Year: 1868

/ is thrown with Henrico, and the two combined
I elect three (blackl senators. This last how.
| ever, had been the work Of the committee)


TAXATION.


The only part in the administrati ton of the
/ Government which has been almost exclu
sively assigned to the whites Is the payment
of the taxes. The Convention repeatedly
! avowed that it was their purpose to Law the
] burden of taxation on property In conformity
with this idea, naturally pleasing to the me-
! groes, the Constitution prohibits the Legisla-
ture from imposing poll tax exceeding one
! dollar on each head, and prohibits any county
poll tax exceeding fifty cents; and requires
that the whole of the State poll tax shall be
| applied TO the support of the common schools
| to be established.


The Conservative members made strenu-
ous effort to make the amount of the poll tax
always dependent on the amount Of the pro-
| perty tax, so that they should rise and fall
| together a. proposition was offered that
| the poll tax should be equal to the tax on
| five hundred dollars of property; it was
voted down. A proposition was then offered
that the poll tax should be equal to the tax on
three hundred dollars of property it was
also voted down. A proposition was then
offered to make the poll tax equal to the tax
on two hundred dollars of property this was
also rejected.


Nineteen-twentieths of the taxes raised will
be derived from the property tax, which of
course will fall almost exclusively on the
whites; and by returns in the Auditors
Office it appears that last year only one negro
in four paid the poll tax required of him,
which was sixty cents. So that the poll tax
will also fall chiefly on the whites. The en-
tire poll tax, State and county, paid by the
negroes will be about $4,000. A proposition
was offered in the Convention that the poll
! tax paid by the whites should be appropri-
ated to the education of white children, and
that paid by the blacks appropriated for the
hon Hf "a hv
q strict party vote.


The novelty of investing the non taxpayers
with the power to impose all the taxes as
sumes startling Importance in view of the
expensive character of the new government.
Our FEDERAL State, and county taxes are very
heavy now; but the State and county taxa
1ion under the proposed Constitution will be
probably quadrupled. The common schools
alone, to be supported by State and county
taxation, will require two or three times tn Q
amount now levied for all State and county
purposes. Apart from the salaries for teach
ers, the construction of school-houses will con-
stitute very serious item. In West Virginia
n school house is required to be erected for
every twenty-five children, ,Iand in the county
of Pendleton they are let out to contract at
from $3.50 to $3.50 each.


The negroes will also make ample provision
for Houses of Refuge, and other charitable in
stitutions, which they can njoy without any
of the anxieties which will trouble those who
have to pay for them.


Besides this, the swarm of officers in the
townships and counties will necessitate a
heavy annual taxation to maintain them;
and 1t Is safe to con lecture, that under the
strange system which is proposed, the collec-
tors and treasurers will not always account
faithfully for the public moneys.


FREE SCHOOLS.


For the support of the free schools provided
for by this Constitution the Legislature (un-
der negro controD is authorized to lay tax
as high as ne-half Of one per centum on all
real and personal property, and the county or
school district may raise the same amount
in addition. The State capitaton tax is
also to be applied to the support of the
public schools. The present literary fund
of the State, the proceeds of all public lands
poses, of all escheated property, of all waste
and unappropriated lands, of forfeitures to
the State, and all fines for offences against the
State, and such other sums rs the General
Assembly may appropriate, are to constitute
q permanent literary fund, and the interest
thereon to be also devoted to the support of
the school system. How large will be the sum
realized from these various sources may be
estimated. Yet the children of the property
owners who will support these schools can
never enjoy the benefits of them, because it is
clear that under the proposed government
they would be forced TO associate in the
schools with the children of the negroes.


An effort was made in the Committee on
Education, and afterwards on two several
occasions in the Convention, to procure q de-
claration that separate public schools should
be provided for the white and black children.
It was voted down in every case. The ne
groes desired mixed schools, and their white
associates feared to offend them.


The question was subsequently brought up
In another form by q proposition offered by
Thomas Bayne (negro), requiring mixed
schools, and substitute Ito the same effect),
offered by Mr.. Porter, of Chesterfield. II led
to most angry discussion between the Radi
cal members, the negroes manifesting the
most determined purpose to insist on mixed
schools, and threatening to vote against the
Constitution unless 1t provided for them.
The day was consumed in debate, and, rs
usual, a Radical caucus took the matter in
hand in tile evening. The next day the origi-
nal proposition and the substitute, by the aid
of The Conservative vote, were rejected, all of
the negro members, with six or eight excep-
tions voting for them. The result of these
various votes was that the whole subject of
separate or mixed schools is remitted TO the
Legislature. They feared to provide for mixed
schools in the Constitution, because they cal
culated that it might lead to the rejection of it
by the people. They have left the Legislature
to deal with the matter. We have shown that
In this body the negroes will have majority
of twenty-one, and it was clearly shown in
the Convent ton, by their fierce and violent
speeches, and by their votes, that they will
insist upon this point.





The action of the Convention on another
subject deserves q hurried notice. Conscious
of the infamous character of their Constitu-
tion, and wishing to catch n few whites who
might be willing TO degrade themselves to save
their property, they have put in the Constitu-
ton homestead provision, which professed.
" eXempts SO, 900 Of property from all liability
for debt. They then, in the same article, pro-
ceeded to repeal the existing stay law, and TO
prohibit the Legislature from hereafter enact
ing any stay law. Here is the practical effect
of this shameful and deceitful provision: All
stay laws are abrogated, the officers of the law
are turned loose on the debtors, and the debtor
has nothing but this sham of 4 homestead TO
fall back upon. The homestead provision, in
so far as it refers to past debts, will be at once
set aside by the courts as contrary to the Con-
stitution Of the United States, which in terms
prohibits any State from passing any law
impairing the obligation of contracts. We do
not hesitate to say that if the article had been
drawn by 4 registrar in bankruptcy, anxious
to secure an increase of his business and his
fees he could not have succeeded better In the
accomplishment of his purpose. The stay
law removed, the creditor will come down on
the debtor, the debtor will either 60 into bank
ruptcy and claim the benefit of the homestead
exemption, or refuse to do SO, relying on the
validity of this provision. If he goes into
bankruptcy, the registrar will tell him that
any such reputation of debts Is obviously un-
constitutional, and that he will not respect
it, If he should respect it, the matter will be
taken to the courts, and the provision set aside.


If the unhappy and deceived debtor refuses
to 60 into bankruptcy, his creditors will sue
him, obtain judgments, and then enforce their
liens thus acquired through q court of equity.
The constitutional question will be raised and
can only be decided in one way, and that las
we have said) will be against this provision.
The Federal courts have decided the matter
already time and again. So that this insidious
article, while processing to be measure or
relief to the debtor, is really designed to sufto-
cate him 1t is doubly damned-in that as the
act of the Convention, that body has boldly
taken issue with the eighth commandment,
while at the same Lime those who passed 1t