Omaha daily bee., 1883-10-04
GOULD, VANDERBILT, FIELD.
How the Great Corporations arc Try
ing to be Honest.

tluenco by methods of business which
most people consider questionable. But
wealth and power are not all. MIR. Gould
admits that he has got past money max
ing and it is evident that he desires to
have the esteem of his fellow.citiacns.
He has n family, and he does not like to
be constantly paraded before his sons and
daughters MS a thief. Naturally, there
fore, within a year or two Mr.. Gould has
embraced every opportunity to poise be-
fore the public as u solf-made man whose
wealth has been acquired by ability. on
orgy and honest dealing. He does not
want to appear grasping or selfish. This
champion %speculator sailed on this tack
soon after he had made himself rich
through the Erie railroad plot. He be-
gan then to talk about developing the
West and open up the country to immi-
grafton. He continued in this way when
he was beginning the development of that
scheme known rs the Wabash system.
He did not care SO much to make money,
he SAID, as To open up the great West to
small farmers who could find, near his
roads there, pleasant little homes for
their old age and still get their grain to
market. Then he began to associate with
men who have good regulations. He has
succeeded so well in this that now we see
him intimate with such pious people as
Mr.. Morris X. Jesup and such mon of
position as John Jacob Aston, who only
II few weeks ago was persuaded to take n
seat in the directory of the Western
Union. Then he has been blossoming
out in n domestic way. In some mystic
rious manner there have appeared in the
columns of the papers which Mr.. Gould
has controlled sketches of his home life.
His devotion to his family has been put
bravcly to the front. 1t is by his tireside
that this great man takes his delight,
after all. He has been described MS sit.
ting by the hoarthstono with his olive
branches around him. His deep love for
his son George has also been n strong
card. We are told when Mr.. Jay Gould
has been absent from New York awhile,
he grows pale as he approaches the city
on his return, so deeply is he moved at
the prospect of seeing his family.
But the greatest opportunity for this
kind was offered to Mr.. Jay Gould only a
few days ago by the m of the SEN
ate Committee on Labor and Education
to appear before them. The Railroad
King was prompt in attendance. What
n pathetic tale he told Did ever n poor
but honest young man have a harder time
to get along2 Ncv-, or at least not
often. And then the picture which the
rich man drew of his praying in the
woods! Far be it from us to doubt that
Mr.. Jay Gould went on his knees, as he
says he did, when he WIS so unhappy.
Let us hope he did pray, and let us hope
even more ardently that he keeps up the
habit yet. From almost any point of
view he needs to be prayed for more now
than he did when he was young and poor.
We have not much doubt that Mr.. Gould
will be able finally to convince a large
portion of this community, which only
knows him by reputation, that he is in
deed q misunderstood and much maligned
man. People who are very good them
selves are naturally inclined to be chart
table to others, and we shall not be sur
prised if presently Mr.. Gould shall be
held up in the pulpit as n model for
young Christian soldiers to initiate. 1t
certainly will happen, if MI. Gould will
only contribute n few thousand dollars to
some poor church and let the minister I'M
dcrstand that the gift is to be kept Sc
cret. The secret will be kept, but the
pulpit of that church will resound sooner
or later with the indirect praises of n
good, generous man, who lets not his left
hand know what his right hand doeth.
After that point is reached all will be
easy, and finally he will die in the odor
of sanctity. 1t was a great stroke for
reputation when Mr.. Gould exclaimed be-
fore Mr.. Blair's committee; 81 brought
nothing into this world and it is sure !
can take nothing out" We may remark.
perhaps, that he has taken a good deal
that did not belong to him since he has
been in this world. all the same.
MI. William II. Vanderbilt and MI.
Cyrus w. Field, who of late has also been
trying to attain responsibility, had the
advantage of Mr.. Jay Gould. Mr.. Van
dcrbilt wisely married a most admirable
woman, whom everybody esteems. The
alliance gave a basis for the New York
Central King to build on which Gould
did not possess. He has occasionally
talked of working people, and he distri-
buted 500, 600 among his employees be-
cause they did not strike during the rail
the other day he gave $1,000 to a lot of
GOliCRb bluutIllb wiz WcIc dCtiilB 40 Whit-
ers in a hotel. Moreover, he throws
open his splendid picture gallery to the
public with very little restriction. Mr..
Vanderbilt accomplishes much also in this
business Of inpressing the public with
his worth, by means Of kind hearted cx-
pressions of esteem tOwards the world IN
general when he talks TO u reporter. His
true feelings only seem to come out now
and then when he has taken a little too
much wine-as, for instance, when he re-
marked to the Chicago reporter, ''The
public be-" That unfortunate senti-
ment did him much harm, and he is now
struggling at u great disad vantage TO win
the respect Of his fellow-citizens.
Mr., Fields family Is generally respect,
ed by all people who do not know the
members Of 1T very well, The brothers
are generally regarded as honest, and the
fact that one of them is a clergyman has
been Il great assistance 10 them all. 1t
has been hard 10 believe that with so
much sancity in the family, Mr.. Cyrus
w. could be anything but a fair, frank,
Open-handed business man. His respec-
table family connections have caused peo-
pie to wink at much which he did in the
Elevated railroad swindle and in other