Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1844-12-19

Judgment, though to be adopted not as
plan, but as temporary expedent, is
that the Stale shall loan TO the company
such sum as shall be sufficient to save
from ruin, and render available in SONS
way its disjoinied works between Lynch
burg and the mouth o. the North river
stipnls,ing, if il does so, that lock anC
dam improvement may be made between
those points, if desired bv the company
or railroad, if desired, and which i, i;
thought can be made by q judlcious use
Of the works already there, ut some eigh'
or nine thousand daIlars per mile.
would recommend also, as accompanying
conditions to any legislative grant, thai
the vote Of the State IS shareholder be
increased to something more justly pro-
portioned than the present one to her
stock; that il be divided equally between
her three proxies, who shall themselves
be selected from different constitutional
districts; and that the State shall have
the right 10 make examinations of the
works Of the company by an engineer or
engineers Of her own separate appoint.
ment, whenever, in the opinion Of The
Board Of public works, it may be expedi-
emf or necessary TO do so.
The sum which is thus recommended tc
be advanced by the State to the company
falling presump,ively within its ability tc
repay, is to all just interests a loan, expe.
dent under the circumstances for the
State to make and for The company 10 re.
ceive. Within this limit--the limit o.
ability where the relations Of lender and
borrower are maintained and acted upon
by both parties, the advances Of the State
and upon calculations both fiscal snC eco
nomical, are advisable and legitimate. -
But when this limit is passed, and advan-
ces are made without ability or expec,a
ton of ability to pay back, the company
becomes from that point and that moment
no, the borrower but he agent OF the State
for the expenditure and administration Of
its funds, and wnen this relation arises,
the advances, in my judgement, would
cease to be advisable. Whenever the
money with which this work is 10 be con
Quoted, comes 10 oe furnished exclusive
ly by the State, there is no sound reason
why it should be given up to the manage
ment of an agrncy such as that of this
company, when the authority OF the State
is the least, aud when her partners. bound
by no direct responsibility TO her, are al
The same time bound 10 no particular pru-
dence in their acts by sharing in the mon
ey which they manage.
This company, composed in part oil
corporations who practlc ally hold and ex-
erclse plurality power in the manage
ment of its concerns, is not only most pc.
culiar in its organization, but is waning
IN some Of the indispensable requisites
which would qualify it to act as agent for
.he State, were an ng Mt desired in the
control and management of its funds; II
wsnts the adaptedness and the response.
bilty which such purpose emlnently
needs. 1t is not, however, in this suppo-
sable character Of agent, but in that OF
borrower, tina, have regarded and re-
commended it to your assistance.
The admitted importance of providing
by law for well supported, well regula-
ted and adapted system of common edu-
cation, will justify, it is booed, my re-
currence for the third time to that sub.
ject. | should rejoice TO be spared the ne
cessity of this duty, but neither | nor any
other Executive ever can be, as long as
the legislative md statistical history of this
subject remains as i, is; as lorg as our
provision for il is so painfully inadequate
to our wants, and so painfully contrasted
too, with the manner in which genera.
ton after ge:erltion, for more than fifty
years, our public actors have made it the
official and popular theme for eulogy and
patriotic aspiration. 1t is humiliating af-
Ter this to look upon the history now and
to see that whilst laws have been accu-
muIated upon laws to advance it, so little
comparatively as been actually done
so little, indeed, that rot only is there ore
in every twelve Of our grown.up and
governing population who can neither
read nor write, but at this very moment
there are growing up liz the midst of US
80, 900 ''indignent children" TO whom,
for the pas. year, not a solitary hour OF
has been afforded at any
school in the State. At this day, when
the human mind is perhaps, more thor.
ougkly and profoundly reused than it has
ever been before-when it is every where
reducing by invincible power the transac-
tions OF governments and men to the
standard OF its own enlightened and n-
trepid judgment, and is making knowl-
edge, like bread, a necessary Of life; at
this day, and especially in our country,
where the WILL of all is the government OF
all, such a fact as this is dishonouring and
reproachful. if, indeed, it be not appalling.
call upon you, therefore, who have the
whole control of this matter in your own
hands, so to legislate upon II that this fact
shall continue no onger-thai the evil Of
it, and the stain Of it, shall be blo,ted out
at once, and if i, be possible, forever. 1t
is the shame Of Great Britain that in the
midst Of her power, and of that civliza.
ton which she is extending, far and wide,
to mankind, that fifteenth part Of her
entire number is a pauper population. 1t
would be deeper shame for us, whose
freedom is so much greater than hers,
and whose prosperity drives pauperism
away, that an almost equal proportion OF
our own number should be found to whom
the very alphabet ofthelr mother tongue