"Vanderbilt, Gould and Fisk are typical of the American finance and railroad world. They do openly what the directors of other companies do under cover and which is the fleecing of share-holders, and of the public with the help of the legislature and the Courts of New York. From time to time the great public is permitted to take a look behind the curtain, as a year and a half ago, in "The Chapters on Erie" by Charles Francis Adams, Jr., and since then, through the various attempts made by the unfortunate shareholders to rid themselves of the dictators.

One connection is that of Gould and Fisk, with Tweed and Sweeney and these dictators of the New York City, and State democracy, makes it all but impossible to attack and to shake the dictatorship over the Erie. The further development of the fight will determine the judgment of the world about the Courts and the Legislature of New York.