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 is a good profit in sight.
The papers and some people are always ready to find wrong motives in what us statesmen do.

If we bring about some big improvement that benefits the city and it just happens, as a sort of coincidence, that we make a few dollars out of the improvement, they say we are grafters.
But we are used to this kind of ingratitude.