Evening journal., 1914-02-27
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
How Jay Gould Justified
His Alleged Sharp
Practise
BY Holland.

Jay Gould died IN 1892. at time
of life which is regarded by most
business men as the period when the
mental and the physical faculties are
at their best He was only fifty-six
years Of age and had been an invalid
Tor two or three years After his
death his estate was invcntoried at
about sevcnty-fve million dollars. all
Of which had been accumulated IN
about Il quarter of a century.
When Mr. Gould was IN the mood
for chatting with his friends he was
sometimes extraordinarily frank In
his statement of what he had done
and why he had done certain things
that were so severely criticised. One
illustration Of his frankness aud
courage occurred at the time when
a desperate attempt was made TO
ruin his credit He then summoned
few friends TO his office and opened
before thom boxes which contained
good securities owned by him Of the
value OF many millions OF dollars.
No other OF tue men Of great achieve
ment as financiers had up to that
tlmc made such revelation of pos
sessions as Mr. Gould then did.
A few years before his death he
WAS IN conversation with friend
whom he greatly respected and to
whom he made a statement which
that friend afterward communicated
d to others. | was told of the incident
10y tho late Charles Finney Cox. who
at one time was associated with Dan
iel Drew who was an opponent OF
Mr.. Gould and who later became
treasurer Of oil the railroads in tho
vanderbilt system, which We're west
OF Buffalo Goulds friends told him
that the newspapers, the magazines
and many bankers were accusing him
of having taken undue advantage OF
his authority over the railroad sys-
TENS in the Southwest by which he
had got not unlaWfully, but certainly
by sharp practise some ten or fif-
teen million dollars.
MIR. Gould sat In a big armchair his
little figure an drawn up i'm it aud he
was. according to his habit when
thinking, occupied with tearing pieces
OF paper ipto innumcrable bits until
the floor around his chair was lit
cred as completely as though a driv-
lns snow had beaten i'm upon that
place. lie said.
Wen, even admitting that did
gain by what some people are pleased
TO call trickcry some millions Of doll
lars. now let us see what the other
side of the ledger shows. ! can give
il TO you an IN detail.
when ] took over the Missouri
Pacific railroad the entire system was
under 800 miles in longth, and it was
earning little less than 100000 a
month. ! put capital aud energy into
that system and developed other lines
ia association with it, until it repre-
sented, with its allied interests, about
10000 miles and was earning about
S75.000,000 a year
81 have made an estimate of the in
crease I'm value OF farms and indus
tries In the Southwest. which was due
almost wholly TO the work which
did with the Missouri Pacific and the
capital which ! put into Il and to the
development which II created. My
statements show thai the Increase in
values, which other people than my
self shared. was about 81 900 900 900.
That wealth went into the country as
q whole. Suppose I did make $40. O.0OO,-
600. or Sl5.000,Q00 by what they call
sharp practise although I didn't do
it--What was that sum to the increase
Of wealth which followed by develop
ment of the railroads of the South
West?r
Tint" said Mr.. Cox, "was the
manner I'm which Mr.. Gould was
sometimes persuaded to Justify HIM
self against the attacks of those who
criticised him severely"
Copyright 1914. by q. J. Edwards.
All rights reserved
Tomorrow Mr.. Edwards will tell OF
"A Tribute to an Almost Forgotten
Poet"