Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-07-24
TIE LATE REPUBLICAN LEGIsLA-
TIRE

TURE.
In The meager and perfunctory plat
form adopted by cur Republican friends
q. ParksIsburg. they have this TO say of
lie ~fys, Republican legislature in
ives. Virginia n twenty-five years"
w. ,7rore-a the last Legislature fer IN
fu.t-y intel -eCC= ana economy We
p.t0- Wit. uri a. 20 tbs fact th3t i accom-
.-r.f needed legs alton "llHlN tlle
t-rs-. .r.t-rl. p1ri0d Of f1rty-tive day 5
ana s4.l the people many THOUSANDS or
5-i'a~s compared with the iaat Demo-
cratic J.. allure.
Here's richness. indeed, even for a
political pia.corm declaration.
In the name Of heaven what did the
las. L g.s,ature 90 but cause the peo-
pie OF IVES, Virginia to pray that it
would be the last of its kind?
What id it do fer the State that the
people elected it to do? What did t
40 tina, might net a hundred times bet
ter have been left undone?
In the first place I, passed the absurd,
obnoxious and burdensome school book
law which if the Letter CT it were carried
on. would either leave the school Child
rem without school books or compel
the par MS Of public school children
TO sp=nd q very considerable sum of
money without c-y gain in text books
whatever. The purchase CT new school
books as required by this law would
entail upon parents an expense of from
81 TO s. for each child.
But 10 continue the record: The last
Legislature refused to appropriate
enough money for criminal charges, the
cons quence Of which neglect has COM
r-u4d Witnesses and jurors through
out the sa.e to wait IS months for
their fees and recompense. thus giving
the court house ring of Shylocks their
coveted opportunity to fleece the people
called by necessity to the courts WHO
can le3s; afford to be feeced.
/, refused to appropriate the money
required 10 print the record in the case
Of the safe vs.. the c. & o. Railroad
Company, which had been appealed by
the STATE to the Supreme Court, which,
t1ere was every reason TO believe, would
have decided in the States favor This
lost tae state the chance to collect $25,-
600 Of taxes due it from this corpora
don. and afforded another eXemplifca-
tion OF the effectiveness Of a railroad
lobby with certain kinds of legislative
bodies.
The last Legislature in every instance
slapped the laborer. the farmer, the
taxpayer in The face and projected
wealthy corporations. The proposition
to tax the ears Of the great Pullman
monopoly IN this State, as they are in
others. was killed on behalf CT the cor
poratioa by tla Republican bosses
There was no opposition to it. 1t was
simply smo,hered by re-reference to a
committee after passing its second read
/ ing. and was never h ard Of afterwards.
Another proposition to tax telephone,
telegraph and express companies, which
was Acknowledged to be proper and
right and which had ben so decided
by the courts having been embodied in
a bin by the AttOrney-General, was, like
The bill to tax the Pullman company,
quietly smothered by the friends or tools
Of the corporations who ran" the Re
publican caucus and disposed of legis-
iat;on az Charleston.
It S not necessary to refer at length
to the stupid refusal to pass Z lsw for the
I better discipline and general improve
men1 o. the militia. as dysvn up by a
competent board Of experienced sold
isrs. although the appropriation had
been made TO carry it Gus: II simply
furnishes an example of the intellectu-
al ability and business capacity Of the
late Legislature. Likewise We pass over
the refusal to protect the game of the
State from the threatened extinction,
and the refusal to establish an indus
trial reformatory for incorrigable
young girls, who must now be sent 10
Jail to associate with hab.tual crimi-