The Beginnings of His Friendship with St. Gaudens

Abstract

White was fortunate. This country was then passing through the most depraved period in its history—the graft-ridden, cigar-reeking, weak-kneed administrations of Grant and Hayes. Jay Gould had already come by his title, the “Skunk of Wall Street.” Jim Fiske, his partner in looting the Erie, had but lately been laid to rest. In Sing Sing, Boss Tweed was protesting his innocence, vowing that he never intended to rob the taxpayers. It was a time of panic for decent men and women. The courts were maintained primarily as a means whereby the ruthless could oppress the weak. A continent was being parcelled out, criss-crossed with railroads, dotted with laborsweating mills and factories. There was work to be done, some of it dirty work; and men took pride in doing it … more particularly when it was dirty.