we say, whistle to the age; we
cannot make it let go; we have got to run. We feel very much like the
little boy in the asylum, standing by the window, forbidden to go out.
He became contemplative, and said, "If God were dead and there were not
any rain, what fun orphan boys would have." We feel very much that way
about these New England traditions. If God were only dead; if it didn't
rain; if the times were only good, what times we would have.

The present world is not recognizable when put side by side with the
world into which the Puritan came. I am not here to urge a return to the
Puritan life; but have you forgotten that the Puritans came into a new
world? The conditions under which they came were unprecedented
conditions to them. But did they forget the principles on which they
acted because the conditions were unprecedented? Did they not discover
new applications for old principles? Are we to be daunted, therefore,
because the conditions are new? Will not old principles be adaptable to
new conditions, and is it not our business to adapt them to new
conditions? Have we lost the old principle and the old spirit? Are we a
degenerate people? We certainly must admit ourselves to be so if we do
not follow the old principles in the new world, for that is what the
Puritans did.

Let me say a very practical word. What is the matter now? The matter is,
conceal it as we may, gloss it over as we please, that the currency is
in a sad state of unsuitability to the condition of the country. That is
the fact of the matter; nobody can deny that; but what are we going to
do? We are going to have a new tariff. I have nothing to say with regard
to the policy of the tariff, one way or the other. We have had tariffs,
have we not, every few years, ever since we were born; and has not the
farmer become discontented under these conditions? It was the effort to
remedy them that produced the silver movement. A new tariff may produce
certain economic conditions; I do not care a peppercorn whether it does
or not, but this is a thing which we have been tinkering and dickering
with time out of mind, and in spite of the tinkering and dickering this
situation has arisen. Are we going to cure it by more tinkering? We are
not going to touch it in this way. Now, what are we going to do? It is
neither here nor there whether I am a protectionist, or for a tariff for
revenue, or whatever you choose to call me. The amount you collect in
currency for im