The Washington herald., 1914-02-27
HISTORY BUILDERS.
How Jay Gould justified His Alleged
Sharp Practice.
(written expressly for The Herald)
BY DIR. n. y. EDWARDS.

(Written expressly for The Herald-)
By DIR. Il. .. EDWARDS.
TAY GOULD died in lss2. at time Of
life which Is regarded by most busi-
ness men as the period when the
mental and the physical faculties are at
their best. He was only ffty-six years
Of age and had been an invalid for two
or three years. After his death his estate
was inventoried at about s75.ooo.ooo, all Of
which had been accumulated In about a
quarter of a century.
When Mr.. Gould was In the mood for
chatting with his friends he was some
times extraordinarily frank in his state
ment OF what he had done and why he
had done certain things that were SO Sc
yerely criticised. One illustration OF his
frankness and courage occurred at the
TINA when a desperate attempt was made
to rikn his credit. He then summoned a
few blends to his office and opened be-
fore thsm boxes which contained good Sc
curities owned by him of the value Of
many millions of dollars. No other Of the
men Of great achievement as financiers
had up TO that tife made such a revela-
ton Of poss,essIons as Mr.. Gould then did.
A few yeals before his death he was in
conversation with a friend whom he
greatly respected and to whom he made a
statement which that friend afterward
communicated No others. I was told Of
the ine~ient by the late Charles Finney
Cox, who II -5ne time was associated
with Daniel Drew. who was an opponent
Of Mr.. Gould and who later became
treasurer Of all the railroads in the Van
derblit system which were west of Buff
falo. Gould's friends told him that the
taAu "a tAAa nd ~
bankers were accusing him OF having TAX
en- undue advantage of his authority over
the railroad systems In the Southwest by
which he had got not unlawfully. but
certainly by sharp practices, some $1,000 :
900 or sl5.O000O0.
Mr.. Gould sat in a big armchair. his lit
tie figure all drawn up in IT and he was.
according to his habit when thinking. oc-
cupied with tearing pieces of paper into
innumerable bits until the floor around
his chair was Uttered as completely as
though a driving snow had beaten in
upon that place. He said:
well. even admitting that I did gain
by what some people are pleased to call
trickery some millions OF dollars. now let
us see what the other side Of the ledger
shows. ! can give II to you all in detail.
when l topk over the Missouri Pacific
Railroad the entire system was under 300
miles in length, and il was earning a lit
tie less than $4,000 a month. / put cap
ital and energy into that system and de-
veloped other lines in association with II.
until II represented. with its allied inter-
ests, about 10000 miles and was earning
about sI5,oo0.o0O a year.
II have made an estimate of the in
crease In value OF farms and Industries
in the Southwest, which was due almost
wholly to the work which did with the
Missouri Pacific and the capital which
put into ii and to the development which
il created. My statements show that the
increase in values. which other people
than myself shared, was about 81. 600 coo. =
600. That wealth went to the country as
a whole. Suppose did make sl0.O0o. COO or
Sl5.vJoo00 by what they call sharp praC-
tice-although | didn't do it-what was
that sum to the increase OF wealth which
followed by development of the railroads
of the Southwest
That" said Mr.. Cox. was the manner
in which Mr.. Gould was sometimes per-
suaded TO Justify himself against the at
tscks Of those who criticised him severe
ly.''
tCopyrizht. islIl