The president sitting in his private office, received the message and wrinkled his brow as he read it.  Telegraphing does not always improve the legibility of a message.  As the message reached the president it read: 

“Consinor westcote tag company tag sis in it oisin phenix phin sulfur uin armordale.”

The president reached for his pile of various code-books and looked up the strange words.  He found “phoenix” in one codebook with its meaning given as “extremely ill, death imminent.”  “Oisin” was not given, but the word “oisanite” was, and the meaning of that the code stated to be “five hundred head prime steers.”  It was enough.  The Interurban did not wish to accept the transportation of five hundred extremely ill steers, whose death was imminent.

“Westcote, refuse consignment absolutely.  Write particulars,” he wired.

Flannery showed the telegram to Mr. Warold, who would have sworn, if swearing had been his custom, but it was not.  He took the package of tags and went back to his office and did the tags up in smaller bundles and sent them by mail with a special delivery stamp on each lot, and charged the cost to the Interurban.  Then he wrote a long and fervid letter to the president of the Interurban, in which he gave his opinion of the simplified spelling, and particularly of a man who would interpolate it into business by the power of his personal fiat.

And Flannery wrote too.

“President Interurban, Franklin,” he wrote, “i sent warold away with his tags pakag as you say to. he is mad I gess he will try to make trubbel. i tole him we coud not acsept pakags addrest to Phoenix Sulphur Company Armourdale and it made him mad. no falt of mine. i ast him to leve out o out of phoenix and to yous f insted of ph in sulphur and too take that u out of armourdale agreeble to generl order numbr 719 and he wont do it. no falt of mine. i got to spell rite when the rules sa so. no falt of mine. i aint makin rules i sais to him. pres of interurban is responssibel how we spel. i onnly spel as he sais too.  Flannery.”

The president received the two letters in the same mail.  He read that of Mr. Warold first, and when he came to a threat to sue the company, he frowned.  This was all new to him.  There was nothing in the letter about five hundred indisposed cattle of any kind.  He looked up Flannery’s telegrams, but they cast no light on it.  Then he opened Flannery’s letter and read it.  He got up and began walking up and down his office, stopping now and then to shake the fist in which he had crumpled Flannery’s letter.  Then he called for Miss Merrill.

She came, carrying her notebook in one hand and fixing a comb in the back of her hair with the other.

“Take this!” said the president angrily.  “Flannery, Westcote—­” He tramped back and forth, trying to condense all the bitterness that boiled in him into telling words.

“You are a fool!” he said at length, meaning Flannery and not Miss Merrill.