e of all
propositions and debates in the present congress as to the future
status of the Chinese and Indians under the flag of the United
States.

WHEREAS, The essential elements of justice are already recognized
in the constitution; and, whereas, our fathers proposed to
establish a purely secular government in which all forms of
religion should be equally protected, therefore,

_Resolved_, That it is preeminently unjust to tax the property of
widows and spinsters to its full value, while the clergy are made
a privileged class by exempting from taxation $1,500 of their
property in some States, while in all States parsonages and other
church property, amounting to millions of dollars, are exempted,
which, if fairly taxed, would greatly lighten the national debt,
and thereby the burdens of the laboring masses.

_Resolved_, That thus to exempt one class of citizens, one kind
of property, from taxation, at the expense of all others, is a
great national evil, in a moral as well as a financial point of
view. It is an assumption that the church is a more important
institution than the family; that the influence of the clergy is
of more vital consequence in the progress of civilization than
that of the women of this republic; from which we emphatically
dissent.

_Resolved_, That universal education is the true basis of
universal suffrage; hence the several States should so amend
their constitutions as to make education compulsory, and, as a
stimulus to the rising generation, declare that after 1885 all
who exercise the right of suffrage must be able to read and write
the English language. For, while the national government should
secure the equal right of suffrage to all citizens, the State
should regulate its exercise by proper attainable qualifications.

On January 10, 1878, our champion in the Senate, Hon. A. A.
Sargent, of California, by unanimous consent, presented the
following joint resolution, which was read twice and referred to
the Committee on Privileges and Elections:

JOINT RESOLUTION _proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of
the United States_.--

_Resolved_ by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in congress assembled, two-thirds of
each House concurring therein, That the following article be