Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/107

 *ficially depressed price, was the cheapest of our products, and at the same time the only one undesirable to part with. So the government decided to suspend gold sales indefinitely.

"Jay Gould and others, being satisfied that this was to be the policy of the administration, commenced at once buying large amounts of gold, actuated, doubtless, by the purest of patriotic motives, namely, to stimulate cotton and cereal exports. They succeeded in accumulating a considerable amount of gold at prices ranging from 135 to 140, covering a period of three months' steady buying.

"This was the honest foundation on which the great 'Black Friday' speculative deal was erected.

"The eruption on 'Black Friday' was really caused by the erratic conduct of James Fisk, Jr., who actively joined the movement on Thursday, the day before, and became wild with enthusiasm on the subject of high gold."

The "Black Friday" scheme was the most gigantic one that Wall street had ever seen. This gold conspiracy was investigated in 1870 by a committee of Congress, of which James A. Garfield, afterward President, was chairman, and S. S. Cox, a member. The investigation undertaken went far enough to show how zealously the conspirators labored to get Grant within their toils and implicated persons near to him. Unfortunately, too, the President had innocently enough permitted himself to be put in a suspicious position, and it was long before he was completely purged of the scandal.