The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-07-11
Blame Words
May Save State
From Big Debt

for that part of her pubic dept WhAcn
might presumptively be Represented
I by the territory taken from her. y
1t be said in answer to such sugges-
ton that it would be falrer Ior WesI
Virginia to assume the proportional
obliEation thus indicated the prompt
lreioinder is that in equity her people
are not held to such Obligation Tne
pubic Improvement for which the
debt was in large part incurred had
not been so far completed as TO pen
eft West Virginia when the Civil war
began-their advantages being mainly
confined to the Tidewater and Pied
mont sections of the state. There Is
indeed neither moral nor legal re-
snansibility resting upon West vir-
GINA for any part OF the debt OF the
old state.
i I'm determining the relative obll-
! cations OF the national government
and or the government OF eWsts Vlr-
glnia concerning the debt 1t is OF the
nrst Importance to. remember that
the new state was not primarily Or
gained and admitted to rne union for
the benefit OF her own people, but in
/ far larger degree for the benefit OF
| the whole union. The organic law
would not have been strained, legal
/ fictions would not have been invent
ed contradictory theories would not
have been INDUCED II great ma
tional interest had not demanded the
creation Of West, Virginia. II it had
mot been apparent that the organiza-
ton of West Virginia was an advan-
ttage to the loyal cause; II the border
state policy of Mr.. Lincoln SO rigidly
adhered to throughout the contest had
not required this link for the compile
ton of its chain-the wishes of the
people most directly involved would
never have had the slightest atten-
ton from the Congress OF the United
States. Strong and equitable as was
the case of West Virginia, irritating
and undesirable as her relations to
the older state might be, advantag-
eous to the people as the new gov
eminent might prove, these consider
ations would not of themselves have
offered sufficient inducement. to en-
gage the attention of Congress for an
hour at that critical period. They
would have been brushed aside and
ldisregarded with that cool indiffer-
ence by which all great legislative
bodies prove how easy it is to endure
the misery of other people. West Vir-
ginia, indeed. got only what was equit-
ably due and what she was entitled
| to claim by the natural right of self
government The war brought good
fortune to her. as conspicuously as it
drought i'll fortune to the older, state
from which she was wrenched. West
Virginia is to be congratulated and
her credita BILE career and untiring en-
terprise since she assumed the re-
responsibilities of self government show
how we'll she deserved the boon. But
the wounds inflicted on the mother
state by her separation will never be
healed until Virginia IS relieved from
the odfum of having been specially
chosen from the eleven seeding
states for the punishment that struck
!, at once against her prosperity and
against her pride of empire.
| Virginia the Creditor.
Nor Should it be forgotten that
the state of Virginia before the war
might well be regarded as the credi-
tor and not the debtor OF the nation
al government. One of her earliest
acts of patriotism as an Independent
state was the cession to the general
| government of her superb domain on
the north side of the Ohio river from
I the sale of which more than 500 O00,-
| 600 have been paid into the national
treasury. A suggestive contrast Is
presented today between the condi-
ton of Virginia and the condition of
! Texas and Florida. 1t was the ag-
ISISSSANS OIL Lie Two ldL-
ter states which aided powerfully in
dragging Virginia into rebellion. But
for the urgency of the seven original
confederate states in which Texas and
Florida were numbered, Virginia 10y
alists would have been able to hold
their state firm in her national alleg-
lance. Since the war Teaxs has trav.
1 eled the highway to wealth and pow
Ter founded on the ownership of her
public lands of which the national
! government could have deprived it
with as little difficulty as was found
! in dividing Virginia. Florida has
I likewise enjoyed general prosperity
and secured rapid development from
the resources of land which the ma
tional government had generously
given it before the war and of which
she was not deprived for her acts of
rebellion True hearted Americans
! rejoice in the prosperity of the states
1 which adorn the southern border of
the republic; but they cannot help
seeing and seeing with regret how diff
tfereptly the, ancient commonwealth of
! Virginia has Jared at the hands Of
the national government.
'lf the hurt to Virginia were of a
general character which could not be
specified or defined, her case might
| be passed over with the plea OF dam
NUM- absque injuria But unfortun-
ately-the detriment 10 her public
tcredft can be stated with substantial
precision. 1t can be traced directly
to her despoilment That took from
her the power to pay her debt If the
harm resulting therefrom were con-
lined to the state and to the holders
tof her securities the national gov
ternm ent might rho moro 40 c;1,, ,3;sro