Meeting of the Board | Page 7

Alan Nourse
in the contract your
lawyer presented."
"I know, but you rejected that contract. So we tore it up. Anyway,
we've changed our minds."
Torkleson sat down, his heavy cheeks quivering. "Gentlemen, be
reasonable! I can guarantee you your jobs, even give you a free hand
with the management. So the dividends won't be so large--the men will
have to get used to that. That's it, we'll put it through at the next
executive 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 in
front of those men after what you've done? You're fools! Well, I've
given you your chance. You'll get your board meeting. But you'd better
come armed. Because I know how to handle this kind of board meeting,
and if 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
administration building. Since every member of the union owned stock
in the company, every member had the right to vote for members of the
board of directors. But in the early days of the switchover, the idea of a
board of directors smacked too strongly of the old system of corporate
organization to suit the men. The solution had been simple, if a trifle
ungainly. Everyone who owned stock in Robling Titanium was
automatically a member of the board of directors, with Torkleson as
chairman of the board. 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. They
jammed the lobby. Ten thousand men rose with a howl of anger when
Walter Towne walked out on the stage. But they quieted down again as
Dan Torkleson 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 and
again at Walter Towne. He pranced and he ranted. He paused at just the
right 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
lowering dividends, of taking food from the mouths of your wives and
children, we made our generous offers. They were rejected with scorn.
These thieves have one desire in mind, my friends, to starve you all,
and to destroy your company and your jobs. To every appeal they
heartlessly refused to divulge the key to the lock-in. And now this
man--the ringleader who keeps the key word buried in secrecy--has the
temerity to ask an audience with you. You're angry men; you want to
know the man to blame for our hardship."
He pointed to Towne with a flourish. "I give you your man. Do what
you want with him."
The hall exploded in angry thunder. The first wave of men rushed onto
the stage as Walter stood up. A tomato whizzed past his ear and
splattered 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 of
the men was drowned in another sound--a soul-rending, teeth-grating,
bone-rattling screech. The men froze, jaws sagging, eyes wide, hardly
believing their ears. In the instant of silence as the factory whistle died
away, Walter grabbed the microphone. "You want the code word to
start the machines again? I'll give it to you before I sit down!"

The men stared at him, shuffling, a murmur rising. Torkleson burst to
his 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
for sixty 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 and company, top to bottom--right? You should all be rich,
because Robling could make you rich. But not one of you out there is
rich. Only the fat ones 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, Walter
Towne 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.
Because you haven't learned yet that oppression by either side leads to
misery for both. You haven't learned moderation. And you never will,
until
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