Evening journal., 1914-03-04
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
General Buffers Joke About
Specie Payments
n, Holland.

By Holland.
Late in February. 1877, spent sew
eral hours with General Benjamin f.
Butler. He had stopped over i'm New
York on his way to Washington.
+ The general was in the best of humor
He had been elected member o. the
Congress which was to servo in the
first two years Of President Hayes
administration. He was going TO en-
ter that body, he said. without any
party obligations to emDarrass him.
He had a hatful OF birds which
would be available for him as weap-
ons of offensive warfare. for. meta
phorically speaking, he expected 20
hurl them one after another az the
heads OF would-be statesmen who
were concerned in all kinds of move
ments for political and legislative re-
form
Suddenly the general became seri-
Gus. and, after having produced a
cigar so that he might indulge in his
favorite pastlme of dry SMOKE he
said to me:
There is one thing that | am going
TO watch very closely. The govern
ment is going TO make an affort TO re-
sumo specie payments on January /,
1879. J am curious to know how the
government is going to do IL, and
where the gold and silver are coming
from. I am going to advocate pay
ment Of government obligations in
paper. behind which stand the credit
and faith of the government and tho
American people"
] was reminded of ,his iemark some
years later by a conversation which
l had with the late Charles Levi
Woodbury.. of Boston, whose father.
Levi Woodbury., had ably admins
tered the treasury department under
the presidency Of Martin Van Buren.
The bankers of Boston, said Mr..
Woodbury., "never knew whether
General Butler was serious or wheth-
er he was having a quiet little fun
on his own account in the late fall oi
1878. They all knew that Butler was
man of infinite capacity. not only
for appreciating humor, but for In
dulging in something like practical
Joking He liked TO get men on a
string. so to speak, but he never did
this In an unkindly manner.
we'll TIE EtutItt went dlOuiO
among his friends In bank ng circles
in Boston IN the late fall OF 1873.
remember one occasion when he was
accompanied by William Z. Chandler,
who was afterwards secretary of the
navy in President Arthur's admins
tration. Butler and Chandler were
warm political friends The general
would greet a bank president with
this question. spoken In very seri-
Gus manner: How are you going 20
act on the day of the resumption of
specie payments? Have you got gold
and silver enough on hand 10 meet
the demands of your depositors?''
''In every instance the general was
told that the bankers were confident
that there would be no special de-
mand for gold. The fact that they
would get gold If they wanted it was
sufficient.
We'll, the general would say, you
had better get all the specie you can
so as to be ready to meet the de-
mand, which will be very great Then
he would go trotting off with his pc
culiar little walk TO ask the same
question of other bankers.
only a few days before the first Of
January. in 1879. General Butler said
70 RduktI iIltuu OF mine ludN ne
was ready to give $4,000 to anyone
who would secure for him or his rep
resentative the first place in the line
which would be formed by the thou
sands who would make demand at
the office OF the sub-treasurer In Bos-
ton for the redemption of government
paper in gold. He said that place
would be worth $4,000 because the
sub-treasurer would feel compelled to
pay out gold which could immediate
ly be sold at a very handsome pro-
fit
" You would lose your $4,000.
general was the reply, for there
won't be any demand. Furthermore.
you don't need to pay $4,000 to get
that place in the line. because it can
be secured without paying a cent
And il was just as this banker
predicted. On the morning Of the re-
sumption of special payment he sent
word 10 the general. at his office IN
Pemberton Square. That the sub
treasury WAS open and that there
wasn't any line and there was only to
be seen at first when the door was
open a scrubwoman washing the
floor To this communication Gen
eral Butler made no reply. but he un-
doubtedly had had a great deal Of
fun out of the matter"