Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-09-08

Hlerce voters, and thus prostituting
their official influence. Judges were
using their powers Of appointment for
party purposes; education was used as
q political engine our public charities
perverted and used in the same way;
learned professors were leaving digni-
fed chairs Of learning to harangue the
multitude all positions Of honor, trust,
or profit in the State lowered, twisted,
and perverted to carry out Mahone's
/" msthods."
Every true Virginisn, proud Of the
history and traditions of his State,
could but blush that such law was
necessary, and feel Inundated that any
steps would be taken to nullify it. The
passage of such q law, however, by .
Democratic Legislature is q pledge to
the people that they will observe its
provisions and be bound morally by it,
whether it be constitutional or not.
The Democrats in the Legislature
originated and passed thirty-four acts
to improve and extend the free schools
Of the State, besides the fostering aid
afforded the University, colleges, and
academies thrown open to the merito-
rious poor young men Of the State.
Such legislation by party who put the
system into operation before it was re-
quired by the Constitution, framed by
Republican trainers, is sufficient reply
TO the charge in their platform that
"the Democratic party is the enemy Of
public instruction"
GENERAL ELECTORAL BILL.
A general electoral bill was passed
to insure g free ballot and fair count"
Of which a party which had adopted
this as q catch-word had deprived the
people by putting all the machinery Of
the elections into the hands Of their po-
litical partisans. This was especially
necessary by the near approach of the
presidential contest, which the vote Of
Virginia might have decided.
Another subject of great Importance
consumed much time. The great adj
yantages which at the time OF the adop-
ton of the Federal Constitution it was
conceded would in time make Virginia
the most wealthy and populous of the
old thirteen States are attracting foreign
capitalists to the development Of her
mines, her water-power, her varied ag-
ricultural industries, and the CONNER
cial advantages of her cities, all located
in the most salubrious and mildest CHI
mate on the Atlantic slope. Hence 29l
acts were passed to incorporate compa-
MES and amend charters, which had to
be carefully examined and so sufii-
GENTLY guarded as to prevent monopoly
and abuse, and also to attract capital
to aid in our development.
THE OYSTER INTEREST,".
Among the most imperative duties Of
the Assembly was immediate and efiec-
tive legislation in relation to the pre-
servation of the great oyster interest of
the State. The Governor, who had
shown great energy in attempting to
execute the oyster laws, had recon-
mended it in his message. The laws
on the subject were imperative. as
there was no means to enforce them,
while Maryland, with a much smaller
interest than ours, has fleet of nine
vessels to carry out her laws on the
subject. The evidence taken before the
committee disclosed the fact that this
great interest, upon which it was stated
that $4,000 of our citizens were de-
pendent, was in danger Of COM
plete destruction by body of or
ganized foreign pirates carrying on,
in open defiance of law, indiscriminate
dredging in places, and at times pro-
hibited by law. The whole subject
was complicated with discordant legis-
lation and the clashing of different in
terests in various localities, so that it
was almost impossible to satisfy all.
But by the energy of the committee,
who convinced the members of the AS
sembly not directly interested in the
matter, by exhibits from the Auditors
office showing that the feet Of vessels
employed some years ago in enforcing
the laws had paid a handsome revenue
to the State, general oyster law, reg
ulatiDg the taking Of oysters, protect
ing our citizens engaged in taking and
in the trade, promoting the interest of
the tongmen and the planters, con-
filming dredging within prescribed Pc
RODS and localities, and enforcing the
law by vessels to be employed or built
for the purpose, was passed, with only
three dissenting votes in the Senate and
seven in the House, five of the ten
being members of each political party.
Some defects were discovered after the
law was put into operation, and they
were all supplied at the extra session
by several amendments; but the Gov
ernor is responsible, by withholding his
signature, for the failure of the passage
of an act prohibiting the boards of SUI
peryisors in the oyster counties from
imposing tax on oysters for county
purposes, removing the restrictions on
tongmen in certain localities, and pre-
venting double tax on oysters ex-
ported in steam-vessels.
In order to attract immigration to
the State it was absolutely necessary
to establish system Of good roads.
This subject was encountered with the
difficulty that any road system would
not be equally adapted to the entirely
different sections of Tidewater, Pied
mont, Valley, and Southwest Virginia.
While different counties, through their
delegates, presented county road laws,
fifty-one of which were passed, gene
raj road law, after much comparison Of
views, was finally passed. While the
platform and address of the so-called
Republican party announces its policy
to be to support the public county
roads by taxation upon property and
by convict labor" and it charges that
the unjust prescription of Bourbonism
forces the poor, without compensation,
to work the roads, the record shows
that in all the county road laws offered
and passed, by members Of their own
party, every single special county road
law compels every able-bodied male
citizen, with some few exceptions, to
work upon the roads without pay.