ng arrangement had some obvious advantages, one of the most compel ling being the stipulation that once a govern ment achieved membership it could never fall below one share in the corporation Thus, though shares in CHOAM were to be redistributed on the basis of trade done once every 100 years, participants would enjoy some benefit from off planet trade even if they could no longer participate The governments were all aware that natural resources were not permanent It was m this connection that the Imperial financial intelligence system proved its worth to the emperor and demonstrated its abilities to the governments The fiscal information for each of the participants was so accurate and so complete that it was clear to many of the states that the emperor had been aware for many years of extensive tax fraud on their part Others discovered to then- surprise that internal corruption or inefficiency had been robbing them of a proper return on their own resources The figures shocked some more than others, some pleasantly and others unpleasantly, but few escaped unseamed When the time came for debate on the dispo sition of shares, many negative arguments were instantly ended Since the emperor was indeed as brilliant and cunning as he was now suspected of being he had not depended on the unpre pared reaction of the Synod to his proposal He has tilled the soil of die Synod as the most assiduous of husbandmen For months before the proposal was made to the whole Synod a series of meetings had made clear to various of the feudal powers the advantages accruing to them The most powerful of the Great Houses had been approached, first individually, and men m concert The weaker of the feudal powers, which would become agents for the non-feudal states had been dealt with in regional groups After several months of arguments concerning mat tersof detail, the charter was accepted Once the approval of the Synod had been secured for the Charter, the vote of the Landsraad was a foregone conclusion, since the mem bership m file two bodies so overlapped A meeting of the Landsraad was necessary for the formality of a vote, however, this was accomplished in a matter of months after the Synod disbanded The creation of CHOAM which limited membership to feudal states which controlled at least a planet created the connection be tween Great Houses and control of off % orld trade Heretofore there had been several pos sible ways in which one might ha\e defined a Great House now one constant factor could be used This new factor not only served to define the Gieat Houses it also vastly strengthened them The resources now, avail able to a Great House through its shares m CHOAM produced within a decade such a substantial increase m the income of most of the participating houses that the possibility of a successful revolt all but disappeared More than this the entire economy of the empire entered a period of rapid growth that lasted more than fne centimes This com merc