In his brief but resonant introduction to Sister Carrie, novelist E. L. Doctorow pauses to note that the young Dreiser arrived in Pittsburgh in “the aftermath of the Homestead strike in which armies of Pinkerton detectives and striking steelworkers had fought pitched battles.” The remark raises an interesting question about a scene in The Financier when there is another mention of the Pinkertons. Edward Malia Butler, who has been informed that his daughter Aileen is carrying on an illicit relationship with Frank Cowperwood, reluctantly decides to go to a detective. Seeking one not in Philadelphia but in New York, where he can pass unknown, he nevertheless hesitates to give his name at the Pinkerton office or “to take anyone into his confidence in regard to Aileen” (35). It’s not hard to see why. In practical terms, all the major players in this novel, Butler included, subscribe to Frank Cowperwood’s motto, “I satisfy myself.” And in a world of self-satisfiers, why should anyone have confidence in anyone else, confidence in other words that others will do anything other than satisfy the urge to make as large a profit as possible, if necessary at one’s expense?