The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1900-02-01
rhe nre ,ant L,ri.laturs Of virginia.

The pre- vent Legislature OF Virginia
seems 80 be an industrious body, DO
ing vast amount Of work, but 1t
should be very cautious in the charac-
ter Of that work or it may go down In
history as very extravsgant body
During the canvass in which the mem
beers of the House and many OF the Sen
ators were elected. retrenchment and
reform had a place in the court green
discussions. There were some ofiiots
regarded as useless which might be a00l'
ished. and the local politicians agreed,
that if their man was selected, 1t
would be done. And so the decree went
forth that many abuses were to be cor
reoted and expenses in many directions
were to be cut down The Free Lance
was not q silent locker on, but during
the campaign declared its belief that
more offices would be created than abol-
ished by the incoming Legislature.
What is the result? The prediction of
The Free Lance has come true. There
was an effort TO abolish but one office
| (Register of the land office, and that
effort failed.
Now on the reverse side we see many
changes-some made and others on the
way to oompletion-sll entailing ad-
ditional expense to the State, which
must come from the taxpayer. Among
them is the Supervisors Of Fertilizers,
one fol each Congressional district in the
State, with such assistants as may be
necessary to carry out the provisions of
the bill taxing fertilizers. passed Ot the
present session. Then the penitentiary
chaplain is one of the possibilities to
be appointed by the Governor and paid
a salary out of the public funds; an
Insurance Commissioner, TO carry into
operation the new insurance laws to be
enacted to protect the insured in his
rights commission, consisting OF
three or more expert accountants. to
examine at frequent intervals the books
and accounts of all State officers. who
collect or handle public money, the
examiners to 90 from place to place
without previous notice to the officers
whose office is to be examined, and
take the party unawares and report in
writing the condition Of the office, and
if all moneys collected have been prop.
erly accounted for or kept in
a safe place to be accounted for. 10 ad-
dition to these a Board OF Equali2 atlOn
is proposed TO eQualize the assessment
Of real estate in the Commonwealth for
taxation. The necessity for this board.
it is claimed, grows out Of the fact that
there is great inequality in the assess
ment Of real estate under the present
system, in some counties the lands be.
ing assessed to almost their full cash
value, while in others the assessment Is
so small that it is really farcical. This
inequality is proposed to be cured on
the part Of the General Assembly by the
creation Of this Board Of Equalization
Ii is also proposed that persons shall
be appointed POSSIBLY one for each rev.
enue districts in the State) to examine
and value personal property and make
returns Of valuations to the Commits
sioner Of Revenue. who shall list and
tax it according to the valuation made
by the appraiser. 1t is difficult to see
wherein this arrangement will be an
improvement on the present system if
the Commissioner Of Revenue. county
and hustings courts judges and grand
juries shall faithfully and efficiently
discharge their respective duties
But these are the places created and
spoken OF by the Legislature, which was
supposed to be a very economical and
conservative body, and which was
pledged to dispense with offices and
places, instead of creating them.
Hadn the legislature better go slow
in the creation of offices. and wait
until the constitutional question shall
have been decided by the voters? Their
action may make the proposed offices
unnecessary, or change the duties now
expected to he covered by them.