Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1895-02-28
OUR REPUBLICAN LEGISLATURE.

Last Friday, AT the emu u the cohsti'
tutlonal limit of forty-fiye days, the leg
! islative session of 1895 quietly expired.
Probably no Legislature that has sat
since the foundation of our State has
inspired so lively and widespread an in.
terest as the present one; it is therefor
timely to review its actions SO far as
they have general bearing on the fu'
ture of our State and Of our political
parties
The Legislature of 1895 was remarka-
HE in that il was controlled in both
branches by the Republican party-for
the first time in more than score OF
wears: ii was more so in that its compo'
sition was determined by causes which
had the most far-reaching and almost
revolutionary effect throughout the
whole land, though this effect was never
adequately foreseen by anyone. And
vet there was no local cause for this
revolution so far as West Virginia was
concerned. Causes purely national in
| themselves produced mighty flood;
and so vast was its volume that it over
flowed into channels which had no con-
nection with its real path; and it was
this fortuitous overflow that subverted
Democratic supremacy in West Virgin
|. ia for the time being.
Beyond this, however, we discover
nothing to make the present Legislature
noteworthy. The quality of its person
| mel exhibited no very striking diver
gence from that of its predecessors. AS
| we review the record of its acts, there
is almost nothing to distinguish 1t from
| Others that have gone before; certainly
| there is nothing startling in it. Almost
| the only striking measure we recall is
the proposed change in our judicial CIR
cults, involving an increase OF five
Judges, which was defeated. This could
have had but little political significance;
for our Judges, whether Democratic or
Republican. have never been accused OF
being swayed by partisan considera-
tions, or of, prostituting their influence
to partisan advantage. Aside from the
question of expense to the State, the
most that can be said Of this action is
that it sprang from desire to provide
desirable places for Il few 'favorite
sons" The administration of justice
between man and man would have pro-
ceeded as heretofore, in its due and or
derby course.
In all this may we not see the shaping,
guiding and controlling hand of our
newly-elected Senator? Does it not in
dictate that the Republicans realize that
the State has not been delivered over to
them as a permanent heritage? Does it
not prove, above all, that the people OF
West Virginia have awakened to an APP
probation of the vast resources and the
glorious future of our State in which
they feel a just and growing pride, re-
pardless of partisan considerations? The
Republican leaders recognize this spirit,
and realize that this free people will
never submit their destiny to laws and
policies whose sole object is to increase
and perpetuate the power of political
party.
The Republicans, then, are playing a
waiting game-careful to do nothing
that can offend patriotic feeling or
check material progress, but eager to
claim the credit for all the good that
will flow from the vast resources of our
State and the energy and enterprise OF
our people, Can we, as Democrats, af-
ford to stand idly watching the stream
of progress, and then contend with
them for credit which will be justly due
to neither? Not so; we must unite our
forces, put our shoulders to the wheel
and lend every aid in our power to the
development of the State by wise and
just policies.
The highest exercise of sovereignty is
the levying and collection of taxes from
the citizens. 1t is this that touches the
people most universally and most near
ly; it is in this that injustice and inc
quality tell with the most crushing
force. This is the province wherein
human laws are most powerful to pro-
mote or retard the fair and rapid devel-
opment of all interest and the prosperity
and happiness that flow therefro@r
Our system of taxation from
serious abuses Ee in
iustia> Is nre-