The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1871-07-12
More About State Aid for Internal
improvements

MF. w. u. ARSOLD,) 10 hasten uPOu t4S
State the old Virginia policy of creating
State debt in aid OF Internal Improve
ments, says
I'VE cannot approve OF the justice Of
such doctrines. For we neither want aims
from the Panhandle or charity from
abroad. We demand justice without hu-
initiating supplicatiOns or unreasonable
exactions. When Wheeling in oldcn times
was agOnizing over railroad facilities, we
came generously forward, with an I'M
stinting hand, to her relief. For the in
terests OF Wheeling, and at her bidding,
we abandoned fiAy cents on every passen-
ger over the Baltimore X Ohio Rail
road, which had been freely offered by
that company for the unrestricted right
of way over the territory OF our State,
which for all time would yield bonus
more than the States present annual rev.
enucs. II the right OF way had not been
prohibited by public law, our people
not Wheeling and the Panhandle-might,
for the same reason operating upon the
INTELLIGENCER, have been interposing
objections to the delicate question OF tax
alton for The deyelOpemcnt or the ran
handle. Wealth consists Of more means
than money. Wemade Wheeling by gen
erous and selisaCrifcing laws, and by the
abandonment Of unbounded revenues,
She now turns upon us, II we are TO look
upon the lNLRLLIGRSCER as her expo
nent, and be told as II were u help our
selves, and not disturb Wheeling in her
plethOriC abundance which was granted
by our charity.
We want our State developed-we want
taxation diminished by the Unreasonable
wealth Of our State when properly cult
waited by equal, generous and charitable
laws. We are no advocate tor exrava'
gances We do not claim as a right what
Wheeling did in former times-the right
Of controlling the policy Of internal i'm
provements, and debating, by jealousy,
the channel Of It's communications. We
are no advocate for a system Of public
debt for internal Improvements without
limitations We have seen the folly Of
this elsewhere, and never more Conspicu-
ously than in the policy Of Wheeling. We
do, however, advocate such system OF
improvements as may bind the several
parts OF our State together with chains OF
iron, and give to labor It's legitimate place
and reward. We must have just laws OF
we cannot be q happy or contented people
This tax Of so cents per passenger
which Weston so very generously aband'
0ned when she permitted the Baltimore
IL Ohio Company to build a road on the
sacred soil, was tax which Virginia had
no right TO impose-a tax forbidden by
the Constitution Of the United States, as
the Supreme Court recently had occasion
to decide. This talk about having made
Wheeling rich by permitting that road tc
he built-"by selt.sacrifcing laws and by
the abandonment Of unbounded revenues,
is sheer nonsense. 1t was not that rOaC
that made this city. Wheeling grew W
in spite of Virginia legislation and bur
dens, through the energy oil her own people
Virginia never did anything but oppres
her with unwholesome laws, even passing
an income tax law expressly to reach III,
workmen in our shops and mills.
But we print this extract not to reply Il
its positions, but because 1t frankly avowl
the purpose which we have attributed Il
the friends of Convention, and which
we so much deprccate. Wheeling ant
Panhandle readers can sec that there /!
no disposition in that quarter to disguise
that purpose, however much the Wheel
ing Register may halt and equivOcAtr
about 1t, A gentleman from Gilmcr coun
~ informed us the other day that this In
tOrnal Improvement policy was the strong
card played by the friends Of the Conven
tion in his county. They went round rs
surfing the property holders that II n Con
vention were held, that country would b.
Checkered with roads, and they would b.
made rich by the rise in their lands. Tha
Is doubtless good argument there, bu
how will II do here? How will II do ii
the eastern countless how in the Countie
along the Ohio river, how in any OF til,
large tax paying counties that have NJ
wild lands to be brought into market nnt
but little to expect in the way of Stat,
Improvements The eagerness Of The
Register to disavow and explain away The
scheme shows that the Democrats hcrt
are not prepared for that kind of n "new
departure" The Lewis county Demo
Gratis have no conccalments, and reproacl
Wheeling because she does not want Il
he taxed to build roads for them.
Now we submit TO the Democrats o
Wheeling and the Panhandle whether ~
prudent and sensible men they can fall il
with this scheme Of the wild land shark
to abrogate that "wise limitation" in tn
present constitution which fOrbids tn
creation Of a State debt land the taxing o
the whole State TO pay II, principal ant
INTEREST," to build lines of improvement
which must inevitably be local and par
tial in their benefits? The issue is fairly
made, and not by us but by the advocates
ola Convention. We make the inquir,
not as partisan, and trust we address /
to men who are capable on proper occa
sion OF sinking the partisan in the citizen
While the INTELLIGENCER is party pa
per and processes nothing else where poll
tics are concerned, we believe we hnvr
shown in times past that we are capable q
abating our party predictions for til
sake of reason and principle where tn
latter and the former come In conflict