John Sherman

I do not regard the bill for the free coinage of silver as a party measure or a political measure upon which parties are likely to divide.

We are very nearly out of the woods now, and if you will add the free coinage of silver on equal terms with gold, and will cause the treasury of the United States to coin the silver that is there on the same terms that it does gold, I…

Our differences will not permit our people to wait further adjustment when they are in a death struggle with poverty and wretchedness.

The people cannot afford to wait without encountering all the hardships of bankruptcy and ruin. . . .

On the contrary, I shall go back to the pursuit of my profession with my mind and my heart filled with only grateful recollection and a pleasurable, and I trust a pardonable, pride for the gallant, intrepid band who have honored me with…

Let us here and now put behind us, with the contest to which it belongs, whatever unkindliness of feeling, if there be any at all, that may have been engendered.

There has been possibly some rasping and some friction, but at this hour it is our highest duty to remember that from now on henceforth, in the language again of the Senator, we must remember that we are no longer Sherman men nor Foraker…

Although you have been engaged in this friendly contest, we are all Republicans and I trust ever will be Republicans, true to our cause, and true to the principles we advocate.

He is entitled to the love and affection of the people of Ohio, and if you have given me this high honor because of my experience, you have not underrated the high qualities, mental and moral, of Governor Foraker.

I am glad to say that in this contest I have held, in my language and in my heart, the highest feelings of respect and honor for the gentleman who was my competitor, and who is now before you.

I know, gentlemen, that you have been called upon to make a choice which was unpleasant to you because you would have liked to vote for both of us, and would have been glad to have two Senators to elect instead of one.

Long trusted by the people of Ohio, I am under obligations that I cannot express in any language at my command.

Senators, Representatives and Fellow Citizens:--I return to you my most grateful thanks for the very high honor you have conferred upon me.

No deceits, no frauds, can defeat it--the Republican party.

It evinced an appreciation of the past and a hope for, and a belief in, the future.

It proved that they appreciate that the party still has a mission.

It showed that the people believe in the Republican party.

I began to believe that these interviews, fairly reported, were better modes of expressing my opinions than formal speeches, and were more generally read.

My speech was as free from partisanship as I could make it, and I am quite willing to stand upon the policy I defined.

It will give to our farmers a greatly enlarged market for their productions, and encourage them in producing articles not now produced, and to increase their flocks, herds and horses to meet the new demands.

It will give to thousands of our people now idle, employment at fair wages.

It will undoubtedly establish new branches of industry in our country not now pursued.

Now, this McKinley bill does meet, substantially, my views of public policy.

It seemed to me a retrograde measure, born of the ideas of the south, narrow in its scope, and not suited to a great country of unbounded but undeveloped resources.

If we could all divest ourselves of the influence of party feeling we would have no difficulty in agreeing that either bill is better than a constant agitation and change of our tariff system.