Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1846-03-05
$25, 4s4,17O 60 Sl9,535,79O s6
WESTERN DIVISION.
81 1881 ,434 50 $17,789,l3S Os

linus II VIII be seen, that the value OF land,
including buildings and town property to the
ten counties selected as above in the Eastern
division of the State, has declined in value from
1919 to 1888 from $25, 484, ITO 50 to l9, 1885,
100 Sc; whilst during the same period it has
increased in the Western division in the twelve
counties selected as above, from 81 1891 ,434 SO
to $l7 ,7S9 ,l38 0S. Has, then, any change in
relation to the slave property taken place since
1880, unfavorable to the West, that will justi-
fy the unreasonable additional concession de-
manded by the terms oftEis billl We find that
in 1880 there were 460, 755 slaves in the State,
of which number there were in the Western
division SO, AT and in the Eastern division,
4l6,3l8. In 1910 there were in the State
447 1888 slaves, of which number, there were
in the Western division 53,737, and in the
Eastern division 1914 ,26l; showing an increase
in the Western division, from 1880 to 1910 Of
800, and decrease during the same period in
the Eastern division of q, O67. Can there be
any thing found in the change of the amount
OF revenue paid by the two divisions of the
State since 1880 to justify further prescription
in the Western division2 We find that the
revenue has increased from 1880 to lS43 II LIZ
per cent. in the Eastern division, and 1873
per cent. in the Western division; 200 per
cent. in the first district, 100 in the second, "a
in the third, and 90 in the fourth. Popula-
ton has increased from 1880 to 1916 in the
Western division IS per cent; has decreased
in the Eastern division, during the same peri
cd, 2 per cent; has increased in the first dis
trict AZ per cent, in the second district 2 per
cent, and has decreased in the third district
"a per cent. The value of land, including
buildings and town property, from 1890 1888,
has increased in the Western division 1876 per
cent whilst during the same time, it has decreas
edin Eastern division "a per cent. The slave''pop-
ulation has increased from 1880 to 1910 in the
Western division six per cent. whilst it has
decreased in the Eastern division. during the
same period, SIX per cent In view OF all
these facts, including surely all the subjects of
representation, it is now proposed by the terms
of this bill, that the West shall surrender all
these advantages of their improved condition
since the adoption of the present Constitution
up to the present time, and go into Conven-
ton with unlimited power, organised upon the
arbitrary ratio of the subjects of representation
as they existed in 1880.
must now be permitted to say word or
two in reference to the immediate section of
country from whence have the honor to come.
South western Virginia proper. We have been
stigmatised with the degrading epithet OF being
annual beggars at the door ofthe Treasury of the
Commonwealth. Let us see whether it is so.
South western Virginia proper comprises four
teen counties of the most fertile soil in the
Commonwealth, embedded within her bosom
inexhaustible quantities of minerals, consisting
of salt, iron, coal, lead, copper and gypsum
Since 1888 she has received from the Treasu
ry, for object of internal improvement, ST. 1851
%. She pays into the Treasury, annually,
under the law of lS43, $24 $40 Is, having
free white population of 1899. The whole
amount of money expended in the State, during
the same period. for objects of internal improve
ment is 1913, 1914 90. making the expendi-
ture in Southwestern Virginia stand, as one
dollar is to one hundred and eleven in the bal
ance of the State This statement Of facts
regard as triumphant refutation of this unjust
aspersion upon her condition.