National Republican., 1876-03-06

the Old Dominion. To tax the lands OF |
the State, worn out and untillable, more |
than they now have to bear would be bur- |
densome to the agricultural interest, an in |
terest that should be fostered rather than |
oppressed, and which would not fail to act |
disastrously upon the future prospects Of the
Democracy, who have so long ruled but TO
ruin the Commonwealth. The other propo-
sition-''a stamp tax on the consumption of
whisky'-will be far worse for the welfare
Of the Democracy, and would provoke the
immediate downfall of the organization in
Virginia. They might be induced to stand
a tax on bread, the staff of life. but when
it infringes on whisky, which the average
Democrat esteems as ''life itself" they
will none of it. 1t is passing strange that
the Auditor, with full knowledge of this
fact before him, had the temerity to even
suggest such a thing. He is evidently
preparing to quit his Office. 1t is unfortu-
nate that this official did not inform the
Legislature in detail how and to whom the
stamps he proposes were to be applied,
whether to the vender or consumer; il to
the latter, it would take but brief period
to stamp out the whole Democratic party
of the State.
Virginia wants emigration. To get it
the emigrants must needs travel; yet
Daniel, who came near being elected to the
United States Senate, "has come to judg-
ment, and, not content with the Auditors
prescription, has seriously proposed a
travelling tax" on every passenger who
shall pass over any of the public railways
or canals of the State. This states
man has, however, designated in his
bill the companies over whose lines
the unfortunates shall pass, as the collec-
tors of the tax, so that no fears need be en-
tertained by those who propose to enter or
pass through the State of having stamp
affixed to their nasal protuberances. A
member of the House of Delegates, with
evident purpose to repress the wickedness
of the Democracy, has introduced meas
ure that has been denominated "cursing
bill" for the purpose Of raising revenue
by grading blasphemous oaths, and assess
ing fines against the perpetrators thereof
commensurate with the enormity of the
ofense. There is no doubt that if this
bill passes, and the tax it imposes was COL
lected, it would suffice to pay the debt,
principal and interest, in very short
space of time; but if the Scriptural pre-
requisite to the collection theory, "Let
him that is without sin cast the first stone"
be applied to the collectors, the Democracy
would be forced to the dire necessity of
going into the ranks of the opposition
party ~ find the necessary revenue Off
GERS. Therefore they will not be likely to
pass it.
Badinage aside, matters are growing
serious in Virginia. Democratic before
the war, almost uniformly, she has had the
misfortune ever since the rehabilitation of
her State government in 1869 to cling TO
the same party that plunged her into re-
bellion, and now we see the result of this
continued misrule in mountain load of
debt and her resources undeyeloped by
reason of the dog -in-the- -manger policy of
her Locofoco rulers, who, unable to de-
velop them without outside aid, have, by
most unwise and suicidal method of
prescription of political opponents, pre-
vented what she most needed, viz: an in
f1ux of capital and skilled labor Her
politicians are greatly, if not altogether,
responsible for her present embarrassed
position. They have spent the years in
howlings about "Radicalism,' and in
maudlin lamentations over her sister States
of the South, that were under the rule of
Republicanism, that might better have
been expended in the exercise of a wise
and conciliatory policy looking to the well
1are OF their own State, until now not one
of the States upon which their sympathies
were wasted is not in far better pecu-
mary condition than their own. There is
a moral to be deduced from all this, that
the people, if not the politicians. of Vir-
ginia, will do well to make practical ap-
plication of, and that is TO thrust aside, as
they would any impediment to their per-
sonal success in life, the pestilent brood of
politicians who have so greatly contributed
to Virginia's undoing in the past, and who
now stand in the way Of her attaining the
high position among the States that her
almost unlimited agricultural and mineral
resources entitle her TO. Let her people,
for the time being at least, forget there
ever was such curse upon the State as
Locofocoism, called by courtesy, Democ-
racy or Conservatism, and by concert of
action with Northern men and Republi-
cans now within their borders, seek the
emigration the Democracy affect to want,
and which in the present necessitous con-
dition of the State is so greatly needed,
and then, when an installment of them is
received, treat them well, open the doors
of your houses to such Of them IS are
worthy, or, in other words, against whom
you can have no other cause of complaint
than their adherence to the principles OF
the Republican party. Do this, and re-
frain from stufting ballUt-boxes at the be-
hest of a party that has already welI-nigh
ruined the State, and soon the debt will be
manageable, and the old Commonwealth
'bloom and blossom as the rose" The
policy that has been and is now being pur-
sued can have no other end than utter and
II