ith a proper and moderate punishment, would have answered
the whole purpose. I take some blame to myself for not insisting
more strenuously upon modifying Mr. Torrey's measure. But
he constantly visited different Senators and Representatives
and came back to me with glowing accounts of the prospects
of the Bill, and of their promises to support the Bill. He
was also the agent of the business organizations of the country
who had passed resolutions in favor of the measure as he had
drawn it. It seemed to me therefore that if I should get
the Bill amended and then it got lost, I should incur the
great reproach of having obstinately set up my judgment against
that of this large number of the ablest men in the country,
who were so deeply interested in the matter. So the Bill,
though brought up and pressed Congress after Congress, failed
until Mr. Torrey enlisted in the Spanish War.

I then introduced a Bill in a softened and modified form.
It was attacked in that form by Senator Nelson of Minnesota,
a very excellent lawyer and gentleman of great influence,
in the Senate. He succeeded in having the Bill modified
and softened still more. The Bill then passed and went to
the House which, under the leadership of the Judiciary Committee,
substituted the original Bill.

Mr. Nelson and I, with Mr. Lindsay of Kentucky, were put on
the Conference Committee in the Senate, with Mr. Henderson,
afterward Speaker, Mr. Ray of New York, now Judge of the
U. S. District Court, and Mr. Terry of Missouri, on the part
of the House. We struggled nearly the whole winter. Mr.
Nelson and Mr. Ray took the burden of the contest upon their
shoulders. Their attempts at compromise reminded their brethren
of the old scientific problem--"What will happen when an irresistible
force encounters an immovable obstacle." But both gentlemen,
each exceedingly firm in his own opinion when he thought he
was in the right, were wise and reasonable and conscientious
men. So at last they agreed upon the present Bankruptcy
Bill, which became a law July 1, 1898. It was on the whole
satisfactory to the country, except for one clause in it, which
was interpreted by the United States Supreme Court in a manner
contrary to the understanding and expectation of the framers
of the Bill.

A law was passed February 7, 1903, correcting this and some
minor defects. It is hoped, though we cannot be sure in
such a matter, that a permanent system of Bankruptcy, so
e