She dreamed that she was taken up into a high 
 mountain and a crown, blazing with the richest jewels 
 in all the world, came and rested upon her head; that 
 royal robes flowed in stately folds down from her 
 shoulders, and a great company of distinguished look- 
 ing people with dazzling and brilliant costumes paid 
 homage to her. She looked up and beheld a throne and 
 ere she could utter a word, she felt herself taken by gen- 
 tle forces and placed upon that throne and a sceptre 
 slipped into her hand. Then a voice seemed to come 
 from below — from the kneeling world — from the slopes 
 of the mountain on whose summit she sat — from the 
 valleys beyond — from the great plains which stretched 
 toward the setting sun — from the rivers and lakes and 
 from the ocean into which the sun was sinking, and said : 
 
 "Helen, daughter of a masterful and unconquered 
 race, henceforth be Empress of the West. Rule — and 
 let your children rule after you — for the world has given 
 all power and all government into your hands. Wealth 
 and all its instrumentalities are yours. History and all 
 its glory are yours. You, Empress of the West, more 
 powerful than Semiramis; than Cleopatra, than Eliza- 
 beth, than Catharine, than Maria Theresa or Victoria; 
 more potent than Sesostris, Alexander, Caesar, Charle- 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 215 
 
 magne, Constantine or Napoleon — rule! The world is 
 yours." 
 
 Then the skies seemed to open and wonderful fig- 
 ures moved toward her out of the golden clouds which 
 rolled in splendor around the setting sun. She had a 
 feeling that they had come to her from the past — the 
 past so remote, so distant that even Fancy faints with 
 exhaustion in an effort to reestablish it. Strange cos- 
 tumes they wore — strange but always brilliant. From 
 ages forgotten they came — bringing the fruits of those 
 ages — and while the company prostrated themselves — 
 one who appeared to be their king, knelt and said : 
 
 "Great Empress, behold! The age in which we 
 lived is forgotten. No trace of its existence is apparent 
 to man's mortal sense. Even our country and all its 
 cities, our capital and all its marvels of architecture, our 
 schools and all their learning, lie beneath the shifting 
 sands at the bottom of yonder ocean. But behold! We 
 have contributed to the glory of that empire which is 
 now yours. Our very name is lost to history even as 
 will be the name of that age and clime which acknow- 
 ledge your dominion. But we, from the forgotten past, 
 do homage to the present and to you, its Imperial Mis- 
 tress." 
 
 Then the figures faded like phantoms and the gol- 
 den clouds around the setting sun rolled apart once 
 more and, as from the gateway of a fortress, came a pro- 
 cession of mighty armies with banners. Strange char- 
 acters were upon those banners, but in her dreamland 
 empire, the knowledge of them was made clear to Helen. 
 
 And on the first banner was the name Babylon; 
 and the "King of Kings" who lead the first army com- 
 
216 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 manded the gorgeously caparisoned elephant upon 
 which he rode to kneel, and it knelt before the throne 
 upon which Helen sat. Then the King dismounting, 
 knelt also and said : 
 
 " Mighty Empress — ruler of all wealth in whose 
 hands is the fate of millions — behold! our empire and 
 our great city of Babylon is also in ruins. We offer 
 you nothing material. But, behold! we also have giv- 
 en the world all that one generation ever gave to an- 
 other — our best thought. Accept our gift, mighty 
 Empress, Daughter of Wealth and Power." 
 
 Then knelt the kings of Nineveh, and Syria and 
 Persia, and China and the Princes of India, one after 
 the other and offering their separate tributes, passed 
 like the first. And Alexander the Great, leading the 
 Grecian hosts, fell on his knees, with all those heroes 
 and poets, philosophers and teachers, whom Greece had 
 nurtured in her youth and prime, and cried out: 
 
 "Do not disdain us, mighty Empress, for though 
 the ruins, even, of our beautiful cities are nearly effaced, 
 yet do we contribute to your greatness, not material 
 wealth, but the strength of mind, the models and graces 
 of art, and the splendor of truth." 
 
 Then suddenly the world and the sun and the heav- 
 ens grew dark, but immediately became light again with 
 a brightness more dazzling and bewildering than ever. 
 And Imperial Caesar, and the legions of Rome, that 
 Eternal City, and golden chariots and a vast concourse 
 of people swept swiftly to their place before the throne 
 and knelt down, and paid their homage to her and 
 passed on. When Constantine the Great, on whose 
 banner was the symbol of the cross and the words "In 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 217 
 
 hoc signo vinces" knelt, Helen, on her dreamland throne 
 could not forbear to ask: "Did you think then, that 
 Christ charged you to conquer by that sign, but with the 
 sword?" And Constantine answered: "Alas! we did 
 our best to understand, but the truth was lost in the 
 tumult and confusion of our material age. My sword 
 belongs to that age, but the cross I lay at the foot of 
 your throne. I have rescued it for you. May you 
 comprehend its meaning where I failed." 
 
 Then as the sun sank into the distant sea and the 
 world grew dark, a vast overshadowing cloud arose 
 whose outlines against the fading light resembled the 
 silhouetted form of the great Napoleon, as he is pictured 
 on the shores of St. Helena. But the night fell and the 
 shadow passed into undistinguishable darkness — and 
 a weird and mysterious whisper was borne to her by the 
 sighing night wind, saying: 
 
 "Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and myself 
 founded empires. But upon what did we rest the cre- 
 ations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone 
 founded his empire upon love, and at this moment mil- 
 lions of men would die for him. I die before my time 
 and my body will be given back to the earth, to become 
 food for worms. Such is the fate of him who has been 
 called the Great Napoleon. What an abyss between 
 my deep misery and the eternal Kingdom of Christ, 
 which is proclaimed, loved and adored and which is 
 extending over the whole earth." 
 
 In her dream Helen sat alone and a feeling of deso- 
 lation seized her heart. Why was she there? Where 
 now was all that brilliant assemblage? What had be- 
 come of that wonderful pageantry? W T hat, after all, 
 
218 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 did this material splendor and wealth amount to? So 
 complete was the change, and so great the reaction, 
 that the desolation of her position became one al- 
 most of terror. 
 
 Now utter darkness enveloped the world. The 
 sun was gone, the moon and the stars had disappeared, 
 the world and its people were blotted out. She was 
 conscious of being on the verge of a precipice over which 
 she might fall if she made the slightest move. Never- 
 theless, she rose from the throne and it also vanished. 
 She was left standing alone among rugged and barren 
 peaks whose jagged forms leaned darkly over her like 
 threatening shadows. 
 
 Then a voice came to her through the blackness. 
 She was startled. But the voice was so strong — yet so 
 gentle — so confident yet so full of compassion — that 
 she felt in a measure reassured. 
 
 "Do not move, "the voice said. "I will be with you 
 soon. I know these cliffs and rugged places better than 
 any one who ever lived, and I will guide you. Rely only 
 on me." 
 
 Somehow the voice sounded familiar. Yet it was 
 sweeter and more fascinating than any voice she ever 
 heard before. She looked in the direction whence it 
 came, but saw no human form — only the black shad- 
 ows which stood out from the darkness of her surround- 
 ings. While she looked, a flash of lightning whipped 
 across the sky and seemed to wind itself repeatedly and 
 in quick succession round and round the mountain peak. 
 A peal of thunder split the air and a great ledge went 
 tumbling with deafening roar over the precipice below. 
 
 "Why," her heart cried out in anguish, "why was 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 219 
 
 I shown all these wonders, only to be thrown into the 
 wretchedness and agony of ruin!" 
 HI She did not speak aloud, but the voice seemed to 
 answer as if her question had been heard. 
 
 "I am coming. I will save you. Have courage. 
 Yours is but the common lot of those who reach these 
 barren earthly summits." 
 
 B» It seemed almost an age to the dreamer, as she bal- 
 anced herself there just beneath the clouds and above 
 the dark earth, before she heard that voice again and 
 felt a strong hand rest upon her shoulder. 
 
 "Place your arm in mine," the voice said. "Lean 
 heavily on me." 
 
 Helen did as she was bidden and then, suddenly, a 
 great light seemed to shine from the heavens above, and 
 the voice said : 
 
 "I, too, was tempted once, Helen, even as you are 
 tempted now. I, too, was shown all the power and 
 beauty which this world contains even as it has been ex- 
 hibited to you. I had the choice between the tinsel 
 splendor of material and transitory power and the last- 
 ing glory of that power which exists only in truth and 
 love. Had I chosen to rule as an earthly king, I could 
 have been like this multitude of shining shadows, which 
 have thus anxiously sought your recognition — as the 
 heir of the material ages. But at last, the vision which 
 was shown me from this great height faded, as all such 
 visions must and in my soul only the truth of God was 
 left. I spurned the gift of the material kingdom and 
 accepted the spiritual kingdom instead. For this they 
 destroyed my body. For this, they sought to efface 
 my very name, or blacken it past recognition." 
 
220 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 The voice paused. The surroundings had be- 
 come very bright now. Helen had not been conscious 
 of moving from the position which she occupied when 
 she first felt the touch of the rescuing hand, but now she 
 saw that the mountain on which she had just been 
 standing seemed far in the distance. 
 
 "Oh!" she cried out, "who are you?" And she 
 could not resist the impulse to throw herself at his feet. 
 A feeling of shame filled her heart and she hid her face 
 in her hands, kneeling there and not venturing to look 
 up. But the voice spoke to her again with accents of 
 deep compassion and sympathy. 
 
 "Arise, Helen, and be not ashamed," it said. "The 
 splendor of these material kingdoms which have been 
 shown unto you and whose achievements, such as they 
 are, have been laid at your feet, fades and vanishes. 
 Only the spiritual kingdom, the kingdom of love, 
 Christ's kingdom, does not fade. While the names of 
 material leaders are legion, the name of Him who re- 
 jected all material, earthly and selfish honor, stands 
 alone. The temptation of Christ was real, Helen, as 
 yours is now. It was possible for him to make the 
 choice which evidences mere human weakness, instead 
 of that which proclaims the omnipotence of God. I 
 bid you rise above this temptation, even as I rose above 
 mine. Forget this glory. Forget this throne, this 
 wealth and its trivial honor. Pursue that great mis- 
 sion which you first conceived, and establish that bro- 
 therly love among men, which alone will render this 
 material life worthy." 
 
 And Helen looked up, and behold! it was the face 
 of the Christ, and it did not fade but seemed to fill all 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 221 
 
 the world with the consecration and the surpassing ma- 
 jesty and beauty of its smile. 
 
 Then she awoke, and it was morning. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 THE MESSAGE. 
 
 The impressions of that night of dreams were ex- 
 ceedingly vivid in the mind of Helen when, after an 
 early breakfast, she waived aside the offices of her at- 
 tendants and insisted on going into the White House 
 park alone for a quiet stroll. As she passed through 
 one of the rooms belonging to her suite, she noticed her 
 secretary at work assorting, reading and answering her 
 correspondence. A desire to hear from some one who 
 was nearer and dearer than all these mere social beings 
 around her suddenly impelled her to step over to the 
 secretary's desk and look for some letters in which she 
 might be interested. As she did so, she saw one lying 
 on the heap which filled the secretary's basket, and her 
 eye caught the familiar hand writing of Alden. Eagerly 
 she reached out her hand to take it, when Miss Lee, the 
 secretary, quickly covered it with her hand, exclaiming: 
 
 "You mustn't take that." 
 
 No sooner had she acted and spoken thus than a 
 look of horror came over the secretary's face, as she 
 gazed into Helen's. 
 
 "Why may I not take it?" demanded Helen indig- 
 nantly. "Is it not mine?" 
 
 The secretary withdrew her hand as quickly as she 
 had extended it and turned pale. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 223 
 
 "Oh! I beg your pardon, Miss Charming!" she ex- 
 claimed, hesitatingly "I did not think. I was told— 
 certainly it is yours. ,, 
 
 Helen was so anxious to read the letter, and one 
 from Mrs. Locksley, postmarked "Boston," which she 
 also found with the rest, that she did not note what the 
 secretary was saying, but readily accepted the excuse 
 and granted the pardon asked for. There was a vague 
 suspicion in her mind, however, that the secretary 
 acted strangely. 
 
 Alden's letter was dated Shanghai, China, and was 
 postmarked three weeks earlier. Evidently it had been 
 long delayed. It was the first Helen knew that he had 
 been sent abroad. His absence and his failure to write 
 or call on her had aisturbed Helen a little, but the social 
 whirl and her lack of familiar acquaintance with any- 
 body whom Alden knew intimately, had made it practi- 
 cally impossible to learn about him. She had asked, 
 but no one seemed to know, although the President had 
 once intimated that he had gone on a secret mission. 
 She had wondered why she heard nothing from him, 
 but waited without serious misgivings, yet with some 
 irritation and impatience. Since morning, she had 
 been thinking of Alden a good deal and so now she 
 made haste to be seated in a secluded place in the park 
 where she could read it without interruption. 
 
 "Dear Miss Channing," the letter began, "you 
 can not realize how hopeless an American feels in the 
 midst of this dense population. I believe I would 
 rather live in the wilderness of Colombia, among un- 
 sophisticated and careless semi-savages, than surrounded 
 always by these mild, submissive automata of an over- 
 
224 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 wrought competitive and commercial civilization, such 
 as China presents. America under the Rockefellers is 
 a paradise of justice and comfort by contrast. 
 
 ' 'Everywhere I go, dear Helen, especially in the 
 crowded and strangely magnificent cities, I see wealth 
 and poverty deriding and denouncing each other. Yet 
 this is not done as I imagine it was done in John D. 
 Rockefeller's time. It must be that the curse of com- 
 petition is more intense here today than it was in Amer- 
 ica then. Here the struggle for existence is painfully 
 exhibited in the wan, haunted faces of the humiliated 
 masses as they cower beneath the triumphant inso- 
 lence of the few victorious. 
 
 "I love America. If only that sentiment of bro- 
 therly love, systematized as commerce requires, and or- 
 ganized as the Reapers propose, could be substituted as 
 you have fondly anticipated, for the purely commercial 
 autocracy of your great ancestors, then my country 
 would usher in that 'peace on earth and good will to 
 men' of which the Redeemer spoke. Circumstances 
 have placed you, dear Helen, in a position most favor- 
 able to your plan. 
 
 "I am now writing you in one of China's cele- 
 brated tea gardens. It is a dream of old China arranged 
 to be seductive to the fancy of the dreamer or the wan- 
 dering wayfarer. Before me spreads an artificial land- 
 scape presenting the world in miniature. Below the 
 garden slope, I can see the torrential Yalu winding 
 through its fertile and beautiful valley. In some ways 
 it reminds me of our own Mississippi near Montraven 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 225 
 
 Castle, but nothing comparable to that marvel of ar- 
 chitecture or of the capital city of the Rockefellers is 
 suggested. 
 
 "Helen, I have propounded to myself this great 
 question: Will the time come when your idea of or- 
 ganized brotherly love will rule America? Will it 
 spread thence to the rest of the world? You are the 
 descendant of the Rockefellers. Has the pride of that 
 splendid ancestry assumed a place in your heart? 
 When I went to Boston to carry the President's invita- 
 tion I felt the influence of old habits of thought. I 
 looked upon you as in some degree beyond me. I 
 feared it would be presumptuous for me to approach 
 you as an equal. You did not appear to entertain any 
 suspicion that such a superiority existed. I have 
 struggled with my old and new self; the old self which 
 accepted human delusions and superstitions as truths, 
 and the new self which you have invested with a liberty 
 which cannot be limited by falsehood, and I find that 
 now I am able to believe in and realize our social equal- 
 ity. 
 
 "Dear Helen, I shall hesitate no longer. While I 
 see that your mission is a great one, to redeem mankind 
 through love, I also am consecrated through you to the 
 same unselfish cause. I think always of man's redemp- 
 tion from the thralldom of his own errors and I think 
 always of you, the bright particular star, from whose 
 loving heart and unselfish thought sprang the fraternal 
 suggestion which a powerful order has made its funda- 
 mental law. 
 
 "I feel within me, Helen, a strength which is not 
 altogether due to the energy of youth or yet to mind. I 
 
226 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 believe that I can do the work of a giant in that universal 
 cause of humanity of which you are the idol and the 
 ideal. But, dearest, without you I am nothing. Let 
 me say it now — all that I am or hope to be are the out- 
 growth of my deep, constant and deathless love for you. 
 I am guided by it as if it were a light by day and a pillar 
 of fire by night leading me to splendid effort or, if need 
 be, to unlimited sacrifice. My life is tormented by 
 doubts as to whether this passion which is consuming 
 me can be understood or my love can be reciprocated. 
 Sometimes I think that I can recall, in that sweetness of 
 our familiar association, evidences that you could love 
 me if it were possible for you to deviate from your high 
 and pure purpose, and select a human being for your es- 
 pecial affection. Your life is one of love — love of truth 
 —love of justice — love of humanity. Mine can be 
 thus, too, if it may also live within your influence and 
 feel that, while we live for all mankind, we live for each 
 other by God's special dispensation. 
 
 "Dearest Helen, I have spoken. Your answer is 
 my life or my undoing. Should my declaration be ap- 
 proved and my love reciprocated by you, neither the 
 oceans nor the mountains nor the power of wealth nor 
 the pride of position, can keep us apart. 
 
 "I shall await a letter, dearest, in anticipation of 
 that happiness which I have faith will be mine. Yet 
 in spite of that anticipation and all the delightful vis- 
 ions which hope so kindly presents to the imagination 
 of one who loves, I shall be impatient and at times full 
 of doubt and fear. 
 
 With undying love, 
 
 Alden Lowell." 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 227 
 
 As Helen read this letter her face flushed and her 
 hand trembled. Agitation, confusion and distress 
 filled her mind. To do her justice, she had rarely 
 thought of marriage and she had felt herself devoted to 
 the cause which she had selected as a life work. She re- 
 garded Alden as the most familiar and acceptable friend 
 among men and if her feelings toward him were other 
 than those of a friend and a sister, she had not defined 
 them. He had all the qualities which would appeal to a 
 young girl. But Helen was not accustomed to think- 
 ing of herself as a young girl. She had, for nearly 
 seven years of her twenty-four, taken a leading part in 
 every sphere in which she had moved, and the last three 
 weeks had been an acceptance of almost supreme power. 
 She was agitated now, because it seemed that she was 
 called upon to decide a question which she would rather 
 postpone. She was confused because she could not 
 quite understand her duty, and she was distressed be- 
 cause she reflected that poor Alden had waited patiently 
 but in vain for her answer and still must wait. The 
 contents of Alden's letter were entirely unexpected, but 
 as she thought it over, now, she reflected that it was not, 
 after all, surprising that he would feel justified in writ- 
 ing it. 
 
 "Strange!" said Helen to herself, as she began to 
 read the letter again, "strange that I have not received 
 this letter before." 
 
 Then she felt her face flush once more as she re- 
 called with shame, the pride which had nearly conquered 
 her during the recent past. 
 
228 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 "Good morning, Miss Channing!" said a voice, and 
 looking up from her letter, Helen saw the handsome 
 form and face of Secretary Endicott, who stood, hat in 
 hand, bowing with courtly politeness. She was pleased. 
 Secretary Endicott was a man who could not be excelled 
 in giving pleasure in a social way, if he chose to make 
 the effort . Helen enjoyed his society and entertained 
 a very high opinion of his abilities as well as his personal 
 qualities. 
 
 "Is it not unusual for you to walk alone in the 
 park?" he asked. 
 
 "It is unusual, Mr. Endicott," she replied, "but I 
 was weary of the attention which everybody seems de- 
 termined to pay me and came out here to get a chance 
 to think." 
 
 "Oh! perhaps I am intruding," politely ventured 
 the Secretary, stepping back as if to withdraw. 
 
 "No! No!" exclaimed Helen, rising. "I am really 
 glad you have come. I want to ask you some questions 
 relating to certain thoughts of mine. I feel sure you 
 can answer them for I am told you know almost every- 
 thing." 
 
 "I know very little, Miss Helen," returned the 
 Secretary, "and I sometimes wish I knew even less, if 
 that were really possible. Don't you frequently feel 
 that it is very unsatisfactory to think at all? I remem- 
 ber an old song which began, '0, to be nothing.' In 
 those days when I heard the song sung, I thought it ab- 
 surd. Now it seems to have a certain truth involved in 
 it." The old cynical look came back to the Secretary's 
 face. But feeling the reproachful eyes of the beautiful 
 and sincere woman at his side upon him he dispelled the 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 229 
 
 unpleasant expression and looking down at her, smiled 
 in his genially enchanting way. "Well, I shouldn't say 
 that, when I have the pleasure of being in your society, 
 Miss Helen, but I sometimes remember a saying an old 
 college friend of mine used to repeat. There isn't any- 
 thing, and if there is, it doesn't amount to anything.' 
 I wish I could take a more cheerful view of the world 
 and what we call creation. I believe I could do so, too, 
 if I had the proper companionship in life." 
 
 Helen felt a little frightened. She had received 
 one surprise that morning and was rather nervous. The 
 slightest suspicion came over her mind that this hand- 
 some and delightful man was suggesting a defect in his 
 life which it had been brought home to her existed in 
 the life of Alden also. But she resolved to change the 
 subject as soon as convenient. 
 
 "That is dissolving all things into nothingness, 
 surely," she remarked, with a little laugh. "But I am 
 sure that it is very pleasant to think if one thinks 
 rightly. I believe that love is the mainspring of all 
 thought which is worth having. If one thinks for his 
 country he will enjoy it, if he is a patriot and loves it. 
 There is no pleasure in this life except in thinking and 
 working for what one loves. Your friend's saying 
 should be changed to express this thought: There 
 isn't anything but love, and if there was it would not 
 be worth anything.' " 
 
 Endicott understood that Helen was thinking of a 
 universal love and not the sentiment which mortals 
 deal in. 
 
 They strolled along leisurely, side by side and the 
 people who passed thought they looked very handsome 
 
230 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 together. Gossip, too, recognized them with de- 
 light and ran with flying feet and flippant phrase to 
 scatter falsehood far and wide. 
 
CHAPTER XL. 
 HELEN'S QUESTION. 
 
 "I am told, Mr. Endicott," said Helen, as they 
 strolled along the embowered avenues, "that you have 
 been especially trained in the diplomatic service and 
 have spent much time in China. I am curious to 
 know more of that country, for it is now the greatest 
 commercial power among those which still adhere to 
 the competitive system. My studies have been limited 
 to Europe, Africa and America and, I have recently, 
 as you know, learned something of South America." 
 
 "Yes," answered the Secretary, "I have spent 
 some years in the Dragon's land. It is, indeed, a won- 
 derful country, but I cannot see why any one should 
 care to live there. America is the crowning civilization 
 and our abandonment of the competitive policy has 
 placed us as far in advance of new and awakened China 
 as we were in 1900 in advance of old China. If you 
 will suggest to me what feature interests you most, I 
 will count myself fortunate to be able to give you any 
 information in my power. It would be impossible to give 
 you the history of China in one conversation." 
 
 "Thank you, Mr. Endicott," said Helen. "I hope 
 I am not asking too much, if I request you to give me a 
 
232 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 brief statement of the one or two most important facts 
 in the history of China which bear directly on the de- 
 velopment of America." 
 
 "I will gladly do that," began Endicott. 
 
 "China has been, next to America, the seat of the 
 greatest social revolution in history. 
 
 "The Celestial Empire contains over six hundred 
 million people, more than ninety percent of whom are 
 laborers and all of whom, until the latter part of the 
 life of America's fourth Rockefeller, lived simple and 
 spiritless lives. 
 
 "Until the time of the fourth Rockefeller, China's 
 exhaustless veins of gold, silver, iron, copper and other 
 minerals, rich beyond the dreams of avarice, remained 
 untouched. 
 
 "China's labor, so cheap as to stagger the stan- 
 dards of Europe and America, invited the world toput 
 it to work. 
 
 "Capital, lured by these unparalleled temptations 
 and caring nothing for those sentimental ideals which 
 poets and dreamers have presented to a Christianized 
 world, began to pour into China, not with thought of 
 helping and elevating mankind, but for sordid gain, 
 for usury, profit and toll. 
 
 "The giant awoke, not into a military age, but into 
 an age of commerce and industry. 
 
 "His morning hour had struck. 
 
 "He sprang into action with the courage of fatalism 
 and with tireless strength. 
 
 "He wrought incessantly with dexterous and rest- 
 less hands and feet. 
 
 "He seemed never to sleep again. 
 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 233 
 
 "The whole world marveled. 
 
 "The mines opened their treasure vaults to wealth 
 unlimited. 
 
 "Factories arose and mingled magical music with 
 the ancient song of every waterfall and rushing tide. 
 
 "Railroads stretched their shining steel hundreds 
 of thousands of miles from the heart of China to every 
 mart of trade and center of hope in that vast and mighty 
 realm. 
 
 "Measured by the European and American stan- 
 dard, this wonderful industrial structure, more nearly 
 complete in two decades than Europe had become in 
 four thousand years, cost a trifle. 
 
 "Cheap labor did it all. 
 
 "Steel rails, fabrics, furniture, machinery, jewelry 
 and every description of manufactured articles were 
 produced so cheaply that Europe could not compete 
 and the sceptre of commercial empire, so far as it re- 
 lated to Eurasia, passed to Pekin. 
 
 "The Yellow Peril, once feared as an armed men- 
 ace, developed into an industrial invasion. Germany 
 in some measure saved itself by a high protective tariff 
 and, by enacting laws to suppress combinations of cap- 
 ital, maintained a form of democracy. But England, 
 true to her free trade traditions and slow to change, 
 was nearly ruined and all she used was imported from 
 China or America. 
 
 "It is a splendid commentary on the Standard 
 methods of conservation and value of economic concen- 
 tration, that America, under all the Rockefellers since 
 
234 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 the fourth, could pay the highest scale of wages, sup- 
 port its laborers in greater comfort than any other na- 
 tion and still compete with China. 
 
 ''The Rockefellers were the patrons of education 
 for every man, woman and child in their service. This 
 meant intelligent service which in turn meant skill, 
 efficiency, merit and cheapness. 
 
 "In competing with China, since only the Rocke- 
 fellers were producers or distributors in America, and 
 since they were the only exporters and importers, Chin- 
 ese goods could not enter America or find purchases 
 there, if the Rockefellers refused to buy. 
 
 "While America was politically and theoretically a 
 free trade country, in a practical sense the decision of 
 Standard determined what Chinese goods should come 
 in, if any, and the wisdom of the Rockefellers saved 
 America from being humiliated by commercial China.' ' 
 
 "Would not a high protective tariff have saved 
 Democratic America from such humiliation?" inter- 
 rupted Helen. 
 
 "That system of exclusion of Chinese goods might 
 have been effectual to some extent," replied the Secre- 
 tary, "if the Rockefeller system had not been in force. 
 You remember that in Morgan Rockefeller's time that 
 great man proposed that, as the industries were now 
 operated by Standard and as Standard paid all the tariff 
 dues, which did not meet the expenses of government, 
 those expenses would be in the future paid out of the 
 Merger's treasury as an internal tax. This required a 
 change in the federal constitution and that having been 
 effected the nation became absolutely and in fact a free 
 trade country. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 235- 
 
 "Does this answer your question?" asked the Sec- 
 retary, in conclusion, looking down into the face which 
 was turned toward him with every expression of admir- 
 ation. 
 
 "You have answered it, Mr. Endicott," she ex.- 
 claimed. "You have answered with the genius of con- 
 densation and expression for which you are fa- 
 mous. But I would like to ask one other question. 
 Will you tell me what important business Mr. Adam's 
 government is now transacting with China?" 
 
 The faintest feeling of jealousy pricked its way 
 into Endicott's heart. 
 
 "So that," he thought, "is the interest she has in 
 China. She is thinking of Lowell." Then he laughed 
 at his own weakness and shook himself free from the 
 imp. 
 
 "The government is not transacting any business 
 with China," he replied. "As I have stated, this coun- 
 try only imports from China what the Rockefeller es- 
 tate purchases. You know that in Aldrich Rockefel- 
 ler's time, China ordered all American corporations to 
 wind up their business in that country and confiscated 
 all interests which the Rockefellers held there. This, 
 of course, was an insult which the warlike Aldrich 
 could not brook. He was willing to withdraw from 
 China, but declined to do so unless fairly compensated 
 to the full measure of his holdings there. The result 
 was the Chinese- American war which was fought out on 
 the Pacific. The complete defeat of the Chinese navy 
 at the great battle of Honolulu placed the Chinese 
 ports at the mercy of the American guns and China sued 
 for peace. 
 
236 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 ' 'Standard, however, had decided on complete con- 
 centration of its operations in America and a treaty 
 of peace was concluded by which China paid a war 
 indemnity and purchased the Rockefeller holdings 
 in the empire with its bonds. The vast resources 
 and labor power of China have made it possible to dis- 
 charge the indemnity, but there is a considerable bal- 
 ance still due the Standard. 
 
 "Last year's rice crop in Standard's fields in Amer- 
 ica was a failure, as you know, and Mr. Adams is now 
 negotiating on behalf of the Estate for the purchase of a 
 supply of rice which he will accept as part payment of 
 the balance which China still owes. He regards it as 
 better than gold, and I think he is right, for we need it." 
 
 "I thank you, Mr. Endicott," said Helen, when he 
 had concluded. "You have given me the information I 
 wanted. But," she continued, pointing up the avenue, 
 "here comes a messenger in great haste. He probably 
 has a summons for you." 
 
 The messenger, dressed in the uniform of his ser- 
 vice, came running toward them and saluting the Sec- 
 retary, handed him a note. 
 
 "The President wishes to know when it will be con- 
 venient to receive him," said the Secretary, after read- 
 ing the note. "I will tell the messenger to say that 
 you will be at your apartments immediately, if you 
 wish." 
 
 "Certainly," assented Helen. "I understand the 
 purpose. But, Mr. Endicott," she added, "I have de- 
 cided not to accept any plan to take the estate of Mor- 
 gan Rockefeller over to myself." 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 237 
 
 The Secretary looked at her searchingly and al- 
 most severely. But] he saw only the quiet, calm and 
 beautiful face which gave no evidence of agitation and 
 excitement. 
 
 "She is playful," thought Endicott. "But she 
 plays with the whole world. She does not mean it." 
 
 "Come," he said aloud, "shall I escort Your Excel- 
 lency?" He said "Your Excellency" with a note of 
 reverence and Helen started perceptibly as she heard 
 so significant a title applied to her by this man of power. 
 For a moment the visions came swarming back again, 
 and the old pride of the Hall of History momentarily 
 asserted itself. But only for a moment. 
 
 "Let us go," she said simply, and they returned to 
 the White House together. 
 
CHAPTER XLI. 
 THE SUIT REJECTED. 
 
 It was suspected throughout the republic that 
 President Adams and his cabinet were plan- 
 ning some sort of a coup in connection with the Estate. 
 It was also suspected that Helen Channing was re^ 
 garded at the White House as the rightful heir and that 
 some course was proposed by which the estate would 
 be restored to her. Many people were pronounced in 
 their approval of any plan which would clarify the sis- 
 uation and settle the problem which produced confusion. 
 Whether any large number disapproved the White 
 House plan, as it was called, could never be ascertained, 
 for discretion was as great a virtue under the commercial 
 system as under the military. 
 
 The Estate's despotic, economic control was so 
 complete that men and women were unwilling to jeop- 
 ardize position by exercising the theoretical right to 
 speak freely. 
 
 The Press, owned and controlled by Standard, said 
 nothing of "plans" but reported every expression in fa- 
 vor of restoring the estate to Miss Channing. This it 
 did without comment, but so artfully as to leave an 
 impression that public sentiment was unanimously 
 favorable to Miss Channing. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 289 
 
 If there was opposition it was nursed in secret. 
 
 President Adams neither believed nor suspected 
 that any opposition would develop and he was con- 
 vinced that if it did, it could have no influence to pre- 
 vent the result which he desired. 
 
 The President had sent to ascertain if Helen was 
 prepared to receive him with Judge Brewer and Attor- 
 ney General Holmes, with reference to her interest in 
 the Estate. Learning that she was walking in the park 
 with Secretary Endicott, he deemed the time auspicious 
 and sent to ask if the lady and the Secretary would 
 both be present in case a conference at the lady's apart- 
 ments should be regarded with favor. 
 
 A half hour later, the President and the two law- 
 yers with formidable-looking packages were seated 
 with Miss Helen and Secretary Endicott, in a consulta- 
 tion which the President considered the most important 
 during his administration of the Estate. 
 
 "Miss Channing," said the President, after all the 
 formalities of his system of etiquette were concluded, 
 "you are aware that the people of America are dissatis- 
 fied with the action of your deceased uncle in attempt- 
 ing to disinherit you, his only legal heir. The will by 
 which he assumed to devise the vast wealth which he 
 and his ancestors had accumulated, to the Government 
 of the United States in trust, bears on its face many 
 evidences of an unsound and unsettled mental condi- 
 tion. But beyond this, he seems to have misappre- 
 hended the legal powers of our national government. 
 The will is invalid both because the testator was of 
 unsound mind when it was made, and because the de- 
 visee had no capacity to accept and none to administer 
 
240 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 the trust sought to be created. These reasons, in 
 themselves, are sufficient to justify you in asking the 
 courts to set the will aside and to establish your own 
 title. But apart from your natural wish to succeed to 
 the Rockefeller property, you are called upon 
 to aid the state by relieving it from an embarrassment 
 which must ultimately prove disastrous. Both pat- 
 riotism and duty require that you, whom birth and 
 circumstances have designated for that purpose, in- 
 sist that your rights be restored and that the terrible 
 mistake of your uncle be corrected. Judge Brewer, 
 will you read the petition, by which Miss Channing 
 will invoke the decree of the court in her behalf?" 
 
 Judge Brewer being thus addressed, opened one of 
 the packages which he had brought, and taking a docu- 
 ment from it unfolded it. The Judge, it should be un- 
 derstood, was one of the most eminent and honorable 
 of his profession and his opinion on any legal question 
 was of the very highest non- judicial authority. 
 
 Miss Channing," said the Judge, addressing 
 Helen, and evidently intending to preface his reading 
 by some explanation, "the petition is necessarily some- 
 what lengthy. I hope it will not prove tiresome, but 
 in order that Your Excellency may be able to verify it, I 
 deem the reading imperative." 
 
 "Mr. President, and Judge Brewer," interposed 
 Helen, who had listened respectfully to what both gen- 
 tlemen had said, but who appeared less eager and in- 
 terested than seemed entirely natural, "it will not be 
 necessary to read the petition. I have given this mat- 
 ter—" 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 241 
 
 "Pardon me," said the president, interrupting 
 Helen, the tone of his voice suggesting some impatience. 
 "Judge Brewer tells us that you cannot verify the peti- 
 ion unless you read it or it is read to you. It is routine 
 work with which we cannot dispense." 
 
 Something about the president's look as he spoke, 
 irritated Helen. Still, her manner did not betray the 
 fact and she accepted his words calmly. It now occurred 
 to her for the first time, that the president might 
 even attempt to command her. That one of her race 
 could be overridden by any one, was not conceivable 
 to her. If there was to be a contest, however, she well 
 new that every vestige of vanity, whether it was sug- 
 gested by her family distinction or desire to assert her 
 individuality, must be excluded from her mind and art, 
 for vanity was weakness, and the president being with- 
 out it, thought only of his purpose. She realized that 
 in a contest with such a person the strength of her cause 
 would be the only basis on which she might hope to suc- 
 ceed. 
 
 "You misunderstand, Mr. President," she said. 
 "I merely desired to assert that as I can not give my 
 consent to this suit or court proceeding, it will not be 
 necessary for Judge Brewer to read the petition or for 
 me to verify it. I have given this matter much thought 
 and I wish to propose a different solution altogether 
 of what President Adams calls the great problem. But 
 I cannot sign or verify the petition or authorize you to 
 proceed in my name." 
 
 The statesmen and lawyers looked at one another. 
 They did not comprehend. Judge Brewer leaned over 
 toward the president as if proposing to whisper to him, 
 
242 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 but said nothing. Secretary Endicott alone remained 
 undisturbed. 
 
 "This decision of mine seems to surprise you," 
 resumed Helen, after a pause. "You have never 
 doubted that I would gladly accept this responsibility 
 which you imagine any person should covet, because 
 you call it wealth. But why does the government 
 want to avoid it? Why does Your Excellency, full of 
 wisdom and experience as you are, wish to shift the 
 burden and place it on the shoulders of a young woman 
 without experience? This vast, concentrated estate 
 is not necessary to my happiness and I do not want 
 it." 
 
 Helen had become quite animated now and felt 
 conscious of the superiority of her position and its con- 
 sequent strength. 
 
 "She is beautiful, and she is wise, too," thought 
 Endicott. "What a fool one has to be to allow him- 
 self to be submerged by wealth and worry." 
 
 "Miss Channing," said President Adams, at last, 
 speaking with impressive dignity, "you owe something 
 to your country, if not to humanity. I cannot con- 
 ceive that you speak seriously. I and my associates 
 have planned to re tore this estate to the legitimate line. 
 The American people demand it and they also demand 
 that, as the legitimate heir, you should accept it as your 
 duty." 
 
 The President's dignity became severe and his final 
 words were uttered imperiously. Helen's eyes flashed. 
 Rising from her seat she approached the long table be- 
 hind which the lawyers and the president sat. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 243 
 
 "President Adams!" she exclaimed, "I know what 
 you have attempted. You have made a great mistake. 
 It is not my duty to accept this burden and it is not the 
 duty of any living person to do so. You and the 
 school of economists to which you belong choose to call 
 this property mine. It is not mine, but belongs to 
 those who created it. You can never make it possible 
 for me to enjoy this wealth which others have created, 
 and which I can only use to establish my right to ad- 
 minister it. No doubt you really believe I am needed 
 to hold together this great system which the Rockefeller 
 family have invented. It was for this reason that 
 Your Excellency has surrounded me, your guest, with 
 the luxury and circumstance of royalty. Your de- 
 pendents, apprehending your purpose and feeling that 
 they should aid you in their own way, presume to in- 
 terfere also, and instead of being the royal creature you 
 would have me believe myself, I find that, in all my 
 luxury, in my splendid apartments and among my gor- 
 geous attendants, I am only a captive after all." 
 
 The president did not interrupt her. All sat silent 
 and serious as Helen spoke, as if they thought it scarcely 
 worth while to enter into a discussion and did not under- 
 stand how to handle this unexpected incident. 
 
 "You are silent, gentlemen, and feel that your 
 difficulties are increasing," continued Helen, after a 
 pause. "You will scarcely believe that any advice 
 I can offer you would be acceptable. But I have re- 
 fused to receive the estate of Morgan Rockefeller as 
 my own, because I am sure there is a far better way to 
 dispose of it. Let it be restored to those who created 
 it. Let the burdens be borne equally by the people." 
 
244 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 Helen was aware that the gentleman before her 
 did not consider her opinions of sufficient import- 
 ance to provoke even a sneer. 
 
 "You cannot be expected, Miss Helen," said the 
 president, "to understand those things. Your views 
 are not practical." 
 
 "I am afraid, Mr. President," resumed Helen, 
 "that no views which can be expressed at this time are 
 practical. But this must be finally and positively 
 understood — that I will not be a party to any effort 
 which is directed to breaking my uncle's will." 
 
 "But," remonstrated the president, as if he had 
 resolved to treat Helen's attitude as a mild burst of 
 insanity, "Judge Brewer, who is very high authority on 
 these subjects — I think I may say, the highest author- 
 ity in America — tells us that the federal government 
 has no power or capacity to act as trustee. Therefore, 
 this devise is invalid, and will be set aside on my per- 
 sonal application to the court. But I prefer not to act 
 in this proceeding. As the benefit is yours, I have felt 
 that you should appeal to the court. Now that the 
 people are determined to have the matter settled in your 
 favor, if you will not make the appeal, I must do so." 
 
 "If Your Excellency could think it possible for any 
 suggestion of mine to be worthy of consideration," re- 
 turned Helen, "I would be glad to submit a plan for the 
 removal of the burden of this estate from the govern- 
 ment as well as from your shoulders and mine." Helen 
 then gave them an outline of the history of the Reapers 
 of the World and its purpose as a fraternal organization. 
 Endicott seemed to be deeply interested, but the Presi- 
 dent looked up now and then, and smiled more with 
 amusement than sarcasm. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 245 
 
 "Now my plan is this," continued Helen, after 
 she had stated as much of the history of the order as 
 she thought necessary to an understanding of the pur- 
 pose. "The Reapers of the World will offer the ex- 
 ecutor of the will of Morgan Rockefeller a fair and reas- 
 onable price for the entire estate." 
 
 "Do you know how much that would be?" asked 
 the President, smiling incredulously. "The estate is 
 valued at three hundred billion dollars." 
 
 "The Reapers can pay that," replied Helen. 
 
 The President looked up suddenly, and throwing 
 down the pencil with which he had been nervously 
 making grotesque figures on paper as he listened indif- 
 ferently to what was being said by the girl, turned 
 and gazed searchingly into her face. 
 
 "Is this heir of Rockefeller really demented?" he 
 thought. Then he asked aloud, thinking that he 
 would quickly show her how foolish her remarks were: 
 "How many members of this secret society have you 
 who are paying a dollar a month into a trust fund?" 
 
 "We have twenty thousand members," she an- 
 swered, "and I am told that we have two hundred and 
 fifty thousand dollars." 
 
 The President's eyes flashed in anger. "There!" he 
 exclaimed. "I thought so. The people are always 
 developing follies and I think your family did well to 
 place secret fraternal combinations under the ban. 
 How long do you think it would take to pay three hun- 
 dred billion dollars at that rate? Twenty thousand a 
 month would be two hundred and forty thousand a 
 year. It would take you a million and a quarter years 
 to pay for it." 
 
246 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 "I expected this," quietly remarked Helen. "If 
 the estate should, under the provisions of the will, sell 
 this property to the Reapers of the World — " 
 
 "Then the Reapers of the World would be a monopoly 
 and the twenty thousand members would be plutocrats 
 and lord it over the rest of us!" interrupted the Presi- 
 dent. 
 
 "I would not expect Your Excellency to sell to the 
 Reapers without imposing conditions, "explained Helen. 
 "If you sold this estate on the installment plan, as I 
 would suggest, my supposition is that you would re- 
 quire the order to admit every citizen of the United 
 States of good character into its ranks. This would 
 mean every man and woman. You would also require 
 that the children of all members would be admitted at 
 a certain age. The only condition would be that each 
 subscribe to the constitution and by-laws of the order. 
 The payment of one dollar per month would, if all the 
 adult citizens 'joined,' amount to about eighty mil- 
 lion dollars per month or nine hundred and sixty mil- 
 lion a year. That would be nine billion six hundred 
 million in ten years and in a little more than three hun- 
 dred years the full amount would be paid." 
 
 Judge Brewer had thrown himself back in his 
 chair and was following the speaker's words with deep 
 interest and close attention. 
 
 "But," he interposed, "if Miss Channing will per- 
 mit me to ask her, do you not think the burden thus 
 placed on your order would be too heavy? Three 
 hundred billion is a vast debt." 
 
 "Do I understand correctly, that the will' devises 
 this estate to the government for the benefit of the 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 247 
 
 people? "asked Helen. "Paying to the government is 
 paying to the people — that was the theory, at any rate, 
 which our revolutionary ancestors had. If the 
 government did its duty and carried out the terms of 
 the will, it would find no better method of distributing 
 the annual or monthly payments made by the order 
 than to return them to the fraternal treasury immedi- 
 ately. It might be a matter of mere bookkeeping. Cer- 
 tainly the government would not allow a surplus to 
 accumulate." 
 
 Judge Brewer nodded his head and smiled ap- 
 provingly. Not so the President. As a practical poli- 
 tician and statesman, the latter had no confidence in 
 any but established, tested and time honored systems. 
 All else was theory. Besides, he, like most rulers who 
 depend on force to secure stability and permanence in 
 society, had no confidence in human nature. 
 
 "Your fraternal society would be a mob. You 
 would have a million different opinions. You could do 
 no business and you would break up in a riot," he de- 
 clared. 
 
 Helen felt that she had won the attention of these 
 men and somehow, it seemed to her that Judge Brewer 
 understood her. 
 
 "The fraternal society would not do any business," 
 she explained. "I understand that in 1908 many fra- 
 ternal societies existed. If a member paid his dues for 
 years and then failed to pay, he forfeited all benefits. 
 They were in the habit of investing their surplus in 
 bonds or stocks. But they did no business except to 
 send their treasurer over to the annual meeting of the 
 corporation and vote the stock. When dividends were 
 
248 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 paid on the stock or interest on the bonds the fraternal 
 treasurer collected both. But the corporations were 
 operated on a scientific business basis. Suppose in 
 1908 my honored ancestor, John D. Rockefeller, had 
 been a fraternal order instead of a commercial auto- 
 crat. Don't you suppose that business would have 
 continued? I simply propose that the Reapers of the 
 World take the stock held by the Standard Oil Trust 
 and hold it as the trust has done. The geniuses of the 
 business world will still do the practical business." 
 
 "Well," said the President with a sigh, "I can see 
 that it will be best to defer this conference to another 
 time. Gentlemen," he continued, turning to the At- 
 torney General and Secretary Endicott, "I have an- 
 other appointment and it may be well for us to with- 
 draw now. Judge Brewer, will you call at the Execu- 
 tive office tomorrow afternoon?" 
 
 The gentlemen took their leave of Helen in the 
 formal manner which the President's etiquette required 
 and left her alone. Secetary Endicott could not re- 
 sist the impulse to say to her, however, as he bade her 
 adieu: "Miss Helen, I may not agree with your con- 
 clusions, but I admire your courage in attempting to 
 reject the estate and your skill in presenting your the- 
 ories." He did not accompany the President to his 
 apartments, but as he turned to go in another direction, 
 he was aware of the fact that the President and Judge 
 Brewer had become earnestly involved in a discussion 
 as they moved away. 
 
CHAPTER XLII. 
 REVELATIONS. 
 
 Moreland Hughes, for distinguished services in 
 Colombia and in recognition of his unusual abilities, 
 had been elevated by the Estate to the position of Com- 
 mander in Chief of Standard's Detective Department, 
 with the title of General. As such, he was the best 
 informed man in America as to what the people thought 
 and how the people felt. 
 
 The day after Helen announced her unwillingness 
 to commence proceedings to obtain title to the Estate, 
 General Hughes called at the executive office. 
 
 The call was opportune and the President greeted 
 him cordially. 
 
 "General," said the Chief Magistrate, "you realize 
 that, as a statesman, I have had little sympathy with 
 some of the practical regulations of the Rockefellers. 
 Morgan prohibited secret or fraternal associations on 
 pain of dismissal from the System's service. His the- 
 ory was that the members of those organizations might 
 co-operate industrially and interrupt his autocratic 
 business plans. The rule which he inforced I have can- 
 celled and I allow the people a larger measure of per- 
 sonal liberty. Now, after a year has elapsed since 
 
250 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 Morgan's death, I believe secret and fraternal associ- 
 ations have become a menace to the stability of the 
 Estate. You can give me some information in regard 
 to these matters and I am glad you came in." 
 
 The President's knowledge with regard to fraternal 
 associations did not extend beyond the facts he had 
 heard from Helen about the Reapers of the World. 
 
 "Your Excellency must know," said the General, 
 replying to the President's statement as if it were a 
 question, "that I have repeatedly called attention to 
 this subject at the Department of War, but have been 
 as often assured that Your Excellency's policy was not 
 to interfere. For that reason I am resolved to present 
 the facts which I have gathered to Your Excellency, 
 personally. Your Excellency should know that many 
 secret societies have sprung up in the last year and one 
 of them is already planning treason against the Estate." 
 
 The President was not, surprised at this statement, 
 but he thought of what Helen had said the day before, 
 and did not doubt that General Hughes had reference 
 to the Reapers of the World. 
 
 "I know," he remarked. "The society you refer 
 to has about twenty thousand members." 
 
 "I am certain it has over two hundred thousand in 
 St. Louis alone," declared the General. 
 
 "Two hundred thousand! Indeed! I was not cor- 
 rectly informed." 
 
 The President began to think the Reapers had 
 more ability to achieve results through numbers than 
 he supposed. "Perhaps, after all, Helen was right," 
 he thought. "If there are two hundred thousand in 
 St. Louis alone, there must be many times that number 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 251 
 
 in the nation." The President's anxiety was to di- 
 vorce the political and economic systems. He was 
 never concerned about Helen Channing so much as he 
 was for the nation and the Estate. 
 
 "Your Excellency has, perhaps, read my report 
 on this subject filed at the War office?" suggested 
 Hughes. 
 
 The President became interested and sent for the 
 report. 
 
 To his surprise, it did not refer to the Reapers of 
 the World. It was also very brief. 
 
 "The Society of Silence," said the report, "pre- 
 tends to have for its object the retention of the Rock- 
 efeller estate by the government. It has grown up 
 in the six weeks succeeding the arrival of Miss Helen 
 Channing in St. Louis and has, in the most secret man- 
 ner, increased its membership from a few hundred to 
 several millions. Each member is required to take an 
 oath to defend with his life the nation's right to the 
 Rockefeller estate and particularly to resist the claims 
 of Helen Channing to acquire the title which Morgan 
 Rockefeller devised to the American people. At that 
 time the main demonstration is to be at the capital 
 city and the chiefs of the society have decreed the 
 death of Miss Channing. The men who have organized 
 and compose this order are fanatical in the extreme 
 and should they prevail, a revolution like that which 
 occurred two hundred years ago in France will be en- 
 acted. The plans of the conspirators can not be 
 learned in detail as the most extraordinary . secrecy 
 prevails." 
 
252 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 "What!" exclaimed the President, when he had 
 finished reading. "Why has this not been brought to 
 my attention before?" 
 
 "The report was filed yesterday," replied the 
 General. "The facts came to my notice by accident, 
 and I have spent my time since, in verifying them. 
 The most remarkable deception with which a nation 
 ever masked its real feelings has been practiced, for to 
 all outward appearance the people were either unani- 
 ously satisfied with the President's policy or indifferent 
 to it." 
 
 The President looked at the General coldly and 
 almost severely. He had the fullest confidence in the 
 man, but he was inclined to feel that so important a 
 matter should have been discovered and communicated 
 to him before. Besides this, the President was nat- 
 urally antagonistic to any movement of the people 
 which did not find its inspiration in the teachings of 
 the most conservative thinkers. 
 
 "Am I to understand," he asked, "that a revolu- 
 tion is proposed by this treacherous association of con- 
 spirators of which you speak?" 
 
 "Such is the plan, as far as can be learned," was 
 the answer. 
 
 "When do you anticipate that the conspirators 
 will carry out their plans?" 
 
 "It is impossible to learn, Your Excellency. Such 
 is the secrecy with which the plans of the society are 
 guarded that only one man in each city has that know- 
 ledge. All I can say is that the first assault will be 
 made on the White House and that it is expected to be 
 ordered soon. As I have stated, the purpose of the 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 253 
 
 assault will be to gain possession of the person 
 of Miss Channing and the conspirators, who are ac- 
 cepting the French revolution of two centuries ago as a 
 model, intend to try Miss Channing for treason in 
 having attempted to acquire the Rockefeller estate, 
 and it is anticipated that her trial will be like that of 
 Marie Antoinette and her punishment, when found 
 guilty, death. You can have no doubt that she is pre- 
 judged and the members of the Society of Silence have 
 already condemned her to execution." 
 
 The President was surprised and not a little dis- 
 turbed, but h~ doubted not that he could compel com- 
 plete submission to his will. It was a revelation, 
 however, which he had not in the least suspected. 
 
 "It is another proof of the unreliability of the peo- 
 ple," declared the President. 'They have certainly 
 been very unjust, even when measured by their own 
 standards, toward Miss Channing. Only yesterday 
 she positively refused to participate in any movement 
 to place the title to the estate in her name or exercise 
 control over it." 
 
 General Hughes, as a member of the Reapers of 
 the World, was devoted to Helen as the founder of the 
 order, and was better acquainted with her affiliations 
 than the President was. But her absence from the 
 meetings of the order and her environments and the 
 reports in the public prints concerning her aspirations 
 and expectations had produced a nebulous doubt in 
 his mind. He was delighted to learn from the Presi- 
 dent's own lips that Helen was true to her pledges, for 
 General Hughes had become a most zealous believer 
 in fraternalism as a remedy for economic evils. 
 
-254 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 The President's conference with General Hughes 
 was long and earnest and, as a result, it was decided to 
 leave the White House on the following day, ostensi- 
 bly as an incident to the management of the estate, 
 and that Helen should be installed with the family of 
 the President, for greater security, in the unapproach- 
 able fastnesses of Montraven Castle. 
 
 General Hughes, dressed in citizen's clothes, left 
 the executive office and in accordance with his policy 
 to attract as little attention to his person as possible, 
 walked back to the city. It will be remembered by 
 those who are acquainted with St. Louis that the 
 government buildings are on the south side of the city 
 and that the public and family hotels which occupy 
 thousands of acres in that beautiful district are occu- 
 pied exclusively by members of the government and 
 those engaged in the hotel service. This district is 
 about fourteen miles from Montraven Castle and the 
 vast modern city extends between and all around these 
 aristocratic centers. 
 
 As the General entered the business part of the 
 city it seemed to him that the crowds on the streets 
 were greater than usual. On every square, people 
 stood in groups, but appeared rather to be waiting than 
 to be entertained by present diversions. He stopped 
 several times and spoke to persons whom he knew and 
 among them several members of the Reapers of the 
 World. He well knew that there were no disturbers 
 among these and that their sentiments were invariably 
 patriotic. 
 
 ''What are these crowds for?" he asked one of 
 them, an old man whose long white hair flowed down 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 255 
 
 his back, but who stood as straight and walked as 
 briskly as if he had hardly seen twenty-five winters, 
 
 "I can't make out," was the answer. 'The people 
 say little and seem sullen. I think from what I have 
 heard they are waiting for the factories and shops to 
 close. I don't know why." 
 
 "How many Reapers are there in St. Louis?" 
 asked the General. 
 
 "About sixteen hundred," answered the old man. 
 
 "Brother, I fear treachery!' whispered the Gen- 
 eral, catching the old man by the arm. "Go!" he 
 commanded. "Find the Reapers everywhere and do 
 it as quickly as you can. Miss Helen Channing is in 
 danger and she is true as steel to the purpose of our 
 order. I have this day learned from the President's 
 own lips that she has been offered the Estate and has 
 positively rejected it." 
 
 The man, an old fraternalist and one of the charter 
 members of the order knew General Hughes and re- 
 garded him as the chief hope of the order, next to 
 Helen Channing. He listened to the General's account 
 of his interview with the President with the deepest 
 concern and some agitation. The Reapers had never 
 really questioned Helen's loyalty and notwithstanding 
 the daily prints had magnified her movements and had 
 openly advocated what it pleased them to call her 
 "vindication" she was trusted implicitly by the order 
 which she had founded, and on occasions she had been 
 able to send them messages of encouragement and re- 
 assurance. Still the old man was glad to have further 
 proof of her devotion to the cause. 
 
256 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 "I believe, General/' he said, "these unusual 
 crowds have something to do with this infamous plot 
 which you mention. I will waste no time, but where 
 shall our people meet?" 
 
 "Tell them to go to the park in front of the White 
 House immediately." 
 
 Hughes saw the old man hurry away and hastened 
 to the Central station of the Standard, himself. There, 
 he communicated with the President by telephone. 
 As a result the President decided to transfer his house- 
 hold and guest to Montraven at once. A little later, 
 the General learned that the President had sent to ask 
 Helen to prepare to make the change and was in- 
 formed that she, accompanied by Secretary Endicott 
 and Mrs. Locksley, who had arrived from Boston, 
 were autoing in the country. 
 
 The President dispatched messengers in all direc- 
 tions with instructions to intercept Helen and request 
 her to avoid the White House and go to Montraven 
 instead. He had no doubt, because of the number of 
 such messengers, that she and her party would be ap- 
 prised of the danger and, having taken all the precaution 
 possible to secure their safety, gave directions to have 
 all, except the soldiers whom he caused to be stationed 
 within, to avail themselves of the underground passages 
 which proceeded from the White House to different 
 points, and to make their way to Montraven so as to 
 attract little notice. The President was not apprehen- 
 sive of present danger but deemed that the prestige of 
 the government should not be jeopardized and that he 
 should take no chances in such a case. 
 
CHAPTER XLIII. 
 THE SOCIETY OF SILENCE. 
 
 "I declare!" exclaimed Secretary Endicott, con- 
 sulting his watch as the auto sped swiftly along the 
 beautiful avenue beyond St. Louis. "It is later than I 
 thought. It is now seven o'clock and it will be three 
 hours before we can reach the White House. I think 
 we had better turn back, Miss Channing." 
 
 "Indeed! I am sure we should," said Helen in sur- 
 prise. "Kindly tell the chauffeur to turn back, Mr. 
 Endicott," she requested. "Have you enjoyed the ride, 
 Auntie?" she asked of Mrs. Locksley who sat by her 
 side, the picture of contentment. 
 
 "Yes, indeed! I have enjoyed the scenery because 
 it is new and because it is wonderfully good to be with 
 you again, Helen," replied Mrs. Locksley. " It is not 
 like Boston, though," she continued. "I would like it 
 better if we were in Boston." 
 
 Secretary Endicott smiled with amusement. "Well, 
 Boston is delightful to those who know it well," he re- 
 marked. The auto was now speeding back swiftly 
 over the smooth pavement toward the city. 
 
 "Judge Brewer said last evening that he believed 
 your fraternal plan is a solution of the problem of so- 
 
258 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 cial and domestic life," observed Mr. Endicott, chang- 
 ing the subject and addressing Helen. "He was 
 greatly impressed with your idea and declared that he 
 was going to look into it and make a legal study of its 
 possibilities. I suspect, however, that the fraternal 
 system is too visionary to be applied practically." 
 "Don't you believe, Mr. Endicott," asked Helen 
 very earnestly, "what Jesus of Nazareth really did 
 teach was, that the world would grow better and be 
 saved just in proportion as it abandoned its rule of 
 force and adopted those policies of liberality and moder- 
 ation which are dictated by love? Wasn't love rather 
 than force his remedy? What is liberty which men 
 prize so much and which latter-day nations take pride 
 in extending to their people? Is it not a love-light 
 which the spirit of Christianity has lit along the ave- 
 nues of Intelligence and Hope? No heathen or pagan 
 nation, and no non-christian civilization ever enjoyed 
 liberty such as now prevails in nations which accept 
 Christianity. In such countries and such civiliza- 
 tions the rule is autocratic and peace and security 
 are dependent on Force rather than Love. Where 
 force is the rule the people are nearly always 
 turbulent and then religious fanaticism is intolerant 
 and dangerous. Do you not recall that in the early 
 periods of our national history, the hordes of ignorant, 
 suspicious and impoverished immigrants were con- 
 verted in one generation by free schools and the abso- 
 lute protection afforded for religious worship into 
 orderly and intelligent as well as liberal citizens? It 
 was Christ's spirit of brotherly love extended, so to 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 259 
 
 speak, to the Gentiles. Where all restrictions are re- 
 moved from religious worship the prejudices which in- 
 cite the sects to cruelty and intolerance disappear and 
 brotherly love enters the system. I think the policy 
 of force, which the old governments have stood for, is 
 an obstacle to the happiness of man and that they have 
 done more to disturb and agitate society than to es- 
 tablish security. The Caesars and Napoleons were all 
 impractical and ended in disaster and ruin with the 
 systems which they advocated and for which they bat- 
 tled incessantly and fruitlessly. Christ's system is the 
 only practical one and, so far as it has been established, 
 is the only lasting one." 
 
 Endicott smiled and assented. "You are right, 
 Miss Channing," he said. "Your views are absolutely 
 correct and indisputable. But while they are correct 
 and indisputable, you may be sure that the world will 
 go right on ignoring their correctness and will grovel 
 and battle and suffer just as it always has done. You 
 cannot make this world perfect in a day or a genera- 
 tion." 
 
 "Is it not unfair, Mr. Endicott," returned Helen, 
 "to insist that, because I believe we can find a way to 
 approach more nearly to the high ideal of justice, by 
 distributing rent, interest and profits where they will 
 do good, rather than to let them accumulate in the 
 hands of those who do not need them, I am therefore 
 expecting to reach heaven in a single bound?" 
 
 "Have you not proposed a greater task than the 
 world is ready to perform?" suggested the Secretary. 
 
 "Not greater than the world is ready to perform 
 if it can get a system by which to perform it!" replied 
 
260 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 Helen. "My ancestors are distinguished and are en- 
 titled to distinction, because they not only provided a 
 system for men to work in, but also found means to 
 compel men to work in in that system. The world 
 went to school to Rockefeller number one and has been 
 learning from all the Rockefellers since. The world 
 learned the system and its application. I sometimes 
 think that God's first instrument, when he finds the 
 people ready for a new system, is a dictator whom he 
 invests with autocratic power. Such have been my 
 ancestors. But the time has come for another great 
 step forward and the fraternal principle may be intro- 
 duced into the Rockefeller system. This will not 
 make men angels. I do not contend that. But it will 
 take away many of the excuses which men offer for 
 wrong doing. It will remove the incentive for those 
 evils which are maintained for purely commercial pur- 
 poses. It will place the competitive conflict on a 
 higher plane than that where the necessaries of physi- 
 cal life are the sole reward. Competition for mental 
 and spiritual gain alone is worth the struggle." 
 
 The auto had now come to one of the Rest Houses 
 which the Rockefeller Supply Company maintains 
 along the main avenues of travel in the rural districts. 
 Secretary Endicott suggested that they stop and par- 
 take of refreshments and this having been done, they 
 continued their trip and the auto sped on its way 
 with the rapidity of a meteor. 
 
 It was nearly nine o'clock when they saw the 
 dome of the capital in the distance. As they approached 
 it, however, they became aware that dense crowds had 
 gathered in that vicinity and that so me excitement of 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 261 
 
 an unusual character was attracting people there in 
 great numbers. Soon the crowds were so dense as to 
 impede travel. The chauffeur slowed up and in the 
 twilight the faces which were turned to Helen seemed 
 to wear an expression of anger and disdain. Helen at 
 first regarded it as merely a fancy on her part, but as 
 the auto proceeded slowly the occupants noticed that 
 the crowds closed in to the rear and grew denser and 
 were less willing to open their ranks in front. 
 
 "What is the occasion of this gathering?" Endi- 
 cott asked of several of the bystanders; but they only 
 looked at him and made no answer. 
 
 Suddenly a large, powerful man in the crowd 
 seized the chauffeur and pulled him roughly from his 
 seat on the slowly running car and quickly took the 
 latter's place and brought the auto to a stop. 
 
 "What is the meaning of this?" demanded the 
 Secretary, while Helen and Mrs. Locksley stood up 
 in agitation. 
 
 The large man on the seat jumped down, but did 
 not answer. The crowd was so dense now that it 
 pressed closely against the auto on all sides. Not a 
 man spoke. The silence of that vast multitude 
 seemed uncanny, and a dread arose even in the stout 
 heart of the Secretary. The faces of Helen and Mrs. 
 Locksley were pale, but their courage did not forsake 
 them. As for the latter, she was ready to do battle 
 for Helen even to the death. 
 
 "What do you men mean?" she cried out to the 
 crowd. "Why do you stand in the way? Don't you 
 know that this is Miss Helen Channing?" 
 
262 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 Still there was no answer. Still the crowd was 
 silent. 
 
 The Secretary moved out on one of the steps of 
 the vehicle, but found no room to descend. 
 
 ''Open your ranks and let us pass," he shouted. 
 "John," he directed, speaking to the chauffeur, who 
 was attempting to regain his seat, but was kept back 
 by many strong hands, "take your place and drive on." 
 
 "Let me go," yelled the chauffeur, making an im- 
 petuous effort to free himself. But the silent men 
 held him fast. 
 
 "Why do you not speak? What is the matter? 
 Why is this crowd here?" again demanded the Secre- 
 tary. 
 
 Then there were shouts heard some distance away, 
 and a tremor seemed to stir the multitude, but still it 
 remained silent. The men became active and made 
 signs to one another. Nearly all of them except those 
 in the immediate vicinity of the auto turned toward 
 the direction from which the shouts came. Endicott, 
 who was unable to comprehend the meaning of the 
 demonstration and who was confounded more by the 
 silence than by any fear, stood erect in the auto and 
 looked around. 
 
 "Be seated, ladies," he said; and Helen and Mrs. 
 Locksley complied. When the shouts were raised in 
 the distance, Endicott noticed that the silent men 
 around him drew revolvers. He was unarmed, but, 
 while he was angry and felt that he and his compan- 
 ions were being hindered in their progress, it did not 
 occur to him that this hindrance was anything more 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 263 
 
 than an incident of some unlawful demonstration, the 
 cause of which he did not know. 
 
 In this dilemma he could do nothing but glare at 
 the men who silently glared at him. 
 
 "You men should know that you are doing us a 
 great injustice by this uncalled-for interference," he 
 ventured. But, although the men heard him, they 
 remained silent. 
 
 Suddenly the ranks of the crowd opened and a 
 number of masked men, all armed with rifles, came 
 marching through the avenue, one of them leading. 
 They came up to the auto and the leader broke the 
 silence. While the shouting continued in the distance 
 he spoke in a loud, clear voice, which was evidently 
 partly disguised, and said : 
 
 "Secretary Endicott, we know you and have no 
 business with you. We represent the Society of 
 Silence, whose mission is to act, not speak. You may 
 go. The elderly lady with you may go. Helen 
 Channing, on behalf of the American Republic and at 
 the instance of the Society of Silence, I arrest you on 
 a charge preferred against you — that you have sought 
 by fraud, diplomacy, treachery and false pretense to 
 take from the Government of the United States that 
 estate which has been devised to it by Morgan Rocke- 
 feller, in trust for the people. You will do well to 
 submit without resistance; but if you refuse to accom- 
 pany us we will be obliged to use force." 
 
 Endicott was standing on the steps of the auto 
 in the same position which he occupied when the 
 attack on the chauffeur occurred. He heard the 
 words of the man before him. Endicott was not one 
 
264 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 who became excited. He coolly surveyed the silent 
 crowd, and when the leader had ceased speaking, with- 
 out the slightest trace of anger or fear in his manner 
 or voice, he said : 
 
 "I do not know who you are or what your purpose 
 may be. I do not know what you mean, and it is 
 not to you that Helen Channing or myself need answer 
 to any charges which you may make. This pretended 
 charge which you express is false. But whether true 
 or false I — William C. Endicott, Secretary of War, on 
 behalf of the Government of the United States of 
 America — demand that this crowd disperse and that 
 you cease your unlawful conduct. For Miss Helen 
 Channing, I say now, that she refuses to submit to 
 your insolent and unlawful demand, and for myself, 
 I refuse to permit you to lay hands upon her." 
 
 Endicott had not finished when the masked 
 leader waved aloft a cane or wand, from which sprang 
 a flame each time he waved it. It was probably a 
 signal, for, as the one concluded his speech and the 
 other lowered the cane, three men sprang forward to 
 the car and attempted to lay hold of the Secretary. 
 The latter, although never turbulent, resisted the 
 assault and his assailants failed to reach him. The 
 first he knocked completely down. The second stag- 
 gered back into the crowd. The third stepped back 
 in time to avoid the fate of the first. But all three 
 sprang forward again and others came to their aid. 
 
 The Secretary was pulled from the auto and se- 
 curely bound. 
 
 Meantime the shouting which had been heard in 
 the distance had become louder and more distinct, and 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 265 
 
 a perfect fusillade of explosions, as of small arms 
 being discharged, was heard. The crowd around 
 Helen and her companions was apparently agitated 
 to the verge of panic. Still it preserved its remark- 
 able silence. 
 
 The masked men, having secured the Secretary, 
 again started for the auto where the two women, 
 being unable to find a way of escape through the 
 wall of human enemies which surrounded them, still 
 remained. Mrs. Locksley placed herself between the 
 assailants and Helen, but was soon brushed aside. 
 The first of the assailants stepped up into the auto and 
 was about to lay hold of Helen and drag her to the 
 ground, when the crowd seemed to break and waver. 
 A tumult arose and the man who had entered the 
 auto, instead of seizing his victim, drew his revolver 
 and jumped to the ground again. 
 
 A new set of combatants had forced its way 
 through the dense crowd and many had fallen before 
 its advance. But although the mass wavered and 
 was nearly panic-stricken, the silence was continued 
 and the multitude, while it opened a passage for the 
 shouting, rushing and fighting band, closed behind it. 
 The Society of Silence, obedient to the signals from 
 the leader's fiery wand, and fanatical in the belief that 
 they were pursuing a policy dictated by patriotism and 
 the public good, stood silent, fast and firm. 
 
 Helen was horrified. 
 
 Her experience in Watertown came vividly to her 
 recollection. 
 
 She realized now that she was the object of this 
 manifestation of discontent. She saw men fighting 
 
266 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 and falling around her, and several bullets whistled 
 past her. 
 
 But she neither screamed nor fainted. 
 
 Suddenly, while the men fought in the darkness, 
 and just as those who appeared to be forcing their way 
 through the mass of silent beings who surged and 
 crowded around her, had nearly reached her, myriads 
 of great flames flashed up in the direction of the White 
 House. A deep report, like an explosion, resounded 
 through the air, and the earth trembled and rocked 
 like the billows of the ocean The detonation of the 
 report was still loud when it was followed by another 
 nearer and more awful in its significance. Still an- 
 other, and yet a fourth and a fifth shook the earth 
 and flaring red flames leaped up through the night 
 and seemed to blaze to the very moon and the swinging 
 stars. Fragments of wood, spars, rock and earth filled 
 the air and some portions of them flew and fell on the 
 avenue where Helen's auto rocked on the broken pave- 
 ment. The smoke became stifling, and Helen, fainting 
 and struck by a flying spar, fell over the side of the 
 swaying car to the pavement, bleeding and uncon- 
 scious. 
 
 The combatants, in the confusion and terror of 
 an overwhelming catastrophe, ceased their contentions, 
 but the members of the Society of Silence who were not 
 overwhelmed and destroyed, being actuated by a con- 
 ception of duty rather than influenced by great love, 
 forgetting their purpose and plan, fled precipitately, 
 leaving their dead and wounded where they had been 
 stricken by foe or falling debris. 
 
CHAPTER XLIV. 
 THE LAW OF FORCE. 
 
 A revelation of horrors confronted the American 
 people on the morning of Independence Day, 1991. 
 
 The newspapers everywhere contained the awful 
 story of a night's disaster. 
 
 The Associated Press dispatches from the capitol 
 city were red firebrands of graphic description and 
 wild terror. 
 
 Not only did they give detailed accounts of the 
 catastrophe which had destroyed the political capital, 
 the executive mansion and some of the most costly 
 public buildings, but they told of the violent and 
 sudden hurling of one hundred and fifty thousand souls 
 into eternity. 
 
 More astounding still and a hundred times more 
 terrifying was the information, plainly communicated 
 to the world as a warning, that every city of twenty 
 thousand inhabitants or more, in the United States, 
 was similarly mined and that the military authorities 
 were in a position to suppress every insurrection and 
 rebellion with as great facility as General Edison Grant 
 had suppressed that of the treasonable Society of 
 Silence. 
 
268 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 "The Society of Silence," the dispatches said, 
 "planned this attack on the White House with the 
 most treacherous secrecy. Every member, it appears, 
 was sworn to silence. In its meetings all business was 
 conducted by signs. No man spoke. In carrying out 
 the orders of the society no man dared to speak, on 
 pain of severe punishment, unless specially instructed 
 to do so. The training of half a century in co-oper- 
 ative action had made it possible to effectuate so aston- 
 ishing a plan, and the plan itself had been so successful 
 that the authorities were completely baffled. 
 
 "It was by the merest chance that President 
 Adams learned of the purpose of the Society of Silence 
 to attack the White House and take the Chief Magis- 
 trate and Helen Channing prisoners. He was, how- 
 ever, in a position to protect himself. He directed his 
 household to proceed to Montraven Castle and sta- 
 tioned a body of troops in the White House. 
 
 "Unfortunately, Miss Helen Channing could not 
 be found. She had gone with her former guardian, 
 Mrs. Locksley, and the Secretary of War, William C. 
 Endicott, into the country. Messengers were dis- 
 patched in all directions to apprise her of the danger. 
 Meantime, the members of the Society of Silence 
 gathered in vast numbers around the White House. 
 Their presence was doubly startling and oppressive, 
 it is said, because of the uniform and absolute silence 
 which was steadfastly maintained. 
 
 "President Adams, in the security of Montraven 
 Castle, received communications every few minutes 
 from the White House. He was informed of each 
 demonstration. At seven o'clock an effort was made 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 269 
 
 by the Society to enter the main hall. When this 
 hostile demonstration occurred the President turned 
 to General Edison Grant and said: 'General Grant, I 
 now place the responsibility of suppressing this insur- 
 rection on you, as general of the army.' 
 
 "General Hughes, Chief of the Standard Detect- 
 ive force, together with Mr. Alden Lowell, who had 
 that afternoon returned from a successful mission to 
 China, were instructed to proceed to the White House 
 and report the situation and acts of the besieging mob 
 to General Armstrong, who was in charge of the body 
 of soldiers stationed there. 
 
 "General Grant then introduced President Adams 
 to the military chamber of whose presence President 
 Adams was unaware. (Here the newspaper account 
 contains a detailed description of the Military Cham- 
 ber, with whose mechanism the reader is already 
 familiar.) 
 
 "It was decided that an object lesson was required 
 to enable the Society of Silence throughout the United 
 States, whose membership is understood to number 
 many millions, to realize the futility of its unhallowed 
 designs. General Grant's unqualified opinion was that 
 the five magazines in the mines beneath the White 
 House, the Capitol, War, Navy and Commerce build- 
 ings should be ignited. This, it was believed, would 
 destroy those buildings and every other building and 
 material form within a well defined area. 
 
 "General Armstrong was notified by telephone to 
 order every building vacated within the condemned 
 area and then conduct his soldiers through under- 
 ground passages to a place of security. 
 
270 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 "Complying with their orders, General Hughes 
 and Mr. Lowell hastened to the White House. When 
 they came to Roosevelt Square, near the statue of the 
 famous statesman and hero after whom the square is 
 named, a man pushed his way through the crowd, 
 and, recognizing General Hughes, informed him that 
 Miss Helen Channing and party, including Secretary 
 Endicott, had been surrounded and that, unless help 
 arrived soon, she and her companions would, perhaps, 
 suffer at the hands of the assembled mob. He also 
 declared that many partisans of Miss Channing were 
 present in the multitude who would gladly follow any 
 leader in an attempt to rescue her. 
 
 "Mr. Alden Lowell, without an instant's hesita- 
 tion, offered to rally the friends of Miss Channing and 
 suggested that General Hughes proceed to the White 
 House alone. It so happened that a large number of 
 the friends of Miss Channing were already gathered 
 together near the Roosevelt statue, and Mr. Lowell 
 had no difficulty in enlisting them in his cause. They 
 seem to have been forewarned of danger and were 
 armed with revolvers. Quickly forming his men into 
 a flying wedge, the intrepid young man, shouting 
 'The Reapers! The Reapers!' which was adopted as a 
 rallying cry, charged into the ranks of the mob. 
 
 "On the first charge the silent mob opened its 
 ranks for some rods, but the rest were so solidly packed 
 together that they involuntarily restrained one an- 
 other from giving way. The assailants, however, 
 succeeded in clearing quite a space around them. 
 Again and again did the flying wedge attack the silent 
 mob, discharging their firearms as they did so, and 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL, 271 
 
 each time succeeded in making progress through the 
 solid wall of human beings, nearer to Miss Channing. 
 Each time many of the rescuing party were killed 
 or wounded, and more of the Society of Silence lay 
 hushed forever in the street. At last, the struggle of 
 those of the mob who were most exposed, to escape the 
 repeated assaults, effected a partial opening, which 
 enabled Lowell and his heroic followers, still shouting 
 The Reapers! The Reapers!' to fight their way through 
 to where the lady whom they were intent on rescuing 
 sat alone. The sight of her, surrounded and threatened, 
 encouraged them to redouble their efforts, and Alden 
 Lowell seemed to carry all before him as he threw him- 
 self on the masked men who opposed his final charge. 
 "Meantime, General Hughes had gained entrance 
 to the White House. The soldiers were soon on their 
 way through the underground secret passages, and 
 the occupants of all buildings in the condemned dis- 
 trict were notified to seek safety in flight. In half an 
 hour from the time General Hughes and Alden Lowell 
 parted company, Hughes was on his way to Roosevelt 
 Square. He had seen the mob pour into the govern- 
 ment buildings in search of the President. He knew 
 that the mines beneath the buildings would not reach 
 Roosevelt Square. Arriving at the statue, he found 
 means to communicate from a wireless station with 
 Montraven. Scarcely were the last words of his 
 message spoken when the explosions occurred. The 
 effect of these beggars description. Every building 
 in the condemned district was so completely obliterated 
 that it would be impossible from any external evidence 
 to find where each was located. The majority of the 
 
272 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 Society of Silence in St. Louis were probably in the 
 destroyed district, and of those none escaped. 'Ruin' 
 does not suffice to express the result of this awful object 
 lesson furnished by General Grant to the people of 
 America. 'Horror,' 'Death,' 'Obliteration,' 'Anni- 
 hilation' — merely suggest the tragedy through which 
 the beautiful political capitol of America has illustrated 
 the Law of Force. 
 
 "At the instant of the great explosion the mob of 
 silence on the outskirts of the condemned district dis- 
 appeared like shadows. The rescuers remained, under 
 the command of the heroic and intrepid Lowell, at 
 their post. It is said that the earth in that locality 
 trembled as if an earthquake shock had occurred. 
 When all was quiet, however, the rescuing party began 
 to search for Miss Channing and her companions. 
 This was rendered difficult by the fact that much of 
 the debris which had been thrown from the destroyed 
 buildings had fallen and lay in heaps around them. 
 Many of the rescuers had been struck and were injured 
 and the wounded as well as the dead and dying lay 
 beneath the wreckage. 
 
 "Alden Lowell found Miss Channing bleeding and 
 unconscious and carried her in his arms as rapidly as 
 the obstacles in the way would permit, to one of the 
 neighboring hotels. The surgeons who were sum- 
 moned found the young lady had received a severe 
 cut on the head, caused, evidently, by a flying spar. 
 
 "The nation has, however, lost one of its most 
 promising statesmen, Honorable William C. Endicott, 
 Secretary of War, whom the mob had bound hand and 
 foot and who suffered fatal injuries of an internal 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 273 
 
 nature as a result of being struck by falling debris. 
 He was unconscious and beyond medical aid when 
 discovered. Mrs. Locksley, Miss Channing's former 
 guardian, who accompained the heiress and Secretary 
 Endicott, had also been bound by the mob, but re- 
 ceived no injuries, and being released took her place 
 at the bedside of her ward." 
 
 The death of the Secretary was regarded as a 
 public calamity and President Adams was deeply 
 affected when he learned that his favorite counselor 
 was no more. The entire nation went into mourning. 
 Flags were displayed at half mast and work was gen- 
 erally suspended. The President, however, did not 
 reproach himself for permitting General Grant to 
 "press the buttons" which destroyed fifty million 
 dollars worth of property and which lost to the nation 
 the services of one great man. 
 
 "The lesson is wholesome," he said. "It is better 
 to destroy fifty million ourselves than to permit a 
 misguided populace to destroy one billion. It is 
 better to destroy one hundred and fifty thousand 
 people in one place and in a few minutes than to dis- 
 organize society and let its factions murder one an- 
 other to the number of several millions. Such is 
 the Law of Force. History is saved by this action 
 from another chapter like that of the French Revo- 
 lution. Mankind is saved from another Reign of 
 Terror." 
 
CHAPTER XLV. 
 THE LAW OF LOVE. 
 
 The flashlight of the conflagration had revealed 
 to Helen before she became unconscious the form and 
 features of Alden Lowell, and the light went out of 
 her mind with the impression of that scene of strife 
 and heroism indelibly fixed upon it. 
 
 So, too, she recovered consciousness only to find 
 herself in the strong arms of him whose presence there 
 seemed miraculous. 
 
 Whatever strength she may have felt because of 
 the great purpose to which her life was devoted, she 
 now realized, in spite of the pain which she suffered, 
 that she was a woman and that her happiness lay in 
 another's might and strength. And now she knew 
 that Alden was that other. 
 
 Satisfying himself that Miss Channing's injuries 
 were not serious, Alden left her with Mrs. Locksley 
 and the attendants and returned to the scene of the 
 disaster where thousands of those who were on the 
 outskirts of the condemned district were killed or 
 injured by debris thrown up by the explosions. 
 
 All the night he worked with untiring zeal, giving 
 succor to the wounded and dying and directing many 
 of those employed in the rescue service. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 275 
 
 In the morning he called to ask after Miss Chan- 
 ning and learned from Mrs. Locksley, who over- 
 whelmed him with appreciation, that the lady was 
 resting easy and that she had repeatedly asked after 
 him. But a feeling of resentment rankled in his 
 breast and he could not see her then. Why had she 
 not acknowledged his letter? Why had she treated 
 him with indifference and perhaps contempt? He 
 would content himself with asking after her in the 
 future, and when she was recovered from her injuries 
 he would meet her on the plane of fraternal work and 
 never refer to the letter again. It seemed impos- 
 sible that such forgetfulness as hers could be either 
 explained or condoned. 
 
 Two days after her misfortune Helen was well 
 enough to be removed to sumptuous apartments which 
 had been prepared for her at Montraven Castle. 
 She was able to sit up and in another week she was 
 so much improved as to be taken on daily drives in 
 the great Montraven Park. She knew that Alden 
 had been sufficiently interested in her welfare to ask 
 after her every day, and she longed to see him. 
 
 Many of the great men of the nation had paid 
 their respects to her, and President Adams had called 
 upon her personally. The advent of the political 
 government at the citadel of the economic power, 
 Montraven Castle, in which it was completely ab- 
 sorbed, caused quite a stir among the units of the 
 system. The President had said little except to 
 justify the holocaust, for which he felt responsible, 
 but it was not difficult for Helen to see that he was 
 
276 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 deeply affected and that he was not the same strong 
 man whom she had known. 
 
 ''You still persist, Miss Helen," he said with a 
 noticeable absence of his usual urbanity and his genial 
 smile, "in having confidence in these wretched people 
 who would have taken your life? You still believe 
 your fraternal society can administer the estate left by 
 Morgan Rockefeller? I have had several discussions 
 with Judge Brewer, of late, and he seems to have 
 become as great an advocate of the fraternal plan as 
 yourself. I consider it Utopian, and if it were not 
 for Brewer's position I would probably treat it with 
 contempt. Brewer tells me that he has become a 
 member of your order." 
 
 Helen was amazed and delighted. Judge Brewer 
 was an unexpected acquisition. That he had con- 
 cluded to identify himself with the Reapers strength- 
 ened her position much and she was so delighted that 
 she could have thrown her arms around the President. 
 
 "You will find that the Reapers of the World 
 will fail, as all such movements have," continued the 
 President. "I think you would do well to reconsider 
 your decision not to accept the estate which the law 
 will give you. I believe I would proceed to have the 
 will declared void on my own responsibility and force 
 you to take the estate, but I feel that I have not long 
 to live, and the strain will break me completely down. 
 I owe it to myself to take needed rest." The Presi- 
 dent sighed heavily and presented a picture of hope- 
 lessness which filled Helen with sorrow. 
 
 "When I am gone, it is quite likely that there 
 will be none to check this movement which you and 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 277 
 
 Brewer advocate. Your power is multiplied in the 
 minds of the people by the sacrifice you propose and 
 what you propose will doubtless result in temporary 
 success." 
 
 "I would not feel safe for one moment," exclaimed 
 Helen, "if your Law of Force compelled me to assume 
 the burden which Your Excellency is allowing to 
 crush so great and strong a man as the President of 
 the United States. The Law of Love, of which I am 
 a disciple and which Jesus of Nazareth taught, would 
 never put this burden on me and never intended it 
 for you. Oh! Mr. President, if only you could have 
 more confidence in humanity and less in the Law of 
 Force, the unjust burden which you assume and which 
 you very incorrectly feel that the world places upon 
 you, would fall from your shoulders and be very gladly 
 borne by mankind. The world only waited for a 
 system by which it could do so. My ancestors have 
 provided that system and the fraternal order now 
 furnishes a plan by which that system can be con- 
 tinued in operation through the Law of Love as pro- 
 mulgated by the Reapers of the World." 
 
 "Well," said the President, rising to go, "you 
 were my hope. As you do not consent to accept 
 your own, I feel that there is no other course to pur- 
 sue than to have your fraternal plan investigated. 
 A cabinet meeting has been called to consider it, 
 and if it is thought proper to do so, a special session 
 of Congress will be convened." 
 
 The President returned to his apartments in the 
 castle, leaving Helen almost overcome with joy. The 
 cause of Fraternalism mounted up to the very summit 
 
278 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 of victory. Her fondest hopes had never anticipated 
 so glorious and speedy a success. 
 
 At Montraven her surroundings were as luxurious 
 as those which she had enjoyed at the White House. 
 Innumerable ladies, pages and servants attended in 
 obedience to her will. But since her dream of the 
 Temptation, the suggestions of royalty and the splendor 
 of her state had become distasteful to her. She could 
 not dispense with them, but she invoked the assistance 
 of her servitors as little as possible. They seemed to 
 be in her way. Not that she wanted to be alone, but 
 that she longed for some one to commune with who 
 would really rejoice with her and who could under- 
 stand and appreciate this grand victory. She had 
 been distressed because she had not seen Alden since 
 the great explosion. Mrs. Locksley had informed her 
 that he had repeatedly called and inquired as to her 
 progress, but that he had avoided her on one pretext 
 or another; and she believed she understood the reason, 
 for the unanswered letter had been burning its every 
 word into her soul ever since it had found its belated 
 way to her. She had expected to receive him at her 
 apartments and express her gratitude for his heroic 
 service and gallant rescue. Now she felt that she must 
 see him, so she quickly wrote a short note and calling 
 a messenger bade him find Mr. Lowell and place it 
 in his hands. 
 
 The note was as follows : 
 
 ' 'Dear Mr. Lowell: 
 
 Auntie tells me you have called daily since the 
 terrible night when you rescued me from death, but 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 279 
 
 that you have not been willing to see me. I have 
 great and good news for you. Can't you come to me 
 at once? 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 Helen Channing." 
 
 No sooner had this message gone beyond recall 
 than Helen began to think. Strangely enough, the 
 cause which involved the welfare of the world, the 
 cause of which she was the originator, organizer and 
 high priestess, the cause of the world's fraternal re- 
 demption, faded from her mind. The great event 
 which had just occurred was eclipsed by another of 
 more moment to the girl as she realized that she was 
 being borne swiftly to her own destiny. 
 
 It was not the world, not the Estate, not the 
 nation which was involved now; only herself and 
 another. 
 
 A thousand recollections rushed to her memory. 
 Again she saw herself in the White House Park and 
 lived over once more the scene which ensued; the agi- 
 tation as she read the letter which Alden sent her from 
 far-away China; the appearance of the handsome 
 Secretary of War and the walk with him among the 
 trees and flowers. 
 
 A great pang of sorrow seized her heart as she 
 thought of the admiration she felt for the learned and 
 great man whose tragic death had occurred in her 
 behalf. Then the stirring scenes of old Colombia, 
 where she had been rescue from captivity by Alden 
 Lowell, and the picture of the battle shown by the 
 
280 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 flashlight from the red flames of the explosions were 
 revived with startling and realistic effect. She 
 could never forget that hero face and form, and now 
 here was her hero coming to her and she would meet 
 him in the light of another conflagration which was 
 bursting into flame and consuming her heart. The 
 devotee of humanity's cause forgot her ecstacy over 
 the success of that cause in an access of emotion which 
 is the sweet heritage of real human love. 
 
 It seemed a long time before Alden arrived and 
 was ushered into Helen's presence. He presented him- 
 self with a formality which might not have concealed 
 his agitation from one who observed the scene without 
 being a part of it. Helen did not see that he was 
 agitated. He did not see that she was. Lovers are 
 blind. But in truth, Alden held fast to the memory 
 of the unanswered letter, and however complete his 
 subjugation to the influence of his love, that wavering 
 vanity, which creeps into and often destroys the garden 
 of happiness, would not leave him. The unanswered 
 letter was a subject which he felt should not be dis- 
 missed without an explanation. Yet his fancied re- 
 sentment was almost swept away by the sound of that 
 voice and the sight of that face. He nearly surrendered 
 to the impulse to throw himself at her feet and renew 
 those expressions of love which were contained in his 
 letter from the Chinese city. 
 
 As for Helen, everything had gone out of her life 
 except the present moment. 
 
 "Mr. Lowell," she said, smiling and extending her 
 hand, "I can never thank you sufficiently for your 
 heroism on that awful night." 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 281 
 
 Alden took the little hand which was extended to 
 him and his resentment disappeared." 
 
 "And you could not answer my letter?" he asked 
 shortly. 
 
 It was not what he intended to say. 
 
 Now it suddenly occurred to him that in asking it 
 he had revived and reiterated all the declarations con- 
 tained in the letter itself. He was appalled at what he 
 had done, for he had not planned or expected to make 
 this meeting so important, or to even suggest the ques- 
 tion whose answer sometimes means life or death to 
 one's very soul. 
 
 He had crossed the rubicon, so to speak, uncon- 
 sciously, and was unable to either retreat or to conceal 
 his advance. He looked startled and almost dazed 
 into wonderful eyes which were, for the moment, full of 
 the courage of love and confidence, only Alden did not 
 see it through his confusion. 
 
 "Oh! Mr. Lowell!" she exclaimed, as if in haste to 
 explain, "I did not receive it until the day before your 
 arrival." 
 
 She told him how she had accidently found it in 
 her secretary's basket and the peculiar action of the 
 secretary. "You may be sure somebody was anxious 
 to prevent me from receiving it." This had never 
 occurred to Helen before. "Now every day I have ex- 
 pected to meet you but you have never permitted it." 
 
 She looked wistfully at her hero and then her eyes 
 fell as she saw the great joy her words had kindled. 
 
 Alden did not resist the impulse to raise that hand 
 to his lips and murmur, as he kissed it passionately: 
 
 "My Helen! My Love!" 
 
282 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 Then the wall of wealth and the myth of social 
 position dissolved between these two mortals as he 
 folded her in his arms and claimed her for his own. 
 And she, unresisting, accepted his love and gave her 
 heart to him forever. 
 
 There was real joy in the Rockefeller family that 
 afternoon — the joy of love. 
 
 Oh! that this old world were so organized and man- 
 aged that individuals could not assume the burdens of 
 wealth which belong to society as a whole. Then, 
 there would be more time for the exercise of that 
 greatest of God's gifts to material beings — the gift of 
 love, uncommercial and uncontaminated love— where 
 the one man loves the one woman and the one woman 
 loves the one man. 
 
CHAPTER XLVI. 
 THE MOVEMENT OF THE MANY. 
 
 The commissioners who had been appointed to 
 appraise the Rockefeller estate completed their work 
 in one year. Their labors were far less difficult than 
 had been anticipated. The great Master's system of 
 bookkeeping made it possible to ascertain the true val- 
 uation almost at a glance. The property was there- 
 upon ordered to be sold to the highest bidder, but in 
 no case for less than two hundred and fifty billion 
 dollars. 
 
 The President and Cabinet were now under the 
 influence of a master mind. They realized their utter 
 helplessness in the face of recent events. President 
 Adams, oppressed by the terrible fatalities which fol- 
 lowed the attack of the Society of Silence and the man- 
 ner in which that society had been destroyed, felt that 
 he no longer had the affection of the people. His 
 spirit was broken and he relied, without hope, but 
 through a sense of weakness, on the new Secretary of 
 War for guidance. Secretary Brewer, however, ap- 
 proached his task with a deep conviction that his plans 
 were not only practicable but were based upon the 
 soundest principles of humanity, and he felt the most 
 perfect confidence in their success. 
 
 When the day arrived for the opening of bids the 
 
284 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 cabinet found only one. It was signed by Helen 
 Channing, "Lady Harvester" of the Reapers of the 
 World. It simply offered two hundred and fifty 
 billion dollars for all the stock of the Standard Oil 
 Company and agreed to pay the purchase price in in- 
 stallments on a basis of one dollar per month for each 
 member of the order. 
 
 "The membership," said Secretary Brewer, after 
 reading the bid, "has increased rapidly in the last 
 month. I have thought best to send each member of 
 Congress an outline of the plan of the Reapers of the 
 World in connection with its proposed bid. As a mem- 
 ber of the order I have also invited all members of 
 Congress, as well as His Excellency, President Adams, 
 and his Cabinet to become identified with the great 
 organized movement of the people in fraternity. I 
 have advices which show that three fourths of the 
 House and Senate are now active members of the 
 Reapers of the World. Your Excellency is to be- 
 come a member this evening and I am happy to say 
 that all members of the Cabinet have anticipated the 
 rule of fraternalism by joining the order." 
 
 "The present membership numbers two hundred 
 and fifty thousand and the acceptance of this bid, 
 therefore, means a payment of two hundred and fifty 
 thousand dollars per month to the government on ac- 
 count of the purchase price of the estate. It means 
 more. The moment Congress approves the action of 
 the Cabinet in accepting this bid, all intelligent Amer- 
 icans will desire to become associated with us, for 
 where the wealth is which they created, there will they 
 also go. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 285 
 
 "I am in favor of accepting this bid with two con- 
 ditions attached. First, the necessity for the secret 
 features of the fraternal system has passed when man- 
 kind accepts that system. Secrecy was necessary 
 when the order had enemies and when it was pro- 
 scribed by the industrial power. I believe we should 
 make the meetings hereafter open and public. I do 
 not mean that any except members should participate 
 actively, but that we should have no secrecy in our 
 system. Second, this wealth is created by the labor of 
 all men and women. Therefore a man or woman who 
 is good enough to become a citizen of our country is 
 entitled to be a member. In order that the units may 
 be looked after and protected properly I shall insist 
 that all be admitted to membership who are fit to be 
 citizens and that no lodge shall have more than five 
 hundred members/ ' 
 
 The bid was accepted subject to the conditions 
 proposed by Secretary Brewer and to the approval of 
 Congress. 
 
 The organs of publicity, newspapers, magazines, 
 and periodicals of every description gave the news of 
 the Cabinet's action to all the people. It produced a 
 profound sensation. At first it was not understood. 
 In some quarters protests were formulated into reso- 
 lutions, but these were so manifestly based on misin- 
 formation that the government did not feel concerned 
 about them. Inquiries came from all parts of the na- 
 tion with regard to the Reapers of the World. 
 
 Meantime, the belief became general that the 
 order whose bid had been accepted by the Cabinet was 
 about to receive the approval of Congress. Helen 
 
286 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 Channing, Alden Lowell, General Hughes, Judge 
 Brewer and a host of leaders were active in the move- 
 ment. Nothing else was discussed in the nation but 
 the "Reapers" and their system. The public prints 
 unanimously favored the great movement. The 
 churches discovered the awakened spirit of Jesus the 
 Christ among them and many thought it was, perhaps, 
 a suggestion of His coming again to earth and the es- 
 tablishment of His Kingdom. 
 
 Everywhere the people were anxious to become 
 members of the order. 
 
 Lodges were formed in every city, town and village 
 and the excitement was intense and joy seemed to 
 reign supreme. Helen, Alden and Judge Brewer were 
 in great demand everywhere. 
 
 Multitudes nocked to meet them as they went 
 through the nation on their great campaign for the 
 Fraternal system and the Christ idea. 
 
 Helen made no attempt to address the hosts which 
 greeted and cheered her as she went with her compan- 
 ions from city to city. But Alden, whose voice and 
 manner were so fascinating in public speech that he 
 received the sobriequet of "Golden Mouth," spoke as 
 one inspired. 
 
 The great Judge,however, plain and direct of speech, 
 learned, logical and full of statistics, facts and truths, 
 had the confidence of the people. They believed in 
 his constructive statesmanship. 
 
 Helen Channing was the embodiment of the ideal 
 and was deemed far above the sphere of logic, of argu- 
 ment, of practical work and constructive power. 
 
 She was the poetry, the song, the spirituality, the 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 287 
 
 thought, the truth itself. Such was the estimation of 
 the world whose admiration for her was unbounded. 
 But those who were close to her knew that her life, 
 free as it was from any selfishness of thought or pur- 
 pose, amplified as it was by a spirituality which enabled 
 her to know the truth instinctively, was also directed 
 by a genius for organization which would have delighted 
 even her greatest ancestor. 
 
 And Alden? He, too, was a hero whose lips were 
 hallowed with the fire of brotherly love and the re- 
 demption of human society through the application 
 of Christ's Law of Life — the Golden Rule. 
 
 When Congress convened in extra session in Octo- 
 ber, 1990, there was nothing for it to do but accept the 
 strong sentiment of the people as their unwritten law. 
 But members of the House and Senate were as anxious 
 to approve the sale of the estate to the Reapers of the 
 World as the nation was to have them do it. So plain 
 was the course before them that when the subject arose 
 in the regular order it was unanimously approved with- 
 out discussion. The administration was congratulated 
 on its successful solution of the problem which had 
 long perplexed the people of the nation and was urged 
 to complete the transfer of the stock of the Standard 
 Oil Company to the Reapers of the World without de- 
 lay. 
 
 In less than ten days after the action of Congress 
 was taken the transfer was made. 
 
 By order of the Probate Court and with the ap- 
 proval of both branches of Congress, His Excellency, 
 Josiah Quincy Adams, President of the United States, 
 in the presence of a large and distinguished audience, 
 
288 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 assigned to the Grand Lodge of the Reapers of the World 
 Three Hundred Billion shares of stock of the Standard 
 Oil Company, and with much ceremony delivered that 
 and the keys of the vaults in which the stock of all the 
 corporations of the nation were held by the Standard, 
 to Helen Channing, descendant of the Rockefellers, 
 Lady Harvester of the Reapers of the World, Exemplar 
 and Exponent of the Economic Christ. And Helen, as 
 she received them, spoke briefly and graciously to His 
 Excellency and the assembled multitude. 
 
 "I accept these evidences of the Nation's wealth," 
 she said, "in the name of our Lord and Master who 
 came to redeem mankind from its sins. This I do for 
 the Reapers of the World which now includes more 
 than one half of America's adult population and which 
 will include the remainder as soon as they can be en- 
 rolled. 
 
 "My honored kinsman, the illustrious Morgan 
 Rockefeller and his immortal ancestors organized the 
 system by which the Standard Oil Company acquired 
 all wealth and all power. He died leaving this to the 
 government on the theory that Democratic Socialism 
 would be thereby accomplished. 
 
 "The government is unequal to the task because 
 government knows no law but force and the Estate 
 is now passed over by the government to an organiza- 
 ion which, while it does not disturb society or the sys- 
 tem of the Rockefellers, accepts it in the spirit of Fra- 
 ternity and will infuse into its operations the one thing 
 needful to perfect its greatness — Brotherly Love. 
 
 "As the sole representative of the family which has 
 been God's instrument to accomplish much of this great 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 289 
 
 work, I have been directed by mysterious circumstances 
 to complete it. 
 
 "And now, dear friends, brothers and sisters all, 
 allow me to lay aside forever the exalted character 
 of an instrument of God's great purpose to redeem 
 mankind — and take my place among those who, in an 
 economic sense, are redeemed." 
 
 Helen looked down at the sea of upturned faces 
 which seemed to reflect her own loveliness — with 
 a smile of infinite joy shining through her tears. 
 
 The vast assemblage was deeply affected and could 
 not restrain its wild outbursts of delight. In the midst 
 of that indescribable scene Helen turned again to Alden 
 Lowell who had advanced to a place beside her on the 
 platform, as if to speak. But the people were beside 
 themselves with joy and could not be calm. At last 
 however, there was a moment's quiet and she spoke 
 again. 
 
 "It is permitted me now" she said "to retire from 
 the leadership of the Reapers of the World. At the 
 annual election, Mr. Alden Lowell, whom I take pleas- 
 ure in introducing to you, was elected to be your 
 Grand Master Harvester." Then turning again to 
 Alden she continued, "Grand Master Harvester of the 
 Reapers of the World: — I now deliver to you the 
 assignments whereby the estate of Morgan Rocke- 
 feller becomes the absolute property of the order of 
 which you are the chief. In doing this I more than 
 gladly renounce all claims to it, whether legal or moral, 
 except as provided by the will of my deceased kinsman. 
 My public work is now finished and yours has begun 
 in a larger measure than we have anticipated. And 
 
290 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 now I ask all to bow their heads with me in a silent prayer 
 of thankfuless which is too real and too great for spoken 
 expression." 
 
CHAPTER XLVII. 
 FRATERNITY. 
 
 The Master Harvester of the Reapers of the 
 World assumed his place at the head of his order with 
 the eyes of the world viewing him with all encourage- 
 ment and great regard. 
 
 It was the law of the order that he should hold 
 his high office for two years. Some of the great men 
 of the nation believed the term too short, but they 
 did not yet realize that the Reapers were merely a 
 1 'holding order" in precisely the same sense that 
 Standard was in its latter years a "holding company." 
 
 The Reapers did no business. 
 
 They merely held or owned the stock of those 
 corporations which did the business. 
 
 They cut the coupons from bonds and collected 
 them. 
 
 They received dividends on stocks. 
 
 Like the aristocracy of ancient days they accepted 
 and absorbed all the rent of their great tenement — the 
 nation. 
 
 Like Shylock they demanded and obtained the 
 interest which capital exacted. 
 
 Like the trader of every age, they added profits 
 to the producer's fair wage and covered them into their 
 treasury. 
 
292 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 But they did it the same way that the cor- 
 poration always did it. In other words, their system 
 was exacting, unyielding and omnivorous. But after 
 the "business" had been transacted on scientific and 
 business principles they distributed the dividends, 
 the interest, rent and profits, just as the corporations 
 did, but being organized on the basis of Brotherly 
 Love, while the men and women received wages in 
 accordance with their deserts, all received a portion 
 of the surplus in the fraternal treasury as equal partners 
 and joint heirs in the estate. 
 
 The Grand Harvest of the Reapers elected the 
 directors in all the corporations. The directors elect- 
 ed their own officers and also appointed the manager 
 who was best fitted to make the business a success. 
 
 The Grand Harvest was composed of delegates 
 from the Ranges of which there were one hundred and 
 eighty — or one Range for each one million inhabitants. 
 A Range consisted of one delegate from each Field. 
 A Field was made up of twenty lodges and, as already 
 noted, a lodge was limited to five hundred members. 
 
 The Range had original jurisdiction of all cor- 
 porations within the territorial limits which the Grand 
 Harvest defined and the several Ranges selected the 
 directors of corporations, each in its own district. If 
 a corporation failed to pay dividends the Range ap- 
 pointed a commission to investigate and on the report 
 of such commission the deficient company was either 
 dissolved or strengthened as seemed best. But any de- 
 cision of aid or dissolution was subject to the right 
 of the aggrieved officers to appeal to the Grand Harvest. 
 
 This system made every corporation extremely 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 293 
 
 zealous in its own behalf; for when a corporation 
 was dissolved its officers were often reduced to the 
 ranks. 
 
 The special concern of the Ranges was to utilize 
 the labor power of the nation to its fullest capacity. 
 If a number of men and women were unemployed, 
 places were found for them in some existing corpora- 
 tion or a new corporation was organized and financed 
 to receive them. 
 
 One of the most important acts of the Grand 
 Harvest of 1991 was to declare the Standard Oil Com- 
 pany dissolved. In commemoration of the event the 
 Master Harvester, in a notable address, spoke in part 
 as follows: 
 
 "Thus passes" he declared "one of the most potent 
 instrumentalities of concentration and progress the 
 world has ever known. 
 
 "It was invented by the brainiest products of 
 the commercial system. 
 
 "Those men knew that all corporations must 
 eventually merge into one, but they also knew that 
 such a consummation could only be effected by natural 
 and easy processes. 
 
 "To force evolution beyond the understanding 
 or habits of men must result only in evil and perhaps 
 in total failure of the social system. 
 
 "Although the Reapers have now acquired the 
 properties of Standard, we must be as careful and 
 practical in handling them as Standard has been. 
 
 "Let us not make the mistake of supposing that 
 all the smaller corporations should be dissolved or 
 their identity lost in the Fraternal Merger. 
 
294 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL 
 
 "Each corporation is an individual with character- 
 istics of its own. Each will compete with the others 
 and the race for high honors and prizes will sharpen 
 the conflict without endangering the material comfort 
 of men, 
 
 "Under the dominion of Standard each corporation 
 did its best because it sought the honors which would 
 be bestowed on merit and success by a captain of 
 industry. 
 
 "Many times more desirable will be the honors 
 which can be conferred by the Fraternal Merger, the 
 Reapers of the World, the order of Brotherly Love." 
 
 The first Grand Harvest of the Reapers of the 
 World witnessed a tragic and affecting event. The 
 Socialist, John R. Bristow, entered the hall while 
 the Harvest was in session. Secrecy was now abolished 
 from all the Councils of the order and so he made his 
 way unchallenged to the platform. So venerable and 
 yet stately did he appear that he attracted the attention 
 of all and some knew him as being one of the most 
 famous men of his day. There had been a lull in the 
 proceedings and Alden, the Grand Master Harvester, 
 while occupying the chair, was conferring with Judge 
 Brewer who sat on the platform with him. The Judge 
 looking up, remarked the approach of the old man and 
 at once recognized him. 
 
 "It is Bristow, the old Socialist," he whispered to 
 Alden. "Let us have him speak to the Harvest." 
 
 And Alden, appreciating the part the defeated 
 hero had played in his country's history, arose and took 
 the old man's hand as the latter stepped on the plat- 
 form. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 295 
 
 "Welcome, Mr. Bristow," he exclaimed. Then 
 turning to the assemblage, he said: "Reapers, I wish 
 to introduce Hon. John R. Bristow who will kindly 
 favor us with some words of encouragement." 
 
 As the old man faced the Harvest he bent his 
 head and spoke in a voice trembling with the weak- 
 ness of age. 
 
 "Never have I realized as I do now the meaning 
 of those words, 'God has His mysteries of Grace.' 
 
 "Almost a century I have watch<.d the foaming, 
 surging flood of years as it plunged headlong into ob- 
 livion. Half of that time I have watched it in silence, 
 but have known always that some immeasurable force 
 spoke from the tumult in God's voice of Thunder. 
 I say I have watched it in silence. It was because I 
 could not understand, but felt that some day it would 
 all be clear to me. Now as I stand with my hand 
 lifting the latch of that door which opens into eternity, 
 I look back, so to speak, and see and know that in 
 the Providence of God, all things make for good. 
 You, 0, Reapers! have solved the problem I could not 
 solve. You are the vanguard of the second coming 
 of Christ to this earth — where, in his kingdom of broth- 
 erly love, a kingdom organized on the basis of frater- 
 nity, He who might have reigned materially will reign 
 spiritually." 
 
 The old man lifted his head as he spoke and the 
 fire of youth seemed for the moment to return to his 
 eye; but suddenly he was seen to stagger and raise his 
 hand to his forehead. Alden sprang quickly forward 
 and caught him in his arms as he fell. They sent for 
 
296 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 aid, but before the physician could arrive the old 
 man expired, murmuring the word "Fraternity." 
 
 As for the industries, they continued to thrive. 
 Even in Colorado the new order had become popular 
 with the gold miners. They were not all willing 
 to become Reapers but most of them did so. General 
 Masterson was one of the most enthusiastic of those 
 who favored the Fraternal Merger, as it was universally 
 called, and he did not hesitate to declare that the time 
 was not far off when Morgan Rockefeller's anti-gold 
 order would be accepted in favor of the Reapers and 
 that when all men became directly interested in the 
 wealth which they created there would be no need of 
 wasting labor in producing gold except for an orna- 
 mental and artistic purpose. 
 
 It was remarkable, however, how little the people 
 felt interested in the political government. The new 
 ownership of the Estate had made every man a busi- 
 ness man, although the management of the business 
 was left with the same skillful and experienced heads 
 which had made it successful. But each man and 
 woman was a partner so far as the interest, rent and 
 profits were concerned. Each received his wages 
 for his work and paid his dues to the trust fund as be- 
 fore. 
 
 One day during the holiday recess of the Grand 
 Harvest, Alden suggested to Helen that she could 
 make a Christmas gift of her legacy of one million 
 dollars a year to the trust fund of the order. 
 
 "Why should I do that?" asked Helen "I 
 will gladly give it to any cause but that." 
 
 Alden was surprised. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 297 
 
 "And why not that, dear Helen?" 
 
 "Well, even that, if you really think I should. But 
 I am sure it would not be accepted. The original 
 Reapers will insist that no patron for their trust 
 fund be tolerated. They are equal partners in that and 
 prefer to remain so. They will never allow any per- 
 son to contribute more to the capital of the joint 
 business than they do. They believe that equality 
 of burdens is far more important to maintain the fra- 
 ternal system than equality of profits." 
 
 "You are right, Helen!" exclaimed Alden. "The 
 mind of the great captains and the heart of the Redeem- 
 er speak in you." 
 
CHAPTER XLVIII 
 A. D. 2000. 
 
 At the close of his second term as Chief Magistrate 
 Mr. Adams retired from politics, full of honors. Af- 
 ter the ceremony of transferring the Estate to the Reap- 
 ers of the World he had fallen sick and for a time his 
 life hung in the balance. The nation had grown cold 
 towards him immediately after the explosions which 
 caused so much destruction of life. His seeming 
 loss of prestige weighed heavily upon him even after 
 he had succeeded in relieving himself of the burden 
 of the Estate. 
 
 While he was still very sick the national cam- 
 paign of 1992 was begun. For the first time in thirty 
 years it was contested. The people had no Morgan 
 Rockefeller now to dictate their action in the poli- 
 tical sphere and were inclined to take advantage of 
 their freedom to show their disapproval of the crime 
 of 1991. 
 
 The popularity of Helen Channing was unbounded. 
 It seemed as if the whole nation awaited her suggestion 
 as an inspiration from above. Helen became aware 
 of this attitude of the people and so was seen but sel- 
 dom in public lest word or act of hers might be mis- 
 construed. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 299 
 
 In the election of 1992, however, while the Pres- 
 ident, still burning with fever on what his friends 
 feared would be his death bed, Helen spoke to the 
 people on a single occasion. Her words fell from her 
 lips with the grace and simplicity of truth and love 
 and the great public recognized their purity and free- 
 dom from selfish interest, caught them up and repeat- 
 ed them over and over again as the "vox Dei" for 
 that campaign. 
 
 As a result the man of power who was instrumental 
 in ushering in the Fraternal system was reelected 
 without even knowing that he was a candidate. At 
 first he was disposed to decline the honor, but as his 
 strength returned he took on new courage and on March 
 4, 1993, the oath of office was administered to him a 
 second time amid the rejoicing of the people. 
 
 While the contest had developed some marked 
 opposition to Mr. Adams, the nation accepted his re- 
 cord as a pledge that the government, under his guid- 
 ance, would not interfere with the Estate. Men re- 
 garded him as the champion of a policy which his 
 opponents contemptuously epitomized in the phrase 
 "Hands Off." 
 
 Strangely enough the government was looked upon 
 as an institution which was in some indefinite sense 
 indispensable but dangerously in the way. "If only 
 it would keep quiet while the Fraternal Order worked 
 out the economic salvation of the nation" its whole 
 object would be subserved. And the people were not 
 mistaken in their estimate of what Mr. Adams would 
 and would not do in the high office which he occupied. 
 Again his popularity reached a height second only 
 
300 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 to that of the beautiful and immortal daughter of the 
 Rockefeller race. And President Adams, carried by 
 the tide of events toward that inevitable destiny of 
 man, used his office to minimize rather than enlarge 
 the powers of political government — and to enlarge 
 rather than minimize the efficiency and influence of 
 the Fraternal-economic system. 
 
 When, therefore, in 1994 the President desired 
 Grand Master Harvester Alden Lowell to use his 
 influence to make Secretary of War Brewer his, the 
 President's, successor, that gentleman willingly com- 
 plied and Judge Brewer was elected tumultuously and 
 without a contest. 
 
 And now the year 2000 had arrived. 
 
 But in the presidential campaign of the year 2000 
 the people seemed to be as little interested as if it 
 were a foreign event. The apathy was appalling. To 
 those who had been prominent figures in the politics 
 of the nation it was inexplicable. 
 
 "Is it not astonishing!" exclaimed Ex-President 
 Adams as he sat with President Brewer in the new 
 Executive office and discussed the situation. The 
 ex-president did not appear very much disturbed and 
 was the picture of health and smiling rotundity. 
 
 "The Grand Master," continued the ex-president 
 "has promised to appoint electors in all the states and 
 to instruct a number of voters to cast their ballots for 
 them on election day, otherwise I really believe this 
 election would go by default." 
 
 It was true. So little did the people care for the 
 political government — the government of Washington, 
 Jefferson, Adams, Jackson, Lincoln and Roosevelt — 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 301 
 
 that it seemed now a matter of no importance who 
 was President. 
 
 What was the government anyhow? 
 
 The business interests owned it during the first 
 century of its life. 
 
 The consolidated interests operated it from 1880 
 until 1915. 
 
 After 1915 it became merely the creature of 
 Standard and later of the Estate. 
 
 Now the people had a system of their own and 
 all that the government formerly recognized as a con- 
 trolling factor of its affairs — wealth and the power of 
 wealth — was owned and controlled by the people's 
 system — the Fraternal. 
 
 So men were not interested in the President and 
 his almost obsolete office — and were intensely interest- 
 ed in the more vital question — who should be the next 
 Grand Master Harvester of the Reapers of the World. 
 
 Yet the great men of the Fraternal world — the 
 leaders of the people — believed that political govern- 
 ment should be retained. They valued its diplomatic 
 service as being one which could best treat with other 
 political governments. They thought it should bear 
 the same vanishing relation to the new system that 
 the Feudal system, with its castles and lords, bore to the 
 Commercial system when the latter was newly estab- 
 lished. As all the members of the diplomatic service, 
 from ambassador down to commercial agent, were 
 members of the Reapers and subject to the fraternal 
 order and its business interests, the latter were in no 
 danger from that source. 
 
302 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 The Grand Harvest of 1998 had seriously dis- 
 cussed the advisability of organizing a Postal Company 
 and requiring the government to transfer the entire 
 system and property of the Post Office Department 
 to that corporation. It was contended that it would 
 be merely a paper transfer and not in the least respect 
 revolutionary. But the delegates — amused at the 
 simplicity of affairs which had always seemed so com- 
 plex before — could not entirely break the force of habit 
 and smilingly laid the matter over for another Grand 
 Harvest. 
 
 The entire nation was now more completely under 
 the dominion of the Reapers of the World than it was 
 ever under the dominion of Morgan Rockefeller. The 
 reason was evident now to the most obtuse intellect. 
 In Rockefeller's time people did not feel themselves 
 a part of the system. They maintained it because 
 they recognized its existence as an inexorable and 
 dominating force. They felt that the political system 
 belonged to them. Although in truth it belonged to 
 the economic system, the system of Morgan Rocke- 
 feller, and although it responded to that power, the 
 people were not surprised that the government should 
 do what they themselves felt compelled to do. 
 
 Now each man was a Rockefeller in his own right. 
 
 He was now a partner in the business and no man 
 had a greater interest than he. 
 
 No member was permitted to pay more than his 
 share into the trust fund and it was a rule which ad- 
 mitted no exception that the trust fund should be 
 owned equally by all and the distribution of rent, 
 interest and profits should be equal. 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 303 
 
 Yet no man or woman was in a position to disturb 
 or interrupt the business system or its operations. He 
 or she might act as a unit of the Fraternal system — but 
 in the industrial department each was compelled to 
 earn his or her own place. The man of skill, knowledge, 
 merit and experience dominated the economic system 
 as in the old days of competition and waste. 
 
 The objection to Standard in the time of John 
 D. Rockefeller was that the objector was not directly 
 interested in it. If he had a share of stock he became, 
 in those days, Standard's friend. 
 
 In the Fraternal system everybody was financially 
 interested and believed in it because he or she was a 
 part of it — an active, recognized, prosperous and un- 
 encumbered part. 
 
 In 1995 the Reapers of the World repealed the 
 order of Morgan Rockefeller demonetizing gold. 
 
 It coined in place of gold, an hour's labor, a week's 
 labor, and a month's labor. Every gold miner in 
 Colorado was quite ready to assent to the plan now, 
 because he was a member of the Reapers of the World 
 and a part of the System. 
 
 In 1992 the Reapers paid on account of the con- 
 tract price of the Estate to the government Nine Hun- 
 dred Millions. As this was in addition to the internal 
 tax which the corporation paid it left a prodigious 
 surplus in the government treasury. In 1993 the 
 same enormous sum was paid as a second installment. 
 It was evident that if the government and the nation 
 were to continue to do business on a gold basis all the 
 gold would accumulate in the treasury and the system 
 would be paralyzed . The expense of the federal govern- 
 
304 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 ment was about equal to the annual payments, but in 
 the interest of bookkeeping it was decided not to 
 abolish the internal tax, but to distribute the surplus 
 so as to return it to the channels of business. 
 
 President Jackson once disposed of a surplus in 
 the Federal treasury by apportioning it among the 
 states. 
 
 In the present case, however, the President, 
 Cabinet and Congress all concluded that the best way 
 to dispose of the surplus was to return it to the Reapers 
 of the World which included all adult citizens in its 
 membership. It was arranged in 1993 that the sum 
 of one billion eight hundred million dollars which was 
 lying idle in the treasury should be placed at the dis- 
 posal of the Reapers. 
 
 In the years following, the payments and return 
 were a mere matter of bookkeeping. No money 
 passed either way, but the custom adopted has ever 
 since been continued in force. 
 
 The result is that the political government is 
 fast becoming obsolete. The Fraternal, economic 
 government, represented by the Grand Harvest of the 
 Reapers of the World, exercises all the power and unites 
 the people so firmly that they act as one man and no 
 human power can stand against them. 
 
 President Brewer, of the political government, 
 has aided the Fraternal in his executive capacity by 
 subjecting the political to the domination of the Fra- 
 ternal in every way. It required a great man at the 
 helm of state to direct its course into the haven of 
 Fraternal Love, and Brewer's name shines forever in 
 
MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 305 
 
 the galaxy of life's immortals because he filled his 
 place and accomplished a great work. 
 
 And in this blessed year 2000 the daughter of the 
 Rockefellers, beloved of all mankind, and idolized by 
 her distinguished husband, Grand Master Harvester 
 Alden Lowell, and her two beautiful children, Alden 
 Rockefeller and little three year old Helen Channing, 
 enjoys a peace and happiness that passeth the under- 
 standing of those who do not know how much better 
 it is to give than to receive. But if it be true, as some 
 contend, that her relinquishment of the Estate was a 
 sacrifice on her part, she still remains unconscious of 
 any other fact than that she escaped a burden which 
 it was not her duty to assume. In her home the old 
 vanity of birth and wealth and the hard coarse com- 
 mercialism of modern plutocracy have no place. Her 
 husband's growing greatness is her delight and pride 
 and she is his adviser in all the intricacies of his public 
 work. Her contributions to literature are in universal 
 demand and all the world looks to her as the greatest 
 living exemplar of the new system. 
 
 Twenty centuries have rolled over the steeps of 
 time since Jesus the Redeemer died nailed to a cross 
 on the Hill of Calvary. He went about doing good 
 and taught men that they should love their neighbors 
 as themselves and do unto others as they would be 
 done by. In all the frightful span of those twenty 
 centuries, as they are pictured by the Muse of History, 
 it seems difficult to catch a glimpse of the true light 
 of that wonderful life shining across the dismal fields of 
 
306 MORGAN ROCKEFELLER'S WILL. 
 
 bloodshed and starvation which the military and com- 
 mercial systems have spread between it and this 
 year 2000. But this we know, that selfishness is death 
 and that the sole blessing which mankind has ever 
 received or can receive comes to us from that distant 
 time. As we lift our hearts in thanksgiving for the 
 spiritual grandeur of his example and teachings let 
 us not forget that there was and is an Economic Christ 
 also, and that His remedy is all that the world will 
 ever find efficient. Behind the clouds of the dark 
 centuries it shines full of love, full of grace and splendid 
 beyond the present power of the mind to realize. But 
 some day — and we hope soon — the clouds which obscure 
 it will burn away and we shall see written all over the 
 universe the golden letters which spell the only hope 
 for the material world — 
 
 FRATERNITY.