Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/112

 in it had prevented the operators from trying an experiment which would have been sure to irritate the government. The financial policy of the new administration was not so definitely fixed, and the success of the speculation would depend on the action of Mr. Boutwell, the new secretary, whose direction was understood to have begun by a marked censure on the course pursued by his predecessor.

"Of all financial operations, cornering gold is the most brilliant and the most dangerous, and possibly the very hazard and splendor of the attempt were the reasons of its fascination to Mr. Jay Gould's fancy. He dwelt upon it for months and played with it like a pet toy. His fertile mind even went so far as to discover that it would prove a blessing to the community, and on this ingenious theory, half honest and half fraudulent, he stretched the widely extended fabric of the web in which all mankind was to be caught. This theory was in itself partially sound. Starting from the principle that the price of grain in New York is regulated by the price in London, and is not effected by currency fluctuations, Mr. Gould argued that if it were possible to raise the premium on gold from 30 to 40 cents at harvest time, the farmer's grain would be worth $1.40 instead of $1.30, and as a consequence the farmer would hasten to send all his crop to New-York for export over the Erie railway, which was sorely in need of freight. With the assistance of another gentleman, Mr. Gould calculated the exact premium at which the western farmer would consent