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"They've been known to get too enthusiastic in their support," Benteen
admitted with a faint smile.
"Seems to me you have men who follow orders," Frank Bulfert concluded.
"They're loyal to the brand" was the only reply to that. "What about this
new Homestead Bill?"
"I'm afraid you're not going to like what I have to say," the aide warned
and closely watched Benteen's reaction. "It's getting strong support from
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several quarters."
"The railroads being the most vigorous?" Benteen sought confirmation of his
own opinion.
"Certainly they are looking at the substantial benefits to be derived from
increased freight and passenger usage to bring new settlers out west. And I'm
sure they are hoping to sell off their extensive landholdings. Yes.Frank
nodded. "They have a vested interest in the passage of this bill."
"But it isn't only the railroads that want it," Bull Giles inserted. "You
have to understand the situation in the East. The cities are filling with
immigrants. The West has always been a safety valve to siphon these so-called
dregs of other nations out of populated areas and prevent any social or
political unrest. The slums are overcrowded; there's complaints about cheap
wages in factories and talk of unions and strikes for better working
conditions. So all the big businesses are behind this bill to keep order by
sending as many as they can to the frontier."
Benteen grimly expelled a heavy breath, recognizing he was opposing a
formidable group.
"But this isn't Kansas. They'll starve out here the same way they're starving
in the cities."
"Do you think any of the big companies care?" Bull scoffed. "If they die, it
makes room for more." He paused briefly. "The big-money men in the East aren't
interested in settling the West. They just want to get rid of a lot of poor,
unwanted immigrants. They don't give a damn where they go. The Indians were
forced onto reservations on the poorest lands. If the immigrants wind up on
the same, no one in the East is going to give a damn."
"So far," Asa Morgan spoke up, adding more gloom to the subject, "that new
dryland method of farming has shown some impressive results. It's difficult to
argue against the kind of success they've been having with it."
"Successful now, yes," Benteen agreed. "With their method, they can raise a
crop with only fifteen inches of rainfall a year. What happens if there's
successive dry years with less than that, like what happened twenty years
ago?"
"Twenty years ago isn't today." Frank Bulfert dismissed that argument.
"It sounds like sour grapes coming from a cattleman." Bull eased his stiff
leg into a less cramped position. "You big ranchers are highly unpopular.
Public opinion is against you. Most of the Europeans coming into the country
look on ranchers as feudal lords. They came here to escape that system of
large, single landholders. There you sit on a million-plus acres. They want to
bust it up so everybody can have a chunk of it. They come to America filled
with dreams about owning their own land."
"In other words, you are saying that we don't have a chance of defeating
this bill," Benteen challenged.
"We can keep it in committee for a while," Frank Bulfert said. "But it's
bound to pass once it gets out of there. It's what the majority wants."
There was a brief lull as everyone waited for Benteen to respond. He stared
into his whiskey glass, idly swirling the liquor around the sides.
"They want it because they see it as a way of taking the land out of the
hands of the rancher and putting it with a bunch of immigrants," he stated
finally. "But what if they become convinced that the bill won't accomplish
that objective?"
"How?" Frank Bulfert drew his head back to study Benteen with a curious but
skeptical eye.
There was another short pause as Benteen glanced at his son. "Webb thinks
the new bill would let cattlemen get free title to more land. What do you
think would happen, Bull, if certain factions heard that stockmen were in
favor of this
proposal to enlarge the Homestead Act?"
The burly man chuckled under his breath. "I think they'd come to the same
conclusion Webb did. They'd be afraid they weren't breaking up the big beef
trusts and worried that it would make them more secure instead." He turned to
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the senator's aide. "Benteen's found their weakness."
Frank nodded. "That just might be the tactic that will work." He glanced at
Asa, who also nodded his agreement. "It will take some fancy footwork."
Later, after the meeting broke up in the early-evening hours, Webb and
Benteen headed back to the hotel to clean up for dinner. They walked most of
the distance in silence.
"Did you learn anything?"
The challenging question drew Webb's glance to his father. "What was I
supposed to learn?"
"That you came up with the right answer for the wrong reason. You didn't
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