The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1868-09-28

1
educated and that 1t should be uncared
for, save as 1t Is cared for by its owner.
l They have not only practiced that sys-
tenn of civilization, but they have car
ried 1t out to the utmost extent, throw
ing all the burdens of society as far as
they possibly can on the laboring class,
/ and screening themselves from all their
weight and hardship. What system of
education did Virginia ever propose for
its people? Our fathers, in establish
ing the Government, formed what they
| called their, Literary Fund" There
were about 100000 OF the 100000,
| comprising the Virginia Literary Fund
that was placed in various banks
From that they derived u dividend and
the whole of tho balance of that Liter
airy Fund was lost. 1t was.in the James
River stock; a large part of it merely
appeared on the statute books; and the
| people OF Virginia were taxed every
year to raise the small stipend of Lit
erary Fund which was thrown away,
| and worse than thrown away, in educa-
| ting the children of the rich. The prac.
teal result was that in 1850, (and 1t was
worse in 1860. J so, 600 of the white pop
ulation of Virginia, over the age of 81
years could neither read nor write. or
these Is, 600 were in the bounds OF West
| Virginia. The Registrar of one of the
| counties OF Virginia told me when he
registered them last year by strict
count, in 500 or 900 of the registered
white voters, over the age of 81, forty
one per cent OF them could not write
their names.
What do you see on the other hand
| Virginia was sedulously and intently
bent on Withholding education from the
working classes. Look at her munih-
cent provisions for the University of
Virginia and for the Military Institute.
And here l would say, my friends,
when you are talking about taxes, there
went $4,000 a year of your money to
| the University OF virginia. Sl5,OOO
year into the Military Institute to edu-
cato whom? Men from West Virginia
or from the masses OF virginia. 40
| il was only the gentleman's son that
could 20 there. because the price OF
everything was placed no high none
others could reuch them. A few were
sent, one from each Senatorial Dlstrlct,
to both these Institutions. Were they
made means of educating the people
in correct principles? No; never saw
man from the military Institute but
was rebel, and scarcely man from
the University but was n rebel also.
CApplause.l In talking TO the people of
Virginia-und 1 addressed more than
100, 600 OF them last yenr-I told them
in plain terms that education alone did
not qualify II man TO vote correctly, and
as a proof of that l would go to the
University of Virginia and TO the other
colleges of the State and there would
find the hot-beds OF secession and revo-
luton. lApplause.l told them l
would go to the doctors of law and OF
divinity, to the members OF the
churches and the lawyers, and there
find the greatest body OF men who are
disposed to vote wrong; that il the
question of secession had been left TO
the small farmers and mechanics and
those who had to work by the day for
-. gg,Tg, a knnN NFnt
been in the Union enjoying all its bless
ings and saved this terrible war through
which we have passed.
Let US look from another point of
| view at the effects of this "lost. cause"
ON the public. Virginia is called the
mother of States and statesmen. OF
what does craftsmanship consist? L
suppose il means successful employ
ment in guiding and directing the af-
fairs of the state so as to promote the
! great happiness and welfare of every
one, referring not only to its material
but its mental Improvement. Now,
gentlemen, take Virginia in a CONNER
| cial aspect. She had not a tirst-clRss
vessel on the ocean. Look at the cities.
Richmond is one OF the finest loca-
| tion5 in the world for Il city, $50 miles
| due south of Baltimore, 100 miles from
the Atlantic ocean, in what was once
| the finest country that ever was on the
/
tural products, its climate, its coil, the
! riches of the ocean being brought up
| almost n hundred miles by the indenta-
lions OF the sea. Yet there is Richmond
which at the commencement and con-
| clusiOu of this war contained scarcely
900 white population and perhaps
%, 600 of black. Norfolk occupying the
finest port in the world had but about
600 whites. 1t had literally no conf
merce. How OF their agriculture In
that great country? And / say it is n
great country, including tide water and
Piedmont Virginia. BY ignorant I'M
| educated labor they have completely
worn ont the country, so that you may
| go there now and 1 will show you tens
of thousands of acres OF land in n body
| you would not give dollar an acre for
and pay the taxes assessed on II. Lit
erallyaworn out; grown up with sedge
grass and old field pine. Where are
| there manufactures? But one respec-
table iron establishment in the Whole
State-a State Astounding in iron to u
greater extent than any State of this
| Union. Yet IL lies there untouched and
unused. Look then Mt their railroads
as improvements, or mt the old James
River Canal, first, II you please. There
you will find struggling effort to
build canal-nlwRys presided over by
one OF the First Families OF Virginia,
always receiving appropriations every
year from the Legislature; and of its
$50 miles in length from Richmond to
Lynchburg not "a village has ever
| sprung up on its banks or near its
banks. The land about it is not worth
one dollar more than it was the day the
| canal was made. Now for its manage.
ment: 1t had n President of the First
Family of Virginia; and its directors
were of the First Families OF Virginia.
They received 20 cents per mile for all
their visits in attending the meetings oil
the board and IS day believe for the
time they met in board. Their custom
was to meet four or five time year
and receive mileage from distant parts
of the State; and thea when the sum
mer came they went from one to two
weeks TO the White Sulphur Springs
and there had their meetings, and the
Legislature of Virginia voting every
year money to pay the current expenses
of the canal. tApplRuse.l When 1
went to Richmond / inquired into the
salaries that were being received by the
officers of that canal, and found them
amount to $4,000. 1 got the Legisla-
ture to turn out the whole of these men
from beginning 10 end, abolish the
mileage, put in two or three business
men, headed by a Yankee. Applause
S45, 900 more than expenses. APP
piausel This year they will earn S70,-
900 or $50, 600.
Now look at their railroads. They
had at.the commencement of the war
in Virginia ten different railroad corpo-
rations. In every one except two the
stock and was money-lender TO every
nf fhaD1 Ton liffarant