The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-06-30

erected upon It fine capitol building. q,
q cost of $4,000, and furnished the
whole TO tho State free of charge, in com
pliance with their pledge 10 the Legs
lature q. the time Of the location. And
I desire to correct statement which
am informed was made at public meet.
ing held the other day, at Clarksburg
Ono of the speakers, as I am
informed, stated that this build.
ing was erected for school-house and
not for State Capitol. This statement,
il made, was and is utterly untrue
1t was built for capitol building and
nothing else, and it is fitted for nothing
else
They also, for the same reason, erected,
at an immense cost, the largest and finest
hotel in the State, tor the accumulation OF
the State officers, members OF the Legis-
lsture and the public generally. The re-
movsl of the seat Of government from
Charleston has rendered the capitol
building entirely useless, and the hotel
nearly 50, tor it is too large and the cost
of running is too great for the patronage
it receives since the removal Of the Capt.
tai from Charleston.
For the same reason, and with the
same understanding, other improve
ments, such as grading and paving
streets, widening streets, laying out new
streets, involving the pulling down Of
houses, &C., were made, which would not
have been made but for the location OF
the Capital at Charleston, at q very heavy
and burdensome expense to the people of
the city.
And, in addition to all this, large in
vestments were made by persons from a
distance, citizens of this and other States,
in and around Charleston, and in the
Kanswha Valley, which would not have
been made but for the location OF the
seat of govern ment, as was believed, per-
nsnently at Charleston, and which, bv
reason of its removal from Charleston,
have failed to beremunerstive.
In view of these facts, alone, it was
gross and fagsnt violation Of the plight
ed faith of the State TO remove the seat
of government from Charleston, and par
ticularly so, at time when nothing
could be given IN Charleston or the Third
District IN return, without tearing up
and removing some one or more OF the
public institutions located at other points
in the State. :.
But, nv friends, these considerations
are mosly local in their character, and L
now propose to place this question before
YOU upon broader and more compre-
hensive view OF the matter. Propose to
prove to you that the location OF
the seat Of government at Charleston
will
pRouorrTHE INTEREST OF THE STATE
AT LARGE,
TO q much greater extent than at Clarks-
burg, or any other place in the State.
A glance at the map Of the State will
show that about one have of the whole
territory of the State Is included within
the Third Congressional District By
reference To the Auditors Report for
1873, it will be seea that the whole mum.
Der of acres of land assessed with taxes
in the State istwenty-four millions, two
hundred and six Thousand, six hundred
and thirty-one, (24,206,6Sl) and of this
number twelve millions. SIX hundred and
sixty-five thousand, seven hundred and
eighty-three ~ 500, 1881 acres were as
sessessed and charged with taxes in the
Third Congressional District alone, while
but eleven millions, five hundred and
forty thousand, eight hundred and forty
eight III $40, 848) acres are assessed and
charged with tsxes in both the other dis
tric,s; in other words, the Third Congress
sionsl District pays taxes on one
million, one hundred and twenty-four
thousand, nine hundred and thlrty-hve
l,l24 1851 acres OF land more than
the First and Second Districts put to-
gether.
know that this statement represents
more land than there is in the State, and
this grows out of the fact that number
of large tracts are charged twice on the
books of the assessor, first to the claimant
of the whole tract and then to the settlers
in small tracts, but this is so to a greater or
lees extent in all the districts, and cor.
rection Of the books by charging the land
but once, would not materially change
the result. But while
THE THIRD DISTRICT PAYS TAXES ON
MORE THAN ONE HALF THE LANDS IN
| frHE STATE,
it does not pay quite one third Of the
taxes Of State. Why is this? 1t is be-
cause these lands are to very great ex-
wild waste, and undeve Hoped.
The citizens committee OF Ciarksburg
in their address to the people, tell US that
their county is rich, well improved, and
checkered all over with railroads and
turnpikes, so that the citizens of almost
every ceuntyin the upper par. fthe State
can travel TO Clarksburg either by railroad
or by turnpike. This, TO considerable
extent, is true, but who made these roads
Tor them? The turnpikes were made by
the State of Virgins, and mostly on State
account at that. l voted tor several OF
these appropriations when l was a mem
Der OF the Legislature Of Virginia, and l
never could get one dollar for the poor
neglected portion of the State which l,
in part, represented without voting from
ten to twenty dollars to the region
around Clsrksburg. That section OF the
W estern portion Of the State OF Virginia,
was then the favored portion, and II got
nearly all the money voted for improve
ments west of the Allegheny mountains;
now it 10 The favored portion of West
Virginia, and gets sll the appropriations
of any consequences, that go anywhere IN
the State.
The First Congressional District pays
taxes on little over three and half
millions of acres of land, less than one.
sixth of the lands OF the State, and yet IL
paws more taxes than either the Second
or Third Districts. The reason OF this
lies, not in the fact that their lands are
richer or better, in any respect, than
those of the other districts, but in the fact
that BY reason of those turnpike roads
made BY the State Of Virginia, and the
Baltimore and OHIO railroad made by the
people Of Maryland, their lands have
been brought into cultivation, and their
resources of every kind have been fully
developed. No wonder that they are