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  A Captain of Industry
  BEING
  _The Story of a Civilized Man_

  BY
  UPTON SINCLAIR

  AUTHOR OF "THE JUNGLE," ETC.

  GIRARD, KANSAS
  THE APPEAL TO REASON
  1906


  COPYRIGHT, 1906,
  BY J. A. WAYLAND.

  _All rights reserved._




A CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY




PREFACE


This little story was written nearly five years ago. The verdict upon it
was that it was "unpublishable," and so I put it away until I should be
in position to publish it myself.

Recently I read it over, and got an interesting vision of how the times
have changed in five years. I put it away a revolutionary document; I
took it out a quiet and rather obvious statement of generally accepted
views. In reading the story, one should bear in mind that it was written
before any of the "literature of exposure" had appeared; that its writer
drew nothing from Mr. Steffens' probing of political corruption, nor
from Miss Tarbell's analysis of the railroad rebate, nor from Mr.
Lawson's expose of the inner life of "Frenzied Finance."

                                                                    U.S.




A CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY




I


I purpose in this chronicle to tell the story of A CIVILIZED MAN:
casting aside all Dreams and Airy Imaginations, and dealing with that
humble Reality which lies at our doorsteps.




II


Every proverb, every slang phrase and colloquialism, is what one might
call a petrified inspiration. Once upon a time it was a living thing, a
lightning flash in some man's soul; and now it glides off our tongue
without our ever thinking of its meaning. So, when the event transpired
which marks the beginning of my story, the newspapers one and all
remarked that Robert van Rensselaer was born with a silver spoon in his
mouth.

Into the particular circumstances of the event it is not necessary to
go, furthermore than to say that the arrival occasioned considerable
discomfort, to the annoyance of my hero's mother, who had never
experienced any discomfort before. His father, Mr. Chauncey van
Rensselaer, was a respected member of our metropolitan high society,
combining the major and minor _desiderata_ of wealth and good-breeding,
and residing in a twentieth-century palace at number four thousand
eleven hundred and forty-four Fifth Avenue. At the time of the opening
of our story van Rensselaer _pere_ had fled from the scene of the
trouble and was passing the time playing billiards with some sympathetic
friends, and when the telephone-bell rang they opened some champagne and
drank to the health of van Rensselaer _fils_. Later on, when the father
stood in the darkened apartment and gazed upon the red and purple mite
of life, proud emotions swelled high in his heart, and he vowed that he
would make a gentleman of Robert van Rensselaer,--a gentleman after the
pattern of his father.

At the outset of the career of my hero I have to note the amount of
attention which he received from the press, and from an anxious public.
Mr. Chauncey van Rensselaer was wealthy, according to New York and Fifth
Avenue standards, and Baby van Rensselaer was provided with an
introductory outfit of costumes at an estimated cost of seventeen
thousand dollars. I have a file of van Rensselaer clippings, and would
quote the elaborate descriptions, and preserve them to a grateful
posterity; but in the meantime Master Robert van Rensselaer would be
grown up. I pass on to the time when he was a growing boy, with two
governesses, and several tutors, and a groom, and such other attendants
as every boy has to have.




III


Many lads would have been spoiled by so much attention; and so it is
only fair to say at the outset that "Robbie" was never spoiled; that to
the end of his days he was what is known as "a good fellow," and that it
was only when he could not have what he wanted that anger ever appeared
in his eyes.

Before many more years he went away to a great rich school, followed by
the prayers of a family, and by the valet and the groom. There he had a
suite of rooms, and two horses, and a pair of dogs with pedigrees longer
than his own; and there he learned to smoke a brand of choice
cigarettes, and to play poker, and to take a proper interest in
race-track doings. There also, just when he was ready to come away and
to take a great college by storm, Robbie met with an exciting
adventure. This is a work of realism, and works of realism always go
into detail as to such matters; and so it must be explained that Robbie
fell desperately in love with a pretty girl who lived in the country
near the school; and that Robbie was young and handsome and wealthy and
witty, and by no means disposed to put up with not having his own way;
and that he had it; and that when he came to leave school, the girl fled
from home and followed him; and that there were some blissful months in
the city, and then some complications; and that when the crisis came
Robbie was just on the point of getting married when the curiosity of
his father was excited by his heavy financial demands; and, finally,
that Mr. Chauncey van Rensselaer and Mr. Robert van Rensselaer held an
interview in the former's study.

"Now, Robbie," said he, "how long has this been going on?"

"About a year, sir," said Robbie, gazing at the floor.

"A year? Humph! And why didn't you tell me about it when you first got
into trouble?"

"I--I didn't like to," said Robbie.

"To be sure," said the father, "boys have no business in such scrapes;
but still, when you get in them, it is your duty to tell me. And so you
want to get married?"

"I--I love her," said the other, turning various shades of red as he
found the words sounding queer.

"But, Robbie," protested van Rensselaer _pere_, "one doesn't marry all
the women one loves."

Then, after a little pause, the father continued gravely, "Now, my boy,
tell me where she is, and I'll arrange it for you."

Robbie started. "You won't be cross to her?" he pleaded.

"Of course not," said the father. "I am never cross with any one. It
will all be settled happily, I promise you."

And so a day or two later it was announced that Robbie was going abroad
for a year's tour; and when he sought Daisy to bid her good-by, it was
reported that Daisy had left for the West--a circumstance which caused
Robbie several days' anxiety.




IV


My hero had gone abroad with a congenial friend a little older than
himself, and the two stayed considerably over their time and enjoyed
themselves immensely. They were plentifully provided with money, and
Robbie had been told that he might do anything he liked, except get
married. Therefore they wandered through all the cities of Europe, and
saw all the beautiful things of the past, and all the gay things of the
present. They stopped at the best hotels, and everywhere they went men
bowed before them, and fled to do their bidding. Also