The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1891-12-18
-1aG 5;;-. -
FridayyDec., IS. 1891.
Take Yourcholce.

take Your Choice.
The democratic party attempted to
carry the country in 1883 on the single
issue of tariff reform, and scored signal
failure. The policy Of reading out Of the
party oil who did not concur with Carlisle,
Mills & Co. in thcirtariff views resulted in
the overwhelming defeat OF the Demo
cratic nominee for the Presidency, and
came very near resulting in the passage
Of the infamous force bill. The passage
of this or any similar measure would have
retarded indefinitely the development Of
the SOUTH
While we are heartily iii favor OF refor-
ming the tariff, We DO not believe that any
substantial, permanent advance can be
made in this direction by repeating our
mistake of three years ago. Ills far more
;roportant to the country and especially
10 the South that the Government should
ne under Democratic control, than that 4
ave per cent reductien in the tariff should
& be made. Defeat etares US in the lace II
the party allows itself to be led by the tar
I'M .cranka, that worked 30 much harm III
'ss.
No atep forward in the true fight Tor
tarifs seform would lie made by forcing
4 This Issue upon the people when we kno"
sheysare not ready for it. David 3. hi
and Arthur r. German are just AS true
s ndyocates Of real tariff reform as C!eve-
land and Mile, but they believe in cxer-
EiaJng prudence and wisdom in bringing
s6out this reform. Nothing is TO be gain
sss ty recklessly stalking all On this one
issae,s with almost inevitable defeat to
falsoF.
ssss ssphe question for the Democratic party
kn decide between this aud the day the
~ q mination ie made in the National Con-
lsSntion is. shall We follow the leader
shsn.of Mills, Cleveland and that ilk on
& sllla one issue platform, and suffer ignomin-
IONS defeat or vii, we rally around the
old Democratic flag, with Hill or Gormah
ID ieadlu to certain victory.
Sgssuctlon Of Criminal Expenses.
iss vel. that such n strong fight Is be-
I'M MADE in the Legislature to reduce the
criminal expenses Of the State,b but there
sls great danger of overriding the thing
and irving to reduce too much. SUCH
tendency as this should be guarded
against, otherwise serious INCONVENIENCE
may result in bringing criminals 10 justice
The expenses of our criminal courts
should be made as light as possible, but q
policy of penuriousnss would be even
more dangerous than extayagance Grim
ipals should be brought to swift and Ger
taiu justice, no matter what tao cost 10
the State,
The last General Assembly appointed
committee, to look into this question OF
reducing criminal expenses. This com
mittee has made its report. and we arc sat-
isfea tho committee has done good work
Ten bills are presented by this committee
10 the General Assembly, which they
claim if passed, will secure saving OF
$4,000 per annum to the State. For the
most part the recommendations OF the
committee should be adopted, but there
are one or two Of its suggestions which
ve think would be more detrimental than
otherwise. The most conspicuous OF these
ia the proposition 70 reduce the pay al
loved TO Commonwealth Attorneys in
the various counties. 1t is notorious that
these officers are poorly paid, and even now
IL is of.en hard to get good lawyers to run
for this Office reduction in the emolu-
mepts OF the office would make it still
harder 20 get reputable lawyers to accept
the Office.
Another recommendation is to provide
that compensation and mileage allowed
witnesses before grand jnries shall epaid
ont Of the treasures Of the equities in
which. they are summoned, another rs thai
mo- fees for witnesses for the Common
wealth before justices of the peace or po-
lice justices shell be paid ont OF the state
treasury. The adoption of these two pro
yisiops would result in no saving to the
people, hut would merely transfer the ex-
oenge from the State treasury 90 the
county and city treasures, 1t IS well
known that the supply OF money III the
State treasury is more constant than II is
In most Of the county treasures. WIT
nesses would often have to wait for months
before getting their fees were they paya-
ble ont Of the county treasury. The con-
saanence wonid be that witnesses would
he 10th to attend At these Investigations
aud much trouble would be caused IN the
administration ofjpstiee.
Reducc the criminal expenses ~ at
r,eans. but beware ofsasing at the sp'sot
and wasting At the burg hole
railroad Legislation.
sp,,e r,erjslatnre Of Virginia should go
i, !, s, tie ), sitter Of railroad legislation.
nc prospsrity 81 the country and the
80, So, sri.s sos the railroads that run
4 .a,,sla are generally dependent oas