The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-10-02

\ 81
| competent to vote with a wise and cOnsderate
| regard for the public good. Some of them are
but the number, ID comparatively small. AS
| they become usedtO taking care OF themselyes-
! as they become thrifty INTELLIGENT and con
scious OF their new responsibilities, they ought
to be and will be admitted to the exercise of
| poltlcal poWer-tor all classes of the Southern
| people VIII Oe equally interested in this result
| Besides this general cause operating steadily
70 secure negro suffrage at the South, we shall
soon nave another. As soon as the Union is
| restored, ana political activity renewed, the
| contending parties in the South will need and
| seek the negro vote-just as they seek the
| foreign vote in the North. This Is alwavs n
poWerIul motive Tor the extension of the suffrage
4 NO PREJUDICE can stand against IT. and It often
| oVefrldes the soundest and most weignty arpu-
| ments. We have the germ of such parties al.
ready existing IN the South. just as soon as
| pressure from without can be removed and the
| south can be lett free to canvass its own inre-
rests, and TO act from its own impulses. we shall
see in every State rival parties Contending for
| poWer-the party of progress struggling with
| lhe party Ut reaCtion-a party for home manu-
| iactures and party for free trade-a party for
| internal improvements and party against
| them; all the elements of sharp party divisions
| exist in the southern States, and will be RAPIDLY
developed into full activity Just SO soon as thev
| are left free to attend to their home affairs
| And we shall then find the negro playing lust as
! important part in the pollucs of the Southern
| states as the immigrant now plavs in the
Northern, and with substantially the same
| results.
The eXtirpaton of slavery has struck death
blow at the mere prejudice based on race or
color, which has hitherto excluded the negro
from political and civil rights. 1t may not die
instantly, but it will very speedily lose its com
manding power, and yield, like all other mere
preJudices, to the force of reason and the en-
lghtened and liberal spirit OF the age. The
colored race may not be at once admitted TO
the right of suffrage, but it will not be- as it has
Deen hitherto, solely or mainly on account of
It's race or color but because slavery, aud the
preJudices which had their root in slavery, have
deprived that race of the means and opportu-
mites OF becoming qualified for the exercise of
political power. When that obstacle is removed
its admission will be prompt and easy.
Our Foreign Relations and Our Financial
From me HeraId.
W. have the information from Washington that
the official statement OF the public debt will be
issued on the 9th of October that it will show a
considerable reduction of the debt, and that the
com balance has increased to the same extent
that 1t did during August, namely, about fifteen
millions. Other facts are aleo mentioned, show
ing a healthy condition of the Treasury and
that all things considered. we are getting along
under Mr.. McCullOch's financial tactics az well
as could be expected. According TO his monthly
report OF September there was a net reduction
of the public debt for the month of August last
OF S37, ,4l6, los, reduction SINCE the lst OF June
last Of $74,605, 1885, and since August, 1865, when
the debt had reached its highest there has been
total reduction OF Sl6l, $40, ,l08. AT the rate Of
the last three months it is estimated that the
whole debt can be paid off IN nine years, and
that at the average of the past year it can be
settled in sixteen years.
1t is thus apparent that with the continuance
of peace our national debt, which, at the close
OF the wal, was accepted as a burden that would
rest upon the shoulders OF the people Tor per-
haps hundred ears TO come, may be removed
without any extraordinary efforts within the next
ten years. But here the question recurs, If this
thing may be achieved under the present loose
and makeShift management Of our national
finances and under our present heavy and waste
full system OF internal taXations and tax collec-
iions could not the same result under some
easy reforms, be reached as soon, while lirhten-
ing az the same time our general schedule of
taXations, internal and external? 1t is TO the
solution OF this question that we would now in
yite the special attention of President Johnson.
He has 1t now within mis- power, by carefully
digested measures of reform and retrenchment
III expenditures and IN taxes and in the manage
ment OF the national Treasury, 10 open the way
for the payment of our national debt within
fifteen years, with reduction of our taxes as
we 90 on, beginning say at twenty per cent, aud
still cutting them down from year TO year till
they reach the standard of a peace establish
ment, relieved of debt, interest and principal.
som ething is due to that great body Of the
people who have borne the immediate burdens
OF the war and the essening of their present
taXatons, especially on the necessaries of lie,
may be proftably undertaken, even in view of
some extension OF the time when, from the pre-
sent rate of the quarterly or yearly surplus of
the Treasury, the whole burden OF our national
debt will be removed. In this view a recon-
structon bill reported from the Committee of
Fifteen at the last session OF Congress, giving to
the lately rebe lhous States margin of ten
years for the payment OF their proportion of
this debt would be good thing: Tor in ope-
rating to the rapid development of the industry
and commercial products of the South, this
measure would in every way operate to
strengthen the hands of the North and to in
crease the resources of the Treasury. This bill
as part OF the reconstruction plan of fCongress,
should not be overlooked by the South. Let
them come in at once under the amendment
and they will get their ten years. credit for this
Congress, after proposing this induCement, can
not safely deny 1T.
But leaving the rec instruction plan of Con-
gress to take its course we would urge upon
President Johnson the financial reforms and
relrenchments suggested as atiordlng him a
broad field for the greatest results to his Ad-
ministration and the country. We have from
time 10 time indicated some of the specific
measures OF reform called for, including the
saving OF the item OF twenty-five or Ghlrty mil.
lions now absorbed in the perquisites of the
rational banks. Then, again. the boundless
resources OF the Government mineral lands Of
our new States and Territories from the Rocky
Mountains to the Pacific, in some way, not to
the prejudice of miners and settlers, but to
their advantage, might be made to relieve ma
terially the burden OF taxes of every taGpayer
in the land. In all these suggestions there is
field for such an executive message to Congress
in December as will electrlfy the country with
new inspiration oil confidence in President
Johnson.
Equally inviting and not less to the credit and
glory OF his Administration, is the policy SUI
gested III the present state of things touching
our relations with England, France and Spain
Mexico, and the South American States; indem-