The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1874-08-26

ferred upon the County Court and witt
compensation to be made from the coun
ty treasury" " 1'"..' -- ' '1tA
The truth of the matter is that thes
gentlemen who worry [. themselves 81
much about this matter and keep up sucl
continual howl about the County Cour1
system and its manifold disadvantages, Dc
it for partisan, political purposes and tina
alone. -....r.. ia al. .o......J III
ROAD LAW.
As to the road lawI have only this t.
say: Itmay have its imperfections, bu
l defy any Legislature to frame roac
law that will please all classes of people
It's an lmpossibility. Yet if, it, worked
all right under Republican rule, what j.
the matter with it now? For it is sub
stantially the same now as then, with
some slight amendments for the better
And it has this alternative advantages
You can have your choice by either work.
ing the roads certain number of days
or else by raising the money by taxation
to work them. 'sYou pay your money
and take your choice
FREE SChOcLs.
A great deal Of capital is attempted to
be made out of the cry Of 'the Democ-
rscy opposed to the free school system, "
&c. The Democratic party cannot by
any possible reasoning be charged with
hostility to free schools. On the con-
trary, the Republicans, by their efforts TO
force mixed schools OH the people, show
their enmity to the present free school
system, for they must know that the
passage of that bill or Hoar's school bill
will inevitably and most certainly kill
our free schools. The Democracy en-
grated in our Constitution the following
section: "The Legislature shall provide
by general law for thorough and eff
cient system Of free, schools" (Sec. l, Art.
81 Not may, in their discretion, provide
but shall provide. Does this look like
hostility to free schools? By reference
to the report of Hon. Chas. Lewis, then
Superintendent of Free Schools, for the
first year of Democratic rule in this
State, we find that instead of retarding
the interests of free schools, the interests
of free schools were promoted; the gen
eral school fund was largely increased; Il
larger number of teachers, male and fe-
male, were employed than the year pre-
crding, under Republican rule.
WHAT THE DEMOCRACY HAS DONE FOR
THIS STATE SINCE 1871.
October lst, 1870 was the end of the
last fiscal yccr. The Republicans had
control of this State. Let IA examine
the state of the treasury then. The then
Governor stated in his annual message
to the Legislature in January, 1871
Balance in the treasuryi Octocer lst,
1870, S2l3,475 So" but failed to state that
this amount, all belonged to the school
fund and there WAS then an actual deficit
inrthc General State Fund of 500, 562l
This deficit was made up rs follows:
Money taken from, land used, lbc-
longing 10 General School Fund .s3i ,ES IL
Money taken from, land uSedD he
longing lrreduciblc School Fund $3.50 Il
Money appropriated by former
Legislature and paid after Octo-
her list, lSO...!..,..:. %,O23 ~
Making a grand total of...............s92,l52 10
In lS7l-72, We had to make appropra-
tions to pay the following deficits, left us
as lcgacics By our Republican predeces-
SOrs: .....
Construction of Asylum for the
insane, made in 1870. ............. ST., 392 "a
John Frcw, public printcr............. 6,tQJ y
Preparation of the Code of lS7S..... 2,lI0 ~
Printing the Code of lSGS............... 10000 "
Fees TO Johnson & Faulkner in the
suit between Va. ana W.Na.,rela-
tive 10 Jefferson and Berkeley
5000 W
Guards of Pcuitentiary (See re-
port of 1871 page ~ Ans 80
Current EXPENSES of University at
MOr.uutnwn. .,....... 9,uJO W
Total ................S4i,I S -
So you see the Republicans left de-
liciency, appropriated or expended by
them of $l37,0 II, for us to pay all of
which has been paid, without increasing
the taxes one cent, and we had II balance
of the General State Fund in the treas
ury July lst, 1874, of $S7,5l2 81, and
the Auditor informs me- by letter
that we will have good balance
belonging to the general State fund at
the end of the present fiscal year. We
have not taken from THE school fund
either whenever money was needed, us
did our Republican friends.
Between 1868 and the end of the fiscal
wear 1870 the Republicans received from
the United States Government over
$500 600 on account of money paid out
bv the State for home guards, Sc, and
in 1870 they received from the b. Il o.
railroad, for back taxes, the sum of So
600. Yet although these large sums were
in addition to Che regular revenue, they
left deficit for the Democrats pay in
almost every branch Of the State govern
mrnt viz: General State Fund, General
School Fund, Irrcduciblc. School Fund,
Asylum for the Insane, Pcnitcntiary,
University, &c. &c.
For 1873 the general school fund dis
tributed WIS S2445l9.22 which is larger
than amy previous year, and $4,000 or
$jO,OOO, more than any year under Re-
publican rule,
We nave put the Deaf, Dumb and
Blind institution at Romney in success
ftl operation and made additions to the
building. We have increased the appro-
priations for the construction of the asy-
ium at Weston and the penitentiary at
Moundsville, and those buildings are now
fast approaching completion. '-''
The Asylum for the Insane is being
run ut u less expense per caPim than for
merlv. and it is said ut less expense
than any similar institution in the Uni
ted States. | have examined into this
matter and find thas whilst the highest
rate per caJitq per week in the various
asvlums of the United States is SS.6s,
and the lowest 1916, West Virginia is
but $24j.
The cost Of feeding the prisoners at
the Penitentiary under Radical rule in
1866 was, per- capita, per day, So cents;
under Democratic rule, now, II 7G-lOO
cents. The average. daily expense per
ropita for the five years of Radical rule,
Including 1870, was 81 cents; for the four
wears of Democratic rule, Is! cents.
Balance in favor of Democratic rule,