The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-07-27

OllnOul expressing any opinion rs 10 buo
wisdom of admitting or excluding their Chi
nese competitors, we demand the ballot for
these working-women as their natural right.
1t is for them to say whether this immigra-
ton shall be permitted or prohibited. No
other class of citizens have an exclusive right
to settle a question in which these women
have SO vital an interest.
What would any class of working-men say
if they were thus excluded? What would the
Crispins say if they were disfranchised hen
the rights of the laborer are in question, be-
odUSe they ere CTispinS9 Or the lawyers, if
they were disfranohised when laws are to be
enacted, because they are lawyers? Or the
liquor-sellers, if they were prohibited from
voting on the question of licenses, because
they are liquor-sellers? What a cry of injus-
tice would be raised, and what sympathy
would be awakened!
Shame on our code of political ethics, 1t
is respectable to be a Crispin, or a lawyer, or
a liquor-seller. IS a CRIME to be a soonadn.
THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS.
From the n. \. Herald.
A retrospect of the last session of Congress
reveals the somewhat curious fact that while
there was no apparent conflict of opinion
between Congress and the Executive, there
was at the same time very little harmony of
action between these two branches of the
Government. and that while President Grant
has retained, if not increased, his popularity,
Congress has decidedly lost ground in public
favor. 1t is not surprising that this should
be so. There were many important matters
in regard to which 1t was expected that proper
action would be taken by Congress; but
weeks and months wore by, and finally the
session closed and the expectations of the
people were disappointed. Prominent among
these subjects was the restoration of Ameri-
can commerce, to which the President called
attention in his annual message, in a special
supplementary message, and finally in an ear
nest remonstrance against adjournment until
the necessary legislation was had on the
subject. But all in vain. Congress either
had not the will or had not the ability to
grspple with the question and TO resolve upon
the only practical method Of restoring to
American ships their share of the carrying
trade of the world.
There may be some excuse for the princi-
pie of protection where the market is under
the exclusive control of the Government, and
people resorting to that system for the pur-
pose of developing home industry; but where
no such exclusiveness can exist, as on the
ocean, which is free to all, there the principle
of protection is the stupidest absurdity, and
can only result in utter failure. How could an
American shipping merchant, whose ship cost
him from twenty-five to forty per cent. more
than the same vessel would cost an English
man, a Frenchman, or a German, and whose
sailing expenses were also much heavier, ex-
pect to maintain competition with such odds
against him? He could not do it, and conse-
quently there is no longer any American
foreign The remedy was plain.
Keep up, if such be the policy, the
protective system at home; but when
you have to compete with free trade on the
ocean, do it under free trade principles. Let
the American merchant buy his ships where
H. oo - Ill.,. ol-~-z - - ~
everything used on board his ships be free
from tax and duty. And at the same time,
to keep up shipbuilding at home, let all mate
rails used in the trade be also free from tax
and duty of all kinds. By these means, and
by these alone, could our foreign
have been regained. The President knew
this, as the people knew it, and he three
times brought the matter to the attention of
Congress. But, distracted by a variety of
other subjects, by tax and tariff bills, by land
grant jobs, by disgraceful election contests,
and by the thousand and one trifing matters
that occupied every day of the session, Con-
gress found but little time to give to this
most important question; and when it did
find tim to consider it, the opposition of the
protectionistB defeated any measure that
could have brought relief. On this question,
therefore, President Grant stands fully exc
nerated, and it is on Congress that all the re-
sponsibility rests.
On other questions besides this there was
an absence of accord manifested between the
President and Congress. Notwithstanding
the urgent desire of the President to have
done with the reconstruction tinkering of
Georgia, it was only in the closing days of
the session hat a bill for that purpose
passed both houses; and even that was inten-
tionally left open to opposite constructions,
so that it can hardly be deemed ~finality.
The action of Congress-. too. in regard to
Cuba, st. Domingo, the tariff, the income
tax and other matters has not tended to en-
nance its reputation or make it popular with
the people.
We have seen, too, how leading Republicans
in both houses set themselves up against the
Executive. There was Mr.. Dawes, of Massa-
chusetts, the chairman of the Committee on
Appropriations in the House, who made q
famous onslaught upon the President and his
administration on the score of extravaganza
in public expenditures; but he subsequently
reconsidered his position, virtually retracted
his charges and gave a certificate of economy
to the administration. Then there were
Senators Sumner and Wilson, of the same
State, who demonstrated against the removal
of MIR. Motley as Minister to London, and
Senator Fenton of this State, who made a
similarly ~fruitless outcry over the New York
Custom House changes. But all these mani
festations of opposition were powerless, and
only served to strengthen President Grant
and to exhibit the weakness of those who
would set themselves up against him.
The upshot of the whole thing is that the
Republican party has, chiefly through the
unpopularity of Congress, weakened so con-
siderably throughout the country that some
of its most observant leaders expect a large
accession to the Democratic ranks in the
nayt NonnrazS. uhila on the nfhar hand