Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1900-11-03

4
| You all know that the Legisla-
ture of West Virginia meets biennial
| ly, and at during the particular ses-
| sion there is appropriated the money
| necessary to meet the current expenses
of the State for the two years next
| ensuing. Therefore, in order that you
may see if the Republican party has
1 conducted these institutions more eco
| nomically than under the last Demo-
| cratic administration it becomes neces-
| sary to notice the current expenses OF
| the last two years of the Democratic
| administration. and the last two years
! of the Republican regime. l shall be
very brief. / shall first call your at
tention to the expense incurred in the
| administration of the Hospital for the
! Insane at Spencer. Under the Demo-
cratic administration during the period
| l have named, that institution cost the
taxpayers of the State $4,000; under
! Republican administration for a like
| period the cost of operating the same
| institution was $4,000, being Repub-
| lcan increase of $27, 600 over Demo-
cratic expenditure Coming to the cur
| rent expenses of the Weston Hospital,
which is a much larger institution, We
| find that the Democratic appropriation
| for the period 1 have mentioned was
| 1921 900, as contrasted with a Republi-
can expenditure of S31S,000. That is
to say, it cost the taxpayers of the
| State S37 900 more to carry on the at
| fairs of the asylum at Weston during
| the Republican administration. Com
| ing to the salaries of teachers and en-
| ployes of the State University at Nor
| gantown, the Democratic appropria-
| ton was $4,000, as contrasted with
Republican appropriation of $4,000,
| an increase under Governor Atkinson
over the preceding Democratic admin
istration of $4,000
| Our Republican friends undertake to
excuse this increase and to explain 1t
/ away by saying that they have IN
creased the educational facilities OF
| the University and have added to its
various departments, and are giving
| better work for this increased taxa
| ton. | have been reliably Informed
that they have added to the institu-
| ton a horse doctors's school" | am
| likewise informed that they now have
| a school of music and cooking
! school, wherein they pay woman
| 81, 400 a year to teach two girls from
| the State of Michigan to cook. You all
| know what they charge me with. l
| presume in the school of music they
| are teaching the boys how to fiddle,
| and in the culinary department they
are teaching them how to make black
| berry dumplings,
| In the Deaf, Dumb and Blind insti-
tuition at Romney the Democratic APP
| preparation during the period l have
named was $4,000, and the expense
| of conducting the school uncer the Re-
publican administration was $4,000.
| Take the Governors civil contingent
fund. which was $4,000 under Dem
! ocratic administration, and it was in
| creased to $4,000 during Repub-
| lican rule. The contingent fund
of the other State officers in the cap
| itol at Charleston was increased from
! $500 under the Democratic regime
| to $15,S00 under the Republican adj
ministration You will find that in the
offices at Charleston the taxpayers
! pay for clerk hire alone $4,000 more
than they did under the Democratic
| administration. Thus expenditures
! have been in the same ratio larger
in every institution in the State. This
is true of the State penitentiary as well
as of other institutions which | have
| named by way of illustration. But they
make excuses for the Moundsville
| prison and say they have more convicts
| than under the Democratic admins
tration. l doubt if that be true. 1t
| is not so unless George Wesley Atkin-
son has reformed and stopped pardon
| ing convicts, as he did a short while
ago. But it is not my purpose to dis
cuss at length the comparative expense
! of conducting the State institutions I'M
der Democratic and Republican admin
istrations. There is another matter
l prefer to discuss this evening.
The Democratic party declared in
It's national platform that imperial
! Ism is the paramount issue of this
campaign. Our Republican friends
have declared that prosperity is the
/ paramount issue. Permit me to Illus
| trate their position with scene which
| l witnessed in the mountains of this
| State. l happened during the course
| of my canvass to find in a mountain
! Gus country a hut or howell so deeply
| buried in the hills that the sunlight
reached it only at noon day. The roof
was gone, the porch had fallen down.