Books: Urbane Mirror

(2 of 2)

Racketeer Canarelli has been a big depositor in Littenham's bank, and when the U. S. goes off the gold standard and Littenham takes advantage of the days of grace to ship all his gold to Canada by airplane, Canarelli naturally wants a cut. In the ensuing lawsuit, held in Megapolis, Littenham's lawyer argues "that it was a fact, proved by precedent, that American millionaires were not citizens of the United States but were autonomous powers coordinate with the federal government. That they therefore could not be arraigned and tried before the national courts but were subject only to treaty obligations and the processes of international law. and that the present suit could lie only in the World Court at Geneva.* He therefore prayed for a change of venue."

Because the higher courts are geared to corporation rather than racketeering law, Caridius' career is cut short at the peak. Suspected of being accessory to kidnapping and murder, he forfeits his newly-won seat in the Senate because he is convicted of falsifying his election expenses. In his cell at Atlanta Penitentiary he has the satisfaction of knowing that his wife has taken advantage of the wave of popular sympathy that follows his conviction, has been elected to the Senate in his stead.