gashouses was removed,
surroundin' property would go up 100 per cent. When the Remsen Bill,
providin' for the removal of the gashouses to Queens County came up. I
said to myself: "George, hasn't your chance come?" I answered: "Sure."
Then I sized up the chances of the bill. I found it was certain to
pass the Senate and the Assembly, and I got assurances straight from
headquarters that Governor Odell would sign it. Next I came down to the
city to find out the mayor's position. I got it straight that he would
approve the bill, too.

Can't you guess what I did then? Like any sane man who had my
information, I went in and got options on a lot of the property around
the gashouses. Well, the bill went through the Senate and the Assembly
all right and the mayor signed it, but Odell backslided at the last
minute and the whole game fell through. If it had succeeded, I guess I
would have been accused of graftin'. What I want to know is, what do you
call it when I got left and lost a pot of money?

I not only lost money, but I was abused for votin' for the bill. Wasn't
that outrageous? They said I was in with the Consolidated Gas Company
and all other kinds of rot, when I was really only workin' for my
district and tryin' to turn an honest penny on the side. Anyhow I got
a little fun out of the business. When the Remsen Bill was up, I was
tryin' to put through a bill of my own, the Spuyten Duyvil Bill, which
provided for fillin' in some land under water that the New York Central
Railroad wanted. Well, the Remsen managers were afraid of bein'
beaten and they went around offerin' to make trades with senators and
assemblymen who had bills they were anxious to pass. They came to me and
offered six votes for my Spuyten Duyvil Bill in exchange for my vote on
the Remsen Bill. I took them up in a hurry, and they felt pretty sore
afterwards when they heard I was goin' to vote for the Remsen Bill
anyhow.

A word about that Spuyten Duyvil Bill--I was criticized a lot for
introducin' it. They said I was workin' in the interest of the New York
Central, and was goin' to get the contract for fillin' in. The fact is,
that the fillin' in was a good thing for the city, and if it helped
the New York Central, too, what of it? The railroad is a great public
institution, and I was never an enemy of public institutions. As to the
contract, it hasn't come along yet. If it does come, it will find me at
home at all proper and reasonable hours, if there