The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-01-30
EFFECTS OF THIS RECONSTRUCTION
-...H pnTYHY

some of the effects that have already
resulted from this reconstruction policy.
Dreadful as was the disorganiZation OF
society at the South, resulting from the
war, impoverished as was the condition
of her people, so much accustomed are
; Americans to the dominion Of law and
order, and so recuperative are their
we'll known energies and character, that
had no obstacle been interposed, no
stone laid in their path, not six months
would have elapsed after Lees sur
render before quiet would have every
where prevailed, and the South would
have once more been on the high read
to comfort, if not to prosperity. But
what is the fact For more than two
years her state has approached almost
to anarchy, and the suherings of her
people for the very necessities of life
have been almost without parallel.
One year ago your purses were open
to relieve their distress, which you
were then told was but temporary
and would soon pass away.
Now that distress is far greater than
ever, and high officials assure us that
not less than three millions of human
beings are almost destitute Of food. An
appropriation of thirty millions of dol
lars for their relief has been seriously
proposed, and even that, we are told, is
but measure of the dag. These ac-
counts of distress may be exaggerated,
! and very probably they are, but the fact
that destitution exists 10 degree sell
dom known in the anauals of mankind,
cant OF he denied Ivy any one who re-
CARDS the truth. 1t is found in the
statements of men of all parties and of
all occupations, but it is yet more sig
nificantly shown by the records of your
own governments. Those ten States
that formerly paid their full share of
the taxation Of the country, if not
more, are now so reduced that, in the
last fiscal year, Ohio alone paid $685.
900 more taxes than them all. speak
of the taxes derived from internal rev.
enue alone.
The amount paid by the whole ten Of
the Southern STATES for the last fiscal
year was Sl9,693,749. In the same year
Ohio paid ?25,OSl, 400. Nothing could
more clearly demonstrate the impover-
ishcd condition of the South, and moth
ing more clearly shows how that condi-
tion imposes upon the people of the
North q burden of taxation that does not
belong to us. Every year that the
South is kept in this condition lays adj
ditional burdens upon you; every day
draws additional tribute from your
pockets; every hour makes ii more diff
ficult for you to support life. 1t is not,
then, the South alone that is concerned
IN this matter; the North is also con-
cerncd. What impoverishes the one
section impoverishes the other; what
makes desolate the homes of the one
makes dcsOlate the homes of the other;
what causes the Southern child to cry
for bread stintS the portion that the
Northern mother gives to her offspring.
NEGRO SUFFRAGE.
"But," say the Radicals, "these evils
are but as dust in the balance, cOmpar-
ed with the great object to he attained
by our reconstruction scheme, the ele-
vation of the negro by means of negro
suffrage"
Ny friends, of all the dclusions have
ever known, this idea Otpoiitieal equal
| ity between the white and black races
seems TO me the greatest. For more
than four thousand years the history of
this world has been written, and in all
that time there is not one recorded an-
nal of IA civilized negro government;
there is not one instance of political
equality between the two races that has
not proved iniurious to both; and yet it
is proposed to confer up0n an inferior
race the dominion over one-third of the
Republic, and To make it a balance OF
power that. nine times ont OF ten,
| would, for that reason, control the
whole country. There can be but one
end to this scheme if it be much longer
prosecuted. 1t is impossible that the
race TO which we belong can submit to
negro domination; it is impossible that
so inferior a race as the negro can COM
pete with the white man in the busi-
ness, much less in tho politics of the
country.
The determination Of the negro, or his
expulsion from this country, must be
the inevitable result of the Radical pol
icy, if persisted in. But before that
happens, what untold evils may await
us, what anarchy, what confusion, what
impovershment, what distress. Worse
than Mexico, worse than the South
American Republics, will be the condi-
tion Of large portion of this country,
If that policy prevails. And here let me
caution you, my friends, that the ques
tion of negro suffrage was not settled by
your votes last October. 1t is true that
YOU voted it down in Ohio, but 1t is
! equally trHe that what you refuse 10
permit here You are asked to impose up
on others. II is equally true that what
YOU have sOlrmuly condemned, Radi-
cal Congress may impose upon you in
spite of your cOndcmndtlUu-lmpus mp
on you by an amendment to the COnst;-
tuition OF the United States, ratified by
other States, though rejected by Ohio.
If you would guard against negro suf-
frage, if you would guard against po-
litIcnl equality with the negro, you
must not be satisfied with sending its
opponents to the Legislature of your
State, but you must keep its advocates
out of the halls OF your Congress. You
have faithful representatives in your
General Assembly; see that you have
an equally faithful representative in
your Federal Congress.
TAXATION.
Now, my friends, have few words
to say on another subject.
Iu the last fiscal year the amount of
taxes collected by the General Govern
ment exceeded $500, 100000; that is,
about twenty times as much as used to
be collected under General Jackson.
Five hundred millions are collected in
taxes by the General Gov vernment alone.
Thisincludes the internal revenue taxes
and the taxes derived from customs, but
it does not include any of the tax paid
by the people to manufacturers, and
which never goes to the Government,
by reason of the enhanced price of COM
modities, but tits just what goes into
Golfers of the Government. Now, the
taxes collected under State authority
amount to not quite two hundred mil
lions more, making the taxes collected
by the General Government and the
State amount, in round numbers, to
seven hundred millions of dollars.
Now let us sec what is the whole an
nual product of the industry of the
I ITpitaI StataS tbot fbinu nrn