a matter of public duty. I care nothing for it
personally. I have been taunted with my inconsistency. I feel
like the Senator from Kentucky about an argument of that kind. If
I did not sometimes change my mind I should consider myself a
blockhead or a fool. But in this matter, fortunately, I have not
changed my mind. In 1866 I anticipated the time when we could sell
three per cent. bonds and said that was a part of the funding
scheme, and so continued, year in and year out, as I could show
Senators, that that was the _ultima thule_, the highest point of
credit to which I looked in these refunding operations. I believed
last year it could not be done, because I did not believe the state
of the money market would justify the attempt, and, besides that,
the great mass of the indebtedness was so large that it might
prevent the sale of three per cent. bonds at par. Therefore, I
wanted a three and a half per cent. bill then. But then we secured
the three and a half in spite of Congress, by the operations of
the treasury department and the consent of the bondholders, now we
ought to do a little better.

"Let Congress do now what it proposed to do last year, offer to
the people a three per cent. bond. If they do not take it no harm
is done, no expense is incurred, no commissions are paid, no
advantage is taken. If they do take it, they enable you to pay
off more rapidly still your three and a half per cent. bonds.
There was no express and no implied obligation made by the Senator
from Minnesota, as he will himself say, that the people of the United
States have the right to pay every dollar of these three and a half
per cent. bonds. He had no power to make such an intimation even,
nor has he made it, as he states himself. We are not restrained
by any sense of duty, we have the right to take advantage of our
improved credit, of our advanced credit, and make the best bargain
we can for the people of the United States, and the doctrine is
not 'let well enough alone,' but always to advance.

"We are advancing in credit, in population, in strength, in power,
in reason. The work of to-day is not the work of to-morrow; it is
but the preparation for the future. And, sir, if I had my way in
regard to these matters I certainly would repeal taxes; I would
fortify ourselves in Congress by reducing this large surplus revenue;
I would regulate, by wise and separate laws, fully and fairly
considered, all the subjects embrace