ron and coal and cotton
and wool from across the continent, and then carrying the
manufactured article back again to be sold at the very places
where the material came from, in competition with States like
Pennsylvania and New York and Ohio and Indiana, unless the
cost of transportation was, so far as possible, annihilated.

I concluded by saying that I knew they would not come to my
way of thinking that afternoon or that week, but that they
were sure to come to it in the end. With very few exceptions
the letter did not change the course of the newspapers, or
of the leading men who had zealously committed themselves
to another doctrine. But it convinced the people, and I believe
it had a very great effect throughout the country, and was
the means of saving the policy of internal improvements from
destruction.

Mr. Clapp, of the Boston _Journal,_ with a manliness that
did him infinite credit, declared publicly in its columns that
he had been all wrong, and that I was right. The Worcester
_Spy,_ edited by my dear friend and near kinsman, Evarts
Greene, had with the rest of the press attacked my vote.
Mr. Greene himself was absent at the time, so the paper was
then in charge of an associate. When Mr. Greene returned
I asked him to spend an afternoon at my house. That was
before my letter came out. I had sent to Washington for
all the engineers' reports and other documents showing the
necessity of every item of the bill. Mr. Greene made a careful
study of the bill and agreed with me.

The Boston _Herald_ also obtained all the material from Washington
and sent it to a very able gentleman who, though not taking
any part in the ordinary conduct of the _Herald,_ was called
upon for services requiring special ability and investigation.
They asked him to answer my letter. He spent five days in
studying the matter, and then wrote to the managing editor
of the paper than Mr. Hoar was entirely right, and that he
should not write the article desired. The _Herald,_ however,
did not abandon its position. It kept up the war. But I
ought to say it so far modified its action that it supported
me for reelection the next winter.

The Springfield _Republican_ saw and seized its opportunity.
It attacked the River and Harbor Bill savagely. It said:
"Mr. Hoar is a candidate for reelection and has dealt himself
a very severe blow. The Commonwealth was prepared to honor
Messrs. Crapo and Hoar anew. To-day it pauses, frowns