[Rarebooks] FS: INVESTIGATION INTO THE CAUSES OF THE GOLD PANIC, 1870, Signed by James Garfield

[Charles Agvent]

GARFIELD, James A. INVESTIGATION INTO THE CAUSES OF THE GOLD PANIC. 
Report of the Majority of the Committee on Banking and Currency. March 
1, 1870. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1870. First Edition. 
Publisher's plum cloth, covers ruled in blind, spine lettered in blind; 
housed in half burgundy morocco clamshell box with matching corners. 
SIGNED by the future President on the front free endpaper: "Respects 
of/J. A. Garfield." Throughout Garfield's congressional service, he was 
a staunch supporter of the gold standard, and garnered a reputation as a 
skilled orator. In 1865, he was placed on the House Ways and Means 
Committee, where he passionately voiced his opposition to the greenback, 
stating: “Any party which commits itself to paper money will go down 
amid the general disaster, covered with the curses of a ruined people.” 
In 1870, as chairman of the House Banking Committee under President U. 
S. Grant., Garfield led an investigation into the Black Friday Gold 
Panic scandal, Jay Gould’s and James Fisk’s attempt to corner the gold 
market. In the autumn of 1869, Gould and Fisk, both financiers, had 
tried to monopolize the U.S. gold supply, intending to make a fortune 
when the government needed to buy gold and redeem the paper "greenbacks" 
issued during the Civil War. The scheme included Grant's brother-in-law 
Abel Corbin and the Assistant Treasurer of the United States, Daniel 
Butterfield. Grant eventually discovered the plot and ordered the market 
flooded with government gold to break the speculators' stranglehold on 
the market. The report includes transcripts of Gould's and Fisk's 
testimony before the committee. While the investigation was inarguably 
thorough, no indictable offenses were found. Still, Garfield argued that 
the scandal was the result of the easy availability of fiat money 
greenbacks. Books signed by Garfield are among the scarcest of all 
presidents. Garfield served only four months as President before being 
shot by Charles Guiteau. His term was the second shortest served by a 
President. Occasional staining, lower corner of page 377 torn away 
costing a few letters; front joint partly split but cover still firm, 
spine sunned with loss to head and tail, rubbing to extremities, some 
staining to edges. Very Good in Fine case. (#021306)        $15,000

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