Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1881-03-17

guardianship llt mauuoou VI ihoie
than five millions of people aud opened
4 20 each one ii them IA career Of freedom
aud usefulness. IL has given new in-
splration To the power of self help IN
both races. by making labor more hon,
orable 70 the one and more necessary
to the ether. The influence of this
force viii grow greater and bear richer
fruits with coming years.
THE TROUBLES or THE SOUTH.
No doubt this great change has
caused serious disturbance to on:
southern community. This is to be
deplored, though i; was unavoidable.
But those who resisted the change
should remember that under our insti-
tutions there was no middle ground for
the negro race between slavery and
equal citizenship. There can be no
permanent disfranchised peasantry in
the United States. Freedom can new
er yield its fullness of blessings as
long as the law or its administration
places the smallest obstacle in the path
way of any virtuous citizen.
THE EMANCIPATED RACE
has already made remarkable progress
With unquestloning devotion to the
union with patience and gentleness
not born Of fear-they have followed
the light as God gave them to see the
light They are rapidly laying foun-
dations of seIf-support widening the
circle of intelligence and beginning to
enjoy tie blessings that gather around
the homes of the industrious poor.
They deserve the generous encourage
ment Of all good men. AS far as my
authority can lawfully extend, they
shall enjoy full and equal protection of
the constitution and laws. The free en-
joyment Of equal suffrage is still in
question. and frank statement Of that
issue may aid in its solution. 1t is al
legged that in many communities negro
citizens are practically denied the free
dom of the ballot In so far as the
truth of this allegation is admitted, it
is answered that in many places honest
local government is impossible if the
mass of uneducated negroes are al
lowed to vote These are grave allie
cations, so far as the latter is true. 1t
is the only paliation that can be of
fered for opposing the freedom of the
ballot. Bad local government is GER
tainly great evil which ought to be
prevented; but to violate the freedom
and sanctlty of the suffrage is more
than an evil; 1t 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 king it should
be counted no less q crime here to
strangle out the sovereign power and
stifle its voice. 1t has been said that
unsettled questions have no pity for
the repose of nations. 1t should be said
with the utmost emphasis, that this
question of suffrage will never give re-
pose or safety to the States or to the
nation, until each within it's own jurls-
diction makes and keeps the ballot free
and pure by the strong sanctions of the
law
THE DANGERS OF IGNORANCE.
But the danger which arises from
ignorance in voters cannot be denied.
1t covers field far wider than that of
negro suffrage, and the present condi-
ton of that race. 1t Is danger that
turks and hides in the sources and
fountains 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 our citi-
zens when joined to corruption and
fraud in the suffrage The voters of
this union, who make and unmake con-
stitutions and upon whose will hangs
the destiny Of our government, can
transmit their supreme authority to no
successor save the coming generation
Of voters, who are the sole heirs of SOW.
ereign power, If that generation comes
to its inheritance blinded by ignorance
and corrupted by vice, the fall of the
republic will be certain and remediless
The census has already sounded the
alarm in the appalling figures which
mark how dangerously high the tide Of
illiteracy has risen among our voters
and their children. To the South this
question is of supreme Importance, but
the responsibility for the existence of
slavery did not rest upon 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 it has added to
the voting population of the north and
south alike. There is but one remedy.
All constitutional power of the nation
and of the States and all the volunteer
forces of the people, should be sum-
moned to meet this danger by the saw
ing influence of universal education.
1t is a high privilege and sacred
duty of those now living, to educate
their successors and fit them by intelli-
gence and virtue for the inheritance
which awaits them in this penefcent
work. Sections and races should be
forgotten, and partisanship should be
unknown. Let our people find a new
in that Divine oracle which
declares that so little child shall lead |