“I am waiting for some one to remind Mr. Litchfield that he has overlooked, in his statement, a fact which possesses vital significance,” Gorham said at length.  “The Consolidated Companies has received from the people concessions which it has succeeded in making immensely valuable.  It has accepted these concessions in trust upon the distinct understanding that those who gave them should receive equal benefit.  So far, this trust has been religiously observed.  Every dollar of profit which the stockholders have divided represents a like amount paid back to those to whom it belongs.  To pay them less would be not only a breach of faith, but would be to retain that which does not belong to us.  It is not for Mr. Litchfield or for me to determine the amount—­the proportion has already been settled by our original covenant.”

Litchfield moved uneasily in his chair as Gorham ceased speaking.

“You put it in rather a disagreeable form, Mr. Gorham.  Perhaps the fact that you have been talking this side of the enterprise for so long has made you assimilate more of your own theories than is ordinarily the case.  Of course, in the beginning, it was necessary to make the statements strong in order to be convincing, but there was no ‘covenant,’ as you call it, and the people are not in a position to exact an equal division unless we choose to give it to them.”

“Can it be that I understand you correctly?” Gorham demanded, with mingled indignation and amazement.  “Do you mean to imply that I have not been sincere in stating to the public the original basis upon which we incorporated?  Do you suggest that when one party to the agreement has lived fairly up to his end of it we, the other party, should neglect to do the same, simply because he has no access to our books and no power to demand an accounting?”

“You are far too literal in your interpretation of my remarks,” Litchfield protested, with some warmth.  “This parallel you have drawn is absurd on the face of it.  There has been no legal agreement that we should treat the dear public as if it were in actual partnership with us.  You have held out certain inducements which have secured for us the concessions, and we have made good the promise you gave that our success meant advantage to the people.  But all this was a means to an end.  For five years the public has shared equally with those of us who have put money and brains into the Consolidated Companies.  No one suggests that the people should not still continue to receive benefits, but those of us here present are unanimous in our conviction that the time has now come to conduct the Companies upon a strictly business basis.  This is not the age for quixotic sentimentality, and the Consolidated Companies not only possesses the right, but the power to maintain its position upon the same basis as other smaller and less powerful organizations.  Speaking for myself alone, I am amazed that Robert Gorham, with his exceptional and acknowledged business acumen, should take a position with his Executive Committee which is as disadvantageous to his own interests as it is to the stockholders’.”