He succeeded in plundering the Erie Railroad of millions. If Fisk provided the brass, the undersized and cunning Jay Gould provided the brains of the operation. (Terrell "Gould and Fisk") .
The nave Grant allowed Fisk and Gould to attempt such swindles as cornering the gold market (1869) and annexing Santo Domingo for speculative purposes, and his officials in his Administration and even his brother-in-law were bribed for their complicity.
The expansion of the railroad across the United States provided further opportunities for "captains of industry " to enrich themselves and the Congress at the expense of the American people. ( Shultz, 2013)The "Credit Mobilier " scandal of the Union Pacific Railway, which broke in 1872, was perhaps the most famous example of key Congressmen being bought by industrial tycoons. The series of scandals continued on through the Republican administrations, although the Democrats of this period such as Samuel "Slippery Sam " Tilden, presidential candidate of 1876 were equally in cahoots with the "robber barons. " Meanwhile, on the western side of the continent, a slightly different breed of "captain of industry " emerged, in the form of the Big Four of the Central (later Southern Pacific) Railroad.
These men were aggressive businessmen who had formed a group to complete the western end of the great railroad, including the difficult crossing of the lines over the Sierra Nevadas. As traditional venture capitalists, they were no less ruthless than their Eastern counterparts, but they were somewhat less corrupt:.
The quarter included the heavy-set, enterprising ex-Governor Leland Stanford of California, who had useful political connections, and the burly, energetic Collis P. Huntington, an adept lobbyist. The Big Four cleverly operated through two construction companies, and although they pocketed tens of millions in profits, they kept their skirts relatively clean by not becoming involved in the bribery of Congressmen (Cashman, p.
