Richard Hardie had some money in existing railways, but he declined to
invest his hard cash upon hypotheticals. He was repeatedly solicited to
be a director, but always declined. Once he was offered a canny bribe of
a thousand pounds to let his name go on a provisional committee. He
refused with a characteristic remark: "I never buy any merchandise at a
fancy price, not even hard cash."
Antidote to the universal mania, Barkington had this one wet blanket; an
unpopular institution; but far more salutary than a damp sheet especially
in time of Bubble.
Nearly all his customers consulted Richard Hardie, and this was the
substance of his replies: "The Bubbles of History, including the great
one of my youth, were national, as well as individual, follies. It is not
so now: the railways, that ruin their allottees and directors, will be
pure additions to the national property, and some day remove one barrier
more from commerce. The Dutch tulip frenzy went on a petty fancy: the
Railway fury goes on a great fact. Our predecessors blew mere soap
bubbles; we blow an iron bubble: but here the distinction ends.
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