The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-10-02

l'.l.l..!aa.l. N a plain ten story red
al. ss4=I=9= brick building at 1s5
- Broadway, New York
city, there may be
found during business
hours on almost any
sfliI-s.5iL lil,sll working day four
men. the oldest stin
short OF middle age, who are known
colIouuially to the 1900 employees as
sembled under the same roof as George,
Tz5vvin. Howard and Frank. There is
nothing distinctive about their appear
ance They seem to be free from man
nerisms, and they assume no air OF eX-
cIusfveness. ANY one may address them
If he chooses, and If he should succeed
m Interesting them he would go his
way with the impression that ne nad
been fairly dealt with. If he had failed
in his attempt. he would have no rea--
son to complain Of their inclvllity-
They are gentlemen, and wen can they
afford to be.
These men. still young and IN the
prime of physical condition. who sit
at desks and keep Office hours and seem
susier than most of their army OF
clerks. are Goulds of the second gen
Grafton since the name became a power
81 the financial world. George Jay the
senior and leader of the quartet, was
SIN two months short OF twenty
when his father died. a dozen years
eeo. and he is probably the youngest
zaan who ever assumed the active man
aeement of such a stupendous bust
ness enterprise as was bequeathed to
him. Since that time he has been the
central figure in the further develop
ment of the most extensive family ag-
gregation Of railroad and telegraph in
terests in existence.
Men, both wise and simple, shook
their heads and made predictions as
to the time when disaster would befall
the vast wealth producing material
which had been accumulated by the
elder Gould. Those pessimistic ora
cIes, long since discredited, have fallen
by the wayside, but the Gould millions
continue to expand. George Jay has
proved himself a fit successor to his
aggressive father. Under his keen SUI
pervisiOn the family fortunes have
swollen enormously, the Western Union
cables and land wires have stretched
out more than 100000 miles, and the
Gould railroads have been extended
hundreds of miles both eastward and
west. Stin the junior of the great
American railroad kings, should he live
to be past eighty, as did Commodore
e-AAAAEA D-AAr NIEDA &c G0lA4 Will Hay e
more years in the future than entered
into his energetic fathers entire rail-
road career. Jay Gould was in his
tWenties when he made a modest pur-
chase of the stock Of the little Rutland
and Washington railroad. and he was
only dfty-seven when his career was
brought to a close
Although George Gould is the domi-
nant power in the united family en-
terprises. each of his brothers is re-
uHired to assume a share of the respon-
sibilty. Edwin, the second brother, is
president of the st. Louis and South
western railroad; Howard is a member
81 important directories, and Frank,
the youngest, holds various vice presi-
dencies- Edwin and Frank are college
bred men, the former being an alumnus
Of Columbia, class Of IS, and the lat
ter having pursued an elective course
a the University Of New York
George Gould did not go to college.
AT the age of sixteen he had completed
the preparatory studies necessary to
eater the freshman year at Columbia,
bat at that stage he announced his in
tention of becoming a business man.
His father had planned otherwise but
he did not combat the young mans
resolution. Instead. he proceeded with
out further discussion to take charge
of his sons business education, secur-
ing an opening for him in his own bro
ker's once as a preliminary, where the
duties Of a minor clerk We're assigned
to him. Thence he was in time pro
NOTED to a desk in the Manhattan
railroad Office. Here he made such
rapid progress and showed himself SO
capable that his father took him into
his own private Office. Thus he be-
n "a rs
before reaching his majority and when
he had arrived at the age of twenty
three he had won the place of con-
ddential adviser to the shrewdest fin
ancier Of his day. There is abundant