Hon. John McLane, Former Governor of New Hampshire 



tions which made the immediate pres- 

 ent a favorable time to act. 



Since the acceptance of the union bill 

 there has been no North and no South 

 in the advocacy of this legislation. It 

 has been supported with honest, non- 

 partisan and non-sectional cooperation, 

 and has secured as notable and disin- 

 terested popular support as ever backed 

 a bill before Congress. Letters and 

 petitions showing the ])opular interest 

 that had been awakened poured in upon 

 Congress in an ever-increasing tide. 

 Resolutions were passed by bodies rep- 

 resenting various interests. Orie re- 

 markable petition from New England 

 was signed by the governor of every 

 New England state and by men not 



254 



merely of prominence but of eminence 

 in the world of business and afifairs 

 from each state, the whole representing 

 the united public sentiment of the sec- 

 tion. A similar petition from the South 

 followed. The ablest newspapers and 

 magazines of the whole country took 

 up the cause. The President and the 

 Senate were known to be favorable, 

 but in the House the measure, from the 

 first and in any form, met the deter- 

 mined opposition of the Speaker and 

 the little coterie of House managers 

 who, under the rules, assume a censor- 

 ship of legislation. That the opposition 

 was sincere there can be little doubt, 

 for outside of Congress no opposition 

 has appeared. No interests are arrayed 



