WEST VIRGINIA. 



765 



Resolved, That our Senators in Congress be in- 

 structed, and our Kepresentatives requested, to op- 

 pose any appropriation for the support of the army 

 lhat does not restrict expressly and strongly the 

 army from being used in the Southern States, and 

 couiines its use to the protection of our western fron- 

 tier. 



The Legislature adjourned sine die on March 

 2d, having continued in session 50 days. Dur- 

 ing that time a large number of acts and joint 

 resolutions of a local nature were passed on 

 various subjects, of which were the following : 



An act to make silver coin issued by the 

 United States Government a legal tender 

 within the State of West Virginia. The vote 

 on this bill was : in the House of Delegates 

 ayes, 69; nays, none; in the Senate ayes, 

 13; nays, 10. 



An act providing for the location of a per- 

 manent seat of government for the State, and 

 the erection thereat of the necessary public 

 buildings for the use of the State. The vote 

 on its passage stood as follows : in the House 

 of Delegates yea^, 40 ; nays, 16 ; in the Sen- 

 ate yeas, 11; nays, 10. 



An important act, commonly called the 

 "Usury Bill ? " was also passed at this session, 

 but vetoed by Governor Jacob as unconstitu- 

 tional. 



The Governor's objection of unconstitu- 

 tionally is stated to have been an involuntary 

 mistake, occasioned by the different wording 

 of the inside and outside titles of the engrossed 

 bill placed before him for his approval. He 

 read only the inside title, copied by the en- 

 grossing clerks at the head of the act from the 

 printed bill as originally introduced ; whereas, 

 during the discussions held on the bill, its title 

 was altered and amended. The proper title, 

 as amended, was fully and correctly written 

 on the outside of the engrossed bill sent to tlie 

 Governor for his signature; but, without look- 

 ing at it, he seems to have read the inside title 

 only, which was objectionable. This cause of 

 the mistake could not have been detected and 

 corrected by the Joint Committee on Enrolled 

 Bills for want of time, the occurrence having 

 taken place on the very last days of the session. 



A joint resolution "proposing an amend- 

 ment to the State Constitution in relation to 

 the Judicial Department " was adopted by the 

 House of Delegates early in the session, but it 

 failed to pass the Senate. 



The result of the election held on August 7, 

 1877, was in favor of Charleston, in the county 

 of Kanawha, for the seat of government. From 

 the official returns of 53 counties, it appears 

 that the aggregate number of ballots cast for 

 either of three cities, the votes of two coun- 

 ties being estimated, was as follows : 



For Charleston .... 41,288 



For Clarksburg 80,812 



For Martinsburg 6,049 



The event was celebrated by the residents 

 of Charleston on the 17th and 18th of August 

 by a general illumination, etc. 



On August 15, 1877, the Independent Green- 



back party of West Virginia held a State Con- 

 vention, when they unanimously adopted the 

 following platform : 



The Independent Greenback party of West Vir- 

 ginia acknowledge allegiance to no other organiza- 

 tion. Republican platforms ignore the greenback, 

 bestow faint praise upon the " dollar of the fathers, 1 ' 

 laud gold, and tacitly accept national bank notes as 

 "true money;" while Democratic platforms go a 

 little farther, and venture to condemn "contrac- 

 tion," demand the repeal of the Kesumption Act, 

 and the abolition of national banks. Both parties 

 profess willingness to accord to labor its just re- 

 wards, but neither of them proposes a practical 

 method; while we demand, as the only means of at- 

 taining that end, restoration to the people of the 

 money government has destroyed. 



We hold that the decay of wealth or shrinkage in 

 the value of property and labor is the necessary result 

 of the destruction by government of our money, and 

 that bankruptcy, poverty, idleness, riots, and crimes 

 are its legitimate fruit. 



That it is as consistent with common-sense to af- 

 firm that idleness induces wealth as that over-pro- 

 duction creates hard times. 



That a domestic system of finance is the best safe- 

 guard against instability in values. 



That as it is not the material that constitutes 

 money, but the sovereign will that utters it, the 

 declaration by government that the greenback shall 

 be equal in all its monetary functions with gold is 

 the only sure method of bringing paper money to 

 par. 



That over-production is a heresy in political econ- 

 omy, and affords no solution to admitted depression, 

 in business, but in under-cons-uniption and scarce 

 money we find a more simple solution. 



One dollar now, whether it be gold, silver, or 

 paper, cannot perform the functions of $5 ten years 

 ago. 



We further hold that professed resumption in the 

 existing supply of the precious metals will entail 

 national disgrace. Specie payment has never been 

 an honest monetary system in this country or in 

 England, where commerce has sought the most con- 

 venient expedients. If the system is again to bo 

 inflicted upon the country, it is better that we have 

 it at once, for the twofold reason that it may stop 

 the destruction of the people's money, and at the 

 same time put it in the power of money capitalists, 

 by a run upon the Federal Treasury for gold, to show 

 to the world that the system is radically dishonest. 



We hold that the General Government, as the su- 

 preme exponent of the public will, is competent to 

 confer upon the emanations of its exchequer the 

 same monetary virtues upon paper as upon metals ; 

 that the most effective mode of giving circulation to 

 gold is to declare the paper dollar its equivalent for 

 all purposes, and that this can be done by omitting 

 the " promise to pay " as well from the paper dollar 

 as from the gold and silver dollar. 



We further hold that the payment of national, a 

 well as individual, debts has a higher sanction than 

 legal enactments. We, therefore, appeal to the 

 moral sense of the public, when we demand that 

 each shall be paid in money of no higher purchasing 

 power than that in which it was contracted. 



That, while under ordinary circumstances we do 

 not hold that a "national debt is a national bless- 

 ing," in the present condition of people and govern- 

 ment we believe our national debt can be made a 

 threefold source of good by the issue of Treasury 

 notes in volume equal to the some : 



First By placing within the reach of the people 

 the medium of discharging individual indebtedness, 

 and at the same time providing for the growing 

 wants of commerce. 



Second By the reduction of taxaMon to the extent 

 of the annual interest upon the national debt. 



