 Soon after Benjamin Loder was chosen president of Erie in 1845, ne invited twenty-two of the richest men in New York City to meet him in conference at the New York Hotel.They met, and he at once declared to them that among them they must subscribe sufficient money to start up the work on the railroad and keep it going, a sum which he placed at S3,ooo,ooo.To set an example to the others, he himself subscribed §250,000, his entire fortune.