ealization than
ever before. If we could contribute to this result it would tend to
promote commerce and intercourse, trade and travel, peace and harmony
among nations. It would be in line with the civilization of our age.
It is by such measures statesmen may keep pace with the marvellous
inventions, improvements, and discoveries which have quadrupled the
capacity of man for production, made lightning subservient to his will,
revealed to him new agencies of power hidden in the earth, and opened
up to his enterprise all the dark places of the world. The people of
the United States boast that they have done their full share in all this
development; that they have grown in population, wealth, and strength;
that they are the richest of nations, with untarnished credit, a model
and example of self-government without kings or princes or lords. Surely
this is no time for a radical change of public policy which seems to
have no motive except to reduce the burden of obligations freely taken,
a change likely to impair our public credit and produce disorder and
confusion in all monetary transactions. Others may see reasons for this
change, but I prefer to stand by the standards of value that come to us
with the approval and sanction of every party that has administered the
Government since its beginning.

JOHN P. JONES,

OF NEVADA. (BORN 1830.)

ON TREASURY NOTES AND SILVER,

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, MAY 12, 1890.

MR. PRESIDENT, the question now about to be discussed by this body is
in my judgment the most important that has attracted the attention of
Congress or the country since the formation of the Constitution. It
affects every interest, great and small, from the slightest concern of
the individual to the largest and most comprehensive interest of the
nation.

The measure under consideration was reported by me from the Committee on
Finance. It is hardly necessary for me to say, however, that it does not
fully reflect my individual views regarding the relation which silver
should bear to the monetary circulation of the country or of the world.
I am, at all times and in all places, a firm and unwavering advocate of
the free and unlimited coinage of silver, not merely for the reason that
silver is as ancient and honorable a money metal as gold, and equally
well adapted for the money use, but for the further reason that, looking
at the annual yield from the mines, the entire supply that can come to
the