the policy of the Government extending facilities for the exportation of American manufactures which are not now enjoyed.

In contemplating the needs of the country, is it not time for statesmen and thoughtful men to raise themselves above the mere conflicts of party? Is there no higher object worthy of their effort than to become mere partisan retainers and gladiators? Is it not the duty of the intellect of the nation, with opportunity in public life, to initiate and shape legislation looking to a fuller development of our material resources and a more profitable use of the advantages which God and nature have given us? However desirable a reform in the civil service may be and however important the preservation intact of the political organizations to which we belong may be, yet these and all other pending questions are secondary to that of the political economies, involving in their consideration the highest interests of the present as well as of succeeding generations, by an intelligent utilization of existing yet hidden superior possessions.

On April 15 William McKinley [O.] opposed the bill.

I am opposed to the pending bill from a high sense of duty, a duty imposed upon me by the very strong conviction which I entertain, after an examination of its several features, that should the proposed measure become a law it will be nothing short of a public calamity. It scales down the much needed revenues of the Government. Although this proposition was denied by the distinguished gentleman who opened this debate [Mr. Wood], I desire in this connection to call attention to a carefully prepared statement by Mr. Young, superintendent of the Bureau of Statistics, in which it is shown that the revenues to be derived under this bill, if it shall become a law, estimated upon the basis of the importations of 1877, will fall short of the revenues of that year something more than $9,000,000.

This bill not only impairs the revenues of the Government, but it is a blow well directed at the mining, the manufacturing, and the industrial classes of this country. It will not be denied that any material readjustment of the tariff system at this time is a delicate and hazardous undertaking, and should be approached if at all with great care and circumspection, with a thorough knowledge of the business and commerce of the country, their needs and relations, which it proposes to affect. Its consideration should be unincumbered by individual or sectional interests, and should be free from any attempt or desire to promote the interests of one class at the expense of the many.