Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1865-11-21
SHErBERDsrOwN CORRESPONDENTS.

Es
On Co.,aty 0Gccrs-.Soms Of their e,oi,;gs
and rho they Grc-Ihe ,say tie pcople'S
naorSJ goes and tie teGy Justice as ntctcd
OFT here, dc.
snErnEnDsrowN, Nov. 90, 1865:
The object of all governments is to afford
protection to the lives and property of its
citizens. but whenever Il few men elerated to
power and position by accident and Though
40 merit of their own, seek to enrich and
1Gg"""di=c themselves, by expressing and
denying the right of citizenship, to a large
QnGo"ttY Of the people Of any State, which
mas been guaranteed them by the Coustitu-
ton OF the country and the public declara-
tions of the Chief Magistrate thereof; the GOV
eminent ceases to be one of consent
1t Is known to Four readers, that some time
during the year 1863, Ct will not say how
this county was transferred to Vest Virginia,
provided Congress consents thereto, which
consent has rot yct been attained, and hope,
for the welfare Of the county, in every point
Of view, never wifi DC obtained. However.
in the Spring Of 1860, regular State Gov
ernmcnt was organized, under the special
care of the new St&te Of West Virginia.
This strange Tld Sudden change in the status
OF the county: caused a corresponding change
in the ci@i officers of the county, and the
question arose, not as to who was best Quali-
he'd, but who con be gotten, that is G0yaI;
consequently many men were elevated to high
and responsible positions of trust, for which.
they were totally unqualified, for want of edu-
cation, experience, aptncss and capacity, sole
" on tic ground of loyalty, which, with them,
means, to fill their own pockets with money
and abuse honest men, whose only crime is.
they chung TO their honorcd old mother Viz
G.na III her hours Of trial; and sorcLy do the
people sutcr from their aloEadministration.
Ignorance and abuse ofpower, and were it not
Tor this, might laugh at the pith of the DO
ctic trath, Is Pigmies per4hcd upon towers
are pigmies still"
-. IN iurtheriIlrSt-?iic-i, I wilinjd, th&tthcrc
e 70 more responsible Office, nor one requir-
ing more experience, capacity and Judgment.
than Assessor. For the people haze to de-
pend upon his knowledge Of the law, his.ac
curacy OF calculations and judgment, for Il
Just and equitable assessment Of their prop
erty, but what would they thiuk OLA man
undertaking this Office who cannot even read
the law lnteiIiG:bly and cannot add up three
columns Of figures, and must consequently
make errors in his estimates and assessments;
as an instance, he charged a certain lady
double the tax required, on her watch. and
when told about it atterwards, would not
refund the la6hcy, but told her She 1,ccd not
pay Mcrt year. How eau he control the tax
next year, crcP # he should remain in Office?
Another lady thus relates her experience with
the Assessor: g" observed he made all lit
tie Is, and no capitals and spelled very badly.
and l asked why he did Lot put it down coz
TcctiyE' Oh. says he I am only making
memorandum and employ a clerk to do my
writing. Then said the lady, it must take ali
your saI2ry to pay the clerk and why not en-
Pioy some one at first who knows how to do it?''
by reference to the proceedings Of the
Hoard Of Supervisor" it will be observed
that our assessor was paid SIP for making
of the Land Books" which was SO badly
done though, he hired Il clerk to do it. but
the clerk was better acquainted with the dual
lty OF AiiIrh CowS than the value of land. and
Ill this Instance the old adagc, 1.-TWO heads
&c: was reversed that the Board subsc-
quently rcpudia,cd the work and ordered it
to be done over again. This is the way the
people money goes. But this is not all
mere are great many other expenditures
that might be dispensed with. True. It is
necessary to have officers to carry on the civil
government Of tile COUNTY, but there is no use
Tor SMcCWrcS. There are seven Townships
aud each Township has Il clerk who is paid
92OO, making SlI0O, per annum for doing
mplh"9 at ali. There arc also Il Recorder.
a Deputy Recorder aud Clerk Of the Circuit
Court and besides these, Clerk Of the Board
OF Supervisors, with salary Of six hundred
lSOOV) dollars or 500 per day for writing IN
hour or two. Then. there are Supervisors
and Inspectors Of Elections having standing
appointments, at Sl5 per day, while serving.
GU fellows over in Jcfcr&on county, do not
Know what big things are done in "Shep-
herdstown county" But the truth of the
matter Is, that nearly all of these extremely
l2y0t men, so loyal that the most of them
hold t'eo Offices each, have either voted for
the ordinance of secession" or Jeff Davis.
shouldered muskcts s:to shoot the Yankees
that were invading the sacred soil Of Viz
ginia," or were engaged in sz,nly i.ly goods
through the blockade, kDolring that they were
for rebels (so-called). and one OF them, hold
ing an important Office, was heard to say.
that he lost $4,000 by the surrender Of
Lees army, in three months, as he could have
made that on the goods he would have sold
up the Valley. These things are all known
to be true, and yet all these men haze t0Lcn
the oath, ''that they have never uol,lntqyiiy
sustained; supported. aided or abetted, either
directly or indirectly, &c, the rebeilion.''-
Or what staff are their consciences made p
They must be gum-elastic. I must mention
one CASE ia show how laa is interpreted and
justice IS ineted out IN 'tis county. 4 white
map brings an action against negro, q beg
pardon) an American citizen Of African
Cde) scent for trespass in taking his fence,
which vas brought before a magistrate for
trial. ltappears in evidence that the ,j1sty
'seTe d'E9 ont q, tie ground and the mag .strate
decided that this was not stealing. and dis
missed the case. Don't laugh, Sir. Editor.
it is literally true, and if r6G rave any DO
tatoes buried and get up some morning and
find them missing, 90 not bring your case to
''Shcpherdstown couSty' for trial. But from
one case learn all: This is the way Justice
is melted out isre, and if one of the parties,