The Richmond palladium., 1865-08-03
AUG. 3, 1868.
The Pressing Wants of the Freedmen

/ ne Pressing Wants OF the Freedmen.
The proposition to extend the elective
franchise TO the colored man is highly
{ creditable to the hearts of those who
advocate it, and a happy illustration oil
the progress of liberal opinions in this
country The only difference which can
exist between the friends of the enfran
chised bondman is one of policy and not
of sentiment There is a respectable
/ portion Of the L Mon party who honestly
! believe that there are other claims due
colored men vastly more important to
+ his we'll being than the bare privilege OF
voting. These claims must be accorded
to him in no reluctant spirit for otherwise
( the ballot will be of no earthly benefit
to him. What but a mockery is the right
4 to vote to a man when, owing to his be
ing in hopeless minority. the ballot so
generously accorded him is helpless to
regain him a single social or political
prerogatise: II is proposed to grant
the poor negro the privilege of going TO
+ the polls on election day and rendering
his vote as an independent citizen. Sup
pose the requisite change OF the Con
stitntion were made and the point car
ried. will the colored man be allowed the
privilege of exercising his new born
right in the perfect freedom and willing
ness with which it is accorded to the
white citizen? Will he not be jostled Mt
the poll, and thrust aside by the rude
and vulgar. who cannot overcome their
prejudices: Suppose you make 1t the
imperative duty of every colored child
to 60 to school. will shat duty be fulfilled
when an unsurmountahle prejudice con
fronts the poor child at the school house
door: And again, suppose an intelligent,
honest, enterprising colored man, pos
sessing capacity and capital. were to en-
gage in mercantile pursuits, would the
same courtesy be extended to him on the
wharf. ut the freight depot or on change
as to the white man of business of no
more worth and intelligence? There
are hundreds of colored men in the
country ready to labor; and we know
that some of them are happy IN being
allowed the privilege of earning an hon
est living unmolested by hard task
master Ii one of these colorcd men,
say one who was young, genteel and in
telligcnt should aspire to the position
OF clerk or book keeper in a store or
shop, would the place if vacant be given
to him? Let the sincere advocate of
negro suffrage, if merchant, answer
lulS question:
The difficulty is the friends of the
colored man. in an honest desire to ele-
vate him in the scale of civilization have
commenced ut the top of the ladder in
stead of the bottom where any reforma-
ton to be successful must begin. 1t
would be adding insult to injury to grant
an oppressed race an empty political
privilege and ut the same time practical
ly deny them the commonest social
rights. 1t is easy to denounce this spirit
of caste as selfish, unjust and wicked;
but there it stands a naked and ugly fact
and cannot be disposed of by simply
giving its poor victim the ballot.
What can be done then2 Let us com
mence at the root of the evil, and if it
cannot be entirely eNtirpated our labors
cannot fail to result in enduring good to
an unfortunate but much neglected race
The immediate wants of the colored
man are freedom to labor for his bread
wherever he can get the faircst rumuncra
ton for his toil-freedom to work at
ANYTHING he chooses or that he is quail
fled to perform. He needs the bless
ings of education, the purifying influence
of religion. and a social freedom which
will not utterly close the door to his as
pirations for a higher civilization; and
when these things are given him, freely
and without reluctance we will be among
the last to refuse an empty honor of so
little practical value to him-the elective
franchise.-Barlin9ton Howk Eye.