and who shall not build up the industries of the country, in which direction they shall be built, and in which direction they shall not be built. We are now about to take the second step, which will be the final step in setting the business of this country free.

"That is what we shall do in the Currency Bill, which the House has already passed, and which I have the utmost confidence the Senate will pass much sooner than some pessimistic individuals believe. Because the question-now that this piece of work is done will arise all over the country, 'For what do we wait? Why should we wait to crown ourselves with consummate honor? Are we so self-denying that we do not wish to complete our success?'

"I was quoting the other day to some of my colleagues in the Senate those lines from Shakespeare's Henry V, which have always appealed to me: 'If it be a sin to covet honor, then am I the most offending soul alive;' and I am happy to say that I do not covet it for myself alone.

"I covet it with equal ardor for the men who are associated with me, and the honor is going to come for them. I am their associate. I can only complete the work which they do. I can only

counsel when they ask for my counsel. I can come in only when the last stages of the business are reached.

"And I covet this honor for them quite as much as I covet it for myself. And I covet it for the great party of which I am a member; because that party is not honorable unless it redeems its name and serves the people of the United States.

"So I feel tonight like a man who is lodging happily in the inn which lies half way along the journey and that in the morning with a fresh impulse we shall go the rest of the journey and sleep at the journey's end like men with quiet consciences, knowing that we have served our fellow men, and have, thereby, tried to serve God."

CHAPTER V

A NEW CURRENCY-THE SECOND STAGE IN THE JOURNEY

The tariff bill moved so smoothly through the House that the President decided, early in May, to press currency reform without delay. His prestige and influence at that time was very great, and it was said that “he is gradually imparting to the American forms of government a smoothness and flexibility it had hitherto lacked." There was no question now as to his leadership. Therefore, when the nation realized that he was determined to press a second great reform he was advised to move with care and deliberation, since a change in the currency was more dreaded by a certain element in the nation than a reduction in the tariff.

The banking law in force was enacted during the Civil War and was a war measure. The Government, in order to secure money to prosecute the war, had to issue bonds which it found difficult to sell. It was provided, therefore, that the banks might take the bonds and issue bank notes based upon them. This expedient solved the problem and was a sound temporary measure. However, it was a very inflexible

"the pale lean scholar in the White House" whose ignorance of business conditions will wreck the country. However, the startling revelations that came up from the lobby investigation brought convincing evidence of an "iniquitous invisible government," and the methods of Big Business were in disrepute before the country. Therefore, the mighty interests who had defied the people's will for so many years felt themselves caught in the grip of a Master, and they now appealed to him personally to withdraw the knife from the old tariff schedule and save the country from financial ruin.

"All business is in a halting attitude because all business seems to be more or less the subject of legislative control," they pleaded. Then the great Frisco Railway system went into the hands of a receiver. "Business needs emancipation from legislative influence. It has been punished until it is a nervous wreck," they complained. And the President assured them that it was his great ambition to emancipate business from legislative influence and throw it back on its own initiative. But this was not the assurance that was desired, and "mutterings of a silent panic" were heard in the land. Then a large trust company failed, and tight money, decline of stocks, and great business depression became the topics of conversation in the streets, in the clubs, around the capitol, and in the committee rooms.

If these things were so in an era of great prosperity, the President argued, then new currency legislation was absolutely necessary and should be pressed immediately. What did the man mean? His administration was not three months old, it was argued, yet his tariff agitation was already producing hard times, and now he would start another agitation that would simply knock the bottom out of everything, and Big Business tumbled headlong into the blue shadows.

Dignified Senators and Members smiled at the thought of attempting to pass two such important measures with summer already at hand. The nation's representatives could not be expected to swelter in Washington all through "dog days" while others were reveling in the invigorating sea breezes or relaxing under the influence of the cool mountain air. However, Mr. Wilson, on June 23, did appear the second time before Congress; and this time, to ask the Members and Senators, now that the tariff bill was moving forward so satisfactorily, to prepare to take the second step just as soon as the tariff bill was out of the way. But this second step will be discussed in the next chapter.

However, Mr. Wilson had started two great measures through Congress, and this too, at a time when many Senators and Members were thinking of adjourning for the summer. It was argued that they could go away during the hot months, recuperate, and