Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-08-29
SHERMAN,S LIME APOLOGY.


made to the Cincinnati Merchants Exchange,
and judging by its tone Mr.. Sherman appre-
ciates how grievously he has erred. Yet he
has not the manhood to acknowledge his
wrong, but seeks to apologize for and defend
it. He alleges that the extension was granted
with the purpose of preventing any disturb
ance of the financial condition of the country,
which would have occurred if he had de-
malded payment when due. Such course,
he alleges, wonld have withdrawn large
quantity of greenbacks from circulation, and
thus produced great stringeucy in business
circles. He therefore preferred to pay out to
the banks owing the government the small
sum of million dollars as interest on what
they owe.
FQr years past all the bummers and dead
beats of the country have been trying to
solve the problem of how to live on the in
terest of their debts, but have failed of any
satisfactory solution. Sherman, however,
has come to their relief, and has demon
strated how it can be done. All that is
necessary is to purchase bonds of the Unite !
States and promise to pay for them at some
future day. These bonds. not paid for ex.
cept in promises, draw interest, and by
making dizzy with Sherman at the end
each quarter the payment can be indefinitely
extended. Thus one can literally live and
grow rich upon the interest Of what he
owes. Some of Mr.. Sherman's part,sans,
however, have denied that any inte' est has
been paid on these bonds purchased by prom
ises. 1t is notable that Sherman himself
does not say SO, for if he did he could easily
be convicted of falsehood An investigation
of the books of the treasury department
shows that there are in the vaults of the de-
partment twenty millions of bone 8 sub.
scribed for by the syndicate, but VIII Oh have
not been called for. The coupons attached
to the bonds have all been clipped off, and
the money paid over to the syndc te, that
body thus realizing on bonds that have new
er been removed from the treasury the COM
Portable sum of four hundred Thousand dol
lars, without the expenditure of single
cent. This, it must be remembered, is less
than half of the amount of bonds unpaid for,
but which has been drawing interest for six
months past.
Mr.. Shernan's explanation convicts him
of gross Encouragement and criminal ia
voritism towards the syndicate in the matter
of these bond transactions. It is notorious
that in every city in the country national
banks hold six per cent. bonds as security
for their circulation which they desire to
exchanged long ago but for the sharp
practice of Sherman and the syndicate where
by the entire block of a hundred and fifty
milliods was gobbled up and the bonds held
at premium. If Mr.. Sherman had permit
ted these banks to subscribe for the refund
ing bonds they would all have been fully
paid for long ago, and without the necessity
of Withdrawing dollar from circulation.
The national banks would also have been
spared the expense and trouble involved in
the purchase of four per cent. refunding GER
ti6cates in sums of only one hundred dol
lars, in order to replace their securities
But such course would not
have been pleasing to the syndicate,
to which Sherman is attacked by some mys-
terious bond, and the government instead of
the syndicate would have been the gamer.
The pretense at this day that it was necces-
sary to extend the time for the payment TO!
bonds in order that the business of the coun
try might not be disturbed, is an extremely
shallow one, worthy only of demagogue or
an ignoramus. Such q necessity, though it
may exist, might have been avoided by good
management and impartiality in the treat
ment of those who desired to invest.
A French proverb says: He who excuses
accuses himself" There was never better
illustration of its truth than is afforded by
Mr.. Sherman's apology at Cincinnati. That
pitiful plea convicts him of both reckless
ness and bad judgment, while at the same
time it suggests the exercise of favoritism
for few moneyed institutions under cir
cumstances that involve the presumption of
criminality. He has not bettered his cause
in the least, while he has betrayed his dense
ignorance of the science of finance and his
utter disregard of the interests and rights of
all but his own particular pets. By attempt
ing to excuse his conduct he has placed his
character under cloud.