cheeks paled. "Board meeting, huh?" He licked hisheavy lips. "Now look, Bailey, we've always worked well together. Iconsider you a good friend of mine. You've got to get things undercontrol. Tell the men we're making progress. Tell them Management isbeginning to weaken from its original stand. Tell them we expect to havethe strike broken in another few hours. Tell them anything."
He waited until Bailey was gone. Then, with a trembling hand he liftedthe visiphone receiver. "Get me Walter Towne," he said.
* * * * *
"I'm not an unreasonable man," Torkleson was saying miserably, wavinghis fat paws in the air as he paced back and forth in front of thespokesmen for the striking managers. "Perhaps we were a littledemanding, I concede it! Overenthusiastic with our ownership, and allthat. But I'm sure we can come to some agreement. A hike in wage scaleis certainly within reason. Perhaps we can even arrange for bettercompany houses."
Walter Towne stifled a yawn. "Perhaps you didn't understand us. The menare agitating for a meeting of the board of directors. We want to be atthat meeting. That's the only thing we're interested in right now."
"But there wasn't anything about a board meeting in the contract yourlawyer presented."
"I know, but you rejected that contract. So we tore it up. Anyway, we'vechanged our minds."
Torkleson sat down, his heavy cheeks quivering. "Gentlemen, bereasonable! I can guarantee you your jobs, even give you a free handwith the management. So the dividends won't be so large--the men willhave to get used to that. That's it, we'll put it through at the nextexecutive conference, give you--"
"The board meeting," Walter said gently. "That'll be enough for us."
The union boss swore and slammed his fist on the desk. "Walk out infront of those men after what you've done? You're fools! Well, I'vegiven you your chance. You'll get your board meeting. But you'd bettercome armed. Because I know how to handle this kind of board meeting, andif I have anything to say about it, this one will end with a massacre."
* * * * *
The meeting was held in a huge auditorium in the Robling administrationbuilding. Since every member of the union owned stock in the company,every member had the right to vote for members of the board ofdirectors. But in the early days of the switchover, the idea of a boardof directors smacked too strongly of the old system of corporateorganization to suit the men. The solution had been simple, if a trifleungainly. Everyone who owned stock in Robling Titanium was automaticallya member of the board of directors, with Torkleson as chairman of theboard. The stockholders numbered over ten thousand.
They were all present. They were packed in from the wall to the stage,and hanging from the rafters. They overflowed into the corridors. Theyjammed the lobby. Ten thousand men rose with a howl of anger when WalterTowne walked out on the stage. But they quieted down again as DanTorkleson started to speak.
It was a masterful display of rabble-rousing. Torkleson paced the stage,his fat body shaking with agitation, pointing a chubby finger again andagain at Walter Towne. He pranced and he ranted. He paused at just theright times for thunderous peals of applause.
"This morning in my office we offered to compromise with these jackals,"he cried, "and they rejected compromise. Even at the cost of loweringdividends, of taking food from the mouths of your wives and children, wemade our generous offers. They were rejected with scorn. These thieveshave one desire in mind, my friends, to starve you all, and to destroyyour company and your jobs. To every appeal they heartlessly refused todivulge the key to the lock-in. And now this man--the ringleader whokeeps the key word buried in secrecy--has the temerity to ask anaudience with you. You're angry men; you want to know the man to blamefor our hardship."
He pointed to Towne with a flourish. "I give you your man. Do what youwant with him."
The hall exploded in angry thunder. The first wave of men rushed ontothe stage as Walter stood up. A tomato whizzed past his ear andsplattered against the wall. More men clambered up on the stage,shouting and shaking their fists.
Then somebody appeared with a rope.
Walter gave a sharp nod to the side of the stage. Abruptly the roar ofthe men was drowned in another sound--a soul-rending, teeth-grating,bone-rattling screech. The men froze, jaws sagging, eyes wide, hardlybelieving their ears. In the instant of silence as the factory whistledied away, Walter grabbed the microphone. "You want the code word tostart the machines again? I'll give it to you before I sit down!"
The men stared at him, shuffling, a murmur rising. Torkleson burst tohis feet. "It's a trick!" he howled. "Wait 'til you hear their price."
"We have no price, and no demands," said Walter Towne. "We will _give_you the code word, and we ask nothing in return but that you listen forsixty seconds." He glanced back at Torkleson, and then out to the crowd."You men here are an electing body--right? You own this great plant andcompany, top to bottom--right? _You should all be rich_, because Roblingcould make you rich. But not one of you out there is rich. Only the fatones on this stage are. But I'll tell you how _you_ can be rich."
They listened. Not a peep came from the huge hall. Suddenly, WalterTowne was talking their language.
"You think that since you own the company, times have changed. Well,have they? Are you any better off than you were? Of course not. Becauseyou haven't learned yet that oppression by either side leads to miseryfor both. You haven't learned moderation. And you never will, until youthrow out the ones who have fought moderation right down to the lastditch. You know whom I mean. You know who's grown richer and richersince the switchover. Throw him out, and you too can be rich." He pausedfor a deep breath. "You want the code word to unlock the machines? Allright, I'll give it to you."
He swung around to point a long finger at the fat man sitting there."The code word is TORKLESON!"
* * * * *
Much later, Walter Towne and Jeff Bates pried the trophies off the wallof the big office. The lawyer shook his head sadly. "Pity about DanTorkleson. Gruesome affair."
Walter nodded as he struggled down with a moose head. "Yes, a pity, butyou know the boys when they get upset."
"I suppose so." The lawyer stopped to rest, panting. "Anyway, with thenewly elected board of directors, things will be different foreverybody. You took a long gamble."
"Not so long. Not when you knew what they wanted to hear. It just took alittle timing."
"Still, I didn't think they'd elect you secretary of the union. It justdoesn't figure."
Walter Towne chuckled. "Doesn't it? I don't know. Everything's been alittle screwy since the switchover. And in a screwy world like this--"He shrugged, and tossed down the moose head. "_Anything_ figures."
Meeting of the Board Page 4
