The New era. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1865-1871, 1865-09-28
35s.B17 1881 376, 6sS
EDUCATION AND PROGRESS.


The people of West Virginia are de-
parting from the wisdom Of the fathers
Of the eatly days, when Sir William
in Shenandoah valley, eighty years ago,
wrote OF the new country as follows: II
thank God there are no free schools nor
printing, aad | hope We shall not have
these hundred years, for learning has
brought disobe8ienea and heresy and
seets into the world, and printing has
divulged them aud libels against the best
government. God keep us from both"
But This departure leads in The direction
Of superior wisdom, and a school sys-
tenn has been adopted since the organi
zation OF the State, modelled upon tie
best state systems in the country, the re-
salts ef which will soon be manifested
IA general educational improvement.
Schools Ola highergrade are beginning
to be academies and high
schools, aud seminaries, foryoung ladies'
and The impetus already given to popu
lar progress IN mental culture will soon
OCCASION further demand for superior
educational facilities.
There is awakened throughout the
State a.lifit OF lively interest in the
eaAs 4Fuctf3n Of roads and the improve
meat o. river navigation, in new enter
prises that develop its varied resources,
in al measures essential to its security,
AID tae Happiness and thrift OF It's peo-
PIE, u9 - heir mental and moral adj
Vancemant
There is 4 feeling of relief from an irls-
seine &ud heavy burden in separation
h5 '8Rm r981ad like q nightmare upon
taais eegion. It's system Of taxation was
unequal, discriminating against The free
mountain section, taxing lightly those
interests Which the west did notPossess,
Wi1ila expensive internal mproVements,
adding greatly to loeal property values,
were only undertaken in the east. Rail-
roads, OF greatest feasibility and utility,
surveyed and brought into Notice by
pabiie-spirited individuals, We're pro-
rasfiaa}ad and killed by the same de-
termination 10 override ti3o interests OF
tiais region
STATE or IMPeoX 4AlaNP.
The farm lands embrace at least four
fiffhs Of the area, amounting to 10, $780,
394 acres, or17, o25square miles, and they
average value of IS 03 per acre. The
State of Virginia, before division, COM
prised 81 ,014,9JC acres in farm lands,
worth 81 81 per acre, In view of their
central location, access to eastern mar
kets, and connection with all parts of the
Mississippi valley by river navigation,
munificence of forest and field, and great
er wealth Of minerals beneath, this is
cheaper than any lands of similar posi-
ton and value in the country. With a
little improvement in each county, of a
character that shall be an earnest and
guarantee of progressive and steady adj
in, yno<npso1 6nVyn1Av,pp1nnf
eight dollars per acre will become tWen-
ty, and eighty-seven millions in the ag-
gregate will become more than two hun
dred millions. And such improvements
will nearly pay for themselves as they
are made, leaving fully one hundred
millions of dollars, in a very few years,
to burden the pockets of the people who
have the industry and patience to make
them.
The population of West Virginia is,
by the last census, 376,6SS. It thus
stands the twenty-seventh State in the
order of it's population, with eight be-
low it, namely: New Hampshire, Yer
mont, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Flori-
da, Delaware, Kansas, and Oregon.
New Hampshire, the next below in
point of numbers of it's inhabitants, con-
tains 35 to each square mile. West Vir-
ginia has Is, as nearly as can be calcula-
ted i'm the imperfect condition of her sur
veys. TO realize more fully the present
material status Of this new member of
the family Of States, let a comparison be
instituted with this older member of the
family. 1t will be found useful, in the
future, in Illustration of the growth of a
region blessed with marvellous resour-
ces, when relieved of the incubus of
dwrtng and degrading caste, and fair
~ started in the race of improvement.
Though the area OF the Granite State
fDbut forty per cent. of that of West Vir-
ginia, the improved land is equal in eX-
tent, while the unimproved farm lands
are little more than one-seventh as eX-
tensive; yet the average cash value in
the State so generally improved is but
$ls 6S per acre, against $40 o5 per ac7e in
the State which has bat one-ffth of its
land under improvement. New Hamp-
shire has, Of live stock, fewer horses and
mules, cows and young cattle, sheep and
swine, but more working oxen. Her
excess Of working oxen of higher value
than cows or young cattle, inpart offsets
the superior numbers OF the horses of
West Virginia, so that the proximity Of
the White mountains to the fine markets