The morning call., 1895-02-13
So They Can Procure Yellow Money
to Buy the Bonds.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE NEW ISSUE.
Matters Of Great Import to the Nation
Before the House Ways and
Means Committee.


more of the ten days within which the
treasury has an opportunity to make the
new bonds payable in gold and made de-
cided progress toward an agreement on
plan to be reported to the House. After
being closeted for two hours with Secretary
Carlisle the committee talked over the
situation, delegated the framing af an
agreement to a subcommittee of three
Democrats and two Republicans, and late
in the afternoon learned that its sub-com-
mittee had dropped partisan differences
and found common ground.
The resolution reported by the quintet
at the last meeting was one authorizing
the Secretary of the Treasury to issue $63,-
600, 600 in per cent bonds, payable in gold,
with the proviso that none of the proceeds
shall be used for current expenses, and a
further provision regarding Secretary Car
Isle, repeating the law which requires the
Government TO redeem national bank notes
and requiring banks TO redeem their notes
in the first instance.
Inquiry was made if there was minority
report, and Reed said there was none,
though he believed wiser plan would be
TO provide for increasing the revenue.
II
luton as a substitute. Wheeler Cd OF
Alabama offered a resolution reciting that
Secretary Carlisle had admitted that the
issue of gold bonds would compel all future
issues to be made payable in gold; that
bimetallism had been declared to be the
policy of the Government that this would
be an abandonment of bimetallism, and
therefore declaring that the committee
considered it inexpedient to adopt the
Presidents recommendations.
Bryan CD of Nebraska offered a resolu-
tion recommending that the Secretary of
the Treasury should pay all obligations Of
the Government in either gold or silver,
whichever it was most convenient TO use.
After a brief discussion the committee
adjourned until 1 o'clock tomorrow.
Secretary Carlisle came before the COM
mittee shortly after 1 o'clock. He pre-
been called for. 1t was drawn in legal
form, and bore the signatures Of John G.
Carlisle, Secretary of the Treasury; J. Pier
pont Morgan, for J. S. Morgan of London;
August Belmont, for n. N. Rothschild,
and was witnessed by Francis Lynde Stet-
son of New York, formerly President
NleVelalIdS 5 law partner.
The principal features of the contract were
made known in the Presidents message.
Upon one point the Secretary particularly
enjolncd the committee to maintain
secrecy, and that was regarding the dates
for making the payments for the bonds.
He asked for secrecy, he said, at the re-
quest of the financiers, who have agreed to
take the bonds, because they feared the
bankers would corner the gold of the world
against them if the time it would be needed
was known and the methods by which it
was to be obtained. Accordingly the COM
mittee adopted resolution pledging its
members not to reveal the terms of the
document so far as it concerned the pay
ment.
Many questions were asked the Secre-
tary, which he answered in order, giving
the amounts OF ali kinds of money in the
treasury and much other information not
new. When Reed asked why the plan
which he recently proposed in the House
as a substitute for the administration bill
was not a satisfactory measure. the Secre-
tary proceeded to quote feature of the
act of 1874 which had not been before no.
ticed in the financial debates and which
seemed to greatly invalidatc Reeds
scheme.
This clause binds the Secretary to the
redemption of national bank notes by
treasury notes when the holders formally
request it. Consequently the withdrawal
of the greenbacks into the treasury, the
Secretary argued, would not stop the drain
of gold upon it, but would merely add an
other step to the process of obtaining gold,
as fnanciers could procure the national
bank notes and secure the treasury notes
for them. I'm effect, therefore, the Govern
ment is bound to redeem bank notes in
gold To obviate this difficulty, the Secre-
tary suggested that the committee adopt
plan to compel the national banks to main
tain an agency for the redemption of their
notes and relieve the treasury Of all burden
in the premises.
There was a disposition on the part of
certain members to intimate in their ques-
ton that the administration had shown
favoritism in its negotiations of the private
contract, and the question was directly
asked whether the bonds were not to be
sold at rate unnecessarily low, consider
ing the prevalent prices in the market.
Secretary Carlisle admitted that the bank
ers practically had the Government at
their mercy, and be was obliged to accept
the best terms that could be made with
them. That better terms could have been
secured he denied emphatically, relating
somewhat in detail the different financiers
with whom Assistant Secretary Curtiss had
talked on his visit to New York and
those who had visited Washington.
In answer to other questions he assured
the committee of his belief that a plan
could be devised to stop the outflow of
gold and OF his strong hope that the forth
coming bond issue would maintain the
gold reserve at its high-water mark for
several months.
After the Secretary had departed
Cochran Cd of New York announced that
he could not support Chairman Wilson's
resolution because it was simply make
shift to meet a present emergency and Of
fered no help to the treasury in the event
of similar exigencies before the next ses-
sion of Congress.
Thereupon, Tarsney (D.) of Missouri of
fered a resolution to empower the Secre-
tary to issue 3 per cent gold bonds when
ever the needs of the treasury might re-
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