The Coconino weekly sun., 1895-03-14
THE BOND SALE.
The Discreditable Deal Made by Cleveland
 and Carlisle.


 and Carlisle.
 Now that the bond operation Is 0 matter of history it is important to recall and remember the facts that have gone to make up that history.
 Early in the year it became manifest that another loan must be made to pro- tect the treasury and to keep its circu- lating notes at par.
 It was the duty of the president and secretary of the treasury to make the loan upon the most favorable terms possible. It was especially and imper- atively their duty in making it not to do anything that could discrcdit the government.
 In this duty they failed
 The credit of the government was and in spite of their failure in duty still is-as good as that of England or France. Its own people were ready and eager to supply whatever money the authorities might call for. Senator Sherman, whose judgment is that of an expert, publicly declared that a popu- lar loan of S300,000,000 at 3 per cent. would be taken up in forty-cight hours, and that opinion was echoed through out the land. As subsequent events have shown, European investors were | equally anxious to furnish money ia any quantity at that rate.
 With full knowledge of the facts the | president and secretary entered into q secret negotiation with a syndicate of bankers for the placing of the loan. It ! was the business of the bankers to make money. It was their instinct to drive the hardest bargain they could where others had no chance to compete. It was the solemn duty of the president and secretary, the trustees of the peo' pie, to protect the public interest against their not unnatural greed. Upon the president and secretary lay the responsibility. Upon them chiefly lies the blame for the blunder made.
 Government per cents. with only 12 years to run were then sell ing in the open market at 110 and Ill. Four per cents with thirty years to run were therefore worth 1l9. Yet the president and secretary, without test Ing the market, without giving the people a chance, without inquiring what our own banks would give fo, such bonds, secretly agreed to sell t, the syndicate S62. .3I5, ,OOO of 30 year . per cents, worth 119 or more, for 1O4K or little less. If there was any doubt that the bonds were really worth 119 it is set at rest by the fact that the loan was subscribed for ten times over at 1l24, and that as soon as the syndicate secured control of the bonds ll9 and more was freely offered for them, with no sellers to take the offers.
 In making this extraordinary bar gain the president and secretary dis credited the government gravely. They publicly assented to the self-interested contention of the bankers that the credit of the United States is so bad that money cannot be borrowed upon it at less than 324 per cent. interest or long-term bonds-a rate much above that paid by insignificant province: and colonies and obscure towns.
 The bankers knew better. They showed that they knew better by theii eagerness to get the bonds at 1l2A when the time of distribution came They are showing it anew by their re fusal to part with their holdings at { rate which would make them yield les: than per cent.
 It was perhaps not their business tC enlighten Mir. Cleveland and Mir. Car lisle. But it was the business of thest two public officials to know for them selves
 These are the essential facts in tho history of transaction which haS no permanently impaired our nationa credit only because our national re sources are so iIimitable and our na tional integrity so thoroughly wei known.-N. Y. World Dem.).