The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-03-10

negro suffrage and the present condition
of that race. It is danger that turks
and hides in the sources and fountains of
power in every State. We have no stand
ard by which to measure the disaster that
may bs brought upon us by ignorance and
vice in citizens when Joined to corruption
and fraud in suffrage. Voters of the
Union who make and unmake Constitu-
tions, and upon whose will hangs the
destinies of our Government can trans
nit their supreme authority to no sue.
cessors save the coming generation of
voters, who are the sole heirs of sover.
eign power. If that generation comes to
its inheritance blinded by ignorance and
corrupted by vice, the fall of the Repub-
lie will be certain and remediless. The
census has already sounded the alarm in
appalling figures, which mark how dan
gerously big b the tide of illiteracy has
risen among our voters and their chill
dren. To the South this question is of
supreme importance, bur the responsible.
ity for the existence Of slavery did not
rest upon the South alone. The Nation
itself is responsible for the extension of
suffrage, and is under special obligations
to aid in removing the illiteracy which it
has added to the voting population for
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 people should be
summoned to meet this danger by the
saving influence of universal education.
1t is the high privilege and the sacred
duty of those now living to educate their
successors and fit them, by intelligence
and virtue, for the inheritance which
awaits them. In this bene6cent work
sections and races should be forgotten,
and partisanship should be unknown.
Let our people find new meaning in
the Divine oracle which declares that "a
little child shall lead them," for our little
children will soon control the destinies of
this Republic.
My countrymen, we do not now differ
in our judgment concerning the contro.
versies of past generations, and fifty years
hence our children will not be divided in
their opinions concerning our controver-
sizes. They will surely bless their fathers
and their fathers God that this union
was preserved; that slavery was over.
thrown, and that both races were made
equal before the law. We may hasten,
or we may retard, but we cannot prevent
final reconciliation. 1t is not possible
for us now to make truce with time by
anticipating and accepting its inevitable
verdict. Enterprises of the highest i'm.
portance to our moral and material we'll.
being invite us, and offer ample scope for
the employment of our best powers. Let
all our people, leaving behind them the
battle fields of dead issues, move forward,
and in the strength of liberty and the
restored Union win grander victories of
peace!
The prosperity which now prevails is
without parallel in our history. Fruit.
full seasons have done much to secure it,
but they have not done all; preservation
of the public credit and resumption of
specie payments, 30 successfully attained
by the administration of my predecessors,
has enabled our people to secure the
blessings which the seasons brought. By
the experience of commercial nations, in
all ages, it has been found that gold and
silver afford the only safe foundation for
monetary system. Confusion has recent
ly been created by variations in the rela-
tive value of the two metals, but I con.
fidently believe that arrangements can be
made between the leading commercial
nations which will secure the general use
of both metals. Congress should provide
that the compulsory coinage of silver,
now required by law, may not disturb our
monetary system by driving either metal
out of circulation. If possible, such ad-
justment should be made that the pur-
chasing power of every coined dollar will
be exactly equal to its debt.paying power
in all markets of the world. The chief
duty of the National Government, in
connection with the currency of the coun-
try, is to coin money and declare its
value. Grave doubts have been enter.
tanned whether Congress is authorized by
the Constitution to make any form OF
paper money legal tender. The present
issue of United States notes has been sus-
tanned by the necessities of war, but such
paper should depend for its value and
currency upon its convenience in use and
its prompt redemption in coin, at the
will Of the holder, and not upon its COM
pulsory circulation. These notes are not
money, but promises to pay money. If
the holders demand it, the promise
should be kept. The refunding of the
National debt at a lower rate of interest
should be accomplished without compell-
ing the Withdrawal of National bank
notes, and thus disturbing the business of
the country. l venture to refer to the
position / have occupied on the financial
questions during long service in Con.
gress, and to say that time and expert
ence have strengthened the opinions I
have 30 often expressed on the subject
The finances of the Government shall
suffer no detriment which it may be pos
sible for my administration to prevent.
The interests of agriculture deserve
more attention from the Government
than they have yet received. The farms
of the United States afford homes and
ciupIUyiucuG lOi 1uOl0 tudu Ouc"udll VI
our people and furnish the largest part Of
all our exports. AS the Government
lights our coasts for protection of ma
riners and the benefits of commerce, 80
it should give to tillers of the soil the
best lights of practical science and expe.
rience. Our manufacturers are rapidly
making US industrially independent, and
are proving to capital and labor new and
profitable fields of employment. Their
steady and healthy growth should still be
maintained.
Our facilities for transportation should
be promoted by the continued improve.
mont of our harbors and great interior
waterways, and by increase of our ton
mage on the ocean. The development of
the worlds commerce has led to an
urgent demand for shortening the great
sea voyage around Cape Horn by con-
structing ship canals or railways across
the isthmus which unites the two Cont
nents. Various plans to this end have
been suggested, and will need considera-
ton, but none Of them have been sufi-
ciently matured to warrant the United