accomplished; the stock went into the hands of unknown interests
abroad; Vanderbilt received more than $25,000,000 in cash, which
he largely reinvested in United States government bonds, and the
Morgan syndicate reaped a profit of about $3,000,000. Five months
after the closing of the syndicate public announcement was made
of the sale and of the syndicate profit. The striking success of
this transaction naturally added greatly to the prestige of. J.
P. Morgan as a financier of very large caliber, and it had the
satisfactory effect of curtailing the legislative attacks on
Vanderbilt.

>From that date forward, the history of the Vanderbilt railroads
has been closely identified with the House of Morgan. J.P. Morgan
and his business associates became the company's financial
agents, and thereafter all plans of expansion or consolidation
were handled directly by them. In the board of directors Morgan
banking interests had full representation, which they have held
until this day.

The subsequent history of the Vanderbilt lines is chiefly a story
of business expansion and growth. From 1885 to 1893, the great
panic year, the New York Central each year added to its mileage,
either by merger of smaller lines or by construction. All this
time it was consolidating the system, eliminating the weaker
links, and strengthening the stronger. Its lines penetrated all
the best Eastern railroad territory outside of New England, New
Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and no other railroad system in the
country, with the single exception of the Pennsylvania, covered
anything like the same amount of rich and settled territory, or
reached so many cities and towns of importance. New York,