  The Two-Gluon Model of the Pomeron predicts strongly size-dependent
high-energy hadron cross sections. Yet experimental cross sections for radially
excited mesons appear surprisingly close in value. The strong coupling of these
mesons in hadron collisions also predicted by the model permits a qualitative
understanding of this puzzling behavior in terms of eigenmode propagation with
a common eigen-$\sigma$. A detailed semiempirical coupled-channel model of the
Pomeron is constructed to elucidate this and other features of high-energy
hadron cross sections.
