Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1911-04-01
NATION SHOULD PAY DEBT
Declares Captain Sperry Who Ably
Discusses the oues6on--Equisy
Feature Of Case Emphasizes.
BY M. @. sperry.

main object Of which is 10 create q
sentiment In favor Of attmpting TO
! induce the federal government to
assume the payment OF whatever
part Of the debt of old Virginia and
be adiudged against the state OF
West Virginia. At first glance no
substantial reason appears why the
federal government should assume
bis liability to the relief OF a par
ticular state. A more careful study
of the situation, however. taken In
surrounding the creation OF the state
Of West Virginia disclosed a substan-
tial equity in the claim that the fed
eral government should come to the
rescue and pay this money.
When West Virginia was called
into existence, and assumed its place
among the states OF the Union, the
government owned no lands within
the territory Ct the new state, and
made 40 contribution whatever to-
ward the expense of instituting and
maintaining for a time the new
member Of the Union. II has been
the settled policy of the federal gov
anment, upon the admission Of new
states into the Union, to set aside
great quantities Of the public do
main and turn the same over to the
new state, for the purpose of rails
ing funds for maintaining the state
institutions and FOR educational pur-
- 1nIfaofdd n a
new state of Oklahoma by the fed
eral government have proven Of
sufficient value to entirely maintain
the splendid free school system CT
that state without any local or state
levies. In many other states the
gifts OF the federal government
upon the admission of the state to
the Union have been nearly as val
liable as in the case OF Oklahoma.
In the case of West Virginia, the
state of Virginia before the division
had parted with the title to prac-
tically all CT the lands lying within
what now constitutes West Virginia.
X had received the proceeds OF the
sales of these millions of acres OF
land, and had applied the proceeds
arising from this source, as well as
practically all of the money for
which the Virginia debt was created,
towards works of development and
public improvements. practically all
of which are located within what
now constitutes the state of Virginia.
West Virginia received, and will re-
ceive. practically nothing in return
for these expenditures and for the
money which it is now called upon
to pay the creditors of Virginia.
West Virginia started on the ex-
pertinent of state government, as
member of the Federal Union. with
out any resources except the power
of taxation and If the federal gov
eminent should now pay the claim
which the supreme court OF the
United States has decided to be a
debt of West Virginia, the greater
part of the other states could not
complain, because at the time of
their admission into the Union they
received equal or greater benefits
from the federal government.
West virsin,a's Creation.
AS has been said, the state OF West
Virginia was created as war
measure. The Importance of this
statement is not generally under
stood, and the greater necessity of
the measure at the time it was taken
is no longer apparent, owing to the
result of the Civil war At the time
OF the creation of West Virginia a
most serious problem confronted the
statesmen and thinkers of the
North 1t was not a theory, but a
fnll-grown condition that they had
to solve. Take a map of the United
States and glance at the position of
Virginia when it included what is
known as West Virginia. You will
observe great sovereign state
whose wide domains spread from
the Atlantic ocean between Maryland
and North Caroline in a northwest
ern direction to point on the Ohio
river about sixty miles below Pitts
burg. Virginia extended from the
! Atlantic ocean to within less than
ere hundred miles of the Great
Lakes. When the war between the
states broke out no man then living
could fortell the result, but the
more careful and broader statesmen
OF that period looked to see what
might be the possible condition OF
the Union if the South should sue
coed in establishing her inGepend-
eLce. glance at the map showed
them that the northern states which
would remain in the Union would
be practically severed into two not
unequal parts by the state Of Vir-
einia. the strip OF land from the
point on the Ohio river to the lakes,
less than one hundred miles broad,
alone connecting them. The terri
tory lying to the west Of this mar
row connecting band was largely az
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