"In response to the third inquiry directed by the resolution, viz.:
'Whether any of the Members whose names appeared on said alleged contract had or have, either directly or indirectly, any unlawful, corrupt or improper connection with, or interest in, the ballot boxes which are the subject-matter of said alleged contract.'
"We find that no one of the persons whose names appear on said alleged contract had or has, either directly or indirectly, any unlawful, corrupt, or improper, or any other connection with, or interest in, the ballot boxes which are said to be the subject of said alleged contract, and that there never was any other contract relating to said ballot boxes in which either of these persons, alone or jointly with others, was in any way interested."
William E. Mason, chairman of the committee, added to the report quoted the following just and true statement, which relieved Foraker and Halstead from the implication stated in the report:
"If our unanimous finding is correct that Messrs. Halstead and
Foraker did not know the paper was forged when the uttered it, then
they were deceived by some one, for we have found it was a forgery.
Being deceived, then, is their only offense.
"They each have made reputation and character equal perhaps to any of the gentlemen who were outraged by the forgery. Since they found they were deceived, they have done all in their power, as honorable men, to make amends. To ask more seems to me to be most unjust, and, believing as I do that the evidence does not warrant the censure indulged in by my associates on the committee in their above additional findings, I most respectfully, but most earnestly, protest."
This unfortunate incident, not fully explained before the election, created sympathy for Campbell and naturally displeased friends of McKinley, Butterworth and myself. I did not feel the least resentment after Halstead denounced the forgery, but entered with increased energy into the canvass. During this period I had promised to attend, on the 15th of October, a banquet given by the citizens of Cleveland to the delegates to the Pan-American Congress, then making a progress through the United States, to be presided over by my colleague, Senator Payne. As this speech is outside of the line of my usual topics, the toast being "The Congress of American States," and yet relates to a subject of vital importance, I introduce it as reported in the Cleveland "Leader:"
"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen:—The toast you ask me to respond to is the expression of a hope indulged in by many of the ablest statesmen of the United States ever since our sister American states dissolved their political connections with European powers. Henry Clay, as early as 1818, when proposing to acknowledge the independence of the South American states, eloquently depicted the mutual advantage of closer commercial relations with those states. Mr. Monroe proclaimed to the world the determination of the United States not to suffer any European power to interfere with the internal concerns of independent American states. Still no effective measures were adopted to promote intercourse between them. The hope of closer union has not been realized, mainly because of the neglect of the government of the United States. We have been too much engaged in political disputes and in the development of our own resources. Then we have had a serious unpleasantness among ourselves, which, if it had terminated differently, would have made us very unacceptable partners. But, now, all this is past and gone, and I can give assurance to our guests that not only the government of the United States, but the people of the United States, all parties and of every section, have united heartily in inviting you here, that they will do their full share in carrying out your recommendations, and sincerely hope that your conference will lead to a congress of American nations.
"I look upon this conference as having the same relation to the future of America as the conference of the thirteen British colonies, in 1774, had to the declaration of American independence. That conference led to the constitution of the United States and was the beginning of the independence of all the American states. Your conference is of infinitely greater importance, for your deliberations affect the interests of more than one hundred million people, while theirs only affected three million. But, more important still, your conference contemplates only peaceful aids for mutual benefit; theirs provided for war and a desperate struggle with superior forces.
"I do not recall, in the annals of man, a meeting of the selected representatives of any nations with nobler aims or with greater opportunity for good than this conference of American states. You seek to prevent war by peaceful negotiations and arbitration; you seek to promote intercourse with each other by land and by sea; you seek, as far as the wants and interests of each nation will permit, to remove unnecessary restrictions to trade and commerce; you seek to bring into closer union sixteen republics and one empire, all of them governed by free institutions. You do not unite to conquer, but to help each other in developing your resources and in exchanging your productions.