The prize; the thing bargained for; the quid pro quo; political patronage.
1852. I’m going to take three chances at the match, and if I win the goods, I’ll give them to you, and you must give yourself to me in return.—C. H. Wiley, ‘Life in the South,’ p. 42 (Phila.).
1911. [Senator Grady at Albany said yesterday:] “We’ve got you where we want you now, and you’re going to yield the stolen goods.” The goods in question were the office of Commissioner of Jurors in Kings County, with the proper number of subordinate offices attached…. In the vocabulary of practical politicians, “the goods” is likely to take an honored place besides the happiest bons-mots of Plunkett, Devery, and Tim Sullivan.—N.Y. Ev. Post, June 15.
1911. New York does not want to buy a charter “if and when”; she desires a look at the actual goods, so that she may know exactly what she is getting.—Id., Sept. 18.
