BUBBLES 187 



boats being two hundred and seventy-five thou- 

 sand dollars, to which he added the statement 

 that if the committee did not accept the bid be- 

 fore leaving the room it would be withdrawn and 

 no other bid ever be made by him. After a 

 short consultation the offer was accepted. 



North Carolina bonds were tobogganing 

 downward. The carpet-baggers were in control 

 at Raleigh, they had herded the negro legislators 

 and opened bargain counters for the sale of 

 bonds to the railroads. I went to Raleigh to get 

 an idea of the situation and talked to General 



, the king of the lobbyists. He told me 



he had bought a number of legislatures but 

 had found none so dirt cheap as in North Caro- 

 lina. While talking with him I saw another 

 carpet-bagger whom I recognized as a lawyer 

 who had collected for me eight thousand dol- 

 lars on a note and stolen the proceeds. I de- 

 cided that I need be in no haste to buy North 

 Carolina bonds since the supply would be likely 

 to hold out. 



When I sought to buy the bonds in the New 



