"I'VE SOLD THE TREASURY DRY!" 141 



Mr. Marquand was startled by the figures of our 

 profits which I laid before him. He insisted 

 that they were too large by several hundred thou- 

 sand dollars and it was my pleasing duty to con- 

 vince him that he was richer than he thought. I 

 then suggested that we had more money in the 

 business than we needed and I even added that 

 so much loose money was a temptation to over- 

 speculation, upon which he looked into my eyes 

 for a moment and then indulged in one of his rare 

 hearty laughs. 



We drew out a lot of money and from that 

 hour our interests diverged. It happened that 

 at just this time Thomas Allen, ex-Governor of 

 Missouri and a brother-in-law of my partner, 

 proposed to him to finance the building of certain 

 links and connections to railroads which he had 

 bought of the State of Missouri on liberal terms. 

 The scheme was a promising one and offered 

 profitable employment to my partner's money 

 and he adopted it. Soon the drafts for construc- 

 tion exceeded the estimates and the money of the 

 firm became largely involved. 



