Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/127

 I received a letter from the President, dated at New York, as I recollect it; I am not sure where it was dated. In that letter he expressed an opinion that it was undesirable to force down the price of gold. He spoke of the importance to the West of being able to move their crops. His idea was that if gold should fall, the West should suffer and the movement of the crop would be retarded. The impression made on my mind by the letter was that he had rather a strong opinion to that effect. Upon the receipt of the President's letter, I telegraphed to Judge Richardson, 'Send no order to Butterfield as to sales of gold until you hear from me.'"

Mr. Gould had therefore succeeded in reversing the policy of the National Government, but this was not all. He knew what the government would do before any officer of the government knew it. Mr. Gould was at Corbin's house on the 2d of September, and it seems certain that he saw Corbin privately, unknown to the President, within an hour or two after this letter to Mr. Boutwell was written, and that it was at this interview, while the President was still in the house, that Mr. Corbin gave him the information about the letter, perhaps showed him the letter itself. It was immediately at this time that Gould bought $1,500,000 worth of gold for Corbin.

No time was lost, and from this day Gould bought largely of gold. He did everything to give the public the impression that the government was behind the "deal." An article written by Corbin was pub