The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-01-21
evening State gal!rilal.
SATURDAY EVENING, JAN. 81, 1871.
spIaIT OF THE MORNING PREss.

Will not Elder paint picture OF HI
Powhatan, the Dispatch's hero and found
of RichmondY Nobody, not even the Ser
tor from Powhatan, would object to
appropriation for its purchase. All c.
unite on the roaring king the Tusc
roras," even if sthey differ about lat
native chieftains, such as Lee and Thorn
AID Scott. Pocahontas might have a pla
In the picture, too, and Captain Smith, al
Mynheer Rolfe. Of course, this is "in
pertinent and oficious" in us, who belon
to the Northern tribe of Senacas, and al
a stranger in the wigwams of the Opedi
docks,--or, what did the Inder call 'em
1t was Ope-something. By the way, tina
was good thing in the hlder. w
have heard fifty people say SO. How di'
you like its " impertinence and officious
ness 2" The LadeG rather had you OIL
sIngin ante-queries," and your new Enea
of our modern Tiber. Powhatan, no doub
was won't to roam over these hills in hi,
native nakedness and filth, but the Ladea
explodes your theory that he was the
founder of this our rising Rome, and ex-
poses your want of ingenuity in building
Indian history on airy nothinguess. That
was decidedly a good thing in the Index.
But, seriously, too much has been said
about this portrait business. We regret
that any objection was made by Republic
cans, or that the name of Thomas was
brought up. Silence on their part would
have been golden on such an occasion. If
at any future time the Union people shall
have control in the Legislature, they will
have an opportunity to confer like honors
upon those whose memory they revere !;
and this will serve them for a precedent.
But there is one thing we wish to correct
the Dispatch in. 1t says:
We have to pay our share of taxation for
every honor done the Union dead-so-caled-
by the Federal Government. We have none
of the public offices, and we pay more into the
Federal treasury in proportion to means than
any people in the United States. Therefore
when we propose to honor the memory of one of
the noblest men this country has ever produced,
1t is piece Of brazen assurance and imperti-
nence for Radicals to ridicule or censure the
act.
OF course, this means the tobacco tax.
Now, that tax is not paid by the Virginia
producer or manufacturer, but by the con-
sumner, throughout tho whole country and
10 Europe; while the cost of its collection is
spent here in Virginia by the Federal
office-holders. Then, again, but for the
half.paid labor Of the Republicans, who
raise and manufacture the tobacco, you
would have none to be taxed. 1t is the |
laboring man who pays the taxes, and not |
the idle consumers, who produce nothing, |
but fatten on the sweat of the working |
men.
Every man who works and earns his
livelihood pays bis just proportion of the
taxes of the State and country, while he
who does not work and does not produce
anything but lives off the labor of others,
pays no taxes at all. He lives on the
taxes of labor, which are the profits made
from that labor Therefore, the Republic
can laborers have the same right to honor
the Union dead by appropriations out of
the State treasury, that you have to houor
the Confederate dead in that way, and We
think it would be better for the interests
of both to compromise it on that basis
But the notion that the rich only pay
taxes has taken possession of all classes
here, and it is hard to disabuse them of the
idea. 1t is the property that pays, and
the labor that enables it to pay--without
the latter the former would be unpreduc-
tive and valueless, and could pay nothing.
The labor of mechanic is worth, say, ten
dollars day, out of this his agent, who
collects the money, and is wrongly called
his employer, returns to him three dol
lars, pays one dollar in taxes to the State,
city, and United States governments, and
pockets six dollars as his own commissions.
The Dispatch is gratifed that the Con-
caucus has determined in favor
of new apportionment of the State, and
hopes it will also make reasonable
diminution of the number of Senators and
Delegates. If the spirit of the constitution
be adhered to, we see no serious reason to
object to this. A reduction in the number
would tend to facilitate business and thus
shorten the sessions and the cost of the
legislative department would be thereby
lowered. The only objection that could
be urged, that would be of much force, is,
that in a corrupt legisature-and we run
the risk of electing corrupt men at some
future time, although the present body
is ''pure as snow and chaste as
Ice the smaller the number, the
more easily IL Will De Tor the LOBBY |
to operate; and, therefore, we re-
luce the expenses of that "useful insttu-
tion," as well as of the State government.
But the Dispatch does not count the lobby
Is anything, and bases its argument for
wholly on the expeditions dis
patch of business and diminished expense.
It says:
Apart from the business advantages of the
mailer body, in an economical point of view
Il would be greatly beneficial to the State 1t
would save to the public treasury from $35, 900 |
10 $40 600 per annum. This would pay the
interest on 5000, 900 or $500, 900 of the public i
lebt, and 1t is far more important that we
should consult the welfare of the State in her {
Jay of poverty and prostration than that we |
should crafty the ambition of a few individu-
ais. man who does not prefer the former,
Or who would sacrifice it to personal interest
DR. feeling, is not proper representative of the
State at any time, and least of all times in this
lay and generation of want and sorrow.
In a multitude Of counsellors there is
wisdom, and we believe more chance for {
honesty. There is but little corruption in
The New England State legislatures, and /
We suppose it is due to this fact, while in
Pennsylvania, where there are only 33
senator's and proportionate number of
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