I believe it is possible to select some well-known man, who has carefully studied the subject of revenue collection, and could bring to the task executive skill, experience, and sound business and political sagacity, and that such a…

I had definitely made up my mind that if the Senate again rejected them I would resign.

I would not hold an office when my political friends forced me to act through unfriendly subordinates.

If the restoration of Arthur is insisted upon, the whole liberal element will be against us and it will lose us tens of thousands of votes without doing a particle of good.

It will be a personal reproach to me, and merely to gratify the insane hate of Conkling, who in this respect disregards the express wishes of the Republican Members from New York, of the great body of Republicans, and, as I personally…

Surely men like you and Windom, who have the courage of your convictions, should put a stop to this foolish and unnecessary warfare.

Three or four men who will tell Conkling squarely that, while you are his friends, you will not injure our party and our cause, would put a stop to this business.

This contest will be continued, and the only result of all this foolish madness will be to compel a Republican administration to appeal to a Democratic Senate for confirmation of a collector at New York.

Whatever may be the result in the Senate, and I can scarcely believe that, after so full an exposure, the nomination will be rejected, the plain-thinking people of this country will appreciate the attitude taken by the government as the…

The country is infinitely indebted to you for redeeming its faith by a return to honest money.

The plain purpose of the act is to secure to all interests and all classes the benefits of a sound currency, redeemable in coin, with the least possible disturbance of existing rights and contracts.

These provisions, intended to secure to the producers of bullion more speedy payment, will necessarily bring into the mints and treasury the great body of the precious metals mined in the United States, and will tend greatly to the easy…

After resumption the distinction between coin and United States notes should be, as far as practicable, abandoned in the current affairs of the government; and therefore no coin certificates should be issued except where expressly required…

By existing law, customs duties and the interest of the public debt are payable in coin, and a portion of the duties was specifically pledged as a special fund for the payment of the interest, thus making one provision dependent upon the…

As we cannot, with due regard to the public honor, repeal the obligation to pay in coin, we ought not to impair or repeal the means provided to procure coin.

When, happily, our notes are equal to coin, they will be accepted as coin, both by the public creditor and by the government; but this acceptance should be left to the option of the respective parties, and the legal right on both sides to…

The resumption act, by clear implication, so far modifies previous laws as to permit payments in United States notes as well as in coin.

The provision for coin payments was made in the midst of war, when the notes were depreciated and the public necessities required an assured revenue in coin to support the public credit.

If United States notes are received for duties at the port of New York, they should be received for the same purpose in all other ports of the United States, or an unconstitutional preference would be given to that port over other ports.

However desirable continuous resumption may be, and however confident we may feel in its maintenance, yet the experience of many nations has proven that it may be impossible in periods of great emergency.

In such events the public faith demands that the customs duties shall be collected in coin and paid to the public creditors, and this pledge should never be violated or our ability to perform it endangered.

It would seem to be more just and expedient not to force any form of money upon a public creditor, but to give him the option of the kind and denomination.

The only way by which moneys of different kinds and intrinsic values can be maintained in circulation at par with each other is by the ability, when one kind is in excess, to readily exchange it for the other.

The refusal or neglect to maintain this species of redemption inevitably effects the exclusion from circulation of the most valuable, which, thereafter, becomes a commodity, bought and sold at a premium. . . .

I worked hard that winter, for hard work, I thought, was the way to fortune.