The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-01-02
Treasury Ring, Syndicate and Debt
Funding Scheme.


Treasury Ring. Syndicate and Debt
Funding Scheme.
The Washington correspondents and news
papers have been busy of late in publishing
rumors about Mr.. Boutwell, resigning and
other changes in the Treasury Department
One statement was that he would resign about
the middle of February, and by doing so give
himself time to go home to Massachusetts, TO
work for the position of United States Senator
and at the same time to give his FRIEND MI
! Richardson, the Assistant Secretary OF inc
Treasury, an opportunity Of occupying 'no
position of Secretary for a few weeks previous
to that gentleman going abroad as the partner
Of Monroe & Co., bankers, Paris, and as the
chief agent of the Jay Cooke oyndicate. we
confess this appears to be feasible arrange
ment both as regards the aspirations of Mr..
Boutwell, for the Senate and for carrying out
the Treasury Ring scheme of manipulating
the debt. STILL these rumors cannot be relied
upon, for Mr. Boutwell, has stated that there
would be no Cabinet changes till after the
Inauguration of the President in March for
second term.
But, whoever becomes Secretary of the
Treasury, the old Ring-the jay Cooke
Syndicate Ring-expects to hold it's
privileges and to control the financial
policy and operations Of the government. The
men who have become gorged with wealth
through manipulating government securities
and handling government money still hover
around and keep o keen eye on the Treasury
Department. From the revelations made in
our Washington dispatches, recently pub
lished, it appears that powerful combination
has either been made or is under consideration
to realize vast sum of money by another
turn over or rehash Of the national debt Mr.
Chase, when Secretary of the Treasury,
brought prominently forward Jay Cooke and
his brother as the financial agents Of the gov
ernment The ''father of the greenbacks,"
as he has been called, raised his Ohio friends
from local obscurity to great wealth and
prominence. They became bankers and
financial agents Of the government and
had the national securities to dispose
of as well as vast sums of money from the
Treasury on deposit. In the course of few
years they rose from poverty to be among the
very richest men in the country. They have
managed to maintain the same intimate rela-
tions with the successive Secretaries Of the
Treasury since the time Mr.. Chase held the
Office. AS soon as Mr.. McCulloch retired from
that Office he became closely connected with
the Cooke firm, and went to Europe in that
connection. This was another important ad-
dition to the Ring. Now it is reported that
Mr.. Richardson, the Assistant Secretary Of the
Treasury, and, as has been said, the brains of
the Treasury Department. is to become an ac-
tive and influential member of the combina-
ton next Spring, when he retires from Office,
and that he will go to Paris and join banking
house in that city for the purpose. Thus
stronger and stronger the Ring becomes. Mr..
Boutwell, is its shield and defender, and will,
no doubt, continue to be, whether in the
Treasury Department or United States Senate.
The great object or prize aimed at, for which
all the parties appear to be acting harmo
niously, is refunding the national debt. To
the millions already made by handling it the
Ring expects that turning it over again will
yield larger profit still, and probably not less
than fifteen to twenty millions.
Scarcely day passes that something is not
telegraphed from Washington to the news
papers about the Syndicate business, what Mr.
Boutwell, thinks and proposes to do with
regard to it. and what Jay Cooke or some one
else Of the Treasury Ring has said. There is
a remarkably oracular style in all this, as if
intended to impress the people with the aston
ishing financial ability and craftsmanship of
MIR. Boutwell,, the Cookies and that well known
Ring with which they are connected. 1t is a
sort of advertisement of the firm to hoodwink
the uninitiatsd and the mass of the people.
This Ring has not shown that genius or ability
in national financial matters which it pretends
to claim, though it has been cunning enough
to make vast sums of money out of the gov
eminent 1t has taken advantage Of the
ignorance of Congress and mere ex-
perimenters in national finance. The
Cookies always come to the front
in these outgivings about the Syndicate and
rearranging the debt. Can not the Treasury
Department march along without the assist
ance of these gentlemen We are told now
that Mr. Boutwell, intends to carry out his
policy of funding the debt by the aid of the
| Syndicate, as heretofore, and that the Cookies
have decided that no change whatever in the
arrangement is necessary. They propose to
go on as before-to convert the debt. How
very accommodating They are willing to
make ten or fifteen millions or more without
investing any money, and simply, as agents, to
do what the Treasury Department could do
itself. Of course thoy bring in the name of
the Rothschilds, as they did before, to fortify
their pretensions; but we cannot see why the
Rothschilds should not negotiate directly with
our government if they desire to make loan.
The truth ia there il determination on the