Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/67



The poor need the most, and most people over here work, but by people I mean men and women and children, everybody.”

“Railroad presidents? Do you hate the railroads ?”

“No,” he said, reflecting. “They do a good deal that is wrong. They corrupt young men, and they don’t care anything about Jersey City. They should stop corrupting politics, but you can’t expect them to look out for us. We must do that.” He paused. “I have hated men, almost, some of these corporation men, but I don’t any more. I used to hate men that said things about me that weren’t true, that weren’t just. But I’ve got over that now.”

“How did you get over it?”

“I have a way,” he said, evidently meaning not to tell it.

“You must have been tempted often in the four years you have been in office. Have you ever been offered a bribe?”

“Only once, but that was by a man sent by somebody else. He didn’t know what he was doing, and I didn’t blame him so much as I did those who sent him.”

“But the subtler temptations, how did you resist them?”

“I have a way,” he said, again.