“But, Mr. Morning, it will require the constant labor for a long time of the mint and all its branches to coin this large sum, and you require the money at once.” “I propose, Mr. Secretary, to avail myself of the law of February, 1894, and claim treasury notes for my ingots. That Act of Congress will enable you to print in two or three days enough bills of large denomination to cover the whole sum.” “You astound me, Mr. Morning, but I suppose I must believe you.” “If you will ride with me to the foot of Sixth Street, Mr. Secretary, I will exhibit to you $500,000,000 in gold bars.” “But, Mr. Morning, even $500,000,000 suddenly poured into Wall Street will create a wilder panic and precipitate worse results, than those which may come from the pending conspiracy.” “I do not think so,” said Morning quietly. “It is contraction and not inflation that hurts. A flood may be disastrous to the crops in places, but a general drought will surely kill them all.” “If Congress were in session, Mr. Morning, it would be likely to demonetize gold. It would never suffer fifteen hundred millions of money to be thus added to the present currency. Why, such an amount will double at once the entire paper and metallic money of the country!” “But Congress is not in session, Mr. Secretary, and you will pardon me for saying that, whatever may be your individual opinion as to consequences, you have no power to refuse to issue gold notes as fast as you can cause them to be engraved, for any amount of gold bars that I may offer.” “True,” replied the secretary. “But I repeat, Mr. Secretary, that I hope to guard against the evils you apprehend. I should be an unworthy custodian of the great trust which has come into my hands, if I could misuse it to harm either my country or my fellow-men.” “I believe you, Mr. Morning.” “For the present I can only use the ingots which are here in Washington. The New York and Philadelphia hoards will be ready in about a month, when I shall require treasury notes for them, but before I offer them to you, and before their existence shall be known generally, I shall endeavor to place in the mints at London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Milan, Vienna, and St. Petersburg, and in the banks of the principal cities of Europe simultaneously, in exchange for metallic and paper money of those countries, the one thousand millions now in Liverpool.” The secretary bowed.