The Days of a Man [^1893 



interests, also declined to assist in any way 

 added enormously to our difficulties. All of them, 

 more especially Mr. Huntington, were financially 

 concerned in the outcome, though they left Mrs. 

 Stanford to make the fight alone. 



But to attempt to analyze here the various mo- 

 tives, political or personal, behind the legal attack 

 is not a part of my purpose. Fortunately it now 

 makes no difference what they were, and the mattei 

 may well pass into oblivion. In justice, also, it 

 should be said that none of the present owners or 

 managers (1921) of the Southern Pacific were in 

 any way concerned in the matter, for entire owner- 

 ship and control passed into new hands at the end 

 of the century. Again it is only fair to note that 

 the attitude of which I complain was the usual 

 business point of view. For it seemed impossible 

 to save all three — railway, estate, and university 

 — in those years of panic. Current railroad re- 

 ceipts (there were no profits) were apparently re- 

 quired to continue operations, and expenditures for 

 the University naturally seemed wasteful and dan- 

 " Stopping gerous to the other owners. According to Hun- 

 the circus" tingtou, the way out was to *'stop the circus." In 

 Mrs. Stanford's mind, however, the estate existed 

 solely for the benefit of the institution founded in 

 memory of her son. To save the property on the 

 terms suggested seemed to her like throwing over 

 the passengers to lighten the ship. And as matters 

 turned out, university, estate, and railway were 

 all saved alike. 



Leading jurists consulted by Mrs. Stanford agreed 

 that the Government had no case. Briefly the plea 

 asserted that nothing was yet due the United States, 



C 502 3 



