interests of the people. He decided that it would be wise to sell a
large part of this stock; by this stroke he could advantageously
exchange the forms of some of his wealth, and be able to put forward
the plausible claim that the New York Central Railroad, far from
being a one-man institution, was owned by a large number of
investors. In November, 1879, he sold through J. Pierpont Morgan more
than two hundred thousand shares to a syndicate, chiefly, however, to
British aristocrats.

This sale in no way diminished his actual control of the New York
Central Railroad; not only did he retain a sufficient number of
shares, but he owned an immense block of the railroad's bonds. The
sale of the stock brought him $35,000,000. What did he do with this
sum? He at once reinvested it in United States Government bonds.
Thus, the proceeds of a part of the stock obtained by outright fraud,
either by his father or himself, were put into Government bonds. This
surely was a very sagacious move. Stocks do not have the solid,
honest air that Government bonds do; nothing is more finely and
firmly respectable than a Government bondholder.

From the blackmailer, corruptionist and defrauder of one generation
to the stolid Government bondholder of the next, was not a long step,
but it was a sufficient one. The process of investing in Government
bonds Vanderbilt continued; in a few years he owned not less than
$54,000,000 worth of four per cents. In 1884 he had to sell
$10,000,000 of them to make good the losses incurred by his sons on
the Stock Exchange, but he later bought $10,000,000 more. Also he
owned $4,000,000 in Government three and one-half per cent. bonds,
many millions of State and city bonds, several millions of dollars in
manufacturing stocks and mortgages, and $22,000,000 of railroad