Page:The Breath of Scandal (1922).djvu/119

 "Exactly, and who now is Mr. Stanway's most dangerous rival—in fact, his only dangerous rival for the presidency of the Tri-Lake Products and Material Corporation. I have only had a day to go into details of their present organization, so I will be glad if you correct me in any misconception. Stanway has never been a real worker; he inherited from his father a stock interest which got him a sinecure position in a then unimportant department of the company. He happened to employ your father, and his department began to grow till it was doing the biggest part of the business of the company. Stanway was a figurehead; but as he and his relatives held the controlling stock they kept him in office, though, to keep your father, they had to pay him more than Stanway; then Stanway succeeded in transferring your father to another department and instantly Stanway's end began dropping and the new department jumped up. A few years ago, there was nothing to do but make your father general manager and again greatly increase his salary. To satisfy Stanway, they raised him to vice-president, but did not increase his pay. As general manager, your father has made a remarkable record, not only during the boom of the war, but since. I am told that Tri-Lake Products and Materials actually employ more men to-day than last year; their output has increased and they have not missed a dividend.

"Nominally, this has happened under the administration of Dorsett, the president, but his health has been bad for years; his contribution has been chiefly in promoting and backing your father against the Stanway family interest and keeping him a free hand. Stanway, as vice-president, and therefore nominally a superior to your father, has so far succeeded in saving his face.