Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-10-26

1t was stated few days ago in dispatches
from Washington that Secretary Boutwell,
said be knew nothing about the large
amount of gold sold In New York three
weeks since, sntil after the sale had been
ordered by the President. It thus appears
that Grant took the responsibility of order
ing the sale of an unusually large amount
of gold without consulting the Secretary of
the Treasury. Now why did he do it?. 1t
was to benefit his political friends and per-
haps himself. A table has been prepared
by the Hon. James Brooks, of New York,
showing that this interference of Grant in
Wall street, produced net profit to stock
spectators of $4l,521, 900. Mr.. Brooks
referred to this subject at length in speech
at New Haven, Connecticut, and the
Register, publishe d in that town, printed
the table prefaced with these remarks;
"Among the signers of an address to the
business men Of the country, endorsing the
financial policy of the President and recon-
mending his reelection, were George OPP
dyke and Henry Clews & Co. 1t is reported
that these gentlemen and two others visited
Washington shortly before the recent large
sale of gold in New York, and there re-
ceiyed information which enabled them to
turn the sale to good account. Two other
men who, we presume, signed the Grant
electioneering address, were taken into con-
fidence, and the four are reported to have
reaped rich harvest, which is to be used,
it is reported, as an election fund" Prob
ably other parties were in the secret and
profted by the Presidents interference for
the benefit of those named by the New Ha-
ven Register. Is it any wonder that OPP
dyke and Clews and other friends Of Grant,
for whose benefit he mAnipulates the mon
ey market, desire his reelection
Since the foregoing was prepared we have
met with the following extract from Mr..
Brooks speech touching the outrageous
participation of Grant in Wall street spec
ulations: "i"' III"
mOn Oct. 4 greenbacks and gold hav-
inc been made scarce in Wall street, artii-
| cially. of course, gold being high and stocks
low, the Government was invoked to inter-
fere. On that day gentlemen distinguished
for their operations in Wall street and in
Washington were in consultation with the
Assistant Secretary of the Treasury. The
Secretary not being in Washington, but
stumping in Indiana, what was done was
done by Gen. Grants own interference with
the Treasury upon solicitation OF two New
York bankers and brokers, and the fact was
kept secret from all others bat their own
CLIQUE until the Monday following. The
gold operators in the secret began to operate,
and to profit on their secret, late Friday
afternoon, and they had from Oct.
to Oct. secretly to operate in, not
only in New York, but in Boston, Phila-
delphia, Baltimore, Chicago and elsewhere.
On Saturday other Wall street operators
began to see from the operations of the
pets and favorites of the Government that
something was in the wind, and some fol-
lowed suit and profted thereby, but the Sc
cret was not publicly known to the whole
street or to The country till Oct. Z, Mon
day. Mr.. Boutwell, in September had given
out his usual notice in advance Of how much
gold he would sell in October, and how
many Bonds he bould buy. On Monday,
Oct. Z, it was officially announced that
the Government would sell five million
dollars in gold and buy five million dollars
in bonds, in addition to the official notice
heretofore given. The effect was electrical
: in Wall street. and not only there, but
J among moneyed men all over the
country with the additional hint that
if this did not do for spectators, forty four
million dollars of greenbacks would be re-
issued to initiate the currency. Now, am
not going to indulge in any figures OF speech
on the table hold in my hand, and that L
am about to submit to you, but i'll figures
of fact am going TO show that the posses
sion of this secret was worth millions to
somebody, and the possessors of it, have
no doubt, made million at least; not all
of it, may be, for themselves, for an cleo
ton took place in Pennsylvania on Tues
day evening. The table shows the move
ments in the stock from Oct. to Oct. Is,
aid the profits of two weeks speculation
to somebody, the chief profits of which
doubtless were to those who had the great
secret Of Friday"
s'When the Treasury Department made
this sudden and remarkable deviation from
its regular monthly programme for October,
unannounced only few days previous,
money on call with pledges OF stock securi-
ty, was worth as high as one quarter Of one
percent. per diem, or in palmer terms nine
ty-one and one-quarter per cent. per all
mum, while prime mercantile paper was
discounted in open market at twelve to tif-
teen per cent. per annum. After the out
flow of gold and greenbacks from the Treas
, ury on account of this large operation,
money on call in Wall street declined from
ninety-one and a half per cent. per
ahnum to five and six per cent.
: with exceptions as low as one
and two per cent, while merchants
paper, declined only from twelve and ff-
teen per cent. to nine and twelve per cent.
Thus it will be seen that spectators were
} enabled to obtain money at a decline OF
about eighty-five per cent. per annum,
while merchants could get it only three per
cent cheaper. This shows the complete
farce of calling the Treasury gold sale and
bond purchase a movement to assist mer-
chants. Gold on Friday, Oct. 4, was 1l4s
to lis, when the Treasury clique COM
menced to sell, and on Friday and Saturday
many millions were held on short contracts
at a large profit. Foreign Exchange has
advanced two per cent. in gold, which op'
crates against merchants, who have to make
remittances at this season..
sPRACTICE WHAT you PREACH
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