John Winston Jones

“ It has been said that the power of legislation is the highest trust that man can confide to his fellow-man. If this be so, how strikingly must every member of this body be impressed' with the increased magnitude of the trust, in view of the mighty questions upon which you have been called upon to act and to decide. There has, perhaps, been no period in the history of this Government, when so many questions of deep and pervading interest have agitated the public mind, and engaged the deliberations of the American Congress. ”

“ These duties, always important, always arduous and difficult, are often delicate in the extreme ; and I have sometimes doubted whether the dignity and honor of the station, exalted as it is, more than compensates for the deep anxiety and care which its duties impose. ”