A CONSULTATION AT THE WHITE HOUSE.
When the secretary of the treasury reached his desk on the morning of
Saturday, the 2d of November, 1895, he notified the doorkeeper that he
should be extremely busy for some hours, and that all callers must be
refused. Even members of Congress must be denied admission.
Nevertheless, a few minutes later, the attendant came hesitatingly into
the secretary’s private room with two cards, and said:
“These gentlemen insisted, sir, that I should bring you the message on
one of their cards.”
Visibly annoyed, the secretary took the cards, and glancing at the first
exclaimed impatiently:
“Robert Brent--who is he?”
Upon the second card, bearing the name of “John Wharton,” he read the
hastily scribbled words:
“A few minutes, please, upon business of the utmost public importance.”
The secretary’s manner changed instantly. “Show the gentlemen in at
once,” was his order. A moment later he greeted Wharton cordially,
saying:
“You are the one man whom I am heartily glad to see to-day.”
“Thank you, sir,” responded Wharton. “I wish I could hope that my coming
would justify your welcome. Allow me to present my friend, Mr. Brent of
New York.”
The two men shook hands, and when they had seated themselves near the
secretary’s desk, Wharton went on to say:
“Let me explain at once that Mr. Brent is the principal for whom my firm
has been acting in all the operations with which our name has been
connected during the past year. It has been his money and only his which
has been used. We have come to Washington to put you in possession of
certain information which is of the gravest importance to the nation,
and to ask your advice and assistance. I should say at the outset that
if even a suspicion of the truth which we are here to make known to you
should transpire, it would work the greatest calamity to the country; so
you will pardon me, I know, if I ask if we can speak without possibility
of being overheard.”
“Certainly, Mr. Wharton,” responded the secretary gravely, his glance
resting first on one man and then on the other with an expression of
keenest interest. “We are quite by ourselves, and we shall not be
disturbed. I hope your facts are not as alarming as your words imply.”
“I fear they are, sir,” resumed Wharton. “You know already a good deal
about our investment of very large sums of money, originally in gold,
since December of last year. We have expended in one way or another in
this country and in England a total of about five hundred million
dollars.”
“Is it as much as that?” inquired the secretary surprised. “I knew it
was a vast sum, but I imagined it was somewhat smaller.”
“Yes, and you know, sir, what the effect has been. But you may not know
that we have striven by every means in our power during the past few
weeks to check and counteract the evils which have arisen and which have
threatened. It has been with rather poor success, I admit, but that is
because the task has been too great for us, and not by reason of any
lack of effort or of monetary sacrifice upon our part.”
“I know more than you imagine, gentlemen,” interrupted the secretary
warmly, “of the country’s indebtedness to you for your services during
this crisis. I have seen Mr. Wharton’s hand in many places, and it has
been more powerful for good than any of the resources of the government.
Ever since our conference last spring, Mr. Wharton, I have had the
fullest confidence in your motives and in your patriotism. Had it been
different, I should have endeavored to bring some influence to bear upon
you before now.”
“You are very kind, sir, but the credit is Mr. Brent’s, whose
instructions I have followed. But now we are at the end of our
resources. No, our funds are not exhausted,” noticing the surprise in
the secretary’s face. “It would be far better if they were. The fact is,
and this is what we have come to tell you, that our funds are
practically inexhaustible. Mr. Brent has still stored in New York more
than five thousand tons of gold, or nearly three billions of dollars.”
The secretary of the treasury started forward in his chair, looking from
one man to the other in agitated amazement.
“Can this be true, gentlemen, five thousand tons of gold?” he exclaimed
presently, in tones of gravest foreboding.
“Literally true, sir, I am sorry to say,” replied Brent, to whom the
secretary seemed to turn for confirmation of Wharton’s startling
announcement.
“Then, indeed, are we in danger--not only we but the whole world.”
Suddenly springing to his feet, the secretary pressed an electric button
and said energetically, “Gentlemen, this is not a matter for us alone.
Will you go with me at once to the president?”
Both men assented, and his confidential assistant appearing at that
moment, the secretary said to him:
“Telephone to the White House, and ask if the president will see me and
two gentlemen at once upon a matter of the most vital importance.”
An affirmative reply came in a few moments, and the three men started
for the Executive Mansion, the trip being made almost in silence. They
were admitted at once, on reaching the White House, to the president’s
private office.
The president, judging from the litter of papers upon the desk at which
he sat, had been hard at work. He seemed slightly surprised at seeing
two strangers enter with the secretary, but he acknowledged the
introductions with quiet affability. He recognized Wharton’s name at
once and expressed especial satisfaction at meeting him just at that
time.
“I have thought several times within the last month of inviting you to
call upon me,” continued the president, “for I have no doubt you can
supply us with valuable information and suggestions bearing upon the
financial situation.”
Wharton was about to express his appreciation of the honor, when the
secretary of the treasury addressed his chief with such gravity of
manner that conventional commonplaces were dropped at once.
“Mr. Wharton and Mr. Brent have come to me with a statement of such
tremendous import that I have brought them here at once without
inquiring into particulars. I should say in the first place,” explained
the secretary, while the president listened with close and rather
surprised attention, “that Mr. Brent is the owner of all the gold which
has been so mysteriously introduced into circulation during the past
year, and that Mr. Wharton has been his agent in all the transactions
with which we are familiar. The fact which I have hastened to bring
instantly to your attention is this: These gentlemen inform me that the
amount of virgin gold which they have thus far put upon the market is
about five hundred millions, but _this enormous sum is less than one
sixth of their total store of the metal_.”
The president, while the secretary was speaking, had been unconsciously
fingering a large paper-weight near the edge of his desk. His surprise
was so great at the cabinet officer’s last words, that by an involuntary
movement he sent the heavy implement clattering to the floor. No one in
the anxious group noticed the noise. The secretary began pacing the room
nervously. Brent’s face was melancholy, Wharton’s worried and worn. The
president seemed to lose color for a moment, and then an expression of
stern determination such as gathers in the faces of resolute men
confronting sudden emergencies came upon his. There was a trace of
sternness in his voice also when, after looking keenly at Brent for a
moment, he inquired:
“Can this be true, Mr. Brent?”
“Yes,” answered Brent, almost guiltily, “unfortunately it is true.”
“May I ask what you propose doing with this gold?” pursued the
president.
“That I do not know, sir. It is to ask your advice that I am here. The
responsibility is too great for me. I stand ready to devote it to
whatever purpose will best conserve the interests of the country and of
humanity,” was the reply.
“Thank God for that!” responded the president, evidently much relieved,
“for you have in your hands a power for evil greater than I imagined any
man possessed. What you have done already has not made me suspicious of
your motives, although you will probably admit that some mistakes have
been made. Can you tell us the history of this gold, where it is, and
whether the source whence it comes is exhausted?”
“I will gladly tell you everything except the location of its original
bed,” Brent replied. “That is a secret which is not mine to share. It
was chiefly to prevent the overrunning of the region by goldhunters
that I was permitted to take it away. Besides, the knowledge is no
longer of importance, because I assure you that the wonderful deposit is
completely exhausted. The gold, some five thousand tons remaining, is
stored in a private vault in New York. It will remain there until the
soundest wisdom I can avail myself of determines its final disposition.”
The president left his chair, walked over to the young man, and held out
his hand. Brent rose in some surprise and accepted the hand-clasp, while
the president exclaimed warmly:
“Mr. Brent, I honor you for that sentiment, and the country will honor
you. Unless you were governed by a generous spirit, we should be face to
face with almost certain ruin. As it is, a more difficult problem it
would be hard to imagine. I confess I should not venture to suggest a
solution without long and careful deliberation. But it is not a new
problem to you two gentlemen. Will you not give us fully your views of
the situation?”
“Mr. Wharton is much better able to discuss the matter than I am,”
responded Brent, while all four drew up chairs in a close group. “We
have endeavored during the past month to ward off or mitigate such evils
as we could in the commercial and financial worlds by various expedients
and palliative measures, some of them wise perhaps, and some of them
otherwise. We have come to the conclusion, however, that it is beyond
our power unaided to restore tranquillity and soundness. We have
succeeded in withdrawing about one hundred and fifty millions in cash
from circulation. Another hundred millions of the five hundred millions
distributed was placed abroad, and at a fair estimate I should judge
about fifty millions more had found its way out of the country. So I
calculate that the circulating medium in the United States is about two
hundred millions greater than it was one year ago, or before we began
operations. That is the situation as I understand it regarding the
present placing of the gold which I have introduced into the market. For
the future, I am anxious to coöperate in any way you may advise for the
relief of present difficulties.
“Then comes the larger question of the disposal of the remaining three
billions of gold now on my hands. It is as much a matter of concern to
the whole world as to America. I should like to submit the problem to a
commission, necessarily small, and composed of the highest statesmanship
and financial wisdom of the world. I know of no way of doing this except
through you. It would, I think, be within your power to convene such an
international monetary conference. Only the great powers need be
invited, and without disclosing the secret, even to the heads of
governments, an intimation of the importance of the matter could be
conveyed through diplomatic channels, and thus you could secure the
selection of delegates of the highest ability and influence. Of course
no hint of the truth must be allowed to transpire until this conference
has decided upon a final policy, and arrangements have been made for
putting it into execution.”
The president listened to Brent’s statement with close attention and
manifest interest. He remained for some moments in profound thought. At
length he said:
“On first consideration, Mr. Brent, I am inclined to approve of your
suggestion unreservedly. There are difficulties, but I think they might
be overcome. I will talk the matter over with the secretary, and we will
all discuss it together again a little later. What is more pressing for
the moment is our present policy. The Congress, as you know, meets next
week. I was engaged in reshaping my message when you came in. After what
you have told me, it may be necessary to redraft it entirely. I was
prepared to recommend vigorous measures to bring about restoration of
confidence, even to the suspension of the free coinage of gold, if such
a policy seemed advisable. But with all the other mints of the world
still open, and with your assurance that no more additions will be made
to the unnatural supply of gold, such a course appears to be
unnecessary. We have already curtailed the work of the mints. You know
they have all been coining gold day and night at top speed for months,
and still have been unable to handle a fraction of the metal offered.
Hereafter they will run only during regular hours and at ordinary
capacity. Have you noticed, by the way, gentlemen, how completely you
have solved the silver problem?”
“Yes, sir,” responded Brent smiling. “We have almost succeeded in both
demonetizing gold and remonetizing silver.”
“True,” resumed the president, “and you have quite succeeded in
demonstrating the folly and futility of trying to maintain by
legislation the value of an oversupplied article, be it silver or gold
or anything else. We attempted the impossible in this country more
persistently than anywhere else, and we suffered a heavier penalty. Now
your deluge of gold has restored the old-fashioned ratio of the world’s
production of the two metals, and the price of silver without any
legislation or manipulation, simply in obedience to the laws of trade,
has risen to its old level. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that
gold had descended toward the silver level. If it should become known
that you still held five thousand tons of gold ready to turn into money,
does anybody suppose that an act of the Congress or any other fiat of
government could maintain gold as the standard of value? I have no
doubt, however, that the friends of silver will come forward next week
with some interesting proposals on behalf of that no longer despised
metal. The situation will be difficult to control, very difficult
indeed, pending the solution of your greater problem. I cannot help
wishing you had placed these facts before me a month ago. Then I should
not have felt it my duty to call an extra session.”
The president leaned back in his chair, drummed mechanically upon the
desk, and for some time was lost in deep thought. The others were silent
likewise. Presently collecting himself, and addressing both Wharton and
Brent, the chief of the nation said earnestly:
“Gentlemen, I shall deal with you in this matter with complete frankness
and without reserve or formality, just as if you were members of my
cabinet. The subject is too great, too portentous, for us to allow any
consideration save the best welfare of the country, of the world, to
enter into our treatment of it. I hope you will give me the fullest
benefit of the most earnest thought you can devote to it. Let it be a
personal matter between us, as between men having a common duty. I have
absolute faith in your integrity of motive. Your action in coming to me
with your momentous secret is sufficient proof of that. Now let us have
a few hours to digest this tremendous announcement. No man’s mind--not
mine at least--can comprehend all at once the infinite bearings and
significance of such news. The secretary and I will both have a better
grasp of the subject after sleeping upon it. Will you not come here
again to-morrow afternoon, say at two o’clock, and we will have a long
talk? Then we will dine quietly and put our heads together over it again
in the evening.”
Brent and Wharton heartily thanked the president for his expression of
confidence in them, accepted his invitation, and withdrew. The secretary
remained with his chief. The sun had long set when he left the White
House.
The next day’s conference at the Executive Mansion was long and
interesting. It is not necessary to report it in detail. It rambled over
the vast ramifications of the subject in a more haphazard and cursory
way than the matter was afterwards treated by the more deliberate
tribunal to which it was eventually referred. The president appeared
rather tired and anxious when he greeted his guests, and so did the
secretary of the treasury.
“I told you we should be better able to deal with our difficulty after
a night’s sleep,” remarked the president with a smile, as he grasped
Brent’s hands. “I for one did not find it an easy matter to sleep upon.”
“Nor I,” observed the secretary sententiously.
“Wharton and I, on the contrary, have enjoyed better rest the last two
nights, since deciding to share our responsibility with you, than we
have had for weeks,” responded Brent, with some appearance of elation.
“Probably then your clearer heads have been more fertile than ours in
plans for meeting the emergency,” suggested the president, adding, with
a twinkle of humor in his eye, “It would be only fair for you to point
out some line of escape from the dangers with which you have surrounded
us.”
Brent’s attempt to smile in response to this sally was not very
mirthful.
“My poor brain,” he said, “is quite callous under any spur to effort in
that direction. In fact, I have so completely lost confidence in it,
that only the other day I begged my friend Wharton to take the whole
load of gold off my shoulders, and dispose of it in any way he liked.”
“And he spurned the offer? You are indeed a modern Midas, Mr. Brent,
cursed with sumless gold beyond even the craving of human cupidity. It
is not easy to convince the mind that fable has become reality, that
solid, scientific, nineteenth-century life is suddenly confronted with a
condition which society is utterly unprepared to meet.”
The president gave rein to his thought in this strain for a moment
longer. Then he turned resolutely to the concrete problem in hand,
saying:
“My attitude toward the Congress is, under the circumstances, somewhat
embarrassing. I have summoned a special session to deal with the
financial situation. The aspect of affairs had very much changed before
you came to me yesterday with your startling revelation. Precautions
which I would have recommended a month ago are no longer expedient. In
view of what you have told me, the less legislation we have just now the
better. I have about decided to advise the calling of a monetary
conference--the world-wide financial disturbance is sufficient
justification for it--and to suggest two or three harmless palliative
measures for giving relief to present monetary distress, and for
strengthening public confidence. Do you think of any better plan?”
The discussion became general and informal, and soon drifted into
various branches of the subject of temporary policy. By the time the
dinner hour had arrived, all were agreed that the president’s suggested
attitude toward Congress was the wisest that could be adopted. Measures
for holding in check erratic and dangerous legislation which might be
threatened were also considered. It was arranged that Brent and Wharton
should, as far as possible, influence the tone of finance and
speculation in harmony with the policy of the administration, and
coöperate actively with the government in any emergency which might
arise.
It was a quiet, informal dinner at which Brent, Wharton, and the
secretary of the treasury joined the presidential household. Finance and
other weighty affairs were not allowed to chill the cordial, homelike
atmosphere, which the presence of womanly tact and grace made
particularly attractive to the two bachelor strangers. Sunday evening at
the White House is usually the one strictly home hour of the week, but
Brent and Wharton were not for a moment allowed to discover that they
were unwonted intruders upon a much cherished privilege. The meal was
not a long one, and when it was over the gentlemen withdrew for their
cigars to the president’s “den,” as he termed it.
There the conversation soon drifted back to the greater feature of
Brent’s golden problem--the proper disposition of his hidden billions.
Aside from the obvious escape from the dilemma by casting away the whole
treasure and the secret with it, no one had any positive plan to
advocate. Various tentative suggestions were discussed as they arose in
one mind or another, but there seemed to be strong objections to all of
them. Although it was midnight before the discussion became wearisome,
nothing definite had been arrived at beyond a general conviction that
the problem which would confront the proposed convention of the wise men
of finance would prove to be many times deeper, higher, broader,
weightier, than any unexpected obstacle which had yet arisen in the path
of civilization.
Brent and Wharton returned the next day to New York. They prepared to
coöperate with the administration for the maintenance of financial and
commercial tranquillity in every possible way. Then came the assembling
of Congress. Some disappointment was expressed in many quarters over the
president’s message. More had been expected of the administration in the
way of relief legislation than the document suggested. But if there was
any lack of financial panaceas, Congress speedily supplied it. The
variety of schemes and measures for accomplishing all manner of
desirable ends seemed infinite. The deluge of private bills soon
disappeared in committee archives, most of them attracting no attention
on their rapid path to oblivion. The president proved a true prophet in
the matter of propositions regarding silver. Most of the low grade
silver mines of the West, which had shut down two years before owing to
the demonetization of the metal and its low price, had reopened, and
were producing at their utmost capacity. There had been much investment
and speculative buying of the metal for a few months, in consequence of
the decline or superabundance of gold. The champions of the silver
interest now came forward with proposals that the free coinage of gold
should be suspended, and that at least one half the production of the
mints should be silver, at the reëstablished ratio of fifteen to one,
which for centuries had marked the relative value of the two metals.
The attitude finally taken by the Administration party, as it came to be
known, was not one of direct opposition to the silver men. It was urged
that the whole question was too widespread in its bearings for the
American Congress, or any other single legislative authority, to attempt
to give it independent solution. The world had grown too small, and all
its interests were too closely interwoven for any country to be able to
maintain an individual monetary policy. Unity of principle and of action
had become indispensable. The United States had learned this lesson at
sore expense only two years before, and to seek its repetition would be
a stupendous folly.
The argument prevailed. The opposition to silver on the old grounds had
disappeared. The demand simply for international coöperation could not
be reasonably resisted. The suggestion of an international monetary
conference speedily received unanimous approval. The invitation was
issued by the president to only the principal European powers late in
November. It received a promptly favorable response in every case, and
it was soon decided that the conference should meet in Paris on the
second week in January of the following year, 1896.
Congress turned its attention to temporary and special measures for
mitigating commercial and industrial distress. The general paralysis of
business continued, and everybody felt that the suspense would last
until the united action of the nations had settled the world’s monetary
policy. There was, therefore, a widespread feeling of impatience for the
assembling and the decision of the Paris conference.
Wharton and Brent found plenty to do in these intervening weeks. After
all they had done during October in fighting panic and distress, and
under Brent’s determination not to use any fresh capital from his store,
they were no longer able to dominate all markets with controlling hand
as they had done for months before. They accomplished much, however, in
steadying prices in the stock market, the loan market, and some of the
markets for staple produce and manufactures, and the lapse of time
without fresh serious disasters begot a sort of confidence in the
public mind. The administration, partly by means of its alliance with
the authors of the financial crisis, was able to do much in the same
line. Brent and Wharton were in constant communication with the
secretary of the treasury and the president, and they made frequent
trips to Washington for consultation.
On one of these occasions the president invited Brent to act as one of
the American delegates to the monetary conference. The young man
promptly declined.
“I want to keep out of the public eye as long as I possibly can, sir,”
he explained. “There are to be only two delegates from each country, and
the natural selection will be a leading statesman and a great financier.
If you should select an unknown man for a post more important than even
a seat in your cabinet, the country would be amazed, and then a great
hue and cry would be raised against you and against me. It would also
distinctly imperil the secret of the existence of this gold, which we
must guard at any cost. No, sir, I must not attend the conference in any
official capacity. I am prepared to go there and explain my position to
the members in secret session. That will naturally be expected of me.
But I must not be publicly identified with the conference and its
_raison d’être_ in any way whatsoever.”
“You are entirely right, Mr. Brent,” responded the president. “You are,
however, fully entitled to sit upon this board if you choose. I can
afford to ignore any public criticisms of my action in appointing you
until events bring my justification. But, as you have said, we cannot
afford to increase by a feather’s weight the danger of discovery of your
secret. I have decided to ask the secretary of the treasury to go as one
American representative. Can you suggest the second? Mr. Wharton might
be named with propriety. He has come before the public so prominently
during the last year as the director of vast financial schemes, that his
selection would be regarded as appropriate.”
“No, sir, I think not,” said Brent thoughtfully. “In the first place, it
will be necessary for him to remain in New York in charge of my affairs
while I am abroad, and then, too, the selection of an older and better
known man would be more acceptable both to the American public and to
the foreign members of the board. Wharton and I, you know,” Brent added
smiling, “are part and parcel of the case. We are the accomplices of the
defendant treasure which is to be tried, and we cannot sit upon the
jury.”
“Would that more of our countrymen were as diffident of renown and
power!” exclaimed the president, with a fervor born of a ripe experience
with clamorous American ambition.
For nearly a month before sailing for Europe late in December, Brent was
busy night and day. Not only did the demands of the monetary situation
occupy much of his time, but he was obliged to give his personal
attention to the fitting out of his first annual shipload of supplies,
which according to his compact with the chieftain of the Caillitchets
must arrive in Patagonia on the 1st of January. He chartered a stanch
steamship of about four thousand tons, and loaded her with a large and
valuable cargo. He made his purchases with a great deal of care. Arms
and ammunition of the latest patterns, he sent according to stipulation.
Clothing and fabrics, appropriate to primitive wants in a severe
climate, he supplied liberally. Large quantities of food-stuffs in
various non-perishable forms were put on board. He included also a
collection of simpler labor-saving implements and agricultural tools, in
hope that they might encourage new industrial ambitions among the stern
and valorous people of the far South. The cargo when completed quite
filled the ship, and represented an expenditure of nearly a million
dollars.
To Captain Penniman of the _Mystery_ was intrusted the command of the
expedition. His instructions were to clear for Buenos Ayres, and after
re-coaling, to proceed to the natural harbor on the coast of Patagonia,
which Brent indicated upon the chart. Minute directions were given for
navigating the inlet, and the exact spot for anchoring was pointed out
on the special chart which Brent supplied. He was to remain there until
a native should bring to him a document, of which Brent furnished a
facsimile. Then he was to discharge his entire cargo upon rafts which
the natives would bring alongside. This accomplished, he would receive
from the native who produced the original document a sealed packet.
Thereupon he should sail at once to New York and deliver the packet to
Brent or his representative at Strong & Co.’s office in New Street. The
steamer sailed from New York on its mission in due course, December 7.
During the last few days before his departure, Brent made an emergency
agreement with Wharton and the president. It seemed wise to take some
precautions regarding a course of action in case of the disclosure,
accidental or otherwise, of the secret of his treasure-house during his
absence in Europe. Each of the four who had knowledge of the facts was
convinced that a premature betrayal of the truth would plunge the world
into financial chaos, unless the danger could be removed by a single
stroke. It was therefore arranged that if necessity should arise, every
one of the wooden cases in Brent’s vault would be loaded as quickly and
quietly as possible under protection of the United States authorities
upon one or two men-of-war to be kept in readiness in New York harbor.
These vessels would at once put to sea, and their cargoes would be
thrown overboard in mid-ocean. As soon as this had been accomplished,
the president would issue a proclamation setting forth all the facts and
assuring the world that all danger had passed.
All the quartet, who considered the matter one afternoon at the
Executive Mansion, heartily approved of this arrangement, and they one
and all felt a large measure of relief when the dreaded emergency had
been provided for.
On Saturday, the 28th of December, Brent sailed for Europe in company
with the secretary of the treasury and the great banker who had been
named as the second representative of the United States at the
international monetary conference to meet in Paris two weeks later.