The Commoner.
SEPTEMBER 11, 1903.
1 CLEVELAND THEN AND NOW I
The Now York "World Is one of the papers
that takes pleasure in presenting Mr. Cleveland as
an available candidate for the presidency. It may
bo interesting to the readors of The Commoner
to note the difference between the tenor of the
World's editorials today and the tenor of its edi
torials just beforo the campaign of 1896. Below
will be found some extracts from editorials which
appeared in the Now York "World of January 4,
1896. It will be remembered that Mr. Cleveland
had alieady made a bond sale in which Rothschild
and Morgan figured as the purchasers, and Stetson
(Mr. Cleveland's former partner) as attorney for
the bond ring.
As a result of this contract the Rothschild
Morgan syndicate made several million dollars.
After allowing the gold to be drawn out, by a
ruling of the treasury department, which sur
rendered the government's option as to the kind "of
redemption, and a new bond issue was contem
plated by the president, he made a tentative agree
ment with the syndicate organized by J. Pierpont
Morgan and it was understood the syndicate would
obtain the bonds for about $1.05. The New York
"World, and a number of other papers, at one
attacked the arrangement and denounced it as a
steal, and pointed to the scandal the former bond
deal had created and demanded that the bonds
be sold at public auction.
Public sentiment expressed itself so strongly
against the bond deal that the president was com
pelled to reconsider his arrangement with Morgan
and offer the bonds at public auction, receiving for
them bids which amounted to something over five
million dollars in excess of the amount that Mor
gan was to pay.
It was while this matter was under consid
eration that the New York World published the
editorials above referred to. The reader who
peruses the extracts presented herewith will be
at a loss to know how Mr. Cleveland can be urged
as an acceptable man to be put in charge of the
executive department of the government His
second administration was wholly subservient to
the monied interests, and the World plainly states
it in the editorial mentioned. There has been
no sign of repentance or change of purpose, and
Mr. Cleveland is being urged by the very ones
who used him to their own pecuniary advantage
during his last administration.
The World emphasizes its criticism by a car
toon which shows Mr. Cleveland with Mr. Stetson
on one side and Mr. Morgan on the other, and his
official robe covered with finger marks and blots.
The cartoon is entitled "In the hands of his
friends."
Below will be found enough of the editorials
to show the World's opinion at that time:
"Mr. Stetson is Mr. Morgan's attorney in
negotiating the bond deal with the president.
Mr. Stetson was formerly the president's law
partner. Has there ever been published a no
tice of dissolution of partnership?"
"Why should the president of the United
States allow a syndicate of gold speculators
to dictate to the government when the laws
make him absolute master of the situation? ,
Reject the robbery!"
"This new bond negotiation has been a
mixture of bluff, bulldozing and blackmaiL
Reject it!'
"The World's way: Publicity! Publicity!
Publicity! Grover Cleveland's way: Secrecy!
Secrecy! Secrecy!"
"The unsolved problem of finance: Why
should an investor who is willing to pay J.
Pierpont Morgan say 117 for a 4 per cent,
thirty-year United States coin bond be un
willing to pay the government the same price
for the same bonds? Or is he unwilling?'
"Reject the sleal, Mr. Cleveland. Smash
the ring!"
Under the caption, "Tho Great Bond Robbery:
Reject the Robbery, Mr. Cloveland," the World
Eays:
"The World again appeals to you, Mr.
Cleveland, to save the country from a calamity
worse than foreign wars. It entreats you to
spare us national disgrace. It asns you to
save us fiom the scandal of suspicion, tho
disaster of popular distrust in tho integrity
of the administration itself, and in the com
mon honesty of our public servants, it ub.vH
you to stand as a Beutinel between free in
stitutions and tho greed which would de
grade ihem to the level of government by
seorot dickers for money. We tell you Kindly,
but 'frankly, that tho people are losing faith,
even in you. If you maiio this secret bar
gain with a syndicate you give away to your
own friends ten or fifteen millions of tho peo
ple's money and the people will surely . ask
why. It will not help them to a pleasing an
swer to ren. ember tho secret comings and
goings of tho dlckorers, their midnight con
ference with your agents, your personal re
lations with some of them and tho mystery
with which tho matter has been surrounded.
They will wonder why you did not consult
some disinterested statesman of your own
party, why you did not ask tho advice of sen
ators and party leaders, why you consulted
only with Mr. Morgan's attorneys, who is, or
was, your own law partner, and with bank
ers who have accumulated gold as their stake
for the game. Vhe millions Involved as a loss
to the people are nothing as compared with
the calamity of distrust Better a hundred
million lost, or a thousand, than the people
of tho republic should doubt the integrity of
the government and learn to believo that
money has taken the place of manhood as the
controlling force in the np.tlon. Why should
you not save the country from all this? Why
should you not reject tho robbery? There is
plenty of gold in the country. Tho treasury
can get all it needs If it chooses without
paying blackmail to any syndicate. The Eu
ropean supply is enormous and is seeking em
ployment. It is already involuntarily coming
this way to buy tho proposed bonds from the
syndicate at their legitimate price. Why
should you sell them to the syndicate for mil
lions less? What excuse can there be for a
transaction which at once robs the people,
discredits tho government and breeds a dan
gerous popular distrust in the integrity of the
executive branch? A little while ago you sent
a message to congress. In it you professed
a willingness to take upon yourself the re
sponsibility of provoking war with the most
powerful nation of Europe by way of ward
ing off a remote and invisible danger to the
integrity of our institutions. Why should you
not be equally ready to make war upon this
steal which really and directly threatens the
integrity of our institutions as no foreign pow
er ever did or ever can. The World has of
fered and now offers again, to subscribe for
a milion dollars' worth of public loan gov
ernment bonds on a 3 per cent basis, and to
furnish for them gold which it will not draw
out of the treasury again when tho transac
tion Is over. There are tens of thousands of
other subscribers ready and eager to take
bonds on like terms. Why should you not ap
peal to them and reject tie robbery? More
over the syndicate bankers themselves would
make haste to take all the bonds they could
get at 117 if they were denied the extortion
ate term3 for which they are secretly nego
tiating. Reject the robbery! Appeal to the
people! Save the country from the calamity
of popular distrust! Crown your career with
the greatest, wisest, noblest public service that
you ever had an opportunity to render."
Under the caption of "The President's Rcspon
Bibillty," the World on this same date said:
"Although Mr. Carlisle is secretary of the
treasury he is not president of the. United
States, and it is to. the president himself
Tather than to any one of his subordinates
that the people of the country will look for
the maintenance of the public right against
the attempt of private cupidity to control tho
treasury. The president is responsible. Gold
cannot bo cornered and forced on tho gov
ernment at speculative prices without his con
sent. No syndicate of bankers formed to over
ride the people In the control of the public
finances can possibly succeed without hln coun
tenance. Public men of tin democratic party
know this, and they ought to lomonstrato with
him when they see him in danger of taking a
course which, ifporslsted In, will completely
disorganize, their party and render Its success
In the next pre Idnntlal campaign Impossible.
Tho press of the country ought to appeal to his
common sense and call on tho people to pro
test in tho nnmo of common Justice against
allowing any syndlcntc of capl'allatfl. domestic
or foreign, to dlctnto tho policy of the gov
ernment. It Ib not yet too Into for the presl
dont to show himself equ 1 to his responsi
bilities. Lot hlra reject tho robbery and
smash tho ring."
JJJ
The "Hard Up" Disease.
"I assert without fear of Intelligent contradic
tion that tho new Fowler bill for asset currency to
be Issued by thousands of banks, large and small
has no parallel In any progressive country; that
it Ib a discarded, unsuccessful experiment of the
past; that It is unsound and gives privileges to
picayune creditors as against larger creditors, the
millions of depositors."
These statements were made by Andrew J.
Framo, president of the Waukesha, Wis., Na
tional bank, In an address delivered before the
Wisconsin state banking association. Mr. Frame
is an advocate of the single gold standard, but
unlike many other advocates of monometallism,
he does not take kindly to tho proposed asset cur
rency scheme. In his address before the Wis
consin bankers, Mr. Frame snld that tho disease
to bo treated might bo dlngnosed as "hard up,"
but ho said that issuing I. O. Vs would not cure
tho malady. He declared that the advocates of
asset currency proposed "to undermine our pres
ent foundation by the injection of an additional
quantity of inferior currency;" and he concluded
"From a careful survey of the world's history of
banking, I believo aBsot currency as tho cure-all
for economic troubles is a fraud, a delusion and
a snare. Tho remedy is worse than tho disease."
JJJ
The Strong and Weak.
In addressing a religious society, Mr. Roose
velt said: "I want to see every man able to
hold his own and be strong and also ashamedta
oppress the weak. I want to see him too strong
of spirit to submit to wrong; and on the other
band ashamed to do wrong to others."
That is a very good sentiment, indeed; and It
should apply as directly to nations as it does to
individuals.
Civilization advanced materially when men
learned to die rather than surrondcr their rights;
but that advancement was inconsequential com
pared with the mighty progress that will be
made when men shall learn to die rather than
trespass upon the rights of others.
Mr. Roosevelt could make valuable contribu
tion to his country's history, as well as to hi
country's progress, if in doing his part in shaping
republican policies, he would apply to nations the
rules he lays down for the guidance of Individuals.
JJJ
It will cost more to repair the damage done
to the ships during the naval display off Oyster
Bay than It did to repair the damage done by
Spanish shot and shell during the late Yanko
Spanko war, But it made a delightful holiday for
the president and his guests.
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