Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/109

 entering upon technical questions of roguery, it is enough to say that he was an uncommonly fine and unscrupulous intriguer, skilled in all the processes of stock gambling, and indifferent to the praise or censure of society."

It was one of Mr. Gould's peculiarities that he rarely entered into any large speculation without furnishing the public with a plausible reason for assisting him in his operations. This was certainly the case in the gold conspiracy. The plausible reason was in this case suggested to Mr. Gould by James McHenry, who was then training with Mr. Gould in Erie. The latter spared no pains to dress the reason up in the best shape and give it to the public. Mr. Gould argued with much apparent force, but actual sophistry, that an advance in the price of gold would benefit the Western farmers in giving them a bigger price for their grain, and Mr. Gould backed up this theory with many facts and figures. Gen. Grant had just become President. His Secretary of the Treasury was George F. Boutwell. The key to the situation was the financial policy of the government. No successful corner in gold could be established if the Treasury should sell gold with a liberal hand. It should be explained that the war had caused a lively speculation in gold, which continued after the war until the resumption of specie payments made the greenbacks equal in value to gold. Speculation in gold was carried on in the gold-room, an institution separate from the Stock Exchange.