The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1912-03-14

hatns-Holt rolling stock bills and. the
cay authorizing a compromise With
lhe Richmond, FrederickSl urg ANA
P9tomaC Railway in the contested tax
controversy.
The rolling stock bill was amended
sol many times that Judge Martin Viii
liimS OF Giles. one Of its patrons. was
uAaily in despair and at one time
seemed TO care little whether il passed
OF was defeated.
Many declare that the Rfchmor q
Fredericksburg and Potomac compro-
mise bill should never have been
a greed to. II is true that the State
chnnOt receive less than $4,000 from
the road regardless of the terms OF
the arbitration. but inasmuch as, i'm
the judgment of many, the State is SO
clearly right in it's contention. Il
should not have yielded when it stood
TO receive an amount so much larger
This Bill Killed.
AS for insurance matters, there was
but one of any real Importance be-
lore the Assembly. That proposed to
give to State Insurance Commissioner
Button the exclusive right to place all
insurance on State buildings 1t was
strongly fought, but the influence of
the Insurance Bureau does not extend
actively into the counties, and so the
bill was defeated.
At the opening of the session Sneak
er Byrd and Colonel Bowman. chair
man of the House Committee on FL
nance. came forward with their tax
equalization bill.
Ii was admitted by everyone in both
branches of the Assembly that tax
reform in Virginia was a necessity
as a number of counties were assess
ing their property at such low figures
that they were State liabilities instead
Of assets. During the fight numerous
statistics were read to show that about
one-thlrd OF the counties were living
like parasites on the other two-thirds.
and many of the parasite" counties
are known to be among the wealthiest
in the State.
But as opposed to the principle of
tax equalization the principle of tax
segregation was offered, and under the
leadership of Hugh a. White, delegate
from Rockbridge. the tax segregation
forces made such violent assaults upon
the Byrd-Bowman bill that it was torn
TO ribbons, and when it was finally
agreed to and sent to the Senate ii
was scarcely ghost of itself, and as
II now stands ii is regarded even by
its ADVOCATES as hardly worth more
than the paper on which il is written.
Feather i'm Its Cap.
BUT the Legislature. regardless of
its other shortcomings. passed the
ROBIN Dlil. 1t may hereafter be
charged that the General Assembly
of 1912 wasted time and money; was
worthless; even a disgrace TO the
state, but II certainly has the robin
bill to its credit. Ii is true that it
spent thousands of dolIars-received
in salaries-that it failed TO pass many
measures of greatest Importance, but
IL enacted the robin bill. Henceforth
robins will be protected.
AS tar as a general game bill is
concerned, however, the Legislature
has done nothing. Even yesterday
an effort was made by the Goochland
delegate. John rutherford, to induce
the House TO take up the BILL which
the Senate i'm moment Of generosity
has passed. The House didn't want
the game bill. and it said so in no
uncertain tones.
Another OF MIR. Byrd's bills was the
primary bill. a measure we'll calcu-
lated TO put an end TO fraudulent pri-
maries i'm Virginia. as il legalized the
elections and placed them on a legal
footing with general elections.
Every member or the Senate and
every member of the House swore
loudly that he wanted honest elections,
but each member as loudly declared
that conditions in his own community
were ideal, so there really was no
need for the bill.
So they, therefore. proceeded to cut
ii TO pieces. A piufully mutilated
fragment OF bill was allowed to pass
Il
so told the House when. after q vigor-
Gus fight. he washed his hands of the
whole affair. declaring that the SEN
ate had utterly ruined and vitiated
nearly every good feature of the origi-
nal measure.
Liquor Fight.
The whole State Is familiar with the
details of the fight on the Jordan bill.
Neither the whiskey element nor the
anti-saloon people had had time TO
concentrate upon both branches of the
Assembly. To procure the passage OF
the bill IL was necessary for the Anti
Saloon League and it's friends TO con-
troll both houses. To defeat the bill
II was necessary for the vets to con-
troll only one branch. The vets
naturally concentrated upon the Sen
ate, with the result that the measure
was killed-Siiled in the Senate after
II had received a large majority in the
House.
In preparing the general appropria-
ton bill the House Finance Committee
for the bill originated in the House
knew just how much IL could spend,
and II did not exceed the limit set by
the Auditor to any serious extent.
1t took good care of the schools
public schools and higher Institutions.
raised few salaries, and offered what
was considered an excellent bill.
But the Senate pared down the
school funds about $4,000; that is,
$50. 900 for 1918 and 100000 for 1914
The House has originally offered to-.
give the schools 1925, 900 a year for
the two years. The bill was slightly
amended, and the school figure alter
ed, but it was said that the schools
would receive no less than the sum
originally proposed. AS the bill now
stands, however. with the Senate
amendment the schools will receive
only $465,000 a year
WOmen's Bill Killed.
The women's college bill was killed
In the Senate by a vote of 16 to 20.
Even had it been passed and sent to
the House it would have been merci-
lessly slaughtered in the end, as a
plan had been agreed upon by promi-
nent House members to force the ad-
Vocates of the bill to surrender by
threatening the University of Vir-
ginia.
Woman's suffrage was never serious
ly considered by either branch of the
Assembly, as there was no chance of
its enactment If afforded a divarc{on