Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-03
A NINETEENTH CENTURY CAREER.

The death of Mr.. Jay Gould yesterday
terminates career which is especially
typical of the close of the century in
American finance. Mr.. Gould has been
at once the pioneer and the prototype of
many of the now characteristic methods
by which corporate management Is. per-
verted to the aggrandizement of individ-
ual fortunes. He first showed how such
things could be done on the grand scale,
and carried the practices to point which
few men have equaled, and none sur
passed. In that light the financial career
just closed possesses an especial interest
to the student of social changes as infiu-
enced by pecuniary conditions.
The old and familiar classic proverb
concerning the propriety of speaking well
Of the. dead can generally, but not always,
be observed. Where the prominence Of
characteristics that cannot be approved
forbid obedience to the aphorism, it is
well to speak what good can be spoken.
With regard to Mr.. Gould it is satisfactory
7 to say that he was personally unassuming
and democratic. At time when it was
the tendency in millionaire society to put
on airs of aristocracy and transplant the
customs, if not the scions, of European no
bility to this soil, Mr.. Gould retained his
personal democracy. The marriage of his
favorite son with an estimable actress is
the occasion for favorably contrasting
this trait with the pretensions of many
men,of overgrown fortunes 1t is worth
remembering to Jay Geuld's credit that
the possession of excessive wealth did not
produce on his part the arrogation of su-
perior blood and aristocratic surroundings
which is so frequently the case
When we pass from Mr.. Gould's per-
sonal character to his relation with public
business and morals, it is impossible to re-
tain that commendatory tone. 1t must be
said that Mr.. Gould's influence on busi-
nesssand morals has been wholly bad. He
has.not only demonstrated the scientific
methods by which corporations can be
managed to the detriment. of the public
and the ordinary, shareholders for the en-
Tichment of a few manipulators, but he
he has demoralized the business conscience
by exhibiting the illustration of the
greatest wealth gained by the most un-
scrupulous disregard of financial honesty
and public morals. 1t is just to say that
the general objurgation which has followed
Mr.. Gould's career is incorrect in making
it appear that he was the only great
offender of his class. There are plenty of
Others, some of whom were his cotempo-
raries, and some of whom were more or
less successful imitators of his methods.
The reputation of being the typical de-
visor and executor of methods of corpo-
rate mismanagement for private enrich
ment cannot, even when death has inter-
vened, be denied on Mr.. Gould's behalf.
Yet it would be short-sighted to omit
recognition of the fact that Jay Gould was
product of the times. Under the condi-
tions existing such character was sure to
exist. Given general feeling that the
attainment of wealth is the greatest good
so great that its successful pursuit con-
dohes the methods by which it is attained
given a corporate system in which the
Investments are counted by the thousands
of millions and the commerce which it
influences is counted by tens of thousands
of millions; given a political system with
so much of carelessness, or ignorance, or
corruption that corporate powers can be
perverted from the beneficial purposes for
which they were created to the uses of
private enrichment, and under such in
f1uences the rise of characters like Jay
Gould is inevitable. In our own day this
state of affairs has produced scores of the
same class: and it will continue to do so as
long as the social, corporate and political
conditions furnish the motive for such
careers. The public apathy with regard
to the enforcement of the principles of
law and morality in corporate manage
ment is to be charged with the response
biHty for the evil in Mr.. Gould's career,
and others like it.
Mr.. Gould's death Incidentally affords
an indication of the way in which individ-
ual Importance is overestimated 1t was
generally supposed that the death of the
great manipulation and stock ownermight
have disturbing effect on the stock mar
ket The very weak foundation for such
an apprehension was shown by the slight
fluctuation and comparative steadiness of
stocks yesterday. The fact is that the
prosperity of the country stands upon too
substantial basis to be shaken by tine
death of any one man, however great his
financial power may have been.