198 Reminiscences of 



sportsmen, and otherwise have studiously obtained the 

 information. I required this before undertaking so 

 large a venture as I have now made with you, and I 

 wish to assure you of my belief that you have an im- 

 mensely valuable property, and that I believe the 

 period is not far distant when you will commence 

 dividends, which will be fairly earned by the legitimate 

 business which will come to you. I will say that I 

 shall not dispose of any of my stock until it will sell 

 at above par, and be on a dividend-paying basis." 



And he did not. Business increased steadily. Mr. 

 Gould became a director in the company. Having 

 a large amount of stock and bonds, he influenced the 

 directors to commence paying dividends before such 

 should have been paid out, and fifteen millions of dol- 

 lars were so paid, which should have been retained as 

 an appropriate surplus for so large a company. But 

 it was Mr. Gould's interest to have these dividends paid 

 to enhance the market value of his stock and securities, 

 and it is probable that it did not require very much 

 urging to have the directors acquiesce in it. 



The occasion had now arrived for Mr. Gould to dis- 

 play his astute and complex system of self-improve- 

 ment. Mr. Oakes Ames was dead. Mr. Gould resigned 

 as a director, and Mr. Sidney Dillon was made presi- 

 dent. Affairs looked well and dividends were paid 

 regularly. The president was always friendly with 

 Mr. Gould, and when he died he possessed a very much 

 larger property than he was credited to have possessed. 

 It was prudent for Mr. Gould to resign as a director 

 in view of the role he had assumed of benefactor of 

 the road in giving buoyancy to the financial statements 

 and bridging over dividend-paying periods, when little 



