Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-04-17


be composed Of two members from each
maglsterial district Of county and each
ward of a city, to hold Office for the
term Of two years.
Section 2. The County Committee
shall select its own chairman, and shall
have charge Of all executive business
pertaining to the ends proposed to be
accomplished by this organization with
IN their respective counties and cities.
Section 3. 1t shall be the duty of the
chairman of the Executive Committee
OF each county and city to preside over
the meetings to elect delegates to the
Farmers Assembly. and as such chair
man he shall furnish to each member a
certificate of his election.
Section 4. II shall be the duty Of the
Executive Committee of each county
and city to collect, by voluntary con-
tribution, funds necessary to carry on
the business Of this organization. One
half Of the funds so collected by each
committee shall be turned over to the
State Executive Committee to be used
for publishing the proceedings of the
Farmers Assembly and other neces-
sary purposes, the other half to be
used by the respective county or city
committees, to be by them applied to
the objects proposed to be accomplished
by this organization.
Section 5. 1t shall be the duty ofthe
County and City Executive Committees
to appoint secretary and treasurer.
to have charge Of the funds collected,
keep an account Of the same, and dis
burse them on the order Of the COM
mittee.
Article T.-Amendments TO Constitu-
tion.
Section |. Amendments to this con-
stitution may be proposed at any regu-
lar session Of the Farmers Assembly.
and if agreed to shall be published. and
at the next regular session Of the Farm
ers' Assembly held after a general
election of members may be adopted
by two-thirds vote of the members
elected.
RAILWAY COMMISSIONERS.
The Committee on Resolutions, to
whom was referred the question, made
the following report, which was adopt
ed:
|. That the discrimination shown
by the railroads and steamboats, cross
ing the State to deep water in favor OF
through freights is a direct blow to the
success Of agriculture within her bor-
ders.
>. That such discrimination is con-
trary to those principles Of public
policy upon which their charters rest
and under which the Commonwealth,
in the exercise OF its powers, took pri-
yate property for public uses.
3. That the establishment Of board
Of railway commissioners, which shall
be clothed with such powers, and
charged with such duties as will bring
under their supervision the entire buSi-
ness of the railways chartered by the
Legislature Of this State and which
! shall be so constituted as to furnish an
impartial tribunal for the speedy ad-
justmcnt ofall questions arising between
the people and the railways, as well as
between the railways themselves. Here
the resolution ends. but it is evident
that some such sentence as be urged
before the next Legislature was In
| tendedl.
The consideration Of these questions
| provoked q most animated and extended
DISCUSSION, which was participated in
by MessrS. Grafton, Saunders, Walden,
Wilkinson, Hurt, General Wickham.
Colonel Buford, and several others.
The discussion. while warm, was con-
Quoted with great courtesy and firm
ness, and provoked no bad feeling.
ABOUT EDUCATION.
The Committee on Education made
the following report. pending the con-
sideration Of which the Convention took
a recess until o'clock p. NJ.
Resoired, That the elementary pub
lie schools in the country be required
so to change their course Of study and
textbooks as to give at least one hour
daily of instruction in agriculture and
| that wherever it is not absolutely inn
practicable a part of the grounds OF
/ these elementary country schools be
converted into a garden. to be used As
training-garden for the work Of the
pupils under the direction of the teach
ers.
Resolred, That public high schools
in the country be required to change
their course of study and textbooks as
to give at least one hour daily Of such
/ instruction in agriculture as will con-
tinue the instruction given in the ele-
mentary schools; and that the school
gardens be organized at these high
schools also for instruction and prac-
tice, and that drawing be taught all
high-school pupils.
ResOlred. That the city and town
public elementary schools be required
so to change their course Of study and
textbooks as to give an average of at
least one hour daily Of instruction in
practical mechanics.
Resolred, That the city and town
public high schools be required so to
change their course of study and text
books as to give an average of at least
one hour daily of instruction in practical
mechanics, and that drawing be taught
all high-school pupils.
Resolred, That State students to the
Agricultural and Mechanical College at
Blacksburg be allowed to enter that
school only after examination prescribed
by the State Board applicable to all the
public high schools of the State, whose
pupils will there attain these scholar
ships as the reward of merit.
Resolred, That the Agricultural and
Mechanical College at Blacksburg
should be what its name imports and
what was contemplated by the act OF
Congress making a grant for this pur-
pose, and that its academical and mill
tarv departments be subordinated to its
industrial features, and that the sci
ences be taught and the pupils be
trained with special reference to the
| or., u,b;ch ara ;Ilurtratad in thp field