The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-02-19
WHAT, AND WHAT NOT.

WHAT, AND WHAT NOT.
The House strangely stultified itself Sat
urday, by voting to discharge Mr.. jenkins,
and summarily dismissing the whole SUBJ
ject Of inquiry as to the alleged frauds and
corruptions in connection with the funding
bill. 1t has been "pegging" away at this
investigation ever since the Sth of Decem-
Der last, and the first moment it discovers
a"rotten heel" it filings away boot, last,
shoe-hammer, pegging awl and all, as a
matter of most bootless inquiry on its part.
This strikes outsiders as little odd, we must
confess and the first inquiry that naturally
leaps to ones lips is, "What's mp now ?"
Has anybody discovered mares nest?'
Is there any particular cat" under that
particular "meal ?" Does the scent of
"dirty linen" offend anyone's nostrils in
the same sensitive manner that Falstaf's
Datchet-lane in buck-basket? Surely,
so slim ghost of a question as that of
jurisdiction" did not so stagger and APP
pail that body as to shake all resolution out
of it. This, we repeat, is the way it
strikes outsiders, and these are the inqui-
ries that leap to their lips as they contem-
plate all this froth and fustan that has gone
for nothing.
But the inquiry has done some good,
and we thank the House Of Delegates for
the fearless manner in which they entered
upon it. 1t has disclosed one fact worth
all the time and money it has cost to get
at it. 1t has opened the eyes Of the peo-
pie to the manner in which some of our
legislation has been conducted. 1t has left
no man in the State to doubt that the fund
ing bill was engineered and put through
the last General Assembly by means of
bondholder's corruption fund. This most
damaging, as well as damning fact, is pa
tent. And it places every man who was a
member last year, and who voted to dis
miss the further investigation on Saturday,
in most unenvable position before the
people of Virginia. This it is impossible
for them not to see. No matter how
honestly, how well-intentioned, how in
corruptibly their vote may have been given
year ago, their vote on Saturday is one
that will be sharply criticised by nine men
out Of every ten in the community. 1t is
impossible that it should be otherwise.
The human mind will put This and that
together in spite of its own intuitions. 1t
can't help it; it was so framed the men
tai laws will govern.
We do not designate parties, or count
noses. We do not stop to inquire whether
our political friends are hit, or whether our
opponents only are in this ugly shallop.
ALI must see the predicament in which
their improyident action places them. Our
allusion to it does not add feathers
weight to the ignominy in which it will be
regarded by others. The fact, we have
said, is patent-that money was most
lavishly expended by somebody in getting
through the funding bill. Somebody had
his hands elbow-deep in somebody's else
pocket. Greenbacks flew certificates of
deposit took to themselves wings and flew
even to a greater distance than greenbacks /;
newspaper articles were paid for almost at
the rate of sixteen hundred dollars q
column big tubs were thrown to little
whales, and big whales Topped their
tails in disgust at tubs that were
not bigger; it was general
creain-day in the financial surf
for all the great and little fshes-all the
Tritons and minnows--that delight in
swimming where goldfish is freely used for
bait. The result of all this glitter and
glare of the bondholders' tempting, secured
to them twenty millions more than they
could legally have demanded from the
State, by one single provision of the bill.
1t is this provision that we fight and we
do not intend to cease fighting it till the ini-
quitous wrong is righted. The House has
already put its foot on that feature of the
bill, but not altogether in the way it should
have done. The whole bill should be re-
pealed. The people demand a new deal o.
the legislative cards. They want nc
stocking Of hands by bondholding thin
ble-riggers, nor by any other class Of finan.
cial shysters. A square, honest deal. with
a two million pool up, is what they must
see, before they respond to any "callo on
the State treasury.
Repeal, then, the bill of last year. Re
fund two-thrds of the old debt, leaving
West Virginia to fund the other third. Is.
sue certificates for the back interest paya-