Lawless Wealth: The Origin of Some Great American Fortunes

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B. W. Dodge and Company, 1908 - 288 pages
Golden tides about the golden city -- Beginnings of a great fortune -- First developments of the formula for sudden wealth -- Formula for weath as it was worked in Chicago and New York -- Story of the great Milwaukee deal -- Story of the Hocking Valley loot -- Story of the two Virginians -- Office boy in high finance -- Additional light on the judicious mixture of politics and business that is essential to the best playing of the game -- Tobacco and high finance -- The syndicate comes in -- The true dimensions of a great money-making machine -- The great game of insurance -- The wreck of a great property -- The fathomless mysteries of high finance -- The true functions of a "Holdings company" -- The brunt of the burden -- The experience of a witness -- Side-lights on civilization in a great city -- Copartners in guilt.

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Page 128 - The insolvency of a monied corporation is deemed fraudulent unless its affairs appear upon investigation to have been administered fairly, legally and with the same care and diligence that agents receiving a compensation for their services are bound, by law, to observe.
Page 52 - Hail, hail, the gang's all here! What the hell do we care, What the hell do we care now.
Page 58 - The secret of success in my business," he once frankly said, "is to buy old junk, fix it up a little, and unload it upon other fellows.
Page 126 - Kling or hinted by the newspapers. There seemed no longer a chance to doubt that the official investigation had been muzzled because of the prominence of the persons involved, who now stood forth in the white light, painfully conspicuous. They were:— "Elihu Root, then Secretary of War, now Secretary of State, a director in the State Trust Company, long the personal and confidential adviser of Mr. Whitney and Mr. Ryan.
Page 120 - Gen. Andrews was relieved according to his request; no one was appointed in his place; his report was locked up in Albany; and Superintendent Kilburn's report coming in shortly afterward, that, too, was consigned to oblivion. In spite of all demands, the government refused to make either public, to give any idea of the contents of either, or to take any action on either.
Page 178 - While the fires were under way the armed men were drawn up in lines of defense about them and prevented any attempt to extinguish the flames. As soon as the warehouses were destroyed, the men released the watch and the fire apparatus and rode away. Three hundred thousand pounds of tobacco had been burned. The men engaged in this outbreak of violence were not bandits nor ruffians; they were peaceful farmers. They did not desire wantonly to destroy property; they had been goaded by what they regarded...
Page 83 - August 20, 1881, the Columbus & Hocking Valley, the Columbus & Toledo and the Ohio & West Virginia companies were consolidated under the name of the Columbus, Hocking Valley & Toledo Railway Company.
Page 278 - So long as we leave our dollars on our door-steps we need not expect to find them there on our return. So long as we give over public utilities to private greed we should expect to have them used for the piling up of great fortunes at our expense.
Page 119 - ... Company, a flourishing and outwardly impeccable banking establishment. In January, 1900, Mr. Kling of New York presented to the Governor a grave and specific indictment of the management of this State Trust Company, and asked for the appointment of a commission to investigate the Company's affairs. These charges, if true, were enough to send the whole board of directors to the penitentiary for long terms. The Governor was much moved by these revelations, and declared he must know all the facts....

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