Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-12-06

Mr. Cleveland. has in season and out OF
season declared him 10 be sxervelcss IN
the path OF honesty OF purpose and cour-
arc. Yet is is the Herald that points ont
wherein facts are exactly contrary TO the
statements Of tie President, facts that
must have been known to the President
when he made those statements. One
might expect the Herald whan it saw its
idol slipping to fatal fall, to at least
damn with faint praise, or ptrhaps
accord as much as Lowell did to Poe
when he wrote Of him, three-fifths geniu
and two-hfths sheer fudge But here is
what the Herald says, and we commend It
to the careful, unbiased attention Of our
readers, and especially to those VINO here
tofore like the Herald have worshipped at
the SHRINE:
"But il l. the argument of a lawyer
rather than Of finaucier. In saying this
We mean that the President is more
anxious TO make good case than to give
n fair statement of the evidence bearing
upon IT, His rgshnoss in assertion and
manifest onesideness are greater that we
have ever before sen in any document
from his pen. We cannot but think that
Mr. Cleveland has made ii mistake in
taking the line of special rlesder and
ignoring inconvcnient facts for, assured
ly, in dealing with a question Of such
tremendous importance 1t was essential
TO examine it from all points Of view, and
to set forth the truth and the whole truth
in regard to it. The obvious unfairness
of the Presidents argument on certain
points wcaken4 its effect and will materi-
ally diminish it's influence on public
opinion.
LAS a sample OF the unfairness which
we criticise, we will take Mr. Cleveland s
explanation of the decline In the gold
reserve which led to the first sale Of
bonds in January, 1894. This is what lie
says on that point:
a. This reserve. as has been stated, had
fallen in April, 1898, to s97, oil, $50. 1t
has from that time to the present, with
very few and unimportant upward move
ments steadily decreased, except as it
has been temporarily replenshed by the
sale of bonds. Among the causes for this
constant and uniform shrinkage in the
fund may be mentioned the great falling
off Of exports under the operation of the
tariff law until recently in force, which
crippled our exchange of commodities
with foreign nations and Iecessitated tj
some extent the payment of our balance
in gold the natural infusion of silver in
to our currency, and the increasing agi-
tation for its free aud unlimited coinage,
which have created apprehension as to
our disposition of ability to continue gold
payments; the consequent boarding of
gold at home and the stopping of invest
ments of foreign capital, a5 well as the
return of our securities already sold
abroad and the high rate CT foreign cx
change. which induced the shipment of
our gold to be drawn ageinst, as a matter
Of speculation. In consequence of these
conditions the gold reserve on the Let day
of February, 1894. was reduced to SOD
43s, 377, having lest more than S31, 000,-
600 during the preceding nine months, or
since April, 1898. Its replenisbment
being necessary, and no other manner of
aC Accomplishing it being possible, resort
was had to the issue and sale of bonds
provided for by the resumption act of
1875. Fifty millions of these bonds were
sold. yielding S59, 633. 235.7l which was
added to the reserve fund of gold then on
hand
Here, as will be seen, Is a distinct
statement by the President of the condi-
tions that brought about the reduction
of the gold reserve from s97, OIL $50 at
the end of April, 1873, to sos, 1873, 377 on
Feb l, 1894. Now, in point of fact when
you take that period of nine months as a
whole you find that the actual conditions
were the reverse of those painted by the
President In that period the exports of
merchandise immensely exceeded the i'm
ports the excess of the nine months
amounting to no less a sum than $780,
$50, 296. Again in that period the imports
of gold were S31, AGA, $40 in excess of the
exports of the yellow metal. Far from
having to pay our balances to foreign
nations in gold as the President claims
this country made large gain Of gold
at the expense of foreign nations. Thus
tho conditions to which the President
attributes the first decline in the gold
reserve had no existence, except in his
Imagination When you come down to
cold figures, tho situation ran exactly
contrary to his description.
What then was the true cause of the
reduction in the gold reserve which pre-
coded the first sale Of bondsY 1t was Il
cause that the President entirely ignores,
not only at this point Of his argument,
but throughout his whole exposition. 1t
was the excess of the expenditures over
the receipts that compelled Secretary Car
Isle to 60 to the bond market for assist
ance. There cannot be a shadow of doubt
on this point, for the secretary made dis
tinct statement to that effect in his
letter to the chairman OF the Senate
finance committee on Jan. ID, 1894. In
that letter, Mr.. Carlisle informed the
finance committee that during the, six
months and twelve days from July |,
1923, to Jan II, 1924. the expenditures
had exceeded the receipts by s43, 55S,04
that in meeting this excess the coin
reserve bad been reduced TO S7i, 600, coo,
and he added:
1t is evident from the condition of the
treasury that the department will have
no means to defray the ordinary expenses
of the government, unless a large part of
the payments are hereafter made out of
that fund If this is done, the coin re-
serve will be reduced by the first Of Feb
ruary to about s66, sol, s64, sum wholly
inadeuIate for the purposes for " hich it