The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1868-03-05
at'heeliae gegister.
Morning,-.........M March ).
The Immigration Question.

The fmml Sration Vuestfous
The IatellgeHeer, with about its usual
s,irpess, attempts reply TO our re-
marks on the immigration policy of
wsst Virginia The point the REGIS
r,p tried to make, was that our efforts
n attract population through Com
missioner o; Immigration We're neutral
i,,d by the Governor, acting in the op-
n,site direction, ami 10y tue general sys-
,.m and course ot Vest Virginia gov
ernmeut. ,sI....s
The htslEgrncer would have us say
that the rnly bar To Immigration into
West Virginia is "a test oath excluding
rebels from voting, holding office and
practising law in our Courts" 1t is i
tbreadbare trick of weak wrauglers, nn-
obIe to refute all opponents argument,
IN avoid tue position he takes, and to
o.soil another which he is assumed to
occupy The IHtelligeHcer, under its
new management, seems to have en-
larged its capacity for descending to
false and feeble lodges in its conduct of
controversies. We repeat onr former
remarks upon the causes that drive
,opulatiou from our midst.
We have man in the Executive
chair who annually proclains to the
world, that some sections of our State,
snch as Greenbrier, Monroe, Logan,
Wayue and Barbour counties, can only
b. Governed by military force, and who
insists upon quartering troops upon
those counties. A letter from a leading
slicial i'm one of the above named cOun-
ties. makes a statement which numbers
of other credible persons have made be-
fore. that the Governors declarations
are wholly without foundation in fact.
The withdrawal of the troops from Bar
boar county ~ soon rs the success of
the Radical party there had been as
snred 10y the bayOuetS, is another
evidence Of the correctness of
this view, and the verdict Of
unbiased popular sentiment is ais" ad
verse to BoREMAN's bluster about re-
bellon in this State. But his asser-
tons are taken abroad for their face,
and land agents from Western and
Southern States are only too glad to
use his messages to divert immigration
from West Virginia. Foreigners in
search of places of settlement are
promptly posted rs to the state OF al
fairs i'll West Virginia, according to
BoREMlN, and they are unwilling to
locate in State, where, by the state-
ments of The Governor, there is neither
Law nor peace.
Other causes operate to cnr prejudice.
We have Oiiice-hOlders by the thousand,
and i system of taxation that grinds the
very life out of productive labor. Mr..
STEERE, (Rad), Chairman of the lnvesti-
gallon Committee, stated in the House, ,on
Yesterday, that the Penitentiary, which
under the original estimate aud present
plan, was TO have been built for Sl6S,-
900, would cost 100000. The Asylum
has already cost S4lO,00O, and but one
wing is completed, while it's frauds and
ABUSES are notorious and shameful.
These facts suggest high taxation, and
that is an institution to which new set
tiers are decidedly averse.
Our proscriptive Legislation does not
consist alone of "a test oath excluding
rebels from voting, holding office and
practising law in our courts" This is
merely its pretext and is no approx
mate measure of its results. 1t is merely
an engine To secure partisan success. 1t
does not always exclude rebels, as such,
from these privileges, fol if they will CO.
operate with the Radical party they can
vote and hold office, as is shown
by the Case of NAT HARRISON,
POPR OF the Legislature, and 9TH
els who might I've named. 1t
does exclude from the ballot-b0x men
not rebels, as has been shown i'll the
wholesale disfranchisement of Demo
Gratis in various parts of this State, for
no offence save that, although opposed
to rebellion, they were equally opposed
to Radicalism. There are instances in
this State where Union soldiers, with
honorable discharges, have been dis
frauchi,ed because of their adherence
to Democracy.
1t is this system of prescription fol
opinions sake ami the consequent dis
satisfaction it produces, as we'll as the
expense it entails upon the Taxpayer,
that causes Tie people Of other States
and countries TO steer clear of West Vir'
ginia.
The assertion of the InIelligencer that
rebels "are not denied any right of q
good citizen" is so shamefully reckless
as almost to carry with it its own retu'
ta,iOn. We commend to the considera
tion of the editor that portion of the late
amendment to the Constitution of the
State which provides that ono person
who has given aid or assistance to the
rebellion shall! be citizen oftkis State"