The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-10-16
AFTER THE NEXT CENSUS-WHAT?

We have little hope of any far-reaching po-
hical and financial reforms until after the
census of 1S7O but we look forward with
great confidence TO the next decade. During
the next ten years our politics will turn upon
questions of finance, currency, and taxation
and, owing to the new geographical distribu-
ton of political power, the influence of the
West In our politics will be predominant
The population of the New England States is
nearly stationary; in none of the States east
of the Alleghenies has the progress of popu-
lation kept pace with the marvellous growth
of the free and expansive West. Had it not
been for the war, the influence of the West in
this decade QS60-70) would have been ia
greater; the uppermost idea in the Western
mind being ordinarily material and industrial
development--an idea which has been
eclipsed and overborne by the great civil con-
vulsion consequent on the Presidential cleo
ton of 1SG0-the year when the last census
was taken Before the new apportionment of
Representatives on the basis of the next CEN
sus, The engrossin3 questions of this decade
will have disappeared from our politics, and
the increased ascendancy Of the West will be
fully felt. Westward the star of empire
takes its way and the weight Of chat section
in the period between 1870 and 1880 will be
increased by the accumulations of the two
preceding decades In the present decade
the West has not welded the influence due to
its increase Of population from 1850 to 1860
In questions purely financial the West and
the South are natural aliies-the chief in
dustry of both sections being agriculture
and the influence of the South in national
politics has been practically abolished since
the census of 1860. But, during the next
decade, the South will be in the Union with
increased power. The South will have an in
creased representation in Congress in conse-
quence of the abolition of slavery, which will
cause fUe-ffths of its colored population to
| be counted, instead of tT6e-ffths as under
| the last census. The weight of the South in
| the national councils will thus be increased
| and from similarity of interests, the South
will reinforce the West, and their joint in
| fluence will operate as q unit. But the West
| will take the lead, and the increase Of its
| Representatives will enable it to dictate the
politics of the nation After the next census
| the will of the West cannot be successfully
resisted; and all speculations respecting the
| future course of our politics will go widely
| astray, unless they are based on a correct
| estimate of thetendencies of Western opinion.
There can be no doubt that the predominant
sentiment of the West is vigorously opposed
to protective tariff. There can be no bet
ter proof of this than the fact that free trade
| doctrines are making rapid progress among
the Republicans of that section. The two
most popular, able, influential, and widely cir
culated Republican journals in the West
the Chicago Tribune and Cincinnati COh1aer-
c6GI--are outspOken, intrepid advocates of
| free trade The interests OF that section en-
list it ON the free trade side. The West Gas
well as its natural ally, the South) is COM
munity of agriculturists: that is to say, a COM
| munity of consumers Of manufactured goods,
and not of producers, IL is the interest of all
| consumers that goods should be cheap; and it
! is the professed object OF protection to make
goods dear, in order that American lnanutac-
turers may be able to hold the home market.
The West and the South are reliably anti
tariff; and, during the next decade, the COM
bined West and South will have a controlling
majority in Congress-the West gaining a
great access of strength by the growth of its
population, and the South by counting the
whole of its colOred population, instead of
three-fifths of it as heretofore. AS the new
census is to be taken next year, we are al
ready i'll the dawn Of great and final triumph
of free-trade principles IN our tariff legisla-
ton.
On the important questions connected with
the national debt the interests of the West
| and South are also identical. A very small
proportion of the Government bonds is held
in either section. The South has been pre-
cluded from purchasing them by its poverty
and its pressing need of capital for active
uses and the West by high rates OF interest
which afford a more profitable employment
of capital than investment in Government
bonds. There can be no party either in the
West or South that will favor the bondholders
at the expense of the just interests OF the
nation.
On the currency question, we fear that the
influence of the West will not be salutary.
The West desires abundance OF money; it
shrinlls from a reduction of prices; 1t will
probably continue to oppose, as it mas hitherto
successfully opposed, contraction Of the cur
rency with view to the resumption of specie
payments. But resumption without contrac-