Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/171

 for the Hepburn Committee, to represent them, and in connection with such Wall street men as W. L. Bull, shortly after elected president of the Stock Exchange, they hurled the Gould management from power. They publicly charged Mr. Gould with having used the road simply as a feeder to the Missouri Pacific. Mr. Gould succeeded, at least in part, with his plans in regard to Missouri Pacific, and is understood to have marketed a large block of his holdings in 1888. Shortly after that the road reduced its dividend and had to borrow money to pay it.

One of the most memorable events connected with Gould's management of the Missouri Pacific was the great Knights of Labor strike in 1885, which disabled the road for a long time. An interesting feature of the strike was a Sunday conference at Mr. Gould's house between him and General Master Workman Powderly, at which negotiations for a settlement were entered into. The foremost representatives of capital and labor thus met to settle vital questions at issue affecting the wealth of the capitalists and the livelihood of the workingmen. Mr. Gould said to the Senate Committee on Labor and Education:

"I have been all my life a laborer or an employer of laborers. Strikes come from various causes, but are principally brought about by the poorest and, therefore, the dissatisfied element. The best workers generally look forward to advancement in the ranks or save money enough to go into business on their