I
Introduction
have been passionate about geothermal air-conditioning for 20 years
because it is renewable, sustainable, and comfortable. And now
with new federal incentives in the United States, I am glad to say
that I can add a fourth watchword: doable. Even so, my favorite word of
the four is sustainable. You may think it’s because geothermal technologies
can reduce
our reliance
on dirty,
scarce
fossil fuels and lessen our
impact
on the environment.
That’s certainly true,
but that’s not the fi
rst
thing
I think of.
You see, I grew up as the oldest of nine children on a nine-acre ranch
in the high desert of California. My father is a great man, a high school
English teacher, who provided well for our family on $18,000 per year
during the 1970s, my formative years. Our electrical budget was $50.
Our food budget was $200. We had a shared party line for the phone
and no cable TV. We could get one or two network affi liates by antenna
if the atmospheric conditions were right. By our very nature, we were
green before it was cool.
If we wanted hot water, we had to make sure the black garden hose
was spread out just right on the roof and turned on to fi ll the hot water
tank. We never had a dryer. A warm fi re in the winter and a swamp
(evaporative) cooler in the summer in the common room were the total
extent of climate control. Most of our fruit and vegetables came from the
garden. We had livestock for milk and food, including chickens for eggs
and the occasional Sunday dinner. We were able to sustain our lives on
what we had. To this day, that’s what “sustainable” means to me.
I now live in a 3000-square-foot home on a tad over two acres in
Pasco County, Florida, not far from Tampa. My beautiful wife and I
have four children, a garden, goats, chickens, pigs, dogs, cats, and a
solid desire to maintain family values and a sustainable lifestyle. We
live a very comfortable life, with every luxury I could ever have imagined,
but sustainable. A
wise leader in the Church
once provided
counsel
that I can’t forget:
When you buy an item, luxury or not, the retail

cost
is only a fraction of the real
cost.
Picture a boat, an ATV, or an RV. The real costs are quantifi ed in the
time and resources it takes to fuel it, maintain it, repair it, clean it, store

Introduction
it, insure it, license it, and then advertise and fi nally sell it for a loss—or
dispose of it properly. It turns out that, in most cases, these are not very
sustainable items.
The same goes for many landscaping items, such as nonnative sod
and shrubbery. I have a beautiful, natural Florida landscape with native
grasses, pine trees, and scrub oak. My Bahia grass, which you often see
along freeways here, requires only monthly mowing. Imported grasses
require constant watering and mowing and infl uxes of fertilizers and
pesticides, although they still get brown spots from dryness and cinch
bugs. Sure, I have been tempted many a time to install a sprinkler system
and a “perfect” manicured
lawn, or some exotic fl
owering plants

like
the neighbors have. Then the idea of sustainability comes to mind.
If
I get such items, nice as they may seem, there’s
an ongoing cost to
maintain
them, water them, fertilize them, protect
them from
pests, and
so
on.
I could afford all of the above items. But I choose not to have a boat,
an RV, or a carpet of green grass, or any of the costs that go along with
them. What I have is a house with a solar water heater, geothermal airconditioning,
fl

uorescent and LED lighting, beautiful garden, and a few
farm animals. I have fi ve bedrooms and fi ve bathrooms, a 15,000-gallon
pool, and a 1500-foot lanai. My energy bill averages about $250 per
month. I have no water, sewer, cable, or phone bill. I call that sustainable.
The money I save goes to saving for retirement, schooling, children,
charity, and a good dose of spontaneous family fun. Things like eating
out, vacations, and visiting theme parks and museums. These are things
that bring our family closer together, truly enrich our lives, and sustain
our economy.
Sustainability is what this book is really about. I have one employee
for whom we are sizing a geothermal system at the time of this writing.
He has a 2000-square-foot home with an average monthly electric bill of
$450, on top of water, sewer, and trash. That is not sustainable for him.
It is so expensive that he may never get ahead. With utility bills rising
beyond infl ation, he may be facing $600 to $800 bills in the next few
years. Many others are in this situation.
Typical air-conditioning (AC) equipment, which has a seasonal
energy effi ciency ratio (SEER) of 10, is sucking the life right out of our
fellow consumers. The cost of air-conditioning systems has doubled
over the past fi ve years. This is partly a result of rising material costs,
but is primarily due to government-mandated effi ciency requirements
for 13-SEER equipment. A 30% increase in effi ciency makes a big difference,
but it’s not enough. The federal stimulus package has allowed
for
$1500 tax credits
for air-source
(nongeothermal) residential
systems
that
meet certain criteria. That stops at the end of 2010. After
that, the
only
air-conditioning
and heating product
left on the stimulus radar is
the
little-known geothermal system, the subject of this book. The tax
credit
for geothermal heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning
(HVAC)

will be in force until 2016, offering an unprecedented 30% of costs, with

Acknowledgments
Jay: Thank you to Seth Leitman for fi nding me through the Web and
asking if I would be interested in writing a book, and then recommending
Brian Clark Howard
to cowrite. Brian’s wealth  of knowledge on all
subjects
concerning the environment
has been irreplaceable,
as has his
patience
and encouragement.
I would like to thank Judy Bass for seeing far beyond my vision for
this book. I certainly never expected to be a writer, and her encouragement
was all I needed to start.
Thank you to Tom Cavanaugh, currently serving as a mission president
for the Church
in Colombia. He counseled with me on the diffi
culties
that I would and did endure
in the process
of writing this book.
Thanks
to the folks at ClimateMaster,
Dan Ellis and especially John
Bailey,
who spent a good deal of one-on-one time with me to answer
some
tough questions.
My entire staff at Egg Commercial have been so very patient with
me. A big thank you to Christina Brewer, our chief executive; Kristin
Sagert, our executive offi ce administrator; Jason Hodges, our Webmaster
and marketing genius; and Sarah Cheney, our illustrator.
No words can express my gratitude to my family. They have seen
little of me these past fi ve or six months. Thank you to Kevin and Katie;
Jordan, my 16-year-old beauty queen; Taylor, my strong 14-year-old son
who still can’t beat me in wresting; Hannah, my 11-year-old beautiful
little pixie, and Theron, my 10-year-old all-American boy and fourthgeneration
namesake. My heart goes out to the lovely Mrs. Egg… I

would
have quit long ago if not for her absolute, unending love and
faith
in me. Thank you baby doll. This has been an entirely
encompassing
endeavor of love.
Brian: First of all, thank you to Jay Egg, who has been exceedingly
gracious in sharing his wealth of experience and in-depth technical
knowledge. Working
with Jay has been a great
pleasure,
and I am
deeply
inspired
by his passion, commitment, and Herculean
work ethic.
Without
Jay,
this book would have been impossible. I would also like to

18 The Plot to Seize the White House


The general pointed out wryly that no action had been taken at the
convention to endorse the soldiers’ bonus.  MacGuire airily repeated his
contention that there was no point in that until the country had sound
currency.
 Shortly afterward MacGuire came to Newtown Square again and
surprised the general with the news that a dinner had been arranged by
Boston veterans in his honor.  He was promised transportation in a private
car, and, MacGuire beamed, Butler would be paid a thousand dollars to
speak at the dinner-in favor of the gold standard, of course.
 Butler was dumbfounded at MacGuire’s incredible persistence.
Surely the indefatigable bond salesman had realized by this time that he was
barking up the wrong tree!  But perhaps, the general speculated, MacGuire
felt challenged to “make the sale,” in much the same manner that he
undoubtedly sought to overcome the sales resistance of reluctant prospects
for his bonds.  And apparently MacGuire was convinced that only Smedley
Butler had the prestige and popularity among veterans that his coterie
needed to put over the scheme.
 Irked by the new attempt to bribe him, Butler rasped that he had never
been paid a thousand dollars for any speech and had no intention of
accepting such a sum to let words be put in his mouth.  Chagrined but
undiscouraged, MacGuire cheerfully promised to come up with some other
more acceptable plan to utilize the general’s talents as a public speaker.
 In October a former Marine running for office in Brooklyn, New
York, begged Butler to make some campaign speeches in his behalf.  Butler
was hesitant because he was about to leave on a tour of the country for
Veterans of Foreign Wars, speaking for the bonus and for membership in the
V.F.W. as the best way to get it.  But loyalty to the men who had served
under him took him first to Pennsylvania Station.
 To his astonishment he was met by MacGuire.  The bond salesman
somehow knew where he was headed and asked to accompany him.  Butler
consented, more and more intrigued by the ubiquitous MacGuire who kept
turning up everywhere he went like a bad penny.  He found himself even
growing perversely fond of MacGuire for his stubborn refusal to take No for

16 The Plot to Seize the White House


That would be an important step toward organizing the veterans of American
to put pressure on Congress and the President for such a bill.
 Why, Butler asked him curiously, did he think the President would
allow himself to be pressured by such tactics?  Clark expressed confidence
that Roosevelt would yield because he belonged, after all, to the same social
class that was solidly behind the gold standard.  Once he had restored it, his
fellow patricians would rally around him and defend his position against
criticism.
 Butler was shocked by Clark’s blatant snobbery, but even more by the
millionaire’s assumption that the wishes of economic royalists should-and
would-prevail over the democratic processes of government.  Once more his
anger boiled over. In a voice that cracked with indignation, he exploded that
he wanted nothing to do with a scheme to exploit veterans.  Furthermore, he
rasped, he intended to see to it that the veterans of the country were not used
to undermine democracy but to defend it.
 Clark’s face turned crimson.  Chagrined, he reproached Butler for
being stubborn and “different,” hinting that such things as the mortgage on
Butler’s house could be taken care of for him, and in a fully legal fashion.
 This crude attempt to bribe him was too much for the dumbfounded
general.  Bellowing his indignation, he roared an order at the millionaire to
follow him into the living room.  Clark meekly trailed him into a large hall
resplendent with flags, banners, decorations, plaques, scrolls, citations, and
other symbols of esteem that had been presented to the general during his
long career in the Marines.  The hall was flanked at both ends by huge
canopies on tall poles-“Blessings Umbrellas” awarded by unanimous vote of
the people of Chinese cities only to their greatest benefactors.
 Quivering with rage, Butler pointed out to Clark that most of the
awards in the hall had been given to him by poor people all over the world,
and he vowed that he would never betray their faith.  Ordering Clark to
inspect them until he understood the enormity of his mistake, Butler stormed
off to his study, pacing back and forth in an effort to simmer down.
 In a few minutes a chastened Clark joined him and meekly

The Plot 11


be candid and disclose the sources of the funds that were behind it.
 After some hesitation MacGuire revealed that they had been provided
by nine backers, the biggest contributor putting up nine thousand dollars.
Pressed to explain their motives, MacGuire insisted that they were simply
concerned about helping veterans get their bonus and a square deal.
 People who could afford such contributions, Butler reflected
ironically, were hardly the type who favored a two-billion-dollar bonus for
veterans.
 When he prodded MacGuire further, the fat veteran revealed that one
of his chief backers was a wealthy Legionnaire he worked for, Colonel
Grayson M.-P. Murphy, who operated a brokerage firm at 52 Broadway in
New York City.  Butler pointed out the contradiction between MacGuire’s
claim that his group was concerned with the problems of the poor rank-andfile
veteran and the fact that his backers
were all obviously
wealthy men.

MacGuire
simply
shrugged and frankly admitted
that as far as he personally
was
concerned, he was primarily involved
in the transaction as a
businessman
and was being well taken care of
for his efforts.
 It
would
be
equally
profitable for Butler, he hinted,
if the general were disposed to
cooperate.



Butler pumped him about Colonel Murphy’s connection with the plan.
Murphy, MacGuire revealed, was one of the founders of the Legion and had
actually underwritten it with $125,000 in 1919 to pay for the organizational
field work.  He had been motivated by a desire to see the soldiers “cared
for.”
 When Butler questioned Murphy’s motive in wanting the goldstandard
speech made
at the convention,
MacGuire explained
that he and the
other backers simply wanted to be sure that the veterans would be paid their
bonus in sound gold-backed currency, not in “rubber money.”
 He showed Butler several checks for large amounts signed by Murphy
and two other men-Robert S. Clark and John

9 The Plot to Seize the White House


4


Butler detected an odor of intrigue.  Some kind of outlandish scheme, he was
convinced, was afoot.  Knowing little about the gold standard, why
Roosevelt had taken the country off it or who stood to gain by its restoration
and why, he began thumbing through the financial pages of newspapers and
magazines-sections of the press he had never had any occasion to read.
 The first important fact he learned was that the government no longer
had to back up every paper dollar with a dollar’s worth of gold.  This meant
that the Roosevelt Administration could increase the supply of paper money
to keeps its pledge of making jobs for the unemployed, and give loans to
farmers and homeowners whose property was threatened by foreclosure.
Banks would then be paid back in cheapened paper dollars for the goldbacked
dollars they had lent.


Conservative financiers were horrified.  They viewed a currency not
solidly backed by gold as inflationary, undermining both private and
business fortunes and leading to national bankruptcy.  Roosevelt was
damned as a socialist or Communist out to destroy private enterprise by
sapping the gold backing of wealth in order to subsidize the poor.
 Butler began to understand that some wealthy Americans might be
eager to use the American Legion as an instrument to pressure the Roosevelt
Administration into restoring the gold standard.  But who was behind
MacGuire?
 A short while after MacGuire’s second visit, he returned to see Butler
again, this time alone.  MacGuire asked how he was coming along in
rounding up veterans to take with him to the convention.  Butler replied
evasively that he had been too busy to do anything about it.  He then made it
clear that he could no further interest in the plan unless MacGuire was
willing to

The Plot  9

typewritten pages from an inside jacket pocket.  They would leave a
speech with him to read.  MacGuire urged Butler to round up several
hundred Legionnaires, meanwhile, to take to Chicago with him.
 Holding on to his fraying temper, Butler pointed out that none of the
Legionnaires he knew could afford the trip or stay in Chicago.  MacGuire
quickly assured him that all their expenses would be paid.  But Butler,
who was constantly being approached with all kinds of wild schemes and
proposals, was not prepared to take the plotters seriously until they could
prove they had financial backing.  When he challenged MacGuire on this
point, the veteran slipped a bankbook out of his pocket.  Without letting
the name of the bank or the account be seen, he flipped over the pages
and showed Butler two recent deposits-one for $42,000 and a second for
$64,000-for “expenses.”
 That settled it.  No wounded soldiers Butler knew possessed $100,000
bank accounts.  His instincts sharpened by two years’ experience, on loan
from the Marines, as crime-busting Director of Public Safety for
Philadelphia, warned him that there was something decidedly unsavory
about the proposition.
 He decided to blend skepticism, wariness, and interest in his
responses, to suggest that he might be induced to participate in the
scheme if he could be assured that it was foolproof.  He would profess
himself interested, but unconvinced as long as he suspected that there
was more to be learned about the scheme.  So far they had told him
practically nothing except what was barely necessary for the role they
wanted him to play.  He determined to get to the bottom of the plot, while
trying not to scare them off in the process.
 After they had left, he read over the speech MacGuire had left with
him.  It urged the American Legion convention to adopt a resolution
calling for the United States to return to the gold standard, so that when
veterans were paid the bonus promised to them, the money they received
would not be worthless paper.  Butler was baffled.  What did a return to
the gold standard have to do with the Legion?  Why were MacGuire and
Doyle being paid to force this speech on the convention-and who was
paying them?