Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1897-01-29

expose the bad features of that
srhe.ae and the necessity for reuuov
ing the'u, II IL steady and persevre
ing agitation of the question be-
maintained from now until the time
OF decision in short, il the serious
attention Of the people be attracted
and held, VIC believe that they will
inve 'tigate for themselves aud vote
( in favor of a convention.
Reasons Cor recoustructiDg the work
of the selfish iuen who controled the
politics Of Virginia thirty years ago
are iunumersble Underwood aud
his fellow patriots were in politics
for what there was in it. When they
came To the task of deyising a consti
tuition. they undoubtedly bore III
mind their own taste for pubic Office
aud their desire TO reward large
baud of disiuterested followers -
, The result of their l,bors was II
cumbersome. complicated, expensive
governmental machine. The unaeces
Sary multiplication of Offices is what,
makes it SO, but it is safe to sly that
the machine was all the more salts
factory TO it's builders on account o..
it's ilnperfeotion. The strange thing
Is that the people, who keep the gov
ernneHt IN op, ration, lIave beeu con
tent to go on without complaint for
mauy years after it came into THEN
power to correct the abuses, bat it
Is not ut all strange that professional
politicians should resent all criticism
OF the States system OF government
When it comes TO the al clifton OF
needless officers, the work falls upc II
the people-the office holders thel.
selves caunot be expectA to pen form
or approve it.
As Senator Withers, the great
champion for the movement for bet
ter constitutions, has 80 often pointed
oat, there must be something wrong
when the expenses OF Virginia are so
out-of proportion when compare
with the expenses OF other States
TIE wealth of Georgia, for instance.
is estimated at $I1O,OO0,000, and
lat of North CarOlina at S263.OOO
0J0, making Il total Of 1913. 100000
Til" population of Georgia is 1887.
OJO aud the population of NORTH
Carolina Is l,6l7,OO1, making IA con-
bmed pope Mtion of 3, ij4,0O t.
combined area Of Georgia aud North
Carolina is 10000 square miles
Vireinin'- wealth, population, al d
area III square miles are, respeclivel,
&}5J,0J0,qO0; 1919 90, and 42.450
Thus, 1t will be seen that The wealth
of Georgia aud North Carolina il
nearly twice that OF Virginia, thei
population mere thar double ous.
and their area three times as great
as this States. 1t would appear
reasonable, then, to express the Opin
ion that the expense tf governing
Virginia ought not to be more than
half Of the combined expense of gov
erning Georgia aud North Carolina
Let Us look INTO this for momen,
and see what the truth is. For the
year 1898 (;he last for which we have
liz Lres), the combined expenses Of
Georgia AMI North Carolina amount
ed to t.236O00. For the same L
it cost Virginia S3,75L,OO0 to sup
port her government--whicA amount
Is nearly seven eights of the total OK.
penses of Geor gia and North Caro-
lima Virginia pays, excluding the
interest on the public debt, very
nearly Sl,OO0,O0O more each year
than North Carolina alone.
Can any intelligent citizen read
these facts and fail to see that some
thing is the matter?-Norfolk Land
mark.