The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-12-10
Guenina Telsaraph
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10. 1870.
THE WORK BEFORE CONGRESS.

gress and it may even lose control of the
next House by a combination of the revenue
roformers and the Democracy it behooves its
members to make hay willis the sun shines,
and to finish up, at the present session, all
important measures involving partisan di-
versities of opinion.
Reconstruction is substantially completed,
and there is little to be done in connection
with it except the passage of universal am-
nesty bill wiping out all disability arising
from the rebellion, and once more making
every citizen equal before the law, despite
participation in efforts to destroy the Ma
tional Government. This proposition gains
strength every year with the growing desire
to forgive and forget past struggles; and the
ban has already been removed from so many
of the rebels that it is scarcely worth while
to continue to ostracize any portion of them
The main question now is whether it
is prudent and polite for the Republican
party to make a sweeping and final exhibition
of it's magnanimity, at time when it retains
large maj ority in Congress. If any credit
is to be gained for an amnesty bill it must be
passed at once; and this fact is becoming so
plain that we shall not be surprised if the re-
naming political fetters imposed on few
Southern rebel leaders are stricken
off before the fourth of March.
The abolition of the franking privilege is
again under consideration, and we hope that
during this session bill completing this i'm
portant reform will pass the Senate as we'll as
the House. The great evil to be remedied is
the abuse of this privilege, and there is very
simple method of doing this without inter-
unit fba nf ipta MI
ton between Congressmen and Senators and
their constituents. Let the national represen-
tatives be put, in post Office matters, upon a
footing similar to those of members of our
State Legislature. All their legitimate postal
expenses can thus be paid, and they will only
be deprived of the opportunity of flooding
the country with trashy partisan pamphlets,
and of becoming the accomphces of knaves
in defrauding the postal revenues. Senators
and members of Congress who thatch the
land with their franks, thereby commit
fraud scarcely less fragrant than the offense
of makers of forged stamps; and as expe-
rience has demonstrated the impossibility
of reforming the incorrigble denizens of the
Capitol, there is no other remedy than an
abolition of their much-abused privilege.
The Republican party would gain deserved
credit by giving deadly blow to the dis
creditable business of pifering stamps.
The reduction of internal revenue exactions
made at the last session leaves little to desire
or hope for now except the extirpation of the
odious and iniquitous income law. A great
nation has no moral right to plunder any por-
tion of her citizens, in time of peace, by
such disgraceful measure, and wo hope it
may be speedily repealed.
Various plans for the restoration or revival
of American commerce will probably soon
come up for consideration; but all laws nomi-
nally designed to promote this important OBJ
ject which manifestly tend to the destruction
of the ship-building interest of our own
country should be defeated 1t will be wise
and good thing to set our own mechanics at
work constructing bona fde American vessels;
but it will do more harm than good to stimu-
late the purchase or transfer to American
register of vessels built in foreign countries.
If commerce is to be revived, let us be quite
certain that it is our commerce that Congress
takes care of and that our laws are not framed
in the interest of foreign ship builders and
ship-owners.
The advocates of specie payments again
display anxiety to secure legislation designed
to hasten resumption, but it is scarcely proba-
BILE that they will succeed at the present ses-
sion. Experiments with the currency are
full Of danger, and any attempt to put the
business of the nation on a hard money basis
before it is fully prepared for such an i'm
portant change will involve the ruin of thou
sands of enterprising mon, and at the same
time quickly check the golden tide that is
now pouring four hundred millions per
anRum into the national treasury. Congress
will commit a terrible mistake if it now
forces the poisonous specie payment nostrum
down the throats of the American people.
A great manyprojects for subsidizing West
ern railroads have been devised, but none of
them will be apt to command much attention,
in view of the growing hostility to AL large
land grants, except the Southern Pacific pro-
ject. It's advocates claim that its construc-
tion is as important to the tier of extreme
Southern States and Territories as the North
ern Pacific is to the extreme Northern States
and Territories aud on this ground it may
receive more consideration than other schemes
of less magnitude.
The San Domingo treaty continues to re-
oeive the earnest support OF the President,
while number of Republican Senators, of
whom Sumner is perhaps the most promi-
nent, resolutely oppose it. An animated and
bitter struggle may spring from this diversity
of sentiment, and it is not beyond the bounds