The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-11-22
Negro Suffrage in the south.
From the Worid.

The Republican party is deficient iu the
breadth of view and forecast which appreciate
the force of natural tendencies, and which re-
frain from attempting by legislation what is sure
TO come about by the operation of natual causes
That party fails to perceive that great social
changes are fruitful; that when transitional
events of the first magnitude have taken place
a train of other events necessarily follows to
bring existing social conditions into harmony
with the new circumstances. 1t is the part o.
political wisdom to descry those consequences;
TO judge which of them will follow or them
selves, and which req uire the intervention OF
Government; to torbear beating drums and
clatteIing kettles and pans to bring the sun out
OF an eclipse, when the celestial motions VIII
seJenely deliver it without such ObstreDerous
aid.
We incline to think that If the negro.suffrage
question could be fairly opened, and placed in
its true light, the political interest in it would
rapidly evaporate. The zeal of its advocates
and the stiffness otits opponents would probably
give way to the camer interest which, IN en-
lghtened minds, ii Will long continue to have
as a moral, social, and chronological question.
At any rate, if we could foresee what would be
the natural train of unforced consequences
both parties might judge, how far interference
must prove needless on the one hand and re-
sistauce unava'ling on the other.
Let us suppose that the Southern Senators
and Representatives were freely admitted with
out conditions and that the North should for
bear to press the negro question ang farther.
The Southern people would teel that great
obstacle had been removed to their mendiDg
their broken fortunes. All the best energies OF
the best class Of Southern minds would be bent
IN that direction. Capital the great want of all
new countries, the great want OF all bankrupt
Countres-and the South is both undeyeloped
and bankIupt-wouldr readily flow in under the
| prospect OF an assured tranquility, and IN rel-
anCe on the security that could be given by
! Southern landholders after the complete resto-
| ration of titles by a general amnesty. The office
| of capital is to set labor in motion. The returns
! OF capital can come in no other way than
! through the employment OF labor. 1t is only BY
! returniug the products OF labor, or what the
| products of labor sell for INTO the hands of
! investors, that they can ever get back their
capital and profit on 1t.
Now, it is obvious that a brisk demand for
labor, and anxiety and competition on the part
| OF employers to secure as much as they need in
their enterprises, would be the best conceivable
condition of things for the freedmen, who,
totally destitute at the outset, must find the be-
! ginnings of competence in what they can save
out OF their earnings. 1t is circumstance
favorable to their future prospects, that white
! emigration will go slowly into the Southern
States. There are large districts where the
4 climate, though cOngenial to the negro, is un-
favorable TO the white race. The tide of Euro
/ pean immigration, both German aud Irish, will,
| tor various reasons, continue to set towards
| other States.
The cheap fertile lands of the West lie in
climate not very different from that Ot the couu-
tries whence the immigrants came. Most of them
have relatives or other friends who have pre-
ceded them in their exodus rom the old COun-
tries; and on strange continent new cOmers
will naturally value neighbors OF their own race
and kindred For whole generation to come,
the South, If it can command capital to develop
its resources, will experience a dearth OF labor.
Even before the war, labor was its great want
In the course OF the last fifteen wears of South
ern prosperity, slaves doubled or trebled in value
The gI eat source of hope to the freedmen, II
the radicals will permit Southern prosperity 10
revive, will consist in the TACT that their services
| fra1ic NcuNl or tun
vests, they will have the means of emf grating
to any part OF the country. With this ability
they will not stay where they do not receive
fair treatment. If they are unjustly dealt oy
in the South, they will emlgrate to he hosplta-
{ BILE West IT one Southern Slate holds out ad,
vantages denied 10 them in others, they VIII
, throrg to that State. 1t the Southern states do
not on the uniform system, bestow on them
Justice and kindness, the freedmen will either
flee from the South, as the Irish have forsaSeh
Ireland, OF few enlightened Southern States
will keep them back by bidding against tue
| West for the monopoly of their labor. Southern
land is as worthless as the sands Of Sahara W'lh-
out labor 10 cultivate it: and the instinct OF sel
preservation will compel even the most Ill lpeIaI @
Southern State to grant the same adVantages
4 | which davis ride in the cars will enable tue
i negroes to enjoy elsewhere.
t A people SO situated cannot be oppIesseu,
| Whenever they set anV value on the elecmNo =
: franchise they will be able to command IT, Inc Inc
same motives which induced our Western otateS
10 make voters OF unnaturallzed ahehs aheho "a as
operate with full force in the SOUTH as asIa soY 'te
Q that section can command capital TO rebuild i,S
e shattered prosperity. Greenbacks may De scs',
tered over the SOUTH but green backs can pau
and pick cotton, construct no ralirUs" oras
7 or warehouses, open and work no mines, press
Q no sugarcane gather no rice. All that monsS ~
l. can do Is to set in operation the human nsnur
o white or black, by which these opeIauohs o. a
= performed. To release Southern properly " o. ~
o amnesty, SO that It's owners can give seouI.S
It for loans to trauquillze the country bY restoln
4 ton; to pour capital into the South a. tWehs,
- vaara apn ~ xpaq nnurad inf0 the West-thH Is