-Caveat Lector- J.P. Morgan Plays a Golden Game By LAWRENCE L. KNUTSON .c The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - J. Pierpont Morgan played run-on games of solitaire in his hotel suite near the White House and filled the room with the smoke of expensive cigars. It was early on the morning of Feb. 5, 1895, and the financier did not enjoy being kept waiting - even by the president. The call finally came from Grover Cleveland, who was laboring to rescue the country from an economic depression worsened by a confidence-shattering run on the gold reserves in the U.S. Treasury. ``Have you anything to suggest?'' the president asked Morgan. Morgan believed he could stanch the flow and save the country's credit. By the 1890s, gold had acquired the sheen of myth and power. Those who favored keeping the United States on the gold standard were dubbed ``gold bugs.'' But much of the South and West - heavy with farmers and ranchers, small businessmen and workers - saw the gold bugs as the center of an Eastern conspiracy that arrayed farmers against capital, creditors against debtors. Their remedy was to topple gold and replace it with silver, to put more money in circulation by coining silver dollars, thus eliminating tight money and advancing prosperity. In 1896, the demand for silver would reach its highest point when William Jennings Bryan electrified the Democratic convention by confronting supporters of the gold standard and declaring, ``You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.'' But meanwhile, the demand for cheap money and the inflation it would bring, the fear that the gold standard would be overthrown, alarmed European and American investors and gold began a retreat across the Atlantic. By custom, not law, the U.S. gold reserve had been maintained at $100 million and that level had a hold on the popular imagination. A dollar less than $100 million was seen as a step toward disaster. And by 1895 the gold reserve was evaporating like a reservoir in a summer drought. In her biography, ``Morgan, American Financier,'' published this year by Random House, historian Jean Strouse wrote that the Treasury gold reserve had fallen below $60 million by the spring of 1893. The president and Congress tried to refill it by issuing bonds. The gold flowed out faster than before. Morgan promised to form an international syndicate to buy gold and to protect the Treasury from further withdrawals. ``As he saw it, his efforts to stem the drain, avert default and restore confidence in the dollar would protect the billions invested in the United States and reopen the channels for foreign capital,'' Strouse wrote. But on Feb. 4, 1895, the Treasury canceled further negotiations with the financier. The president would compel Congress to authorize gold bonds for public sale instead. Morgan, believing the news would result in a stock market crash, ordered out his private railroad car. Arriving in Washington, he was told Cleveland was not available. ``I have come to Washington to see the president and I am going to stay until I see him,'' Morgan said. He retired to the Arlington Hotel, where he slipped the cards from their silver case and began to play solitaire while smoking ``a large Rosa de Santiago Celestiale.'' The invitation came at 9:30 the next morning. Morgan and his people walked across Lafayette Square to the White House. Morgan held an unlit cigar in his hand. After perfunctory handshakes, he found himself ignored while Cleveland and his people conferred among themselves. Morgan found a seat in a corner of the president's office listening to the others talk. He held on to the cigar but did not light it. ``He was in the position of a messenger waiting for an answer,'' his son-in-law said later. ``It was not a situation he was used to.'' At one point, a call came in reporting there was just $9 million in gold left in the New York subtreasury. Morgan said that was unfortunate because there were $12 million in drafts against that gold. Everyone knew that there was little chance Congress, with its growing numbers of free-silver advocates, would choose to help. Finally, the president turned to the financier. ``Have you anything to suggest?'' he asked. Morgan played his card. He said he had located a dusty but still valid 1862 law that authorized the secretary of the Treasury to put the government into debt to buy gold coins on his own authority without having to get congressional approval to issue bonds to buy the gold. The tension broke and the financier and the president began to work out terms. Cleveland asked if Morgan could guarantee that the gold being purchased would not simply resume its flow out of the country. The financier offered the guarantees, knowing that with his connections he could keep them - and realize the profits that went with the deal. Morgan stood. His trousers and the White House carpet around him were covered in a fine brown dust. J.P. Morgan had, without realizing it, ground the unlit cigar in his hand to powder. EDITOR'S NOTE: Lawrence L. Knutson has reported on Congress, the White House and Washington's history for more than 30 years. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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