“George W. Stener was a poor man, comparatively a very poor man, when he first became city treasurer.  All he had was a small real-estate and insurance business which brought him in, say, twenty-five hundred dollars a year.  He had a wife and four children to support, and he had never had the slightest taste of what for him might be called luxury or comfort.  Then comes Mr. Cowperwood—­at his request, to be sure, but on an errand which held no theory of evil gains in Mr. Stener’s mind at the time—­and proposes his grand scheme of manipulating all the city loan to their mutual advantage.  Do you yourselves think, gentlemen, from what you have seen of George W. Stener here on the witness-stand, that it was he who proposed this plan of ill-gotten wealth to that gentleman over there?”

He pointed to Cowperwood.

“Does he look to you like a man who would be able to tell that gentleman anything about finance or this wonderful manipulation that followed?  I ask you, does he look clever enough to suggest all the subtleties by which these two subsequently made so much money?  Why, the statement of this man Cowperwood made to his creditors at the time of his failure here a few weeks ago showed that he considered himself to be worth over one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and he is only a little over thirty-four years old to-day.  How much was he worth at the time he first entered business relations with the ex-city treasurer?  Have you any idea?  I can tell.  I had the matter looked up almost a month ago on my accession to office.  Just a little over two hundred thousand dollars, gentlemen—­just a little over two hundred thousand dollars.  Here is an abstract from the files of Dun & Company for that year.  Now you can see how rapidly our Caesar has grown in wealth since then.  You can see how profitable these few short years have been to him.  Was George W. Stener worth any such sum up to the time he was removed from his office and indicted for embezzlement?  Was he?  I have here a schedule of his liabilities and assets made out at the time.  You can see it for yourselves, gentlemen.  Just two hundred and twenty thousand dollars measured the sum of all his property three weeks ago; and it is an accurate estimate, as I have reason to know.  Why was it, do you suppose, that Mr. Cowperwood grew so fast in wealth and Mr. Stener so slowly?  They were partners in crime.  Mr. Stener was loaning Mr. Cowperwood vast sums of the city’s money at two per cent. when call-rates for money in Third Street were sometimes as high as sixteen and seventeen per cent.  Don’t you suppose that Mr. Cowperwood sitting there knew how to use this very cheaply come-by money to the very best advantage?  Does he look to you as though he didn’t?  You have seen him on the witness-stand.  You have heard him testify.  Very suave, very straightforward-seeming, very innocent, doing everything as a favor to Mr. Stener and his friends, of course, and yet making a million in a little over six years and allowing Mr. Stener to make one hundred and sixty thousand dollars or less, for Mr. Stener had some little money at the time this partnership was entered into—­a few thousand dollars.”