The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1873-12-08
THE CAPITAL QUESTION.
The Wisdom that was Manifested In
Selecting Charleston as the Per-
manent Seat Highly ComplImented,

The Wisdom that was Manifested Il
Selecting Charleston as the Per
manent Seat Highly Compllmented
| Communication In the Courier and Adverlie
Aooreaeld, ". Va t"- It
Occasionally there Is meagre dispatcl
via the Wheeling papers as 10 what
going on among the Solons In the Kan
awha valley, especially Il fight occurs 1
the bar-room Of the "Hale House." (w
believe that Is the name oi the principa
hotel In Charleston,) but with this excep
ton, we get about as late news from III
Cspital OF West Virginia as we do iron
Yokohoma when the San Franciscl
steamer arrives from Japan. Occasionally
we are lucky enough to receive Charles
ton paper, not more than week old, con
tBining that ubiquitous, inevitable and In
toleFable blouse Bill, No. $780," or somt
other number. appropriating blank dol
lars and cents for the "Slaven's Cablr
and Summersfield Turnpike" wherever
that mud road is. II the Legislature
would only turn in and appropriate money
enough 10 build some kind Of a road
even corduroy turnpike that would pai
this end Of the State within two or three
days instead OF, VIC were about to say
two or three weeks range Of the State
Capital, we might then become more re-
conciled 10 the perpetual paragraph, year
after year, about the Slayen's Cabin and
Summersfield Turnpike. But with Mr..
Benefits proclamation In the Senate. oi
the bankruptcy Of the State Treasury star.
ing us In the face, we cannot OF course
expect any public Improvement that will
improve our means OF communicating
with the State Capital.
What then Is the remedy? Is II 10 60
on as we are going, and let the Capital OF
West Virginia remain hid down in the
Kanawha Valley, like a candle under o
bushel, so far away and so deep down In
that narrow strip Of valley, and so mac.
cessible TO all the outside world, that hall
the people OF the State are really puzzled
to know how TO get there? Is It to go OH
travelling TO our State Capital via Wash
ington city, Gordonsville, Stauntop, and
the interior of Virginia, when we are In q
hurry to reach the placer Is It TO go to
Parkersburg In summer, when the river Is
low, or in the winter when 1t Is frozen
over, and take o wagon or q sled, or q
wheelbarrow, or go on foot across the
Jagged, rutty, end on end country that In.
tervenes between the Little Kanawha and
Big Kanawhs? Or is 1t to cross over TO
Marietta from Parkersburg, providing the
river Is not running full Of Ice, and 60 to
some place, we can't just now recollect
where, on the Marietta & Cincinnati Rail.
road, and there get on some cross line
that will take us to Portsmouth,, Ohio,
and thence, n we survive the fatigue, take
boat, If the river Is not still full Of run
nlng Ice, and 20 to Huntington, the point
where the far.tamed Chesapeake & Ohio
Railroad debouches into the sand .bars or
the ice foes Of the Ohio river, according
to the time oi year !?
But seriously, can anyone tell US what
ever possessed the West Virginia Legisla.
ture TO remove the capital from an acces.
siblc point, like the city Of Wheeling, to
an inaccessible point, like Charleston :?
We understand that 1t was done by the
vote oI one man, and that man q member
from the Eastern Pan Handle oil the State.
We should think that the fame OF that
man should be handed down 10 posterity
In the same basket OF chips that contains
the fame Of the youth who jumped into
the river to get out OF the rain.
We were lar enough from the capital
when II was at Wheeling. We mean
those of US who had occasion now and
then to go there on business connected
with the State in any shape. But We
were at least on the line Of the Equator
and immeasurably nearer than we are
now, with the capital away down at the
South Pole. When we think oi that
removal We wonder now that we re-
garded 1t with so much forbearance. But
we had not then our present stock Of
geographical knowledge. We supposed,
that Charleston was spot that could be
got at throughout the year. We regard
ed Randolph's remark about the Ohio
being dry one.half the year, and frozen
over The balance, as o sort oi dyspeptic
Joke on the part Of the sage Of Roanoke,
and not an "o'er true tale" as 1t has prov.
ed 70 be since the removal took place.
But look how II was the very first time
the Legislature met after the removal.
Did anybody ever hear OF such time as
they had getting over the country from
Parkersburg to Charleston In the dead Of
winter? Then look how II was. only q
month or 90 ago when the present Legis-
lature met We saw them circumnavi.
eating the country by way Of Washington,
Gordonsville and Staunton again, or by.
way Of that Marietta and Cincinnati Rail.
road, and that cross cut to Huntington
again. s.rl, :
And this 10 the delightful prospect before
Us Tor an Indefinite time in the future.
And Il was brought about by somebody's
vote from the Eastern Panhandle! We
should like to see copy Of that mans
chronological development and know
for q fact what sort OF aBarnum's "What
Is II" he was anyhow. ''''+'F y
We ask again, Is, there no remedy ?
What Is 10 hinder the Legislature from
doing the people Of this protion oi>the
State at least one good turn before they
adjourn, by moving tho capital tos ONE
such place as Parkersburg, or Clarksburg,
or even to Wheeling again II they can't
do any betterI Give Us any place In the
State, always excepting, OF course, Sla-
yen's Cabin or 4ummerfeld, In preferece
to the present remote and inaccessible lo-
cation. H.-A.
whipping in.Ihe Schools.