The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1873-12-27

;pec!al Correspondence OF the 1ntellgeneer.I
1t IS flrished. The rump has at last I'D
olrned sine die, Sine per diem, and all thu
peoplc rejoice. At 10 O'Clock and 10 min
utes A. NJ, OF to-day the sponge went "
and the Legislature OF 1872 and '7S wen
INTO its grave, but not into oblivion. HoW
il ,yrangled, frothed, ioamed, gassed
pougCd, cheated and swore, but few out:
sidefs know; but those who do know VIII
not soon forget. Were its every act known
10 all the people of the State, II would
place the following epitaph over the grave
Of once glorious party
Here lies the remains Of the Democratic
Party. ri llt=..-lf
Purged TO death by the Bourbon Legisla'
ture Of. 1872 and '73.
"Requiescat On pace" ..'- %.
A sCATH1NG REVIEW.
Irepcat, and I think ! know what lam
talking about, that were one.half OF the
deeds Of the Legislature just closed
known TO the people of West Virginia,
there would be no more Democratic as.
semblies OF the same kind In all the years
that are TO come.
The Constitution has been overridden;
the interests Of the State have been sacri-
feed for party; the highest officer Of the
State Tho Governor) has been insulted by
them; the money Of the people has been
squandered; the dignity OF Legislative as.
semblies has been trailed In the dust, and
the State itself has been dishonored and
diseraced by the Bourbon. Ring. Demo-
cratic Legislature OF 1923. These
charges are true, and those who may have
resd the several letters published il your
psper and written from the Capital, will
bear me witness that they have been fully
proven In every instance. And I might
add, in the language Of the Queen OF
Sheba, 1.-THE half hasno been told" =, !.
You have seen an old flint lock musket.
no doubt, with touch hole two or more
inches from tho brich pin, with prism
like q shoe sole, and o pan as big ass a
saucer. You have doubtless tried to shoot
one Of them OIL, and had them flash In
tho pan" and powder burn your face; and
when you would succeed In getting 1t to
fire at all, 1t would shoot harder with the
britch than with the bullet Reader,
that old timed, greasy, ugly, unreliable,
fash .thc-pan flint lock musket Is q fair
representative Of our West Virginia Bour-
bon Legislature. To make that old mus.
ket fit for use, you would need new
lock, stock and barrel; to make Legisla.
ture out of Bourbon Democrats; you
would have to melt them up and run
them over again. This smile Is not over.
lrawn. II Is impossible to overdraw It.
SOME HONORABLE EXCEPTIONS. r.
do not mean to apply my remarks
o all OF the members Of the
Ssnhedrin.. There are several honor
.blc exceptions. Even on the D mocratic
tide Of the House You would find few,
very few, who were not fully tossiliZed.
They tried to do tho best they could, but
hey were so far in the minority that they.
could do nothing. Tho entire field Of
legislation traversed during the. seven
months session just closed stinks with the
ims of old Virginia during the slave rule
Of forty years ago, Nothing was right,
unless It was modelled after the laws oil
the Mother Of Commonwealth" which
have bankrupted her and now placed her
at least fifty years behind the youpgestoi
her children. Let US hope, however, that
every dog has his day" land that the day
Of Democracy Is well nigh spent, We
must have our old Constitution back after
awhile, and we will some day bury the
County Courts along side Of the party that
forced them upon the then prosperous
West Virginia. -"lf-'l. 'T ~ s'ii
LAWS AND THE COST OF THEM, -, =,
During the. late session, there have
been printed 1857 Senate and 2GS House
Bills, and about one-hall Of them were
passed, and are laws. Those not passed,
Of course, arc as waste paper, although
the printing Of them alone cost fully
$4,000. Among the number passed are
siew good laws, andla hrge number, IN
my humble opinion, very Sinjudicio ts
ones. Time, however, will settle the cor.
reCtness or incorrectness OF this statement.
The session lasted 104 days, and did
not get over half through what It under.
took to do. It will take 204 days more
legislation to conform our laws to the
present Constitution. In fact It Is
an endless job. Our, people made misy
take. They, selected a LegialaturS Of
farmers TO make q code under a Constitu:
ton made by lawyers, and the result was
they did copaicted with the
Constitution. These are two extremes
that can never be made to harmorize. In
as much as the Constitution was made by
and for lawyers, II strikes me that we
will either have to repeal the Constitu-
ton or elect q Legislature Of lawyers to
make code TO suit their Constitution,
and then we will be where they started
out to get US when they called the Consti;
tutional Convention, viz; completely In
their power geo = e, a. n
COSTLY LUXURY. I" u
Now let us SEQ what We have paid for
The luxuries Of q Democratic Constitution.
al. Retrenchment Reform Convention, and
what we will have to pay before We get
through with It.
Since writing previous letter upon
this question, / have satisfied myself that
800 per day Is about the fair average ex.
pense Of the Legislature while 1t was In
session. And, furthermore,I Il made o
slight error in giving credit for q forty.
I've days session Of the Legislature at the
new rates, viz: "a per diem for members,
aud eighty.nine members when under
the old Constitution the members only re:
ceiyed IS per day, and consisted Of
seyenty-eight members. A net calcula-
ton will give the following result:
q days At 800 per az ,,or ~; 800
Auditors Report........... ......"" G,ooVVSS
Expenses Of two extra elections. 80" l2,OVV
Total cost thus far. ............... .$lss,SOO
Deduct IS dAyp, % legitimate 9eaBion OF
The Legislature, which averaged under a..
Republican rule about. 20,UOO
Total ea.h for tho luxuries of Con, :, -,
venllon. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Slos.oVV
Now multiply this by two and you will
have 1896, 900, the net cost OF Conyen-
tinr a. - .1lfah,n liam RRRafQ IN lhe HtAte