Year: 1868




read, but that it will exclude some for
eigner or negro who perhaps can. But
ask the Chief Justice of the United
States if all men ought to vote without
limitation, either as to education or
property, and he answers, Certainly:
voting is the simplest Of all matters;
men do not vote for measures, nor even
for principles, but only for one of two
political parties, and the most ignorant
man knows with which party his i'm
mediate interests lie." The popular
vote is not designed to teach statesman
ship; nor to solve intricate questions of
any kind; for those are never submit
ted directly to the mass of voters. 1t is
designed to tie statesmen and politi-
clans to the peoples interests, not to
supply them with the knowledge how
those interests can best be served, for
that is in all cases better understood by
those who give their time to thousand
other kinds Of business, and are prevent
ed thei eby from becoming experts in
craftsmanship. But all men know
what their immediate interests demand.
All poor men want freedom to labor.
and the power to recover their wages,
protect their families, educate their
children, sue in tie courts, sit on iuries,
and enjoy the benefits of the govern
ment which taxes them Whatever
party most liberaly and sincerely offers
these benefits, not to others, but to their
own class, workingmen will vote for.
In the better days of the Democratic
party, it offered these to foreigners, and
thereby secured their vote. The Re-
publican party now offers the same to
the Freedmen, and thereby secures their
vote. The Democratic party is most
earnest in securing the same to ex- Reb-
els, and thereby is more assured than it
should have been Of securing their vote.
1t does not require much intelligence
in any man to know which of the two
political parties is most devoted to the
interests of the class to which he be-
longs. The Freedmen of the South
have distinguished between the party
that would complete their emancipation
and that which would restore their
serfdom. They have seen clearly and
voted solidly in the direction in which
their largest liberty lies. This demon
strates that they have sufficient intelli-
gence to vote, and leaves the problem
no longer an open question. ..


Let all men, in discussing this ques-
tion of Universal Suffrage, bear in mind
that voters only require to know which
party most sincerely favors the class to
which they belong. They do not vote
on questions ofpolicy or craftsmanship,
but only for one or the other of two,
seldom three, political parties The
general principles to which the parties
are pledged alwa,s emanate from the
most experienced minds in the country
The particular steps in Legislation by
which those principles are to be carried
out are discussed by the ablest minds
in both political parties, The two par
ties tone their platforms and policies
sufficiently toward each other that the
general difference between them is more
one of time than Of principle. The
Democratic party favors to-day what
the Republican party advocated year
ago, and the extreme Radicals were ad-
vocating two years ago.


Thus, in Finance, the position Of the
Democratic party was originally for
hard money, and against State banks;
then for State banks and opposed to
greenbacks; and now it is for green
backs and against the National Banks;
and, should any Improvement be sug-
gested in the National Banking System,
it would be for National Banks and
against improvement. Thus, on the
most intricate questions of financial pol
icy, the voter can at best only lag
year or two behind, and by voting the
Conservative ticket be will in the course
of a lifetime vote for all of the princi-
pies which he would have voted for had
be voted the Radical ticket, except that
he votes for them year or two later
Voting, therefore, though a very i'm
porlant, is very simple right, and one
which requires neither learning nor
ability to exercise without harm, and
with real advantage to the country


But the principal use Of the ballot is
to secure for the humblest citizen the
respect of officials, and kind and just
treatment at the hands of the courts.
Deprive a race of the ballot, and every
agency of the Government which ought
to protect will combine to oppress them
Deprive the Southern Freedmen of the
ballot, and oppression, resistance, and
a war of races, are inevitable. Leave
them the ballot, and peace and ulti-
mately prosperity are assured.


.U,. TFrom the N. Y. Tribune o '4N .