The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-09-28

negro suffrage in West Virginia as tha
the Radical party continues in power
Their party is pledged to it by thei
record, and Mr.. Stevenson is in favor o
it, for he voted for the amendment.
1t may be said that the right OF sui
frage and civil equality does not meal
social equality. Bnt, my friends, tn
one follows the other. What did tn
negro Lieutenant Governor of Louisi
ana say upon taking his seat. (Fo
they have q negro Lieutenant Governo
there, presiding in the Senate owe
white men.) He said, "Giye us civl
equality, and We will choose our dssoci
dtes," meaning that it would then be TO
him to say what white people he woult
be willing to associate with.
If negroes are placed in office, made
Governors, Senators, Legislators, Sher
ifs, &C., is there not a moral necessity
for social equalityi Will not the ne
cessities of their political friends, ad
herents and supporters compel 1T! l.
it is true, as charged. that Mr.. Stevenson
made speeches in Ohio with negro
man as his associate and colleague fol
the time, in favor of negro equality be
fore the law, is it not true that Mr.. Stew
enson must, on all occasions, grant tt
this negro man social equality so far as
to extend to him that degree of courte'
sy and respect demanded by previous
associations ? and does not this mean
social equality!
] do not wish to state Mr.. Stevenson's
position unfairly. Personally we are
friends; politically We differ widely up
on this important issue, and claim the
right to trace principles to their legitl'
mate results, without meaning that he
would personally do one thing or an
other. l only wish to illustrate the fact
that the principles of negro suffrage
and civil equality must and do lead to
social equality. But the policy of the
Radical party in this State, upon this
question, is not left to inference or con-
lecture, for we find on page LOG of the
Acts of the Legislature for 1868, an act
Incorporating Storer College at Har.
per's Ferry, in Jefferson county, "An
institution of learning, for the educa'
tion of youth, withOmt distinction Of rae,
or color" with power to establish in
said college such departments and
courses of study as the trustees may
elect, and with power to confer such
degrees as are usally conferred by col
leges and universities established fol
the education of youth" You see in
this direct effort on the part of the
Legislature TO mould and educate the
minds of the youth of our State in IA
vor of negro equality by making them
the associates and com panions of he.
groes in our schools and colleges.
1t is evident, then, that the leaders OF
the Republican party in West Virginia
are in favor of negro suffrage and equal
ity. The Conservative party are op'
posed to it. l am opposed to it. lfyou
are in favor of it, vote for that party
You have the same right to enjoy your
opinion that we have to enjoy ours
But, my friends, meet the issue square
ly. Don't vote for the Radical ticket
and afterward say you are not in favor
of negro suffrage.
FINANCE AND TAXATION.
If we pass from this To the subject OF
finance and-taxation, We will be sur
prsed, not at the magnitude of our
debt, for we have all learned to speak
glibly or It's miiliono, Int at the i'm
mense sums of money drawn from the
people into the public Treasury since
the close of the war. / have been i'm
pressed with the resources of our great
country, and astonished that our people,
without murmur, have paid larger
sums than have ever been collected by
any other Government of the werld.
say it not figuratively, but as fact,
that no nation, either modern or ancient,
ever paid into its Treasury such vast
SUNS as have been paid by our people
since the close of tine war.
In tho last two years over live hun
dred millions of dollars per year, have
been collected, and yet in these two
years our debt has not been perceptibly
And in the last year, with
a revenue of four hundred and seventy
it has actually been Increased
twelve and quarter million dollars.
We have been taught from our infan-
cy to look with wonder upon the debt
of Great Britain, and to synpathize
with her tax.ridden people. But by
comparing the debt and population with
the debt and population of Great
Britain, we find that while our debt
amounts to about seventy dollars to
each man, woman and child, theirs
to only about sixteen dollars,
and that while we paid into the Treasu'
ry in 1867 over five hundred million
dollars, they only paid three hundred
and fifty millions. Great Britain has a
taxable property of two aud hall
times as much as ours, and Il population
six times greater than we have, and yet
we paid one-third more revenue than
she did, with all her people and all her
property. Aud by comparison with
Austria, Prussia, France, &c, We find
we have by far the most expensive
army in the world; and yet they are
monarchies sustained by the bayonet
and the sword, and we re a Republic
And during all this time we have been
at peace.
There have been paid into the Treas
ury since the war, i'll round numbers
fifteen hundred millions-a sum greater
than one-half of our public debt
WHERE DID 1T COME FROM ! AND WHERE
HAS 1T GOMEZ
1t came from taxes levied upon two
thirds of the personal property of the
country, for the bonds pay no taxes
and the bonded debt ferns one-third oi
all the property of the country, leaving
out the real estate.
The whole property, real aud per
sonal, in the United States in 1860 was
about fourteen thousand millions. II
has not increa sed since that time, fer il
included the value of all slave property
and the then value of all the property
in the Southern country, which BOW
lays waste and unproductive. Our debt
is two thousand six hundred million
dollars, or oHe-sixth Of all the property
real and personal. But Mr.. Stevenson
tells you that real estate is not taxed
If that is 80, then the personal estate
pays all the taxes. And if the real es
tate is worth as much as the personal
estate-the bonds, which form one
third of all the personal estate, being
exempt from taxation-two-third o.
the personal property not only pays al
the taxes tor the support of the Govern
ment, but also pays taxes to support
the other third represented by tn,
honda tho nrnarS nf hich Iva nnnr