t the
committee had upon the subject."

I then proceeded to explain the bill carefully, section by section,
and concluded by saying:

"I am led to believe that the bill as it stands is perhaps a more
perfect bill on this subject than has ever been introduced in the
Congress of the United States before. There may be many suggestions
of amendment by honorable Senators during the consideration of the
bill; and if any Senator has any suggestion of amendment to make,
of course it is within the privilege of the Senate to adopt it,
but I am very anxious that this bill shall be as promptly considered
as possible, and as promptly acted upon and passed as possible, if
in the judgment of the Senate it ought to be passed at all.

"As the Senate know, this subject has been up for consideration
from one term of Congress to another, almost time out of mind;
until the people of the United States have come almost to believe
that there is no real purpose on the part of Congress to do anything
more than introduce and report bills and discuss them a while, and
then let them die before any final action is reached upon them.

"I said in the outset that in my judgment there is no public question
before the American people to-day about which there is greater
unanimity of sentiment than there is upon the proposition that the
Congress of the United States ought to enact some law looking to
the regulation of commerce among the several States, and I trust
without taking up the time of the Senate longer that every Senator
will give attention to this subject until we can pass some bill
and get it to the other branch of Congress in the hope that before
this session adjourns we shall get some legislation on this subject
that will be of some service to the people and reasonably satisfy
public opinion."

I pressed the bill on the attention of the Senate every day, never
allowing it to be displaced where I could avoid it. I was determined
that some bill should be passed at that session. The debate was
long and interesting. There were comparatively few set speeches.
It was a hot, running debate almost from the beginning, participated
in by the strongest men in the Senate, many of whom were the ablest
men of their day. Senators Aldrich, Edmunds, Evarts, Gorman, Hoar,
Ingalls, Manderson, Miller, Mitchell, Morrill, Platt, Sewell,
Sherman, Spooner, Teller, Vest, Morgan, Cameron, Dawes, Frye, Hale,
Harrison, and Voorhees all engaged in it.

The b