The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1911-02-18
|eOUlDs ARE [OsNG
sTF0RTUMEAND
POWER
How George. Gould, Manager Of Gil
gantic Estate Left by His Father,
Has Lost Battle for ocean-to-
Ocean Railroad.
Missouri Pacific Is Latest Holding
wrested From Him by Wizards
of Wall-St.
au w q. SHEPHERD.

NEW YORK, Feb. 17.-Father Time
las struck the ghostly hand OF jay
Could and broken its clutch on the
!. railroad world. From the family OF
Could Is passing rapidly the fortune
and power which Jay Gould pirdted
from the American people.
This is the story, in short;
Law Gould, who built a gigantic Tor
tune as defer OF laws and looter OF
railroad treasures, left his fortune ana
power to six children, when he died
IN 1892. To the house OF Gould ne
turned over the control or seyerai
railroads, including the Missouri Pa,
cific. the Denver 4 Rio Grande, and
large interests In such enormously
rich concerns as the Western Union
Telegraph Co. There was enough
money TO give each OF the six heirs an
income or 81, 100000 a year.
George Gould, the eldest son, mar.
RED an actress, Edith Kingdom. This
woman brought credit on the family
rame. and Ii is notable fact that
George. alone OF the four brothers,
endeayored to watch business and
keep his fathers estate and fortune
intact. However, IL was too great q
task for him.
His brother, Edwin, paid little at
tention to business, being quite salts
fed to seek comfort and pleasure with
his income. Frank Jay Gould, another
brother, also refused to help defend
the estate from ravages of time or OF
the wizards OF Wall-st. Ii remained
for George TO face Wall-st. and fight.
for 1t was vain to look TO Howard
Gould, the third brother, for assist
ance.
And fight he did. With wonder
ful success for time The Gould
system was unified, extended and i'm
proved 1t entered Pittsburg despite
the powerful opposition of the great
Pennsylvania railroad. Through the
city of smoke George Gould drove his
road seeking an Atlantic seaboard at
Baltimore. With that object in view
he got the Western Maryland. From
Pittsburg he connected with HIS Wa
bash railroad by getting possession
of the Wheeling 4 Lake Erie. In
diana and Illinois were covered by
the Wabash. That brought the. Gould
system into st. Louis.
There began the rails OF the Mis-
souri Pacific, the central key TO what
the son OF Jay Gould hoped to make
the biggest transcontinental railroad
In America. real transcontinental
road IL was to be, stretching from the
waters OF the Atlantic To the Pacific.
He made the Missouri Pacific a
highly valuable line. He showed the
value OF It's stock from SO, where 1t
stood when his father died, 10 above
par. The Texas Pacific rose from 50
to $34 share. The st. Louis & South
western doubled and then doubled
again.
Then with rails into Salt Lake City,
Gould saw the time ripe for his pro-
posed Western Pacific. to run from
Salt Lake City into San Francisco.
And then began his famous fight
with the late z. II. Hartman. Any
person who ever had the little
wizard" OF the railroad world as an
antagonist knows what that means.
All the wealth in Harriman's control
went to the front. TO keep Gould or
the Pacific coast
Then Hartman died Gould sold
over s29, 200, 900 bonds to Kuhn, Loeb
4 q Co. to improve the Missouri Pacific
in anticipation OF the opening OF the
& Western Pacific, the last link I'm the
Gould transcontinental system.
But he had bitten of more than he
could chew" The fearful opposition
he met with reduced his fighting re-
sources to the vanishing point. The
ranic OF 1907 sent the Western Mary
land into the hands OF a receiver; the
wabash-Plttsburg terminal followed;
so did the Wheeling & Lake Erie. And
the son OF Jay Gould, wizard OF Wall.
St. has now lost control of the Mis-
kcuri Pacific to Kuhn, Loeb & Co. and
Standard oil. /.
s. In Wall-st. IL has been no secret
that the Standard oil crowd was
awaiting the time when Gould would
falter under his self-imposed load.
Morgan waited until the load grew
heavy and then helped himself to the
: Western Union. But all the money
Gould could get for HIS Western Union
stock could not hold control in the
Missouri Pacific. He still has the
Wabash and Denver & Rio Grande.
How long he can keep them depends
more upon the Wall-st. wizard than
upon anything he will be able to do.
The house OF Gould is going into
financial decline. The yearly income
Of each of six heirs was 100000 at
the beginning OF this decade. BY 1908
II had dropped to $4,000.
George Gould, head of the family
has not been able to keep up the val
ues or the family's holdings.
His sister Anna, who was divorced
from Count Castellane and then mar
ried Count De 'Sagan, was $4,000. 900 In
debt. Over half OF her income has
been applied recently to settling this
burden.