Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1896-12-10
FATHER OF THE PANIC
Ex-Secretary Fosters Tpcsnslstone vIevu
and yacInatlng Policy.

and Yacillatlng Policy.
/ Hon. Charles Foster, secretary of the
/ treasury under PArrison, was in Dem
yer recently and gave expression
to some political opinions anent the
result of the late election. It is all
ways fair to give to any man an inn
partial hearing, and it is especially
requisite to do so when that man has
had sufficient recognition at the ha<ja
of the public as to be intrusted with
one of the most responsible public Of
fees 1t is also fair to consider man
in connection with his past, Let Mr..
Foster have the courtesy which is thus
his right.
Mr. Foster in an interview professedto
be satisfied with the result of the cleo
ton, and with the consequent prospect
of the continued ascendancy of the gold
standard. He is now interested in Col
orado gold mines. Several years ago
this same Mr.. Foster was in Denver, and
in an interview then printed in this
paper declared himself to be close and
consistent friend of the reconciliation
of silver. One might overlook this tenn
poral inconsistency were it not for GER
tain other facts in connection with the
life of Mr.. Foster, which anyone ia
miliar with national affairs can readily
recall. Mr.. Foster is the father of the
panic which has been harassing the
United States since the spring of 1898.
Tt was Mr.. Foster who first proposed
the issuance of government bonds to
purchase gold to refill a depicting treas
ury. The closing months of Mr.. Har-
rison's administration were fraught
with financial difficulty, the chief of
which was diminishing revenue and
a falling gold reserve. international
commercial conditions were unsatis-
factory, and the United States was get
ting its share of the depression. Con-
currently with the depression the
Rothschilds were beginning their big
corner of gold with which to effect the
reform of the Austrian currency sys-
tenn. They began their draft upon the
American treasury in the fall of 1892,
and they did it so openly that the finan-
ciers of Wall street were compelled to
cry for the repeal of the Sherman bin
as means of checking the gold outflow.
Foster as secretary of the treasury
made every concession possible to The
financiers. They urged him, inasmuch
as the repeal of the Sherman bill was
impossible, to issue bonds. Mr.. Foster
consented and bond plates were struck.
Wall street prepared for purchase of
the issue. Adverse influences there
upon set themselves to work upon Mr..
Foster, and he was persuaded that an
issue of bonds would be INJURIOUS to the
republican party. The issueAwas i'm
mediately cancelled. but Only after Mr..
Foster and Mr.. Harrison had ddne very
nearly the same thing for which Cleve-
land has been justly and generally con-
demned. They entered into arrange
ments with private parties to 4ecoup
the treasury gold until such timehs the
republican party should be OFT of
power.
This was a vacillation only edualed
by that of Mr.. Carlisle. It had serious
effect upon that shibboleth of Wall
street called confidence" Credits be-
gan to shrink forthwith, money com
menced the ascent which eliminated
in the heavy failure of May, 1893, and
business at large experienced the first
of the disastrous shocks which formed
the terrible story of the three years
Immediately succeeding. Denver
Times-Sun