The brave and sagacious action of the Secretary of the Treasury in going outside of the channels marked by red tape in order to promote Mr. Morning’s plans, is generally commended by the public, and meets with no criticism except from the baffled syndicate of scoundrels.
Whatever action, if any, Congress may take next month when it assembles with regard to the demonetization of gold, and whatever may be the course pursued by the German Reichstag, the French Chamber of Deputies, and the British Parliament, all of which are now wrestling with the great economic problem which the vast gold yield of the Morning mine presents, yet one thing is certain, David Morning has quietly and shrewdly placed two thousand five hundred millions of gold in the mints and treasuries of Europe and America, and obtained therefor money, the legal tender quality and value of which, no future legislation can impair.
It is fortunate for the world that this vast sum is in the hands of a man who seems to comprehend the nature of the problems which its existence, its introduction to circulation, and its subsequent use, will create, and who also seems disposed to treat his great treasure-trove as a public trust rather than a personal possession. It is a curious fact that some statesmen who have, without much reflection, been characterized as visionary, urged vainly for years upon the public attention the wisdom and feasibility of creating vast sums of fiat money, which were to be loaned upon land and crop values. It will not escape notice that the Congress of the United States might, at any time within the past few years, by passing a land and property loan law, have created the same conditions, whether they prove to be conditions of prosperity or disaster, which are now upon the world by reason of Mr. Morning’s gold discovery. But it is not our purpose to attempt discussion of the situation generally. We intend only to give to the public a reliable account of the railroad projects of Mr. Morning. On reading his advertisement, we dispatched a reporter, who found him, as usual, frank and communicative. No comment of ours would add force or importance to the utterances of the Arizona Gold King, and we will let him tell his story in his own way.
“My plan,” said Morning, “is not complicated, and not original with me. I only supply the means to try an experiment which it has often been suggested should be tried by the United States Government. If successful it will be of incalculable benefit to the people of this country. It will require not more than $250,000,000 to carry it out, and its failure would not involve a loss of more than $50,000,000.
“I marvel,” continued the gentleman, “that public opinion did not years ago act upon Congress so as to cause it to deal with the transportation question in the interest of the people. I marvel that some of our great capitalists have not joined efforts, and devoted a portion of their possessions to providing the people with cheap transportation. Suppose that a dozen of them should have together made a pool of $200,000,000, and undertaken a work—not of charity, but of helping the toilers to help themselves. It would not have taken one-third of their possessions; it would have deprived neither them nor their children of a single luxury, and yet it would have allayed the disquiet and antagonism of multitudes, and, more than bronzes or marble shafts, it would have linked their names to immortality.”
“Will not Messrs. Gray, Claybank, and Wolf have supplied the funds for your experiment?” queried the reporter.
Morning laughed as he answered: “Well, in a way, yes; and if I had not already devoted their contributions to founding and maintaining industrial schools, there would be a sort of poetical justice in making such application of that fund.”
“Will you give me, for the Times, the details of your plans, Mr. Morning?”
“Certainly,” replied that gentlemen. “I have nothing to conceal. The railroad lines of this country, especially the transcontinental lines, were built when material and labor were much higher than now, and some of them when gold was at a high premium. Stock and bonds of many roads have been watered, and in paying present market prices for them I shall probably pay much more than the sum for which the roads could be duplicated if constructed honestly and economically at present cost of labor and materials, and allowing nothing for subsidies, bounties, stealings, and profits of speculators, contractors, and legislators. But it would not, I think, be right to punish present holders of stocks and bonds for the sins of their predecessors in interest, and I therefore propose to pay the present inflated value of these securities. I shall not, however, attempt to make the reorganized road carry the burden of paying interest and dividends upon the sums which I shall pay.”
“What do you estimate to be the present market value of the roads you propose to purchase, Mr. Morning?”