When buying gold and bonds, Boutwell placed all his orders through Daniel Butterfield in New York. To reduce the temptation of illicit dealing, Boutwell, at Butterfield's recommendation, publicly announced his orders by telegraphing the news to the Associated Press. Over the next few months Treasury gold began to flood the market while Boutwell began buying back wartime bonds. By September 1, Boutwell had reduced the national debt by $50 million. He continued this practice at an accelerated rate while Grant, having closely followed Boutwell's dealings, began to express reservations and sent him a letter from Washington, Pennsylvania criticizing that driving the price of gold down would hurt farmers. Many brokerage firms collapsed while trade volume and agriculture prices plummeted, causing a mild recession, but by January 1870, the economy resumed its post-war recovery. Boutwell saw little merit in either Grant's or Gould's arguments, feeling that the government had no place in manipulating the market regardless of who benefited. However, not wanting to go against the President, Boutwell ordered Butterfield to halt semi-weekly September government gold sales. Believing he now had a "green light" from Grant, Gould began buying gold through brokers at an accelerated rate while his gold account grew from $10 to $18 million in specie.