Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1876-04-12
PROSTITUTED TREASURY

Game home 70 live with "mother's fool
PROSTITUTED TREASURY
Mr.. Robcson's elaborate explanation
OF the dealings Of the Navy Depart.
ment with Jay Cook, McCulloch & Co.,
though designed to vindicate his char.
acter as a practical fnancier, really
serves to present in more scandalous
light than any in which il has yet
been viewed the prostitution of the
United States Treasury 10 the purposes
Of private speculation, which has been
one Of the gravest crimes OF this scan.
dalous administration. IL must be
borne in mind that this one transac.
tion, of the hasty transfer Of Govern.
ment funds to bolster up falling house,
does not stand alone, but is part Of an
extensive system, IN which the Treas
ury Department, as well rs the Navy
Department, and indeed the whole ad.
ministration, was involved. The Gov
ernmcnt has always found it necessary
to keep balance in bank in London
to meet the expenses OF its diplomatic
and consular and of its naval service
throughout the world, aud almost iron
the beginning its London agents had
been the old and substantial house of
the Barings. Immediately upon Prcsi.
dent Grants reelection this agency
was taken from the Barings, and
through most scandalous intrigue,
the true story of which has never yet
been fully told, was given to two new
American houses, which had Just start.
ed or were about starting branches in
London. Clews, Iabicht & Co be.
came agents for the State Department,
and Jay Cooke, McCulloch & Co. for
the Navy Department, the head of tho
former house having been large con-
tributor to the Grant campaign fund
and the latter house having connec.
tons sufficiently familiar. In course
Of time the mushrooms withered The
failure Of Jay Cooke & Co. was an.
nounced on September IS, 1873, and
two days before this Secretary Robe
son tclegraphcd from the Summer Cap
ital to his department to give rcquisi-
ton in favor Of Jay Cooke, McCulloch
4 Co. for 81, ,Ooe, 900 for foreign accoun,
ont of pay of navy" General Spinner
making some objection, the bankruptcy
Of the parent house being then known,
Cabinet council was held and after n
great deal of frantic telcgraphing a
million and half was transferred "by
the Presidents direction" This was
done, Mr.. Robson says, latter consulta.
tion with the Secretary of the Treas
ury and the President as a piece Of
"wise public policy" to avoid bringing
"any discredit' on the firm and inter.
fering with the operations of the syn.
dicatc. To meet the scruples OF men
like Spinner, however, he took collat
eral security for the loan in iron and
railroad bonds. The house went into
liquidation Notwithstanding, and Just
how much the Government is out is
what the Congressional Committee is
trying TO discover. Mr. Robson gives
list Of "adjudicated claims amount
ing to about n million and quarter,
of which, he says, "it is understood
that they "can bc sold in the market
at % per cent" Clews was kept u a
while longer by the mid of the Treas.
nry Department, but he, too, collapsed
in the natural order OF thing~, and the
funds Of the United States in London
are now kept in English banks.
Here we have the President and a
portion of his Cabinet deliberately
making use Of public funds in way
which not only was without warrant
of law, but would have been question:.
bio even in the administration of n
private corporation. And if II be
sought to defend il on the ground as.
sumcd by Mr.. Robcson, that The fall Of
this house would have intcrfcrcd with
the sale of government bonds BY the
syndicate which it represented, and
that public policy thus demanded an
effort In It's behalf, the obvious answer
is, why was the business of the gov.
ernment entrusted to people who need.
ed such support' The full history Of
the transactions with the Cooke syndi.
cate Is yet to be told; il has certainly
never been told in any official paper,
and when Mr. Glover's committee gets
TO the bottom Of the ''real estate pool"
It will have other and deeper mysteries
TO explore. That the United States
Treasury, under Grants administra.
tion, has been pcrsistcntly employed
"a political engine has been well un.