The record-union., 1896-09-20
Facts About the Administrations Bond
Issue.
The Silver Men and Populists in the
U. S. Senate Were Respon-
sible for It.

Ii Is just as well to examine INTO the
facts of these transactions ana see
where the responsibility for them lies.
In his speech at Milwaukee Mr.. Bryan
said of the secret bond sale of 1890:
Now, / want to say to you that In my
judgment that contract was the most
infamous one that was ever entered into
by this nation. That contract, at an
enormous price, employed certain finan-
ciers in New York and London to do
what? To look after the treasury and
protect it,
And of the sale of last winter he said:
These financiers, when they thought
that they had the Government at their
mercy, We're going to get the bonds for
1O5, but when others came in and Of
fered to bid, they raised their bid more
than So, 000 900. What does that
mean? 1t means that those people who
pose as the guardians of the treasury,
those people who are the self-appotnted
custodians of the public credit and ma
tional honor, would have bled the tax
payers of this country to the extent OF
$J,000,000 on single transaction II
they had been permitted to do So"
True, Mr.. Bryan, every word of 1t.
You do not characterize too severely the
secret bond sale of 1895, nor overstate
the rapacity Of Pierpont Morgan
and his syndicate last winter. Every
thing that you now say in condemna-
tion of these transactions the World"
said more strongly at a time when it
was calculated to do some good. The
World" alone of the city press stood up
against the Wall-street conspiracy and
the complaisance if not the connivance
of the Administration. 1t was the
Worlds" persistent demand for a pub
lie sale, and it's offer to subscribe for
$1,000, 900 of the bonds, that defeated
repetition of the secret deal. Pardon us
for saying, Mr. Bryan, that it was the
World" not you-who were then
neither known nor heard nor dreamed
of-that forced the syndicate to raise
its bid more than $4,000, COOS and not
one word do we take back of what we
then said. But let US be just. Just to
Mr.. Cleveland, who permitted the trans
action; to Mr.. Stetson, his former part
ner, who acted as a go-between; to Sec
retary Carlisle, who executed it. Yes,
Just even to Mr.. Morgan, who held up
the Government and forced the loan
strictly in the line of his business as a
money getter. While the methods of the
loan were bad, who was responsible for
could have prevented it? Who played
into the hands of the syndicate? Who
except the Senators Of the United States
the constitutional guardians Of the
treasury the men whose sworn duty
it is to act as "custodians of the public
credit and the national honor? Who
except Senator Stewart, the leader of
the silver party; Senator Jones, who Is
managing Mr.. Bryan's campaign; Sem
ator Butler who secured for him the
Iopulist nomination, and Senators Tel
Ter, Tillman, PETER, Kyle and the other
members of the coalition that controlled
the upper house of Congress and fur
l.ished the only excuse put forth for
these bond issues?
What were the facts, Mr.. Bryan? The
treasury needed more revenue to meet
an existing and continuing deficiency.
1T required more gold or a method of
getting more gold in an emergency, to
redeem the greenbacls, as it has done
ever since 1879, and to sustain the 430,-
600 900 Of silver dollars at a parity, as
the law had pledged it to do. The House
Of Representatives passed by an over
whelming vote bill to increase the rev.
enues and another to enable the Gov
ernment to borrow money on short
bonds at 3 per cent, instead of at 4 per
cent on thirty-year bonds. The latter
measure would not only have prevented
secret bond sales, but have saved the
taxpayers tens Of millions Of dollars for
Interest charges.
Yet the Populist and other free-silver
Senators, holding the balance Of power
in the Senate, stopped both Of those bills.
They defied the will of the people as
expressed through the votes of the re-
Gently elected Representatives. They de-
Tided the call Of the executive officers,
charged with the administration Of the
laws and the protection Of the nations
honor and credit. They held up the
House, the President and the people
precisely as a band Of brigands holds up
q stage coach, demanding a free-silver
bill as a ransom for the nations honor
and the peoples relief. They saddled
upon the people a heavy burden Of in
terest charges extending for thirty
years, and permitted a deficiency of
$50, 600 600 a year in the revenues to
continue.
Why did they do this? Avowedly be-
cause Congress would not consent to
adopt an amendment allowing the sill
ver-mine owners to take SO cents worth
OF bullion to the mint and have it
stamped as 81 solely for their benefit
And when did they do this? After it
was absolutely certain that their failure
TO act would result I'm the issue Of 4 per
cent bonds; after they had the ten days
notice from the President that he would
take the action which Mr.. Bryan now
denounces, and which his supporters in
the Senate invited, made possible-nay,
desired and gloated over.
This was the work and this is the re-
soonsibility of the free silver Senators
who are Mr. Bryan's leading supporters.
The revenue bill which they defeated
would have removed any necessity or
pretext for borrowing more money. The
bond bill which they rejected would
have forbidden any more secret sales to
syndicates If Mr. Morgan, in order to
make sure of his S5.000,O0O extra grab,
had taken 81 100000 and bribed the
Senate he could not have secured action
more entirely in his interest than was
that taken by the free silver majority
In apportioning the blame for the bond
issues strict justice Will place by far the
larger part OF it upon the Senator'S who
furnished the excuse and alone made it
possible.
And this, Mr.. Bryan, presents to the
people very real issue which you over
look That issue is the reform OF the
Senate. Packed as 1t now is with the
representatives of mining camps and
sagebrush deserts dragged into the
Union to sustain the failing fortunes OF
the Republican party, the Senate is an
obstacle to progress, a block to needed
FsyrjSIaffay, a., oYo~o y,i1ad defiance of the