Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1896-03-31
Letter From Hon. w. [. wilson.

| Oh. X. Idyler, Sldnesuiue, w. va.
DEAR SIR:-In note what you say
about Mr.. Carlisle, and your criti-
cism upon his sale of bonds last Feb
ruary to the Morgan syndicate
When you have got possession OF all
the facts in the case you will find
that he served the people of the
country as faithfully and as effec-
lively in that transaction as in any
other of his public acts, and that the
abuse which is heaped upon him has
absolutely no foundation whatever.
There is no truer Democrat, or more
honest man, in the country today,
and few statesmen anywhere in the
world more deserving of confidence
and respect for character and ability
than Mr.. Carlisle. i cannot give
you all the facts in a letter, but /
will remind you of a few of them.
The Sherman law which was pas
sed in 1890 by the Reed Congress
started n u on the gold in the
Treasury, just as a run is started on
g bank, when people begin to fear
that it is shaky. From the 1st of
January, 1879, TO July IA, 1890, a
period of more than IL years, only
% millions of dollars of gold were
withdrawn from the Treasury,
whereas, between July ID, 1890,
when the Sherman bill was passed,
and the 1st of December, 1895,
which is less than five years and a
half, nearly 375 millions of gold were
withdrawn from the Treasury by
people at home and people abroad
who held our securities who were
afraid they would not be paid in the
to meet these Withdrawals and re-
deem the greenbacks and Sherman
notes in gold-which is the standard
money of the country--it has become
necessary during this run upon the
Treasury from time to time to buy
gold to keep up the supply. MIR.
Carlisle first tried popular loans,
but he found that the gold went out
almost as fast as it came in, as peo-
pie that bought the bonds drew out
the gold to buy them with. Time
and again the President brought this
to the attention of Congress, and
asked for legislation to cure this
trouble. In January, 1895, he adj
dressed a special message to Con-
gress asking for legislation, which
Congress refused to grant. AT the
very last moment, after waiting to
see whether any action would be
taken by the Senate and House.
when there was probably not gold
enough to last for two days, and We
were on the verge of a great panic
ruptcy and loss far beyond every
thing that yer happened in the
country, but of which, fortunately,
the people generally were not in
formed, Mr.. Carlisle entered into the
contract of which you speak with a
syndicate of bankers, by which he
exchanged 62 millions of bonds for
a little more than 60 millions of gold.
On the very day that the contract
was made the President communica-
ted it to Congress and informed
Congress that he had reserved the
right in this contract to substitute 3
per cent. bonds at par if they would
authorize him to make them payable
in gold, which was certainly proper
as he wa to get gold for them. /
myself reported a bill giving him
this authority and tried to get it
through the House, but did not sue
seed. This put all the responsibility
on Congress, and nothing remained
but to carry out the contract with
the syndicate, by which they agreed
to furnish, and did furnish, more
than one-half of the gold from abroad,
by which they agreed to protect the
Treasury, as they did protect it, for
more than six months against any
Withdrawals of gold; and under
which they did furnish to the Treas
ury many millions more of gold than
they had contracted to furnish-the
latter in exchange for greenbacks.
In this way a panic was prevented
and we had a year of comparative
prosperity from February until the
beginning of the present Congress-,
when the President and MI. Carlisle
both appealed to Congress for legis-
Iation t. prevent the necess ty of
issuing any more bonds for the pur-
chase of any more gold, which, again
was refused.
This is but an outline of a very
few of the facts in what was a very
desperate and difficult situation, but
it is enough, 1 think, to show you
that the responsibility has been up
on Congress, and not upon the Pres
ident and Mr.. Carlisle, for failure to
deal with it in a more satisfactory
way. 1 think it is enough, also, to
suggest to you that the mere state
mcnt that bonds were sold to a syn
dictate Mt less than their value in the
market is not a correct statement,
because there were other advantages
derived from dealing with the syn
dictate, which were worth to the
country many times more than the
apparent loss on the bonds but even
in dealing with the syndicate, the
President andMr. Carlisle reservedfor
ten days the right to substitute bonds
which would have saved us 16 mil
lions of dollars, if Congress had pas
sed the bill TO which 1 have referred.
Very truly yours,
WM. l., WILSON.
" n