Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/185

 CHAPTER XII.

GOULD AND THE MANHATTAN ELEVATED.

Jay Gould was not an originator of systems. Others with ideas secured charters, began railroads and other schemes, and then, when money was needed, Gould would step in and profit by their energies by purchase at low figures. This was never more forcibly illustrated than by his connection with the elevated railroad system of New York City.

He had nothing to do with their construction. In fact, Gould's name is unidentified with any great public undertaking original with himself. Other men planned and built. He grabbed. He did, it is true, start a telegraph company, and put up poles and wires, but it was only as a part of his plan to capture a system already constructed. So the elevated roads—the measurable solution of the problem of rapid transit in the metropolis and an inestimable boon to the city—are not due to the foresight, pluck and energy of Gould. Other men were the pioneers, but they were driven to the wall and forgotten, while he plucked the fruits of their labors.

Gould, naturally enough, came into control of this great system, which carries 600,000 passengers every day, through a consolidation and the "water