Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/322

 his willingness and desire to afford all the information in his power. He seemed anxious to withhold no facts, to evade no questions, and to help the members of the commission in their work.

There being some uncertainty as to the exact route of some of the roads in question, Mr. Gould even took out of his pocket a little map and kindly enlightened the members of the commission as to the various localities, and said: "I had anticipated that possibly you might want to know what had been my holdings of various securities relating to this transaction, and so I instructed my bookkeeper to draw off a statement, which I now submit to you." He then produced a little memorandum covering about sixteen lines of writing, which covered all the facts and gave the cue to every feature of the transaction. Mr. Gould said he had kept books of all his transactions.

Q. Where are the books? A. I have them.

Q. Where? A. In my possession.

Q. Are they at the service of the commission? A. If they desire them, with the greatest of pleasure.

This willingness to show the books created a profound sensation. Railway magnates worth many millions and controlling thousands of miles of road had one after another followed each other to the stand only to show that Gould was the one who pulled the strings, that they did not know what his intentions were in regard to the commission, and that he made up his mind upon a certain line of policy without consulting them. Many of these magnates were in