The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-20
CONGRESS AND THE GOLD GAMBLERS.

with interest through the immigration Oh tne
next dozen years.
CONGRESS AND THE GOLD GAMBLERS.
From the NJ Y. Times
Information which reaches us from Wash
inoton warrants the belief that the invesuga-
ton into the gold gambling conspiracy of last
autumn will be searching and complete. AS
the proceedings are conducted secretly, the
dispatches published from day to day pur-
porting to report the progress OF the inquiry
are almost entirely unreliable. They give
only the versions of leaky witnesses, who tell
SO much as suits their own purposes. Indeed,
the regular attendance of witnesses has only
lust now commenced; the earlier inquiries
having been informal and preliminary, and
with view to the subject generally, rather
than the details of the conspiracy. That
stage passed, the Banking and Currency Com
mittee has entered upon its labors in earnest;
and before they are finished we may hope to
be in possession of full knowledge in regard
to transaction whose immediate results
were disastrous to the credit and commerce OF
the country.
1t is this aspect of the question which in
| vests the work undertaken by the committee
with interest and Importance. If the opera
tions of the gold gamblers concerned only the
fortunes of the "bulls' and the ''bears, they
might very well be left to adjust their griev-
| But the combination by which the price of
| gold was suddenly forced upwards from 130
| to 100 was in its consequences, much more
than an ordinary Wall street operation. 1t
disturbed all trade, and by its influence upon
exchange inflicted serious loss upon the
| grain growing and the cotton-growing
| States. For the time chosen was the
time when the West and South needed
all possible facilities for the expectation of
a 1..NA LII e
| cotton suffered to some extent; the West
suffered much more. The present low price
| of grain in that section may, in fact, be in
no small degree attributed to the damage done
by the forced rise in gold, operating, as it did,
to check expectations, and so to give the
| grain-exporting countries of Europe an ad-
vantage by which they profited. We lost the
chance of a critical moment, and the farmers
of the West are now paying the penalty. The
| effect upon Government credit was equally
marked. That credit suffers when the cur
rency is depreciated and a movement which
within couple of days upset all values and
forced down greenbacks without cause, was q
blow aimed at national interests. The vio-
| lence of the blow and the duration of its
| effects were somewhat mitigated by the action
| of the Treasury. But damage was done and
| the purpose of the conspirators was to infiict
| yet more.
| Inc conspiracy tnus becomes crime
against the country and the Government, of
which Congress may, perhaps, properly take
cognizance. Whether it is a crime punish
able at law, is question which can be deter
mined only when the whole truth shall have
| been ascertained. But the truth must be
had. The precise terms and extent of the
conspiracy the parties concerned in its incep-
tion and management, the agencies employed
and the means by which they worked, should
all be brought to light, aud no authority less
absolute than that of Congress can accom-
plish the task. Our Grand Jury tried and
failed. And with judge ever ready to dc
their bidding and the machinery of local law
in the hands of the conspirators, they defy
all usual methods of Investigation. A Con
gressional committee is beyond their control
1t can compel the attendance of witnesses
obtain from them testimony, and secure theii
punishment if they testify falsly. The
patience and judgment which General Gar
field, the chairman of the committee, has
shown in maturing the investigation, prove
that he realizes the Importance of the objec
in view and the difficulties with which he will
have to contend His general character
affords an assurance that what he has beguI
he will finish, despite the sneers and obsta
cles which proceed from different quarters.