The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-02-20
conrre.. 20 nInme.


It is true that the price al which the
Secretary OF the Treasury sold the 4 per
cent. bonds 10 The Bslmont-1Iorgan syn
dictate is remarkably low. but ~ the time
they were sold could more have been OBJ
tanned for them? In all the wild and reck-
less criticism of the administration for
selling the bonds at a price much below
that al which other per cent. bonds were
selling il has not yet been shown that the
sale was not the very best that could
have been made at the time. and until IL Is
shown that It was not the best the people
viii not join In condemning the admins
tration
It is remarkable that for days after the
President had announced 10 congress the
terms OF the sale no congressman asserted
that the bonds had been sold at too low a
price. IL was not until the House refused
to authorize per cent. gold bond that
republicans. populists and even democrats,
began to say the administration had made
an exceedingly bad bargain. Why was It
not said the bargain was bad one when
the price at which the sale was made was
first announced? Was It not because at
that time it was not certain that congress
would refuse to authorize per cent
gold bond2
Congress is responsible for the low price
at which the bonds were sold. If it had
given the Secretary Of the Treasury au-
thority to issue gold bonds. the credit Of
the nation would have been fully restored
and there would have been vast saw
ing to the people in the matter of interest
money. But congress declined to give the
authority, and at the same time 1t notified
the President that he must maintain gold
payments. 1t put him in a hole and then
told him TO get out of it the best way he
could II would give him no assistance, and
when he got out his political enemies and
some Of those who pretend to be his politi-
cal friends searched their vocabuaries for
the bitterest words they could find with
which to condemn him for the means he
adopted TO get out.
The statement made by Senator Cray
on Monday. and reported in our dispatches
Yesterday. shows that the bargain the
Secretary Of the Treasury made to get
gold was the best that could have been
made under the circumstances. Gold was
going out of the treasury at a rapid rate
II was being drawn out for the purpose of
boarding. and for shipment abroad. If the
Secretary of the Treasury had waited a
day or two more every dollar of gold
would have disappeared and gold pay
ments would have been suspended. a
money panic would have followed, in all
probability The Secretary of the Treasury
was compelled to act promptly or to run
the risk Of bringing about a condition of
affairs that would have made him the sub-
ject of much seyerer censure than that
which he has received for the bargain he
made The men who now condemn the
administration would have condemned it
in terms even harsher if gold payments
had been suspended.
The bargain all things considered, is a
good bargain, but If congress had done its
duty $16,O0OOOO could easily have been
saved to the people.
If the nations credit has been hurt. or if
in the bond transaction the government
has lost many millions Of dollars, con-
gress Is to blame.