The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-19


the Democrats Of the Tennessee Legislature
happen to elect Andrew johnson Senator or
reject the fifteenth amendment. To this ex-
tent we deem Governor Senter's apprehen-
sions groundless.
And yet IL is unquestionably true, as he
suggests, that the spirit and purposes revealed
by the majority at Nashville will in some de-
gree influence the decision of Congress when
o proposal to abrogate disabilities comes up
for consideration, aud will also influence the
feeling of the Republican party upon other
questions more directly affecting the pros
perity of the South. The result of the late
election was due to the generous course pur-
sued by Governor Senter and the resistance
of the more moderate Republicans to the pro-
scriptive policy of Stokes and his friends.
While the canvass lasted, no mention was
made of measures which the Democratic mem
bers of the Legislature now propose to enact.
There was no talk, then, of a crusade against
the common school system or the political
privileges of the freedmen. On the contrary,
the Democrats who supported Senter pro-
tessed to be as willing as the radicals who
supported Stokes to accept the new order of
things-negro suffrage iRcluded-as an ac-
complished fact. The main issue of the
election was continued prescription or the
speediest possible removal of all disabilities
and those of us at the North who sympathized
with the liberal and generous views of the
Senter party saw, or thought we saw, in their
success an assurance of harmony and pros
perity in the State.
If, then, the aggressive spirit manifested
by the maj jority in the Legislature be per-
sisted In, the reasoning which led Governor
Senter, Mr. Brownlow, and the enfranchising
Republicans of Tennessee to take an ad-
vanced position will need to be reconsidered
Disfranchisement is bad, but it's burdens. if
they are to be borne at ALL better fit the
shoulders of those who fought against the
Union than those who battled in its defense
And though there may be no immediate
remedy for the wrongs which seem to be
impending in Tennessee, we may be quite
sure that they will indirectly influence Re-
publican opinion in other States, and at
Washington, in connection with the disabi-
ities over which Congress retains control
The abstract argument in favor of universal
amnesty will continue sound. But the ex-
pediency of its enactments will be open to
some doubt if the experience of Tennessee
prove that those who suffer from disabili-
ties wait but for the opportunity to abuse
any power they may acquire. The opposi-
ton offered to the fifteenth amendment
tends to indicate the necessity for its ratif-
cation. And the proscriptive temper of
the party which has most to gain from the
removal of disabilities is the strongest
subject.
DECLINE OF AMERICAN COMMERCE..
From the " Y. Sun.
A Congressional committee, appointed to
inquire into the causes of the present state of
decline of American commerce. has Just con-
cluded its sessions in this city, and has now
gone to Boston to continue its labors there.
1t has been waited upon by some of our most
eminent Sbip-buil1arG and shin orunaro opd
their testimony has been taken at length
They all agree that tho amount of tonnage of
American vessels engaged in foreign com
merce has fallen off greatly since the begin
ming of the late war; but when it comes to
assigning reasons for this state of things and
suggesting remedy for it, they are anything
but unanimous. The ship-builders say that
at present it costs too much to build ships
here, but that if the duties and internal reve-
nue. taxes on the materials employed could be
either taken off directly, or drawback al
lowed to counterbalance them, they could
build ships better and cheaper than their Eu-
ropean rivals, and thus restore the former
preponderance of America on the ocean The
ship-owners, on the other hand, say that the
dearness of American ships is the result of
the higher wages paid to American mecha-
MICS, and their remedy would be to repeal the
laws which at present discriminate against
foreign-built ships, and allow such ships,
when owned by American citizens, to be put
on the same footing with ships built here.
One party, in a word, wants free trade in the
materials for ships, while the other wants free
trade in ships themselves.
Between these two rival interests the
patriotic American will have little difficulty
in choosing on which to bestow his SYM
pathies. If it be possible, by reducing duties
and taxes, to enable American shipbuilders to
successfully compete with those of Europe,
he would, beyond all question, prefer to
| adopt that policy rather than to let foreign
built ships come in and deprive American
mechanics of employment. However plausible
may be the theories of free traders. they can
not conceal the fact that the destruction of
the shipbuilding business on this side of the
Atlantic, as far as it has gone, is a national
calamity; and if it were to go still further SO
that our coasting vessels and even our ferry
| boats should be built abroad it would greatly
| cripple our national strength. If anything is
| to be done, let us give up all attempt to col
lect revenue from the wood, metal, and rig
ging of ships, and see if that will not restore
life to our now idle shipyards.
But while we are about the work of taking
off the burdens which interfere with the pros
perity of American shipping, we ought not to
forget one very important one, which nobody
| examined by the Congressional Committee
seems to have thought OF suggesting. This is
the local taxation of our great seaport cities.
1t will be of little use to reduce the first cost
of an American-owned vessel while. SO long
as she is engaged in the carrying trade, she
has to pay, as vessels belonging to citizens of
Boston, New York, and Philadelphia now
have to pay, tax of from two and one-quar-
ter to fOuT naP cant On her yalua avarv war