Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/250

 life was a menace to his country. His successes were demoralizing to the young. He looked like a premium on dishonesty, a reversal of the old adage that "honesty is the best policy."

No just estimate of Mr. Gould can be formed without taking into consideration the fact that he lived in a time and country in which corruption in politics and business was widespread. The great mass of the people were honest, but municipal government was the most corrupt ever known. Bribery walked the streets of the national and state capitals, and "jobs" were behind nearly every public undertaking. It was a period, on the one hand, of glorious achievement and extraordinary development, and, on the other hand, of venality, deceit and dishonesty. The besetting temptation of the times was the desire to get rich—enormously rich—suddenly. Mr. Gould may be said to have been little if any worse than most of his contemporaries in business. His triumphs were, for the most part, over men who would have ruined him if he had not ruined them.

In regard to himself, he once said when told that he was the most unpopular man in the United States:

"I never notice what is said about me. I am credited with things I have never done and abused for them. It would be idle to attempt to contradict newspaper talk and street rumors. As to enemies, any man in my position is likely to have them. With me the bitterest enemies have always proved to be men to whom I had rendered services. As a general thing, I do my best to be on good terms