"Approved, March 3, 1887."
But the blood of my Republican associates was up. I got
a few Republican votes for my Bill. It passed the House
by a vote of 172 to 67. Every Massachusetts Representative
voted for the Bill, as did Speaker Reed. But in general
the votes against it were Republican votes. Governor Long
made an able speech in its favor.
In the Senate three Republicans only voted with me. Among
the nays were several Senators who, as members of the House,
had voted for a Bill involving the same principle in 1869.
Mr. Evarts, though absent at the time of this vote, declared
his approval of the Bill in debate; and so, I think, did Mr.
Dawes, although of that I am not sure. Mr. Edmunds opposed
it with all his might and main.
Mr. Sherman, always a good friend of mine, remonstrated with
me. He asked me with great seriousness, if I was conscious
of the extent of the feeling among the Republicans of the
Senate at my undertaking to act in opposition to them on
this and one or two other important matters, to which he
alluded. I replied that I must of course do what seemed to
be my duty, and that in my opinion I was rendering a great
service to the Republican Party in getting rid of the controversy
in which the people sympathized generally with the Democrats,
and that I thought the gentlemen who differed from me, would
come to my way of thinking pretty soon.
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