West Virginia Democrat. [volume] (Charles Town, W. Va.) 1885-1890, 1888-01-27

ton. The natural wealth of the
territory is also undeveloped, but
there are neither roads nor popula-
ton. In 1865 this State was toler
ably well supplied with some sort of
highways; we had the B. d o. r.
r. with the Parkersburg branch;
the Kanawha road crossed the State
at the south; the Parkersburg grade
crossed near the center, and the
North Western Turnpike ran thro'
the northern counties; besides this
there were more than $500 miles
of interior roads. In 1865 this
State had population of over 4OO,-
900, all home people representing
settlements made here more than Il
hundred years ago, and this resi-
dent population then owned all the
property; not single county owe
a dollar, and, excepting the city Of
Wheeling, not town or village was
in debt.
Twenty years have passed; the
treasures, untouched in 1865, have
been considerably exhausted, vast
private fortunes have been accumu-
lated, but not by those who are our
permanent citizens, and to-day the
home population probably does not
own one-half the property which it
owned when the war ended. If
there had been an equal distribu-
ton of our real and personal prop
erty in 1865, each man, woman and
child would have received 1885; if
there was an equal distribution to-
day the share of each would not e
5000, and this transfer of our most
valuable properties to non-residents
is rapidly increasing. This plain
statement of undisputed facts may
well alarm every man with sons now
on the threshold Of manhood whose
fortunes and whose success in life
depend on the future prosperity of
their native State.
EMIssARIEs OF INJURIOUS SCHEMES.
There is another feature Of the
situation more alarming than the
picture thus presented. This non
resident capital is frequently repre-
sented in almost every village by an
agent; this agent is generally law
yer Of the best capacity; he is al
ways active in the service of his en-
ployers; they pay him well and he
does good work; he is sometimes
INSCRIPTIONS and always Jealous.
When Private Interest conflicts with
Patriotism, Private Interest will
prevail, and these agents have pri-
vate interest far greater than their
concern for the public welfare. Be
sides this, the people have been
educated to believe that our imme-
diate development must be obtained
at any cost and regardless of sacri-
fees; the public mind has become
saturated with an idea that progress
means one railroad where there is
no railroad, and two railroads where
there is only one, and things have
come to such pass that he who
would raise warning voice against
this worse than reckless and worse
than foolish sacrifice Of our local
wealth is not only ostracised from
all participation in public affairs,
but is actually excluded from all the
accustomed avenues to the public
ear. Whatever information or ar
gument will cajole the people into
advancing the money. making
schemes of individuals is published
in the papers, proclaimed on the
hastings and advocated by men en-
ployed to manufacture public opin-
ion. On the other hand every fact
calculated to acquaint the people
with the true condition of affairs is
frequently carefully suppressed by
influential journals and by those
who are recognized as successful
politicians.