Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-21
WRITTEN FOR THE p1sPATcH.J

OF our national life. The tlrst century has
gathered for us some political gains that
will, as we trust, prove enduring; what may
we expect OF the second century? Man.
hood suffrage is one of the achievements of
our first century; 1 trust that the second
will give us an intelligent and virtuous
suffrage. The ballot ought to be within
easy reach of every man who knows how to
handle it, and can be trusted to handle it
without hurting himself or his neighbors.
There ought to be no artificial or con-
ventional barriers. To the poor equally
with the rich, to the black man equally
with the white man, to the immigrant
equally with the native, this privilege
should be given; but not to the ignoramus
equally with the intelligent man, not to the
criminal equally with the law-abiding
citizen The man who cannot read the
ballot he votes, is not fit to vote. The man
who cannot keep out of the jails and the
police courts, the able-bodied man who can
not keep out of the almshouse, is not fit to
vote. II is fatuitv, 1t is infItuation. it is
mortal stupidity 10 put the delicate and
difficult business of governing this country
into the hands of such people. 1 trust we
shall be wiser than this before We are 100
years older.
All Should Be Americans.
The last century has brought to these
shores a great influx of population from
other lands; LET us hope that the next CEN
tury will Americanize them. I believe in
America for Americansl Do not misunder-
stand this motto. 1t matters little where
man was born, nor how long he has been on
this continent; but when he comes to this
country and makes his home here, then he
ought to be an American and nothing else
Let him stop calling himself an English
man, or an Irishman, or a German, or a
Dane, or Bohemian; let him begin at once
to call himsel! an American. We hear too
much about the German vote, and the Irish
vote, and the Scandinavian vote; trust we
shall cease to hear all such offensive and un-
patriotic phrases before the end of another
century.
Will the next century bring the suffrage
to women? l cannot be confident, but 1
suspect that it will. When they desire it
they will certainly have it. II NAV be
doubted whether they desire 1.-THE majority
OF them-untIl our governments generally
are more nearly on peace basis; until the
enforcement OF law is less bloody and
brutal business than it is at present. Until
the great majority of them do desire it, it
shall not be thrust upon them; when they
desire it, no power can withhold it from
them.
There are intelligent men in this country
who are strongly in favor of conlerring the
suffrage upon women Immediately; there are
intelligent men who are not in favor of con-
ierring it upon them at all; but the great
mass of the intelligent men are waiting for
the women themselves to decide this ques-
tion. 1t they demand the suffrage, it will
be promptly granted to them. Whether
they will make up their minds to take it
within the next hundred years, is somewhat
problematicaI, but incline to the opinion
that they will.
Outlook for the Black Man.
What of that great mass of our popula-
tion, the liberated slaves and their descend
ants? The last century has given them 1lb-
ertv and the ballot; the ballot without intel
ligence is doubtful boon; so the black man
has found it. The next century will give
him. trust, the knowledge that will make
the ballot in his hands not only a weapon of
defence to him, but an instrument ofservice
to his country. Before the end Of the pres
ent century of our national life, 1 look to
see the colored people occupying a large
share of the land of the Southern States,
possessing fair proportion of the wealth of
those States, living upon high level OF in
telligence and virtue, with full political
rights, and In harmonious social relations
with their white iellow-citizens,
And this peaceful and prosperous condi-
ton of affairs at the South will be brought
about, not by the intermeddling of Congress,
but by the gradual education and elevation
of the black man, and by better under
standing and more perfect recognition of
Christian obligations on the part of both
races.
What may we hope for as the result of the
great social and industrial problems now
confronting us? The strife of employer and
employed, the feud of rich and poor, the
labor question, the land question, the aues-
tion of trusts and mo nopolies, the question
about the railways and telegraphs, the
whole social question. vast, many-sided, iu-
sistent, pressing upon us now in a hundred
forms-how is it all going to be settled? 1
wish 1 knewl Some changes will take
place, that is certain-some radical changes.
trust that they may take place peacefully,
yet l hope with trembling.
The Distribution of Wealth.
Great changes most often come with con.
vulsion and disturbance:
For all the dark of time reveals
A bridal dawn of thunder peals,
Whenever Thought has welded Fact.
We have studied the production of wealth
very diligently during the last century; we
have brought the arts of production to great
perfection; we know how to create wealth;
but we have great deal yet to learn about
the best ways of distributing it. What we
can do by wise laws and better social -organI-
zation to lessen the social inequalities, to
improve the chances of those who come into
life with a poor eq uipment, to open free
path before every man, it il hard to say; we
shall make many experiments and some
failures, no doubt; but trust that we shall
be guided toward a wise solution OF this
great problem.
That these social questions will all be
settled by the end OF our second century,
cannot hope; but we may trust that some
progress will be made in the direction of a
more perfect application of the principles of
Christian democracy to the industrial and
social order.
In Short we will continue to cherish the
expectation. that the second centennial of
President Washington's Inauguration will
see this whole land united, prosperous and
free, finding sa ;ety and plenty and substan-
tial equality under the shelter of land.
WASHINGTON GLADDEN..
COLUMBUS, O., March IL.
WAkEMAN has visited the famous Rugby
School i'm England. His letter, which is in