omanry. We will there, probably of our own
volition and more abundantly than in the past, produce the great
staples that will contribute to the basis of foreign exchange,
aid in giving the nation a balance of trade, and minister to the
wants and comforts and build up the prosperity of the whole land.
Whatever our ultimate position in the composite civilization of
the republic and whatever varying fortunes attend our career, we
will not forget our instincts for freedom nor our love for
country.[8]

A careful study of the speech shows what a model it has been for
speakers and writers of a much later period. It deals openly and
frankly with the Southern question, and is prophetic of President
Harding's recent utterances on the Negro's political status in the
South.

During the second session of the Forty-fourth Congress, Mr. Bruce
confined his efforts largely to the relief of the legal heirs of Negro
soldiers who had fought to preserve the Union. Consequently, he
introduced a number of bills praying that arrears of pensions be
granted. In this way, he became the benefactor of many persons who
otherwise might never have received their pensions. In addition to
such relief legislation, he presented for the second time a petition
praying for a general law prohibiting liquor traffic, and introduced a
bill for certain improvements in the Mississippi River.[9]

The Forty-fifth Congress was not especially eventful. Senator Bruce,
however, continued to introduce bills for the relief of legal heirs of
soldiers. During the second session of this Congress, he took an
active interest in the Chinese Exclusion Bill, registering his vote
against the measure which seemed to him to be contrary to American
principles. His denunciation of the selfish policy of the United
States toward the Indian was more pronounced than that of his
dissatisfaction with the restriction of the immigration of the
Chinese. He believed that the attitude of the Americans toward the
Indian bred hatred and discontent and made the Indian a fugitive and a
vagabond. He believed that the United States Government should do
something to civilize the Indian rather than to restrict him. The
Indian could be made a desirable citizen if the best elements of his
nature were developed to enable him to exercise the functions of
citizenship. He early advocated, therefore, that the Indians should
cease to be dealt with as tribes and should