The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-01-27
mo Consti,utional Convention.

n0SOMbultutlOuol SOusehdVn.
? The people of the State generally
will be glad to learn that they are to be
afforded an opportunity Of voting upon
the question Of calling Constitutional
Convention. That an overwhelming
majority of votes will be cast in favor
Of holding such a Convention, there
car be no reasonable doubt. The ex-
perience of seven years under the pres
ent Constitution has discovered in 1t
several defects which cannot be rem
edied by amendment in the piece-meal
style of joint resolution, but which can
only be reached by changes in whole
Articles, adopted after thorough dis
cussion by the best minds in the State
Many of the provisions Of the present
Constitution, especially is this the case
of the seventh Article, are entirely 100
minute and particular. They en-
ter into details which should
be left to legislative enactment, and
provide a rigid and unyielding code of
unimportant minutiae which, no mat
ter how urgent the necessity or how
great The expediency might be, the Leg
islature cannot change. Think of the
absurdity Of providing by constitutional
enactment, when, where, and how often
the county Board Of Supervisors shall
meet and what shall be the duties of
their clerk and how he is to be paid.
All these things should be left to the
wisdom Of the Legislature, and should
be liable to be changed as The conven-
fence Of the people might require,
without resort to the long and cumber-
some process of constitutional amend
ment AS well might the Constitution
of the United States particularly define
the duties of the United States mar
shals, or how the clerks in the postof
flee are to receive their pay.
The constitution Of the State is in
tended to fix only general outline OF
the government that is to be institu-
ted under it. 1t prescribes certain
limits to legislation, within which lin
its the ordinary Legislature OF the State
may freely act. 1t furnishes only the
foundation and framework Of the gov
eminent; the Legislature must provide
the minor details of the structure. But
the Constitution of West Virginia
seems to have been designed, in some
of it's parts, to be a complete code Of
laws, fixing unalterably the minutest
parts of the system and, as far as pos
sible, dispensing with ordinary legisla-
ton If the system OF government 1t
establishes had been so long tried here
as to demonstrate the utility of and ne
cessty for each ofthese details, land flour
people were compelled to run forever in
a fixed groove, our population neither
increasing nor diminishing and our de-
sires remaining always the same, then
there might be some reason for a fixed
and unalterable code of laws. We
might dispense with all further
legislation and live on precisely
in the same old way. governed
by the same old rules. But these are
times of progress West Virginia is
catching the spirit of the century, and
has started in the path Of improvement
We want room; room to adopt what
ever laws consistent with general con-
stitutional principles, the welfare OF the
people may demand. Where the pro-
visions Of the present constitution stand
in the way of this development, where
they are too minute and precise in the
regulation Of details, they should be
altered at once This will be one Of
the duties of the proposed Constitutional
Convention, and this character Of our
present constitution affords one Of the
reasons why a convention should be
held.