Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-02-08
NO. 13.
The Syndicate Settled.

THE report of the Ways and Means
Committee of the Congressional House,
to whom was referred the resolution of
Mr.. Sunset Cox, concerning Secretary
Boutwell's Syndicate transaction, is
finally published in full. The meager sum-
mary sent by telegraph conveyed infor-
nation enough to show the finding, viz,
that the Secretary had neither increased
the public debt, nor incurred illegal eX-
penditure, but did not convey satisfactory
information as to the means whereby the
committee attained this conclusion.
Cox's resolution made these two charges
in a very emphatic manner; and the first
was based upon the section of the act au-
thOriZing the Five-percen loan. a clause
in this section reads: "But nothing i'm
this act, or in any other law now in force,
shall be construed to authorize any in
crease whatever of the bonded debt of
the United States" The same section au-
thOrizes the Secretary to negotiate the
new bonds for the sole purpose of re-
deeming the fivetwenties. To obtain
money on the new bonds, it was necessa-
ry to negotiate them. To negotiate them
it was plainly necessary, during the pro-
cess of negotiation, as the report says,
ito increase the public debt TO
the amount of the bonds the Sec
proceeds with which to take up old
bonds" The committee adds that which
anybody but a willful partisan already
knows, viz that under the law there was
no other way to obtain the money where
with to do that which the law itself de-
manded.
II was obviously the intention of the
law not to cripple the Secretary in his ef-
forts to Obtuifs-tho-nl -nlonar .is<-.serr
bonds but to limit him to a certain
specific use of the money thus obtained.
He was not free to apply 1t to general
PURPOSES The entire amount was to be
devoted to the redemption of the five
twentiSs. The same section had still an
other object. In stating that the public
| debt was not in any mannerto be increased,
/ TIE obvious intention of the trainers of the
act was not to prevent the Secretary from
| obtaining the money upon the five per
/ cents, but to draw the attention of the
world to the fact that, although we were
| in the market asking new loan, our object
/ in asking il was the FeGuctiOR of the debt,
| and not, i,y any possibility, its standing or
permanent increase. This construction
! Csthe section is in accordance with plain
common sense The purpose of the five
per cent act cas to indicate our intention
ofrefunding the deb; at a much lower rate
of interest.
Concerning the second part of the reso-
luton, that the Secretary incurred an ex-
I Pense of one-half of one per cent. in plac-
ing the loan. the committee report that the
! terms upon which he negotiated, as aScer-
| tanned in the Investigation, are the same
/ as chose submitted in his annual report.
/ The eXpCiisc of the negotiation has not,
thus far, exceeded sne-half of one per
cent. So far as the baflks are concerned,
| they were authorized to retain, as United
States repositories, the proceeds OF the
| bonds taken by themselves for ninety
/ days, the perfOd which must elapse be-
| tween the conversion of the new bonds
| into coin and the redemption of the old
bonds with the coin 1t is evident that
whatever profit the banks may have thus
| derived Is not to be charged as expense in
the original placing of the loan. This ben
eft to the banks is awarded them by the
| law by which they are constituted United
| States depositories, and over which neither
| the Five-per-cent act nor the Secretary
| can have any control.
| Asfo what the Secretary might have
done, the committee says /:
IF the Secretary had received into the Treasury
@nd locked up in It's vaults large amount of coin
deriicS from the sale of these bonds, it would have
| resulted in Disastrous consequences 10 the CON-
| mercial world NCthing could have accrued to the
Treasury Of the United states bv the use of money
/
in the meantime for the law prohibited lis use by
tic Secretary for any other purposes while Il al'
thoriZed . ,o leave IL ON deposit with thc-c banks
upon the condiiIo::- stated. II such deposit was
of any advantage to the Ca"k il resulted from the
provisions of the law. and can1iO- he said to be IL
| legal The National Banking laws authorized him
/ to have it on deposit.
The Committee might have added that
| in locking up the amount of coin in
volved, Secretary Boutwell, would have
been doing precisely what Bismark has
done with the gold of the French indem-
nity. lie locked that up, to the utter
misfortune and peril of France, and the
embarrassment and hardship of the entire
! European market.
The committee conclude their report by
declaring that not only has the Secretary
Vi plated no law in his placing of the five
per cents but that he accomplished 1t IN
The manner which would least disturb the
money market and the interests of busi
ness. The plain people, who arc no
versed in the intricacies of finance, vii
have a very decided opinion of that will
full and ignorant partisanship which, fol
selfish and malicious motives, would at
tempt TO make the country believe that
to be within the law, Secretary Boutwel
should have accomplished an impossible
ty, VIZ. that he should have redeemed Tho
old bonds without first selling the new
bonds in order to obtain the money; tha
he should pay a debt with an empty purse
To these rather eNacting critics, states
manship, in Republican office-holder
means nothing less than the performance
of a miracle. .-Chicdg0 Post.