with all the machinery and all the varied operations of the Government, and with the great industries and the business activities of the people. In his knowledge of these American occupations and interests in their relation to national legislation he is unsurpassed; and this knowledge has guided some of the most important legislation of the last quarter of a century.
In 1874 he was chairman of the commission which devised the present form of government for the District of Columbia. In 1877 he served the cause of sound finance by his advocacy of what is known as the Bland-Allison bill, which fixed the coinage ratio of gold and silver until 1890. In connection with this legislation he recommended an international conference with a view to establishing among the commercial nations of the world the use of silver upon a ratio of equivalence to gold to be agreed upon, with the free mintage of both metals in all these countries at such ratio. This recommendation, incorporated in the legislation of 1878, was generally accepted by both the great national parties. His name is also prominently associated with the Currency act of 1900, which provides for a permanent reserve sufficient to make certain the convertibility, directly or indirectly, into gold at the will of the holder of all forms of money in circulation.
His part in shaping the tariff laws, since 1877, has been quite as conspicuous and far-reaching as his connection with financial legislation. He was a member of the subcommittee reporting the McKinley bill of 1890, was active in the amendment of the Wilson bill in 1894, and was on the subcommittee that prepared the amendments to the Dingley tariff bill of 1897. In all important measures, in fact, touching the financial and commercial policy of the country, Senator Allison has been a positive and a potent factor. He believes in the steady and consistent protection of our national industries and our labor interests against foreign capitalists and foreign paupers. He believes in high wages rather than low, because high wages educate more, consume more and buy more, and make better citizens. He would protect the labor of European immigrants as against Chinese labor, because the former can be assimilated and naturalized into citizenship, which the latter cannot—but is always alien. In all questions of this kind, as in all other questions touching public policy, his Americanism rings out clear and true.
Senator Allison was strongly urged by President Garfield to
