c questions
of the time and with the most important questions with foreign
nations. Every one of these has either been settled or is in the
way of settlement.

"The administration of Mr. Cleveland settled nothing but the sublime
egotism of Mr. Cleveland, his opposition to the protection policy,
his want of sympathy for the Union soldiers and his narrow notions
of finance and the public credit. He devised nothing and accomplished
nothing. A Democratic House passed the Mills tariff bill, but it
was rejected by the Senate and by the people in the election of
1888. It was neither a protective tariff nor a revenue tariff,
but a mongrel affair made up of shreds and patches furnished here
and there by Democratic Members to suit their local constituencies.
This abortive measure was the only one of any mark or importance
proposed by Mr. Cleveland, or passed by a Democratic House of
Representatives.

"In marked contrast with this is the Republican administration of
Harrison and the recent Republican Congress. Mr. Harrison, with
the slow, thoughtful, conservative tendencies of his mind, gave
careful consideration to every proposition that came before him,
and announced his opinion in his messages to Congress. The House
of Representatives, having cleared the way by the decision and
courage of Speaker Tom Reed that the majority should rule, proceeded
to transact the public business, and the Senate, in hearty concurrence
and co-operation, acted upon every important measure pending before
Congress. The first in importance, though not in point of time,
was an entire revision of our revenue laws. This bill was subjected
to the most careful scrutiny in both Houses, and was passed as a
Republican measure, and approved by the President. It is the law
of the land, though some of its provisions have not yet taken
effect. It is, in my judgment, a wise law, and will bear the most
careful scrutiny. It may be that in its details, in the rates of
duty, the precise line between enough to protect and more than is
necessary, is not observed, but this error in detail does not weaken
the essential merits of this great measure. I do not intend to
discuss it in the presence of a gentleman now before me, who had
charge of the bill in the House, who is, in a great measure, the
author of it, and whose effective advocacy carried it over the
shoals and rocks in the House of Representatives. You will greatly
and justly honor him this day, but