Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 7.djvu/459

432 and spoken for a tariff for revenue, and against a tariff for protection. He favored the civil service law, and opposed the interstate commerce act. As often as opportunity has offered he has protested against every form of trust, monopoly, or subsidy intended to divert the earnings of the many to the use of the few. He was very active in efforts to enforce the payment of the debts of the subsidized Pacific railroads to the government. It is impossible to name any important measure under consideration in the Senate for twenty years which has not had his attention. His record covers the whole range of senatorial legislation and discussion since he entered the Senate, when men now voters were unborn. It is, however, in connection with matters relating to the foreign affairs of the country that of late he has been more prominent. For many years he has been the leading democratic member of the committee on foreign relations, and has made a special study of international usages, history and law. On every report from the committee he has been the principal speaker in the Senate. His broad patriotism finds expression in an American foreign policy which embraces the nations of the continent and isles of the sea. American commerce covers the world, and he would follow the flag wherever it goes with effective protection for every man and every dollar under its folds. He has been the strongest supporter from the beginning of the Nicaraguan canal, intended to extend the Mississippi river across the isthmus, unite in closer bonds the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States, and open on more advantageous terms and more fully the vast business of India, China and Japan to American farmers, manufacturers and merchants. He advocated the speedy annexation of the Hawaiian islands and urged the prompt and decisive interposition of our government in the affairs of Cuba. He would limit British and enlarge American rights in the mackerel and seal fisheries. He would prevent the threatened dismemberment and