Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1889-02-16

"a over the eyes Of not a few members
whose constituents viii be direct losers by
g. Chew. Gagdea, Hanen and Sprigg
lead the G-ht to-day against the bill. and
Altler. Dur, Davies and Kee for it. Both
siiel struggled hard, but there was 10
breaking ths ran Ks of the country mem
be-s aad he's h1ally carried it by de-
c.siye vote.
The bill v.5s unfinished business and the
discussion ou 10 began soon after the session
,rseei. The pending question was Mr.
..srser's motion TO reconsider the vote by
..rcb Stanklm's amendment reducing
tb. levy tO ten cents was lost The au-
-rar of the motion gave his reasons briefly.
rt was l very important matter. practi-
csils Increasing the school tax fifty per
remit. and ought iO be carefully considered
before inal action was taken.
Peck. ~ Nicholas, opened the debate for
.r. friends o.. the BILL Peck is a farmer
.ui poses on all occasions as a representa-
-ss touy-llnjed son Of toll. His ad-
H-.ss wss we'l ssas0ret with allusiOns to
- "Red.necke1 yeomaury in opposition
r the White ueckedn gentlemen who
a-nrsed this measure lie said that the
I...s.ature had been liberal in making
..p-upr anons 10 all the Slate iusttu-
-rrs Ihecs was no objection to these
n ,ls ground that the rich counties
Ike Jefferson and Ohio, would havs 20 pay
more -hln the counti5a of Nicholas ana
webster why then should they object 10
.rs .i on this particular ground The
euen coutsndsd that IL was unfair 10
.r because they paid out much more
Ll they received. This was not the
u'v land in which this was done The
STAKE hsd an ur5duGble school fund Il
nearly $500 coo lie could show where II
came dun The county cf Ohio paid sis
rfit ANA the county o. Webster s., n
the county of Brooke $500, and the county
.f Lincoln $4,000. This fund was dis
ubut-d Over the Safe in proportion 20 the
enumeration. and the county of Ohio gOt
i've times es much advantage from 10 as the
county of Lincoln. Mr.. Peck explained
that the interior counties could not run
their school house. for they were already at
/ lhe uppermost notch. Ia Webster county
/ t-e re11ie were taxed tfty-iOur cents on
tla huldred for three months and fourteen
DAYS OF school, and IN Jefferson county
they paid sixteen cents for ten months and
five days o.. school
Mr. Gibson. of Jefferson objected to
trese figures and showed that ia the ma
'o-itv of lhe districts OF Jefferson county
The school levy was itom 80 to 40 cents on
the hundred dollars A hot controversy
between Gibson and Peck followed. The
.ormer c0ntenied vigorously, that Jetfsr-
s.u county aiready paid an immense sum
tO support schools in the interior counties,
sud he objected 20 sn increase in this
spec.esOt robbery. jefferson county last
year paid g, los more into the scaoOl fund
than she glt out The H. cent levy would
raise that sum % nearly s. O0O On the
other hsnd Nicholas county received
81 $40 more than she paid into the State
fond, and The l5-cent lew would give her
half as much more. Peck replied and
made aa effective point in urging the neces-
sty of providing good schools to attract
mnigatian.
Co. Moore OF Harrison, mads a brief
speech. showing that his county already
ra|d Oul under the ten-cent levy 3, 500
cora than DO got back. Ii had been de-
.islatei by Hood during the year, thou
,.r1s %. dollars worth Of damsgs had
-e.n done. sud IL would be a great hard
ship 90 impose additional burdens on bis
people ROW. He would be recreant 10
asm f be did not protest against 1t.
Huu spoke in the same line, bat put
enough fire into his remarks to stir up the
ali-eved animals of the other side. Mar
shall. county had, he said, an average
er0ol term Of FIVE months aud three days.
lr some of the districts the local levie5 for
a school purposes were - cents on the
500 THIS. too. when the county was
paying 81 .1O5 more i0t0 the State treasury
tian 30 wss getting out Of It, II was well
understood icat large tracts o. land were
hid ,n interior counties, and it was easy
20 effect a combination by which this land
was not taxed at its real value.
Psck-"I DENY 10, sir, 1t Is no. true, not
a syllable of it,
Hlnen-"rhe tax books show II is true,
know &c is true. Now can tell how it
happens that some of these counties pay
.o much money into the irreducible fund.
A tew vea-s ago the land books showed
ID. 10000 ceres Of land In Webster county.
There ia hardly oae-.enth of that Specu
la'ors have secured fraudulent titles over
2ai over again % the same tract until no
ore knows 90 whom 10 belongs. The taxes
ore not paid, 10 becomes delinquent and
adls 30 much to the school fund Let
these gentlemen go 10 work and straigbten
out this land deal, let them assess them
properly, and they Will have enough
m0aey To- run their schools without trying
Co compzl us % do it. -
.k.r- D.,
Gen. Sprigg He thought an unfair nd
vantage had been taken of the opponents
OF the bin by the attempt to rush it
through when two important committees
were absent. It was Unfair to them and
unfair 10 the counties they represented.
The Hardy delegate also complained
that the lands in the interior counties were
not properly essed, and charged that
when that was done there would be no
need for these counties 70 come here and
try % take money from other counties in
tbis way. SpTiggs remarks brought out
Nj D1rr. from the independent State of
Webster His remarks were red hot and
70 the point Gen Sprigg got most of the
heatit of them D)rr quoted Sprigg's
words 20 the effect hat the poorer counties
NJ IE LIfNN- AN AUN AAH AANACi NlNulAt0t
Sprigg denied that he had used any such
language. Dorr reiterated the charge and
Spugg reiterated the denial Finally DOrr
brought matters to a focus by declaring
that il he thought any such thing as
SPrigg's language inbnated be would
leave The s a.e
Spusg-''A great many people wish yoa
would.
TIE controversy gradually simmered out
ard the Webster mountainesr resumed his
address. one point he made WAS especial
IL effective 1t was that the railroads paid
great part of the tax in the sO-called rich
counties O.her counties had no suchad-
vsulages aud it was but reasonable that
there should be a air division. There was
general scattering debate for few mo-
msnts, and then Chew, Of jefferson, took
the door 90 oppose the bill. The county
which he represented had been denOm-
iosted o rich one. Ii IL was rich he did
not know It, Tne land Jefferson cOuntY
WIS appraised at a very high rate. His pee
ME we're already buIdened with taxes, and
they were not prepared TO assume more.