Nebraska, are unalterably opposed to anything which looks
like a perpetuation of the national banks. The time has
come when we should take some radical steps to eliminate
them from our institutions, and it occurs to me that this
amendment, and especially the second proviso of it, if
adopted, would give the country warning that we intend,
as soon and as speedily as possible, to drive out of existence
the national banks of issue.

He was neither astonished or alarmed at an exportation of gold, since the director of the mint stated that Austria and other European governments were raising the rates of exchange in order to enlarge their stock of gold; and especially since the International Gold Trust had forced some inferior nations to a gold basis. Said he:

Mr. President, of late we have heard it boldly asserted here and elsewhere, that silver is not the money of the constitution; and from the expression of the President in his message that "gold and silver must here part company," we have a right to believe that he, too, entertains this view of the question. I must confess my utter astonishment at this assertion, in view of the language and purpose of the constitution, the history of the time when it was framed and adopted by our ancestors, the treatment of the question by congress in our coinage legislation, the voice of the judiciary when speaking on the subject, and the treatment of the matter by the various political parties in their respective platforms. All these, when impartially considered, demonstrate that silver is, and ever has been, the money of the constitution, and it cannot now be abandoned by congress without a flagrant and inexcusable refusal on our part to, in good faith, enforce, in the interest of the nation at large, a power expressly enjoined upon us for the general welfare.

In behalf of silver coinage he gave the history of Washington's time of the constitution-the approving opinion by Webster-decisions of U. S. courts and friendly legislation for a term of 81 years. He supplemented this with many resolu tions of Republican and Democratic conventions, both state and national. And finally overwhelmed Senator McPherson with a deluge of authorities to the following effect:

Intrinsic value of a thing stamped or coined has nothing to do with the question of power. Such metals so stamped

are not issued or put in circulation on the faith or credit
of the United States government, no pledges are made to re-
deem them, and they may possess little or no intrinsic
value; yet it is not denied that such pieces of metal so
stamped or coined may be lawfully issued and made a legal
tender and thus become lawful money of the United States.

He was often very fortunate in giving a condensed view of arguments and statements, in a few well chosen words, as in the case of "balance of trade":

Mr. President, we have been told that the nation in whose favor the "balance of trade" exists at the close of the trading season is to be considered the most fortunate nation, and that we must so order the affairs of this country as to annually obtain this balance of trade. A balance of trade is only a national blessing when it represents some profit to our people. If it is bought by the sale of our products far below their cost, and at a sacrifice of our civilization, it is a curse rather than a blessing. Of what benefit can it be to the people of this country if they should obtain the entire stock of European gold by a sacrifice of their property and labor, while Europe may be enjoying their products as well as profits? If the balance of trade is to be purchased at a sacrifice, we have only to indulge in such luxury for a few years to completely pauperize our labor and destroy our national wealth. It would be better for our people, better for our aggregate wealth, if the balance of trade should be annually against us than to purchase it at too great a sacrifice.

Also in reference to equality or parity:

How is it expected to institute a comparison between two unequal things-two things that are, according to an imperative law of nature, considered as articles of commercetraveling in opposite directions? Gold daily growing more scarce and in greater demand throughout the civilized world, and silver crippled by being denied equal coinage privileges at the mints, growing more plentiful, with lessened money use, it must be expected that their commercial value will radically differ. But put both metals upon an equality before the law, and they will stand equal in the commercial and monetary world. I do not doubt that the very moment silver is permitted free access at the mints its price will go up throughout the civilized world. Only last week the London silver market advanced in anticipation of the action of congress retaining the present Sherman act.

One valuable feature of the speech was an analysis of the gold of the world, showing that it was controlled largely by European and foreign powers; and the unavoidable conclusion:

We have, then, one of three remedies open to us

First. We can issue bonds and purchase gold, and by that means saddle upon the industries and people of this country an endless national debt; or,

Second. We can resort to overexpanded bank credits in
the future as we have been doing in the past; or,

Third. We can tap the silver mines of the Rocky Moun-
tains and cause to flow into our volume of currency a
stream of silver equal to the demands of our people.
Which will we do?

Mr. President, if we adopt the first course offered to us
by gold monometalists, we have no assurance that the gold
which we purchase and put in the treasury to-morrow will
remain there twenty-four hours. The same means by which
the treasury has been depleted and looted in the past of its
gold may be resorted to in the future, and we will be com-
pelled to issue more bonds to buy more gold, and by this
means a perpetual national debt will be created and will
rest upon our people for years to come. There is no end-
there can be none-to a system of this kind.

If we resort, on the other hand, to bank credits, we resort,
in my judgment, to an infinitely worse, scheme. I am not
prepared, so far as I am concerned, to have this govern-
ment abandon the constitutional power of coining and con-
trolling money. The power to coin and regulate the value
of money, and control its volume, is a vital sovereign power
devolved by the constitution on congress.
I am not pre-
pared for the time when this government shall abandon
this sovereign power, which should be exercised in the in-
terest of the masses of the people, and farm it out to
bankers, brokers, and gamblers in stocks and bonds, that
they may tax the industries and energies of this country
ad libitum.

This maiden effort was prefaced with the statement that he had, in part, the honor of representing "nearly one million and a half of American citizens" though he feared he might be charged with too early seeking an opportunity to be heard on the floor of the Senate.

By the time he came to the following conclusion, the members were fully satisfied that they "had a foeman worthy of their steel":

Mr. President-I began this discussion with reluctance and I close it with reluctance; for, scattered over the great plains of our country, in its woodlands, on its mountain sides, and in its valleys, are millions of our countrymen who are suffering ineffable misery in consequence of this unholy warfare waged upon their rights.

Their eyes are turned toward this city, and they are now earnestly looking and listening for the decree that is to go forth from this chamber, enslaving them and their children for generations to come, or that is to strike from them the chains of financial bondage and set them free.

If we act wisely and patriotically, and give to the people of our country a sufficient volume of sound and scientific money to enable them to set all the energies of nature and man at work producing wealth, once more the sunlight of prosperity, like the natural sun that dispels the mist and the dew, will kiss away the clouds of doubt and fear, and we will witness an era of prosperity more wonderful than the world has ever known.

On the 13th day of September we find him declaring that senators who are officers or stockholders of banks should not vote in cases where pecuniary interests are involved, on the principle of the common law, excluding judges and jurors from action in cases where they were pecuniarily interested.

On September 27th his speech was a plea for deferring action on the absorbing question of "unlimited coinage of silver" till the States of Washington, Wyoming and Montana could elect each another Senator:

Here is a question, Mr. President, of vital importance not alone to those states but of vital importance to every state in this Union. The evil that may be done by the adoption of the measure before the Senate for the unconditional repeal of the Sherman act cannot be measured by to-day nor by to-morrow, and it cannot be measured for ages to come. It is a measure that ties the industrial classes of this Nation to the chariot wheel of the plutocrat now and hereafter. It is a measure that shrinks one-half of the value of the property and labor of this country. When the people of the great mountain states, six in number, and three territories, if I am not incorrectly informed, are upon the verge of starvation, when the cry of God's poor for something to eat is heard in a land of plenty, when the cry of the child stung by hunger is to be heard in those states,