tively, until he had the whole body following every word he said. When he concluded, there was a burst of applause, in the midst of which the member to speak after McKinley rushed up.
"Major McKinley," he cried, with genuine earnestness, "I am to speak last, but you, sir, have closed the debate."
It was during the year 1890 that he gave to the Nation the tariff measure which is known to history as the McKinley Bill He was then chairman of the Ways and Means Committee,—a committee which must see by what ways and what means the government is to support itself and continue to pay off its indebtedness. Speaking afterward of this work, he said:—
"I was chairman of the committee, and I performed my duties as best I could. Some of the strongest men in Congress were on that committee, and the eight of us heard everybody, considered everything, and made up the best tariff law we knew how to frame."
This bill was bitterly assailed, and arguments arose hot and fast on both sides, some contending that it was the best of
