t with Mr. Rogers and William Rockefeller, will, when fully told
in their proper place in my story, show that the "System," by whose
methods the public is as ruthlessly plundered as though the fruits of
its labors were taken away from it by highwaymen, admits also of its own
votaries being tricked and despoiled by their associates. The men who
participated in the transaction I have just described are among the most
astute financiers in the country and presumably possessed of invincible
capacity to protect their own interests. But with all their knowledge of
the "System's" tricks they were, in this instance, as shrewdly duped as
the veriest tyro in the Wall Street game.

My own experience with the "System" in this deal was different in degree
but not in principle from that of these others, and it must be remembered
that I was better equipped to protect my interests than any of them. I knew
that the actual cost of the properties comprising the first Amalgamated was
$39,000,000, and that when sold to the public at $75,000,000 there must be
a profit of $36,000,000. I had every right to think I knew all the other
details connected with the transaction, for as organizer and executant of
the deal my share in the profits was to be equal to that of Henry H. Rogers
and William Rockefeller respectively. We were each to have twenty-five per
cent., the remaining twenty-five per cent. going to others. This was no
gentleman's "leave-it-to-me-and-I'll-see-you-get-what's-coming-to-you"
arrangement either, but a hard, cold, mutually satisfactory and
settled-in-advance agreement. But when it came to the final accounting, the
"System" had so regulated things that the participants on the various
floors, except, of course, Mr. Rogers and William Rockefeller, must each
accept without question the share finally handed over to him. Having no
means of knowing how large the other interests were, or what the
"extraordinary expenses" had been, they were in no position to question the
payments made them, which represented sums below what they would have had
if the business had been conducted as they thought it had been. When my
final account was presented to me I was startled. Notwithstanding the
"cleverness" of the "System," the deception was so obvious, so audacious,
that the instant Mr. Rogers submitted it to me I exploded and denounced the
transaction with such vehemence and conviction that within a few minutes
there was forthcoming a second state