St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-03-11

industrious poor. They deserve the
generous encouragement of all good
men. So far as my authority can law
fully extend, they shall enjoy the full
and equal protection of the constitution
and the laws.
The free enjoyment of equal suffrage
is still in question, and a frank state
ment of the issue may aid its solution.
1t Is alleged that in many communities
the negro citizens are practically de-
MED the freedom of the ballot. In so
far as the truth of this allegation is adj
mitted, it is answered that in many
places honest local government is i'm
possible if the mass of uneducated ne
groes is allowed to vote. These are
grave allegations. So far as the latter
is true, it is the only palliation that
can he offered for opposing the freedom
of the ballot. Bad local government is
certainly great evil, which ought to
be prevented, but to violate the free
dom and sanctity of the suffrage is more
than an evil; it is a crime which, if
persisted in, will destroy the govern
ment itself. Suicide is not a remedy.
If in other lands it be high treason to
compass the death of the king, it should
strangle our sovereign power and stif1e
its voice. 1t has been said that unset
tied questions have no pity for the re-
pose of nations. 1t should be said with
the utmost emphasis, that this question
of the suffrage will never give peace or
safety to the states of the nation until
each, within its own jurisdiction, makes
and keeps the ballot free and pure by
the strong sanctions of the law.
But the danger which arises from
ignorance in the voter cannot be denied.
1t covers field far wider than that of
negro suffrage and the present condi-
ton of that race. 1t is a danger that
turks and hides in the sources and foun-
dations of power in every state. We
have no standard by which to measure
the disaster that may be brought upon
US by ignorance and vice in the citizens,
Joined to corruption and fraud in the
suffrage. The voters of the Union who
make and unmake constitutions, and
upon whose will hang the destinies
of our government can transmit their
supreme authority to no successor save
the coming generation of voters, who
are the sole heirs of sovereign power.
If that generation comes to its inheri
lance blinded by ignorance and cor
rupted by vice, the fall of the republic
will he certain and remediless. The
census has already sounded the alarm
in the appalling figures which mark
how dangerously high the tide of illit-
eracy has risen among our voters and
their children. To the South this ques-
ton is of supreme Importance, but the
responsibility for the existence of sla-
very did not rest with the South alone.
The nation itself is responsible for the
extension of the suffrage, and is under
special obligations to aid in removing
the illiteracy which it has added to the
voting population of the North and
South alike. There is but one remedy.
All the constitutional power of the ma
ton and the states, and all the volun-
teer forces of the people, shOnld be sum-
moned to meet this danger 10y the
saving influence of universal education.
1t is the high privilege and sacred duty
of those living to educate their success
Ors, and fit them by intelligence and
virtue for the Inheritance which awaits
them. In this benefcent work sections
and races should be forgotten, and par
tisanship should be unknown. Let cur
people find a new meaning in the di
vine oracle which declares that ga little
child shall lead them" for our little
children will soon control the destinies
of the republic.
My cOuntrymen, we do not now differ
in our judgment concerning the cOntre-
versies of past generations, and 80 years
hence our children will not be divided
in their opinions concerning our cOntro-
versies. They will surely bless their
fathers and their fathers God that the
Union was preserved, that slavery was
overthrow, and that both races were.
made equal before the law. We may
hasten or we may retard but we can
not prevent the reconciliation. Is it
not possible for us now to make truce
with time by anticipating and accept
ing its inevitable verdict9 Enterprises
of the highest Importance to our moral
and physical wellbeing invite us, and
offer ample scope for the employment
of our best powers. Let all our people,
leaving behind them the battlefield of
dead issues, move forward, and in the
strength of liberty and the restored
Union win the grander victories of
peace.
THE COUNTRY's MATERIAL INTERESTS.
The prosperity which now prevails is
without parallel in our history. Fruit
full seasons have done much to secure
il, but they have not done all. The
preservation of the public credit and
the resumption of specie payments, SO
successfully attained by the administra-
ton of my predecessor, have enabled
our people to secure the blessings
which the seasons brought. By the
experience of commercial nations in all
ages it had been found that gold and
silver afford the only safe foundation
for a monetary system. Confusion has
recently been created by variations in
the relative value of the two metals,
but | confidently believe that arrange
ments can be made between the lead
ing commercial nations which will Sc
cure the general use of both metals.
Congress should provide that the COM
pulsOry coinage of silver now required
by law may not disturb our monetary
system by driving either metal out of
circulation. If possible, such an ad
iustment should be made that the pur-
chasing power of every coined dollar
will be exactly equal to its debt-paying
power in all the markets of the world.
The chief duty of the national govern
ment in connection with the currency
is to coin and declare its value. Grave
doubts have been entertained whether
Congress is authorized by the constitu-
ton to make any form of paper money
legal tender. The present issue of
United States notes has been sustained
by the necessities of war, but such pa
per should depend for its value and
currency upon its convenience in use,