Morning journal and courier., 1889-12-04

ity that is not affected by the consideration
 that the party to which we belong is for {
 time in power.
 EDUCATION AND THE GOVERNMENT.
 The interest of the general government ii
 the education of the people found an early
 expression, not only in the thoughtful ani
 sometimes warning utterances of our ables
 statesmen, but in liberal appropriations | from the common resources for the support | of education in the new States. No one vii deny that 1t is of the gravest national con.
 cern that those who hold the ultimate con.
 trol of all public affairs should have neces
 sary intelligence wisely to direct and deter.
 mine them. National aid to education has
 heretofore taken the form of land grants,
 and in that form the constitutional power of
 Congress to promote the education of the
 people is not seriously questioned. do not
 think 1t can be successfully questioned, when
 the form is changed to that of direct grant
 of money from the public treasury. Such
 aid should be, as it always has been, sug- | gested by some exceptional conditions. The sudden emancipation of the slaves of the South, the bestowal of the suffrage which soon followed, and the impairment of the ability of the States where these new citi- | zens were chiefly found to adequately pros vide educational facilities, presented not on- ly exceptional but unexampled conditions That the situation has been much amelior- ated there is no doubt. The ability and interest of the States have happily increased. But tho great work remains to be done, and I think the general government should lend its aid. Az the suggestion of a national grant in aid of education grows chiefly out of the condition and needs of the emsnci- psted slave and his descendants, the relief ahOuId a far an ynouih1a 1h;ln paoa..ar;iv, proceeding upon some general lines, be ap- piled to the need that suggested 1t. It is essential, if much good is to be accom- plished, that the sympathy and active in- tsrest of the people should be enlisted, and that the methods adopted should be such as to stimulate and not supplant local taxation of school purposes. Az one Congress cans not bind c succeeding one in such case, and as the effort must in some degree be experimental, recommend that any appro- priation made for this purpose be so limited in annual amount and as to the time over which 1t is to extend, as will, on the one hand, give the local school authorities op- portunity to make the best use of the first years allowance, and on the other, deliver them from the temptation to unduly post pone tho assumption of tho whole burden themselves. The colored people did not in- trude themselves upon us; they were brought here in chains and held in the communities where they are now chiefly found, by a cruel slave code. Happily for both races, they are now free.
 NEGROES AND THE BALLOT.
 They have, from a standpoint of ignorance and poverty, which was our shame, not theirs, made remarkable advances in educa- tion and in the acquisition of property. They have, as 6 people, shown themselves to be friendly and faithful towards the white race under temptations of tremendous strength. They have their representatives in the na- tional cemeteries, where @ grateful govern ment has gathered the ashes of those who died in its defense. They have furnished to our regular army regiments that have won for courage and soldierly qualities, and for fidelity to the enlistment oath. In civil life they are now the toilers of their communi- ties, making their full contribution to the widening streams of prosperity which these communities are receiving. Their sudden withdrawal would stop production and bring disorder into tho household as we'll as the shop. Generally they do not desire to quit their homes, and their employers resent the interference of the emigration agents who seek to stimulate such @ desire; but, not withstanding all this, in many parts of our country where the colored population Is large, the people of that race are, by various devices, deprived of any effective exercise of their political rights and of many of their civil rights. The wrong does not expend it. self upon those whore votes are suppressed. Every constituency in the nation is wronged. It has been the hope of every patriot that a sense of justice and of respect for the law would work gradual cure of these fragrant evils. Surely no one supposes that the pres- ent can be accepted as a permanent condi. tion. If it ia that these communities must work out this problem for themselves, we have right to ssk whether they are at work upon it. Do they suggest any solutioni When and under what condition is the black man to have free balloti When is he In fact to have those full civil rights which have so long been his in lawa When Is that equali- ty of influence which our form of government was intended to secure to the elections to be restoredi Thie generation should courageous ly face these grave questions and not leave them as a heritage of woe to the next. The consultation should proceed with candor, oslmness and great patience upon the lines of justice and humanity, not of prejudice and cruelty.
 No question in our country can be at rest except upon the Arm base of justice and of the law. earnestly invoke the attention of Congress to the consideration of such meas- ures within its we'll defined constitutional powers as will secure to all our people free eX6rcl6o OI tn6 IlRnt or Buurdg6 ana every other civil right under the constitution and laws of the United States. No evil, however deplorable, can justify the assumption, either on the part of the executive or of Congress, of power not granted; but both will be high ly blameable if all the powers granted are not wisely bat firmly used to correct these evils. The power to take the whole direction and control of the election of members of the House of Representatives is clearly given to the general government. A partial and qualified supervision of these elections is now provided by law, and in my opinion this law may be so strengthened and extended as to secure, on the whole, better results than can be attained by law taking all the process of such election into federal control. The cslored man should be protected in all of his relations to the federal governments, whether litigant, juror or witness in our courts, as an elector for members to Congress or as a peaceful traveller upon our inter.S State rail- ways.
 A NATIONAL DISGRACE.
 There is nothing more justly humiliating to the national pride, and nothing more hurt. full to national prosperity, than the inferiority of our merchant mariKe compared with that of other nations whose general resources, wealth and seacoast lines do not suggest any reason for their supremacy on the sea. It was not always so; and our people are agreed, I think, that it shall not continue to be so. It is not my purpose in this communication to discuss the causes of the decay of our ship-