INTRODUCTION. 405 



until it has been settled in a proper manner. The era of 

 sentimental politics is over. The right to earn a living 

 and enjoy the fruits of industry is now up. We look with 

 reasonable confidence to a solution which will be less 

 favorable than the existing laws are to the accumulation 

 by railroad owners, in the course of a few years, of fortunes 

 as large as the Rothchilds point to as the result of gener- 

 ations of scheming and exertion." 



The following is from the report of the investigating 

 committee appointed by the New York Legislature to 

 examine into the management of the Brie railroad. 

 Testimony of Mr. Jay Gould: 



"I do not know how much I paid toward helping 

 friendly men. We had four States to look after, and we 

 had to suit our politics to circumstances. In a Democratic 

 district I was a Democrat; In a Republican district I was 

 a Republican, and in a doubtful district I was doubtful; 

 but in every district and at all times I have always been an 

 Erie man." 



The report of the committee says: "It is further in 

 evidence that it has been the custom of the managers of 

 the Erie Railway, from year to year, in the past, to spend 

 large sums to control elections and to influence legislation. 

 In the year 1868 more than one million dollars ($1,000,000) 

 was disbursed from the treasury for extra and legal 

 services. 



"Mr. Gould, when last on the stand, and examined 

 in relation to various vouchers shown him, admitted the 

 payment, during the three years prior to 1872, of large 

 sums to Barber, Tw T eed and others, and to influence legis- 

 lation or elections; these amounts were charged in the 

 India-rubber account The memory of this witness was 

 very defective as to details, and he could only remember large 

 transactions; but could distinctly recall that he had been 

 in the habit of sending money into the numerous districts 



