Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-01-09

| schools of the State or maintain it at
it's present bulk as endowment for the
State University. A law is suggested
compelling the nomination of candl-
dates for judicial positions at separate
conventions, that better material may
be selected. The Legislature is warned
against the seductive influences of lob
byists.
A State flag and flower are recon-
mended for adoption. The flag is the
Stars and Stripes with the State seal
in the centre. The flower is the Rho
d%odendron. "A sufficient salary for the
Fish and Game warden IS urged, also a
provision for aiding the Childerns'
Home Society in its efforts to find
homes for INDECENT children.
Provision is asked for a board to
sit in each congressional district to hear
and pass upon claims of ''militiamen'
and Home Guards" for services rem
dered during the rebellion.
A new bipartisan board for Berkeley
Springs, and a new lease of the pro-
perty; separate apartments for mature
and boy criminals in county jails; APP
preparation regarding the new cruiser
"West Virginia." a State circulating Ii
brary; attention to the General Lewis
monument; teachers to instruct chill
dren in county poor houses; an enlarge
ment of the Governors mansion; an
electric light plant for the Capitol and
a separate school for cOlored deaf and
blind children are among the minor
suggestions.
The Governor urges that the room
now occupied by the auditor, when he
removes to the annex. shall be used for
a State printing establishment to be in
stituted. The State Board of Health is
commended for its success in treating
smallpox and fer the high standard of
knowledge required before physicians
! are licensed.
TIL Legislature is asked to enact a
criminal libel law especially to protect
persons in office from malicious at
lacks by irresponsible persons
| To the plan of the Board of Public
Works, Gov. Atkinson devotes several
pages of his message. In effect, he
says the insurance upon State buildings
has been placed in a hap-hazard way,
for many years. Buildings have been
insured for far more than they are
worth, and classes of insurance not
| approved by the best insurance author
tiles has been in vogue. The Board
has caused all insurance to be cancell-
ed, and all buildings reinsured at
their actual value, under approved pol
icies. This is held to not only give
the State much greater protection, but
to reduce the cost of the insurance
something like 2 5000 a year.
Among the final recommendations
are: uniform dress for all patients in
State insane hospitals, the creation of
a fish commission, the enactment of a
law to specifically protect colored peo-
pie from the operations of the Jim
Crow car avs of Virginia and Ken
lucky on railroads entering this State
from those States. an appropriation for
the publication of the adjutant gen
erals roster of West Virginia soldiers
in the civil war. and the enactment of
a law providing a chaplain for the
~penitentiary, who shall be a permanent
and regularly employed Official of that
institution.
On the subject of taxing pipe lines,
Gov. Atkinson says:
"Under the existing statutes, the
oOdAu vi i bI4( " y Nd CdAllOL LA lllC
oil pipe lines, which honeycomb a
goodly number of u counties, for the
reason that the owners Of these lines
only transport their own products, and
not the products Of others, and there
fore, perhaps, cannot be classed as
common carriers, or public transport
tation companies. Up to this time, the
Board of Public Works has not assum-
ed control of the taxation of this large
and valuable class Of property within
the State, which should bear its proper
share of the burden of taxation. The
Board, however, by many inquiries of
the County Assessors, has found that
they have assessed the pipe lines in the
most counties; but there Is no uniform
rule among them in fixing the value OF
this class of property, and their assess
ments are necessarily uneven and I'M
satisfactory. 1t is my opinion hat the
State. by this system of assessments.
is losing a large amount of revenue
which justly belongs to it, and 1t can
not be remedied until the general law
is so amended as to require pipe line
companies to make sworn annual
statements to the Board Of Public
Works, in the same manner. as rail-
roads and other carriers report. It is
not my purpose TO endeavor TO impose
improper Or unjust taxation upon
them, and 1t seems to me that it would
be to their interests TO have the tax
levied by the Board of Public Works,
where it would be uniform n fair,
than to have County Assessors to fix
valuations, without any uniformity
whatever. The importance of this mat
ter is worthy Of your thoughtful con
~sideration."
The message closes with a defense
OF himself against the charge that he
has been too lenient in granting par
dons to criminals. He does not believe
he has gone beyond the record of form.