Description
GEORGE FRANCIS TRAIN QUOTE SIGNED, "Geo Francis Train, Madison Square, P.E. 30", 5 X 7, quote in full: "Strange times are these in which we live foresuth/When old and young are taught in Falsehood's school/And the one man that dares to tell the Truth/Is called at once a 'Lunatic' and 'Fool'!" By American shipping and transportation businessman, 1872 U. S. Presidential candidate, strong personal and financial supporter of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton's Women's Suffrage Movement, and he was a charismatic public speaker for the movement. In fine condition, with age toning, small stain at bottom, and minor chipping on right edge, with mounting remnants on the reverse with no show through.
George Francis Train (1829-1904) grew rich in the shipping and transportation business, and used his gains to finance his eccentric personal causes. In 1864, Train created a corporation, Credit Mobilier of America, to finance railroad construction, principally the Union Pacific. This triggered an enormous scandal in 1872, when it was revealed that many members of Congress had accepted gifts of Credit Mobilier stock had discount prices, in exchange for legislation favorable to railroad interests and especially purchase of land right of ways. The scandal enmeshed both of President Grant's Vice Presidents (Colfax and Wilson), and triggered a severe recession. Unlike most of his investors, Train emerged with his wealth intact to pursue other goals. In 1872, Train ran for President of the United States as an independent candidate and became the only Presidential candidate in history to profit from his campaign by charging admission to his rallies. He was a staunch supporter of the temperance movement. That year he was jailed on obscenity charges while defending Victoria Woodhull for her newspaper's reporting the alleged affair of Henry Ward Beecher and Elizabeth Tilton, each of whom were married to other people. He was the primary financier of the newspaper, The Revolution, which was dedicated to women's rights, and published by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. He began a 20-year quest to circumnavigate the world in less time than it had taken Phineas Fogg, fictional hero of Jules Verne's, Around the World in Eighty Days. His first effort (1870), was delayed when he was caught up in a French Revolution and barely escaped a firing squad. He succeeded in 1890, rounding the world in 67½ days. Train was also the author of several books and many poems.
$295 #11461
