Boom Town Page #13

The statement of the government's attorney

is stricken from the record.

Now, Mr. McMasters...

...is it true that for the first well, you stole

$ 7000 of tools from a Mr. Luther Aldrich?

- I took the tools, but he was paid for them.

- Then you did steal the tools.

You can call it that in your language...

...but I borrowed them in mine.

Borrowed like people did in those days.

- We wanted to find oil.

- Now, Mr. McMasters...

...you have admitted that you deliberately

set out to break Compton and Sand.

- I did.

- What was your reason?

They were trying to break me.

I see. Self-protection.

- But wasn't Mr. Compton a friend of yours?

- Not exactly.

- But John Sand was your very best friend.

- He was.

Isn't it true that Mr. Sand

started you in the oil business?

That it was his lease that started you

on the way to your fortune?

That's right.

Yet you expect the jury to believe that

a friend and benefactor tried to break you.

- He did.

- Why?

Why did he try to break you?

- I can't answer that.

- You mean can't or won't?

Take your pick.

You don't understand my language?

That's right. Your Honor, I don't

understand this man's language at all.

He calls me a bourbon. What's that?

I always thought it was whiskey.

- Then you refuse to answer?

- That's right.

- And I'm getting tired of your face, sonny.

- Sit down.

And if you refuse to answer,

I'll hold you in contempt of court.

I wouldn't want that to happen,

Your Honor.

I withdraw my question. That is all.

- I have witnesses in rebuttal, Your Honor.

- Very well.

- Mrs. McMasters, take the stand, please.

- Any objections?

We waive any objections, Your Honor.

Do you swear to tell the truth,

the whole truth and nothing but...

...so help you God?

- I do.

Now, Mrs. McMasters,

I won't keep you long.

I only want to ask you a few questions.

How long have you been married

to Mr. McMasters?

Seven and a half years.

Are you acquainted with a woman

named Karen Vanmeer?

- Yes, I am.

- Does she work for your husband?

- She did.

- In what capacity?

- Just a minute. I'm on trial, not her.

- I object to this line of questioning.

- What connection...?

- I'm only...

Objection sustained.

Mr. McMasters and Miss Vanmeer went

to Washington, D.C., on May 14th last.

Do you know whom they visited,

and what the purpose was?

Whether I do or I don't,

that doesn't matter.

I do know that you're trying to blacken

his character by trying to prove...

...something between

him and Miss Vanmeer.

What I know about that

doesn't matter either.

I know I am, and I always will be,

in love with my husband.

That is all, Mrs. McMasters. Thank you.

Court will adjourn until 10:00

tomorrow morning.

- Yeah, Mac?

- Stock's down to seven.

We don't have to worry about that now.

What about the notes?

I just left the bank.

The board took the collateral.

- I'm terribly sorry, J.M.

- That's okay, Mac.

Put a want ad in the paper.

A guy with your brains will be all right.

- Thanks for everything.

- Thanks, J.M.

Well, honey, we're broke again.

What do we care?

We can always go back to...

Forget it, honey. We're not down yet.

- That's a lie.

- Order, order. Proceed.

No cross-examination, Your Honor.

- I have one more witness, Your Honor.

- Very well. Call your witness.

John Sand.

Raise your right hand.

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole

truth and nothing but, so help you God?

Mr. Sand, you used to be bosom friends

with Mr. McMasters, didn't you?

- We were pals, if that's what you mean.

- Are you pals now?

- No, we don't get on at all.

- Why?

I don't know.

I just don't like him, I guess.

Mr. Sand, you and Mr. Compton were

competitors of Mr. McMasters, right?

Not for very long.

You were wiped out because this man,

who suddenly turned into an octopus...

- I object.

- Sustained.

Prosecution will confine itself

to the issues.

You failed in your business because

Mr. McMasters formed a monopoly...

...in defiance of the antitrust laws.

- Your Honor, please.

Now, you haven't got that

straight either...

- Answer yes or no.

- Wait a minute, buddy. Take it easy.

You subpoenaed me, but after all,

I'm just here to try to straighten out...

Mr. Witness, you're here

to answer questions.

Judge, I'm getting as mixed up

as anybody in this hot seat.

And he's all balled up,

asking a lot of questions.

Would it be all right if I stood up

and relaxed to spiel my piece?

Maybe I can straighten things out

around here.

- I object to allowing this witness...

- The court is always interested in truth.

I'll admit it, subject to a motion to strike.

Proceed, Mr. Sand.

Well, as I get it...

...McMasters is on the hook

because he broke the antitrust laws.

He signed up a bunch of oil operators and

formed a monopoly in restraint of trade.

I know that he signed them

to make more money...

...but he's not exactly original with that.

A lot of us have got those ideas.

But what he was doing,

although he didn't know it...

...in a way, he was working

for these here United States too.

Am I out of line yet, judge?

Proceed, Mr. Sand.

He wanted these guys

to produce less oil...

...so that their wells would flow

years longer and not ruin the fields.

That way they'd get all the oil

there was to get.

Don't you get the idea?

He was for conservation.

How can he be breaking laws when he's

trying to save the resources of the country?

He didn't know that he was doing

anything that you might call noble...

...but being one of the best oil men there is,

he's got the right hunch about oil.

He knows that it took billions of years

to put it here...

...and if we keep taking it at this rate...

...before long, there won't be any oil left

in the good old U.S.A.

Won't be any left for him

or men like him...

...to break up into lube

and fuel and gasoline...

...so that people can get their stuff

moved around in trucks...

...and so that you can light furnaces

and homes and schoolhouses.

If that time comes, what'll be the good

of American schoolhouses, anyway?

What'll be the good

of your two oceans?

What are you gonna run airplanes

and battleships on? Tomato soup?

- I only got a couple more words, okay?

- Proceed, Mr. Sand.

He's got a lot of ham in him,

hasn't he?

Well, just this:

McMasters is a wildcatter.

If it wasn't for automobiles,

he'd be driving a covered wagon.

It's always been his breed

that has opened up the country...

...and made it what it is.

So now I'm wondering...

...is it out of line, in these United States,

for a man like him to make a million...

...with his brains and hands?

If that's true, we'd better rewrite this

land-of-opportunity stuff.

I admit that he's ornery

and he's mean...

...but he's an oil man with the right idea

of what to do with our oil.

And he's always met the payroll,

and you can put his word in the bank.

Now, that's all I got to say.

Now you talk.

- I move to strike this entire answer.

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