44 BLACK DIAMONDS

her to part with herbeloved

Bondavara

^{to a} coal com-pany, not ^ifthelastremaining ^stratumwere to be found under the _castle, and without this the world should perish from want of fuel."

Felix laughed, then answered with an air of ineffable conceit

"

I have conquered greater difficulties than an old maid's _fad,

and

forthe matter of _that,

women's

hearts are not locked with a

Bramah

_key."

"

Well, ^let us suppose," ^said Ivan, good-humoredly,

"

that you have overcome ^the prejudices ^of the prince and his _sister,

and

thatyou have actually started your monster company.

Then

_begin all the technical diffi-culties

; for whatisthe first necessary^to an undertaking ofthe kind?"

"

A

sufficient supply ^ofmoney."

"By ^no

^means.

A

sufficient supply ^of

workmen."

"Wherever money

^is plentiful,

human

_beings are prettysure to flock."

"Between men

and

men

there is a wonderful differ-ence. This is an article in which one is likely to be easily deceived.

With

us there is awant of first-class

workmen."

"

We

would_get

men

from France

and

Belgium."

"But the

men who

would

come

from France

and

Bel-gium

^{would not}

work

for the wages

we

_{give our} men.

They

^would ask double. In such a commercial under-taking, the first false step would be to raise the wages to

more

than the old system,^for

my

^{conviction is that}

every ^industrial enterprise to be safe

must work

_upon

its

own

internal capabilities.

We

should measure our strength according ^to the circumstances in which

we

find ourselves, and

we

should educate our

own

work-men; draw them

to us

by

learning together.

The

45 trade should extend _slowly, but _surely,

by

^small ex-periments."

You

are too cautious. I can convince you ^{to the} contrary. For _instance, a steam-engine ^{of a} hundred-horse

power

^needs justthe

same

labor to

work

it asone of four-horse

power

; and a small business requires as

many

^{account-books as a}large one,and small undertak-ings ^{in like} manner, even if they are in themselves lucrative, ^will eventuallybe

swamped

by ^thelarger ones on account of the want of the proper activity,without which all tradedies of itself."

"

Nevertheless, there ^{is less}danger^of sudden_collapse

ina small business," returned Ivan,reflectively.

"

Ilike acertainty."

"

And

what _certainty have

you

^? Suppose, just for the sake ofargument, ^that one _bright

morning

^the

Aus-trian minister of trade listens to the _petition of the English ^iron'masters, and that the free importation of

raw

iron is allowed.

Your

_neighbor over there will at once shut his foundry, and you

may

go

and

^sell _your

coal to the smithy,^eh,Ivan?"

"

I have

gone

^{into all that.}

Our

raw iron can com-pete with the English,and therewould be ^"

"Your

ideas are rococo; they belong ^{to the last}

cen-tury. If

America

had

worked

on these lines she would nothave

overshadowed

Europe."

"

That may

^be.

What

^I maintain is that foreign

workmen

are a badinvestment.

Those who come

to us are, for the most _part,

men who

cannot _get on in their

own

_country; restless fellows, ever wanting change;

members

of secret societies,socialists,

and

atheists_;

and

sosoon asthey get

among

^our

men

_theybegin dissem-inating their vicious doctrines,

and

the next thing ^is a strike for higher wages."

4.6

BLACK DIAMONDS

"

Have

_you ever hada strike here?"

"Never!"

"

How

_{do youprevent} ^it?"

"

That

is

my

^secret,which cannot be told in a few words. I am, however, convinced of one _thing: the

firstobstacle a

company

^{would have to contend} against would be the price of labor, and the second _difficulty would beto secure the services ofa _reallycapable over-seer; one

who

would understand the technique of the business."

"

We

^could _easilygetone from abroad."

"That

_{might be}; but _I, as aprivate individual,could get one _easily if I had sufficient

money

^to pay ^him, for I could choose the best for

my

^{purpose, and could}

give

him what

^I _{chose, as}far ashis merits deserved."

Felix laughed ^{at Ivan's} description. "

That

is it

exactly, as ^ifyou^{read itout ofa}

book

_;

and

_just on this account I intend to give the complete ^{direction of the} business to a

man who

understands ^it to a T,

and

this

man

isyou."

"

That

is a complete ^{mistake. I}

do

understand the working ^of

my ^own

small business, but I

am

_quite

ig-norant of the

ways

^of a great concern. Like

many

another smallman, ^I should be a child in the

hands

of bigspeculators,

and

I should probably wreck ^the whole concern."

"

You

aretoo modest.

On

the _contrary, I think you would outwit the bigspeculators."

"

Well,suppose ^allwent _according to your ^wishes,or, rather, as it presents ^{itself to} your imagination.

The

great business ^{is in full}swing, ^delivers goods ^at moder-ate prices,

and

in sufficient quantity.

Now comes

the real objection the topographical impediment.

The

Bonda

coal-mine is twenty ^miles from the nearest

rail-47 way,and twenty-five miles from the nearest river.

On

your

way

^here

you must

^have noticed the state of the roads. During^four

months

ofthe year

we

can send

no

freight to a _distance,

and

at anytime the cost of trans-porting our ^coal andiron addsso

much

^tothe_{price that}

itis impossible^for usto

compete

^{with either Prussia or} England.

1 '

"

I

know

all that," said Felix, stroking ^his beardwith the coral head of his stick_; "but a _light railway would soon settle all this.

We

couldrun it from

Bonda

_Valley

to the _principal emporium."

He

_spoke as if running lightrailways were a

mere

trifle.

"

A

_{railway through} the

Bonda

_Valley!" returned Ivan, ⁱⁿ atoneof surprise. "

And do

_{you really}believe thatwith a _{capital of} four millions

you

^{could construct} a railwaytwentymiles long^?"

"Certainly ^not.

That

would be _quite a _separate

affair."

"

And do

_you think you would ^find people ready ^to advance

money

^{for such an uncertain return as}

^mere

luggage ^traffic

would

insure to the shareholders in such a railway^?"

Felix

moved

his stick from his beard to his mouth,

and

_began ^to suck the _top.

"

And _why

_not," he said, at _last, "

when

the state

would

_guarantee a certain rate of interest on the ad-vance?"

Ivan

opened

^his eyes ^still wider,

and

_placed

upon

each

word

an_emphasis.

"

The state will give ^{to this} railway a guarantee ^of interest!

You

will excuse me,

Kaulmann

that is not possible."

I-'dix answered, ^after

some

consideration,

"There

are certain keys

by

^{which the bureaus ofeven ministers}

In document BLACK DIAMONDS (Pldal 56-60)