Three days earlier… At the headquarters of the New York Meat Trade Association, an old brick building in the Lower East Side.
The room was covered with thick carpets, and portraits of past association presidents hung on the walls. The air was a mix of cigar, leather, and old wood. Everything here symbolized tradition and order.
Arthur Henderson, the association's president, over sixty years old, sat at the head of the table and looked around.
To his left sat Charles Barton, the representative of the Eastern Railroad Alliance. To his right was Director Davis, who was in charge of the New Jersey canning factory, and a dozen other members.
"Gentlemen, we underestimated that young Canning King before, and we cannot make the same mistake again."
Henderson continued, "Although he has factories, railways, and even a bank, we have history and networks. We are the fifty-year-old Meat Merchant Alliance of this city. Every grocer in New York knows our people and has sold our goods."
