the original company paid nothing all they get is clear gain; and
whether the railroad is built or not, the people for years, all along
the beautiful route, would be kept in suspense. There was no more need
of a car track along Lafayette avenue than there was need of one from
the top of Trinity Church steeple to the moon! The greater facility of
travel, the greater prosperity! But I am opposed to all railroads, the
depot for which is an unprincipled speculator's pocket.

It was only a few weeks later that I had to condemn a much greater
matter, a national event.

On March 1, 1878, the Silver Bill was passed in Washington,
notwithstanding the President's veto. The House passed it by a vote of
196 against 73, and the Senate agreed with a vote of 46 against 10. It
would be asking too much to expect anyone to believe that the 196 men in
Congress were bought up. So far as I knew the men, they were as honest
on one side of the vote as on the other. Senator Conkling, that giant of
integrity, opposed it. Alexander H. Stephens voted for it. I talked with
Mr. Stephens about it, and he said to me at the time, "Unless the Silver
Bill pass, in the next six months there will not be two hundred business
houses in New York able to stand." Still, the Silver Bill seemed like
the first step towards repudiation of our national obligation, but I
believe that at least 190 out of those 196 men who voted for it would
have sacrificed their lives rather than repudiate our national debt.

I had an opportunity to comprehend the political explosion of the
passage of this Bill all over the country, for it so happened I made a
lecturing trip through the South and South-west during the month of
March, 1878.