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As the gold in Treasury vaults was replaced by silver and Customs revenues declined, it became more and more difficult for the Treasury to meet demands for redemption of notes in gold. Though Foster believed in the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and pledged to maintain parity between gold and silver, the run on Treasury gold made him nervous. In 1893 he sold legal tender notes to commercial banks in exchange for gold, in order to build up the Treasury gold supply. In spite of his efforts, the gold reserves continued to decline and this led ultimately to the Panic of 1893 during the term of his successor, Secretary John G. Carlisle. Foster had meanwhile resigned at the end of Harrison's term. About the ArtistRobert Gordon Hardie (1854–1904) was born in 1854 in Brattleboro, Vermont. He studied art in New York City at the Cooper Institute, the Art Students League, the National Academy of Design, and in Paris with Jean Leon Gerome. He exhibited his works at the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 and at several Paris Salons. His portrait of Charles Foster, painted from life in 1893, shows the Secretary during his last year in office and places him next to a pilaster in the Treasury Building's corridor. Office of the Curator
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