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WEST VIRGINIA, 1863-1909.
West Virginia's Part in
The War of Secession.
In the war for Southern
independence, to which West Virginia owes her existence as a state, the
West Virginians, in proportion to their number and wealth, did as much as
the people of any other state. That they were not friendly to secession
was shown by their vote of ten to one against the Virginia ordinance of
secession. That the determined character of this opposition to the action
of Virginia was underestimated by the authorities at Richmond was shown by
the persistent efforts of Virginia to secure control of her western
counties and to collect forces therein for the Confederacy. Not until the
failure of the Imboden raid was the true sentiment of West Virginia
understood by the Confederates. To the Union army she furnished over
30,000 regular troops, exclusive of the 2,300 Home Guards, consisting of
thirty-two companies organized to defend thirty-two home counties from
invasion. For the Confederate service she furnished between 7,000 and
10,000, nearly all of whom enlisted before the close of 1861. The
importance of West Virginia's contribution to the war cannot be estimated
alone by the number of men which she furnished. The failure of the
Confederates to hold the territory and to secure the Baltimore and Ohio
Railway gave the Union forces a great advantage in the transportation of
troops between Ohio and the East.
Politics and Political
Issues.
West Virginia entered upon
her career as a separate state of the American Union at the most critical
period in the War of Secession-two weeks before the battles of Gettysburg
and Vicksburg in 1863. After the President's proclamation of April 20, the
new government was rapidly organized. Arthur I. Boreman for governor, and
other state officers, nominated at a convention at Parkersburg early in
May, were elected the latter part of the same month. Judges of the supreme
court and county officials were elected at the same time. On June 20 the
state officers began their duties. On the same day the first legislature
(twenty senators and fifty-one delegates) assembled, and on August 4 it
elected two United States senators - Waitman T. Willey and Peter G. Van
Winkle. Soon thereafter congressmen were elected from each of the three
newly formed congressional districts.
The new state government,
laying the foundation stones of state institutions and of future order and
development, was confronted by many serious difficulties and
obstacles-economic, social and political. The people, separated into many
detached local groups by precipitous mountains and rugged streams, had not
developed unity of action nor social and commercial identity, except,
perhaps, in the counties along the Ohio, and along the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad. The most serious immediate political difficulty was the sympathy
for the Confederacy exhibited in various parts of the state. Although the
Confederates had soon lost control of the larger part of the state, over
7,000 West Virginians had entered the Confederate army early in the
war-about one-fourth of the number who enlisted in the Union army-and the
Confederate raids and skirmishes into the state, at first to prevent
separation from Virginia, were continued until the close of the war.
Counties along the southern
border of the new state were partially under the control of the
Confederates until near the close of the war, and "were forced to pay
heavy taxes to the Richmond government, and to furnish soldiers for the
Confederate army." Other counties along the border suffered from irregular
"bands of guerrillas and marauders" whom the state troops were unable to
manage. In the sad state of disorder, the governor recommended that the
citizens should organize to capture and kill the "outlaws" wherever and
whenever found, and appealed to the Washington government, which organized
the state into a military district under command of General Kelley, who
scattered many irregular bands and gradually rendered life and property
secure; but in some portions of the state the civil authorities were
helpless against lawlessness long after the close of the war.
Under these conditions the
administration was seriously embarrassed by lack of funds to meet ordinary
expenditures. In 1864 the governor reported that one-half of the counties
had paid no taxes and others were in arrears. In fourteen counties there
were no sheriffs or other collectors of taxes, "because of the danger
incident thereto." The burdens of the counties which paid were necessarily
increased. One of the earliest measures of the state government was an act
(1863) providing for the forfeiture of property belonging to the enemies
of the state, including those who had joined the Confederate army; but
such property was seized only in a few instances and the law remained
practically a dead letter-because the citizens of the state were usually
unwilling to take advantage of the political disabilities of their
neighbors.
Though in the election of
1864 there were only a few scattering votes in opposition to the officers
of the state administration, there were no means of obtaining an
expression of the people in some of the extreme southern counties where
the governor reported that, owing to the Confederate incursions and local
conditions, it was still impracticable to organize civil authority.
At the close of the war
there were still many sources of disorder and friction. The most prominent
related to the political status of those who had joined or aided the
Confederate cause. The first general election laws of West Virginia,
passed in 1863, had provided for election supervisors and inspectors who
were authorized to require from all whose eligibility to vote was in doubt
an oath to support the constitution of the United States and of West
Virginia. Naturally the Unionists considered that those who had supported
the Confederate cause could not safely be entrusted with political power
immediately after their return from the Confederate armies, and before
they had proven their willingness to cooperate in maintaining the
established order. This opinion was enforced by conditions and events. In
1865 organized bands of returning Confederates committed several murders
and robberies in Upshur, Barbour, Marion and Harrison counties. The
legislature, with partisan spirit increased, passed the voter's test act,
requiring from all voters an oath that they had neither voluntarily borne
arms against the United States, nor aided those who had engaged in armed
hostility against the United States. It also proposed an amendment
disfranchising those who had given voluntary aid to the Confederates-of
course with the intention of removing the disabilities in course of time.
This further aroused the spirit of antagonism and insubordination in the
minds of the ex-Confederates who were "impatient to repossess themselves
of place and power."
In the elections of 1865
the test oath act was not strictly enforced, and in a few places it was
entirely ignored. Many ex-Confederates, claiming that the law was
unconstitutional, took a free hand in organizing the local government. In
some places they ran for office, and in Greenbrier county two were
elected-one to the state senate and the other to the house of delegates.
In his message of 1866 Governor Boreman, commenting upon the alacrity with
which the ex-Confederates insisted upon participation in politics, advised
the legislature to enact a more efficient registration law, to require
election officers to take a test oath, and to give the necessary
concurrence in the proposed disfranchisement amendment so that it could be
submitted to the people. The legislature promptly passed a registration
law, authorizing the governor to appoint in each county a registration
board consisting of three citizens who were given power to designate the
township registrars. It also concurred in the proposed amendment which was
promptly ratified by the people on May 24, 1866, by about 7,000 votes,
thereby disfranchising between 10,000 and 20,000 persons.
Although there is yet
considerable difference of opinion in regard to the wisdom of these
measures, it is generally agreed that they were the natural result of
conditions which seemed to threaten not only the policies of the
administration but also the integrity and independence of the new state.
Many of those who were disfranchised hoped to see West Virginia return to
the control of Virginia. In Jefferson county a large number of persons,
stating that the transfer of the county from Virginia to West Virginia
during their absence was irregular and void, refused to acknowledge that
they were West Virginians, and attempted to hold an election as a part of
the state of Virginia; but they yielded when General Emory was sent to aid
the civil officers in maintaining the law. Virginia, too, tried in vain to
secure the return of Jefferson and Berkeley counties, first by annulling
the act of the Pierpont government which had consented to the transfer,
and second (1866) by bringing a suit in the supreme court which, in 1871,
was decided in favor of West Virginia. In 1866, while Pierpont was still
governor of Virginia, the legislature of that state appointed three
commissioners to make overtures to West Virginia for the reunion of the
two states, but the legislature of West Virginia rejected the proposition
in 1867, stating that the people of the new state were unalterably opposed
to reunion. At the same time the condition in some of the southern border
counties caused the legislature to enact a more exacting registration law,
requiring an applicant for registration not only to take the test oath but
also to prove that he was qualified to vote. A state of insubordination
existed in three or four counties. In some places no elections had been
held in the fall of 1866 because of the fear of violence. The judge of the
ninth district, including Greenbrier and Monroe counties, had received
anonymous letters threatening his life. In his message the governor stated
that the ex-Confederates who caused these troubles were "learned men."
The new registration law,
which gave to registrars the power to identify those who had aided the
secessionists in any form, increased the antagonism to the administration,
and the opposition to the laws. During the campaign of 1868 there was much
partisan excitement and friction. Many, unable to take the ironclad oaths
which would enable them to vote, and perhaps further irritated by the
adoption of the Fourteenth amendment, frequently attempted to intimidate
public officials, and threatened violence which in some places prevented
elections and in others compelled the governor to appeal for Federal
troops to aid in the maintenance of law and order. Force was necessary to
aid in the execution of the law in the counties of Monroe, Wayne, Cabell,
Logan, Randolph, Tucker, Barbour and Marion. In some counties the
restrictions of the registration law were almost entirely disregarded. As
might have been expected, in some instances disorders arose from arbitrary
refusal to register persons against whom there was no tangible evidence,
or from unnecessary and unwise rigidity in administering the law -which of
itself was not necessarily unjust nor unwise.
Before the election of 1869
there was a vigorous discussion of the suffrage question in all its
phases. A large number of the liberal Republicans considered that a
continuance of the test oaths was inexpedient and desired to adopt some
policy that would terminate the bitter animosities of years. The
legislature of 1870 repealed some of the test oaths. Gov. William E.
Stevenson, who had defeated J. N. Camden, the Democratic candidate for
governor, by a majority of only 5,000, with vigorous progressive views
continued the constructive policy of his predecessor, endeavoring to
remove the deeply rooted prejudices against immigration, and earnestly
favoring liberal legislation to encourage projects of internal improvement
and industrial enterprise which would engage the people of the state in
the development of its resources and terminate the quarrels over past
issues. He also recommended an amendment to the constitution to restore
the privileges of those who had been disfranchised by the amendment of
1866. W. H. H. Flick in the House proposed the amendment which, after
acceptance by the legislature of 1870 and 1871, was ratified by a vote of
the people by a majority of 17,223, and proclaimed by the governor in
April, 1871.
In the meantime, in the
election of 1870, the opposition had pushed their claims to registration -
often by intimidation of the registrars. In some counties the law was so
far disregarded that every male of the required age was registered. This
laxity in the enforcement of the more stringent features of the
registration law, together with the opposition to negro suffrage, resulted
in a victory for the Democrats, who elected John J. Jacobs governor by a
majority of over 2,000 votes and secured a working majority in both houses
which they retained for a quarter of a century. Although Jacobs'
usefulness was somewhat restricted by limited views of statesmanship, he
was conservative and moderate in his policies.
The strong reactionary
elements which composed the Democratic party demanded a constitutional
convention, and their strength was shown in the legislature of February,
1871, and in the election of August, 1871, which determined the question.
In the election of the following October they elected sixty-six of the
seventy-eight members of the convention. The twelve Republicans they
humorously called "the twelve apostles."
The convention met at
Charleston on Jan. 16, 1872, and remained in session for eighty-four days,
completing its work on April 9, 1872. The new constitution, ratified by
the people by a majority of 4,567 votes, exhibited the marks of the period
of partisanship which preceded it.
Strong efforts were made by
the most radical reactionaries to keep West Virginia under the influence
of the life and institutions of Virginia and the South. After the early
sessions of the convention, these efforts were somewhat neutralized by the
more liberal or modern Democrats who feared that the ex-Confederate
element of the party might force into the constitution provisions which
would defeat it before the people.
Although the new
constitution made some wise changes-lengthening the term of state
executive officers to four years, doubling the terms of members of each
house of the legislature, and providing for biennial (instead of annual)
legislatures-it contained several restrictions and inhibitions and various
antiquated and imperfect provisions which have retarded or prevented the
governmental adjustments necessary to meet modern West Virginia
conditions. Abolishing the township system, it provided for the return to
the old county system-the Virginia idea of government by justices of the
peace-which was subsequently changed by amendment (1881). Although other
clauses were changed by amendments in 1884 and 1902, still other changes
are needed. For instance, in spite of the great need of a secret
Australian ballot to prevent traffic in votes, the antiquated clause still
provides that "the voter shall be left free to vote by either open, sealed
or secret ballot as he may elect." In 1903 Governor White, suggesting the
need of a constitutional convention, said: "Our constitution creaks at
almost every joint."
The political and
constitutional history after 1872 may be briefly summarized. In the
election that followed the adoption of the new constitution the Democrats
were divided. Camden, who was their regular nominee, was defeated by a
majority of 12,363 by Governor Jacobs, the independent candidate, who,
after his reelection, devoted much attention to measures relating to the
material development of the state.
In the exciting election of
1876 the Democratic state ticket of eight persons, seven of whom had been
in the Confederate army, was elected by a majority of from 12,000 to
16,000. H. M. Mathews, who defeated Gen. Nathan Goff, the popular
Republican candidate for governor, was a patriotic, broad and
liberal-minded Confederate who had fully accepted the results of the war
and was well fitted to lead in meeting living issues. His administration
has been characterized as an era of good-feeling in which the state began
to show new signs of awakening life -especially in industrial development.
Gov. J. B. Jackson, who
succeeded Governor Mathews in 1881, was an honest but partisan Democrat of
the old school who, in the election of 1880, received a plurality of
16,139 over George C. Sturgiss, the Republican candidate. Jackson favored
the enactment of laws that would encourage immigration, manufactures and
the development of the material resources of the state. He also attempted
to secure reforms in taxation and state finance by directing that all
property not exempted by the constitution should be listed for taxation,
and by the appointment of a tax commission (1883). During his
administration, a period of continued general prosperity and happiness
(excepting the calamitous results of the great floods of February, 1884),
steps were also taken to revise the laws, some of which were indefinite
and inconsistent.
Under Gov. E. Willis
Wilson, who was elected in 1884 by a majority of 5,289, there was a
continuation of the agitation for the revision of the tax laws in order to
secure equality of taxation, and the governor also proposed legislation to
reform the election laws, to prohibit oppressive trusts and combinations,
and to prevent the distribution of railway passes to officers of the state
and delegates to political conventions. The administration waged a fierce
and relentless war against the trunk line railroads which, the governor
said, had discriminated against the people of West Virginia in freight and
passenger rates. To secure regulation of railway rates the governor called
a special session of the legislature, which, after heated debates and a
close vote of nineteen to nineteen in the House (twenty-seven absent and
not voting), dropped the further consideration of the subject and decided
to await the result of the operation of the new national
interstate-commerce law, which had just passed Congress and was approved
by a joint resolution of both houses of the legislature, and which soon
proved beneficial to West Virginia shippers.
Gov. A. B. Fleming, who
contested the certified returns which gave his opponent (Gen. Nathan Goff)
a majority of 110 votes, and received his office only by a strictly party
vote (forty-three Democrats to forty Republicans) of the two houses of the
legislature, continued the policy of his predecessor, who, as a result of
the contest, had continued to act as executive for nearly a year beyond
the term for which he was elected. He urged the taxation of the property
of the Pullman Company and other foreign car companies, and the business
of foreign telegraph companies originating in the state. He also
recommended a general policy of legislation to preserve the resources of
the state from monopoly, to foster agricultural interests and to diversify
the various industries of the state.
Gov. Wm. A. MacCorkle, who
defeated Thos. E. Davis, the Republican candidate, by a majority of less
than 4,000 in the election of 1892, was a liberal, progressive young man
who urged legislation for the adjustment of state taxation, liberal
appropriations to support the growing institutions of the state, and
proper regulative machinery to meet the changing conditions. He cordially
cooperated with the spirit of the Republican legislature in favor of
reorganizing the old partisan boards of state institutions and securing
needed reforms "to give to the institutions the greatest degree of
efficiency, free from the influence of politics."
The Democratic majority,
which had reached its highest point in 1880, had steadily declined after
that date until it became the minority at the close of MacCorkle's
administration. In the election of 1896 the entire Republican state ticket
was elected. George W. Atkinson defeated Cornelius C. Watts for governor
by a plurality of 12,070 votes. The legislature had already elected one
Republican senator (S. B. Elkins) in 1895, and in 1899 it proceeded to
elect another (N. B. Scott). Governor Atkinson advocated policies for the
improvement of the public schools, the improvement of roads by some system
of permanent road building, the improvement of conditions of labor by
state regulations, a radical amendment of the election laws, the
encouragement of immigration, and other measures to meet the new and
phenomenal industrial expansion in the state which continued to influence
political problems and policies in subsequent administrations.
In the election of 1900
Albert B. White, Republican, defeated John Homer Holt for governor by a
plurality of 19,516. In 1904 Wm. M. O. Dawson, Republican, defeated J. J.
Cornwall by a plurality of 9,083. At the same time the Republican
plurality for President was nearly 32,000, and for state officers was
nearly 25,000. Under both White and Dawson the extension of state
regulation and the reform of the tax laws furnished the largest questions
in politics.
For a quarter of a century,
although the constitution provided that taxation should be equal and
uniform throughout the state, there has been much complaint of the
inequalities and injustice of the tax laws. A tax commission created by
the legislature of 1883 had scathingly criticised and condemned the laws,
but without practical results. Though in 1885 the legislature, which had
never before exercised its power under the constitution of 1872 to tax
privileges and franchises, finally enacted a law taxing corporations,
little was realized from it. Though in 1887 it provided for an inheritance
tax (of 2 1/2 per cent.), a defect in the law rendered it of little value.
The first substantial reform in the old laws was made by the legislature
of 1901, which largely increased the revenue from license taxes in
charters of corporations (regulating the rate according to the amount of
authorized capital), and creating a tax commission to submit plans for
further reforms. In 1904 the legislature, at a special session, created
the office of state tax commissioner and enacted a system of twenty-one
tax laws, which greatly lessened inequalities and practically provided for
the extinguishment of direct taxes for the support of the state government
after 1906. Though these reforms have been strongly opposed, it is
generally recognized that with some modifications the reform policy will
be sustained and continued.
The Republicans have
steadily increased in number and influence with the great industrial
development of the state, which has been accompanied by a rather large and
continuous immigration from the north and northwest, the fading of old
traditions and the rise of new issues. In the face of their increasing
strength, however, they endangered their prospect of success at the polls
in 1908 by party dissensions, which resulted in two opposing state
organizations of the party and two gubernatorial tickets. On the other
hand, it was stated that the Democratic state convention on July 30, 1908,
weakened the chances of the Democratic state ticket by committing the
party (by a vote of 712 against 411) to negro disfranchisement and "Jim
Crow" cars.
Within a month of the
election, the Republicans, by agreeing to the withdrawal of rival
gubernatorial candidates and the selection of a new head for their ticket,
succeeded in electing their candidate for governor, W. E. Glasscock, and
their entire state ticket.
Industrial Progress.
The vast resources of West
Virginia, whose development was so long delayed and retarded by lack of
transportation, have recently furnished the incentive for many new
enterprises which have greatly changed the life of the state. The recent
industrial development of West Virginia had its origin largely in the
increasing demand for timber, coal, oil and gas, and to the resulting
inducements for the construction of railroads and the establishment of
certain manufactures such as glass, iron and steel, for which the state
furnishes a clean, cheap fuel.
The development of
agriculture, as a skilled business in West Virginia, was greatly retarded
by the habits of the people resulting from frontier conditions and
long-continued lack of transportation facilities. There had been little
concentrated or cooperative action for improvement of agriculture before
the war. Except in a few counties the people were satisfied with
production for bare subsistence, and gave little attention to production
for exportation. There were few dealers in farm implements even at the
close of the war, and the steam thresher did not come into use until about
1880, after which there was a rapid introduction of all kinds of improved
implements and machinery. Since 1891 considerable advance has been made
through the influence of farmers' institutes, better communications and
various associations.
Lumbering (the lineal
descendant of the earlier cutting and rafting of tanbark, hoop-poles and
logs), although it had developed little before 1865, ranked second among
the industries of the state in 1900, and first in 1905.
At the close of the war an
awakened interest in the latent mineral resources of the state indicated
the beginning of a new era of development. Coal mining companies were
formed and coal mining operations were begun in Putnam, Boone, Wayne,
Mason and Monongalia counties by 1869, and in Sewall mountain on New River
in 1873. Operations were extensive in four other counties (Marion,
Fayette, Harrison and Ohio) by 1880, and at the same time embryo
operations were begun in the coke industry which steadily increased after
1880, and especially after 1890, when machines were introduced for mining.
In 1903 there were 530 mines inspected, and the total production was
24,000,000 long tons, of which nearly 19,500,000 tons were shipped to
market.
Petroleum, first obtained
in large quantities in 1860 on the Little Kanawha near Parkersburg,
developed a thriving business, which, although ruined by the Confederates
in 1863, was revived in 1865 and greatly extended by operations in Wirt,
Wood and Pleasants counties. From 1876 to 1889 there was little extension
of productive area. The yearly production steadily declined during this
period, but it rapidly increased from 544,000 barrels in 1889, to
16,000,000 barrels in 1900, surpassing both Pennsylvania and New York. By
means of a series of pumping stations this product is forced through pipe
lines over the mountains to the seaboard cities.
After 1882, by the opening
of new gas wells and the discovery of new gas fields, the practical use of
gas became a large factor in the industrial and social development of the
state, furnishing the inducement for the location of many manufacturing
establishments seeking cheap fuel and attracting immigrants desiring a
clean and convenient fuel for their homes.
Industrial progress has
been greatly influenced by corresponding development of means of
transportation. The state began its existence with few facilities for
communication in the larger portion of the state. Of the few turnpikes the
most important were the Staunton and Parkersburg, and the Winchester and
Parkersburg ("Northwestern"). South of the Great Kanawha, roads of any
kind were few and in very bad condition. Steamboat navigation within the
state was confined to a very few streams. There was but one railroad, the
Baltimore and Ohio, whose influence affected only a narrow strip across
the northern part of the state. The new government promptly took steps to
secure the improvement of the Great Kanawha and the Little Kanawha, and
encouraged the construction of railroads. Of the many proposed railways
chartered after 1864, several were completed by 1885. In 1871 the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad purchased the old Hempfield railroad, in
operation between Wheeling and Washington, Pennsylvania, and completed it
to Pittsburg. In January, 1873, the Chesapeake and Ohio was completed
westward from Sulphur Springs to Huntington. In the same year Congress
made small appropriations for sluice and wing dam improvement on the Great
Kanawha, and two years later began appropriations for permanent lock and
dam improvements which, after a quarter of a century, were completed to
Montgomery above Charleston at a cost of over $4,000,000. In 1887 beacon
lights were established on the Ohio, and soon thereafter on the Great
Kanawha. By that time Congress had begun the appropriations by which slack
water improvements have been extended up the Monongahela to Fairmont. In
the meantime new railway lines had been in progress of construction. In
1884 the Kanawha and Michigan (continuation of the Ohio Central) was
opened from the Ohio River to Charleston. In 1885 a line, designed to
connect the north-central part of the state with Pittsburg, was completed
from Fairmont to Morgantown, from whence it was later extended to
Connellsville, Pennsylvania, where it connected with a main line of the
Baltimore and Ohio from Cumberland to Pittsburg. The Ohio River railway
was completed from Wheeling to Parkersburg in 1885, to Point Pleasant in
1886, and to Huntington in 1888. Other lines were soon begun. In 1892 the
Norfolk and Western was opened to the Ohio, and in 1893 the Charleston,
Clendennin and Sutton was put in operation up the Elk River from
Charleston to Sutton, from which a line has since been extended to Elkins.
From 1896 to 1902, the most active period of railway construction in the
state, sixteen roads or branches were built ; and in 1904, railroads
penetrated fifty-one of the fifty-five counties.
The rapid development of
productive industries and of transportation facilities has been
accompanied by great changes in every phase of life, industrial, social,
political and educational. It has caused a phenomenal growth of many
towns, and great improvement in the conditions of life.
Population and Material
Wealth.
The character of the
population has greatly changed since the War of Secession. The original
settlers, whose ancestors were generally English or Scotch-Irish, or
perhaps Pennsylvania German, were contented with a life of rural
simplicity and hospitality whose economy was usually mere subsistence.
Their descendants usually lived amiably with their neighbors, maintained
their urbanity and self-possession in the presence of strangers, and,
beyond the efforts necessary to secure the necessaries of life, were
usually disposed to leave the improvement of things to time and chance.
Always possessing intellect and sagacity capable of high development under
favorable conditions, they have gradually responded to the progressive
spirit of enterprise and of the strenuous life which received its greatest
impulse from immigration from other states and the increased opportunities
for communication and intermingling of the people.
The population almost
trebled in the forty years from 1860 to 1900. It increased from 376,688 in
1860 to 442,014 in 1870, to 618,457 in 1880, to 762,794 in 1890 and to
958,800 (499,242 males and 459,558 females) in 1900. The estimated
population in 1908, based upon the ratio of increase for the decade from
1890 to 1900, is about 1,156,000. In 1869 and early in 1870 erroneous
reports represented that the population and wealth of the state were
decreasing. The census of 1870 showed that while there was a general
increase of population of over 20 per cent. in the state, there was a
slight decrease in a few counties. There was a decrease of 794 in
Greenbrier, 752 in Hampshire and Hardy combined, 615 in Marion, 169 in
Nicholas and 30 in Brooke. All the other counties showed an increase, and
every county since 1870 has shown an increase for each decade. In the
decade from 1890 to 1900, the counties in which the population increased
most rapidly were McDowell (156.8 per cent.), Tucker (108 per cent.),
Webster (85 per cent.), Clay (77 per cent.), Marion (56.5 per cent.),
Fayette (55.7 per cent.), Tyler (52.6 per cent.), and Randolph (51.9 per
cent.). The counties in which the population increased most slowly were
Jefferson (2.5 per cent.), Hampshire (3.4 per cent.), Berkeley (4.1 per
cent.), Hancock (4.3 per cent.), Pendleton (5.2 per cent.), Monroe (5.6
per cent.), Mason (5.6 per cent.), Mineral (6.6 per cent.), Lewis (6.8 per
cent.), and Grant (7 per cent.).
Of the population in 1900,
the colored numbered 43,567 (including 56 Chinese and 12 Indians). The
negroes were located principally in Berkeley, Cabell, Fayette, Greenbrier,
Harrison, Jefferson, Kanawha, McDowell, Mineral, Ohio and Summers. Of the
247,970 males of voting age, only 14,786 were negroes. Of the illiterate
voters 23,577 (11 per cent.); were white, and 5,583 (38 per cent.) were
black. The foreign born numbered 22,451 (principally German, Irish,
Italian, English and Scotch), located principally in Marion, Marshall,
Ohio, Tucker and Wood counties. Excluding foreigners, the larger number of
immigrants came from Virginia (61,508), Ohio (40,301), and Pennsylvania
(28,927).
Since 1900 the immigration
has greatly increased, especially in the mining and manufacturing regions
of the northern and southern parts of the state. The rapidity of the
growth of towns may be illustrated by the growth of Morgantown, whose
population increased from less than 2,000 in 1900 to over 12,000 in 1908.
The census of 1900 showed a
remarkable development of material wealth, which apparently has continued
to increase each year thereafter. From 1870 to 1900 the value of farm
property increased from $120,000,000 to nearly $204,000,000, and the value
of farm products from $23,000,000 to nearly $45,000,0.00. For the same
period the value of manufactured products increased from $24,000,000 to
$74,000,000. The amount of capital invested in manufacturing, an industry
which is still in its infancy, increased from $28,113,000 in 1890 to
nearly $55,720,000 in 1900. For the same period the value of manufactured
products increased from $38,702,000 to over $74,000,000 (91.7 per cent.).
From 1870 to 1900 the value of timber products increased from about
$364,000 to over $10,000,000. The coal production increased from 1,568,000
tons in 1880 to 22,647,000 tons in 1900, and to 25,760,000 tons in 1903.
The value of the products of coke manufacture, a rapidly developing
industry, increased from $1,130,762 in 1890 to $3,529,241 in 1900 (an
increase of over 212 per cent.). The value of oil produced in 1902 was
$25,000,000, and of gas over $5,000,000. In 1903 the total taxable value
of the 3,643 miles of steam railways (including 931 miles of siding) in
the state was $26,527,999. In 1903 the total resources of the sixty-eight
national banks located in the state were $37,623,000, and of the 148 state
banks $53,481,750. The deposits were $23,349,827 and $38,908,768
respectively.
Education.
In 1863 West Virginia had
no common school system, no normal schools and no university. Before 1863
the few schools which were maintained at public expense were primarily for
indigent children. The people who had so long agitated the question of
free schools for all, in 1863 inserted a clause in their constitution
providing for their establishment, and promptly secured from their first
legislature a free school law. In 1865 the state superintendent reported
that there were 431 schools and 387 teachers in the state. In 1866 and
1867 provision was made for colored schools where the number of colored
children was sufficient. The constitution provided that white and colored
children should not be educated in the same schools.
The new school system
encountered many obstacles. The law was opposed by many of the
ultraconservatives, who urged the people to disregard it and refused to
cooperate with the authorities. In some thinly settled counties of the
interior, and along the southern border, the people were not able to build
school houses. In several counties the superintendents were too ignorant
to examine the incompetent teachers. In order to supply the great need for
trained teachers the legislature, in 1867, established normal schools at
Huntington, at Fairmont and at West Liberty. Three additional normal
schools were established, in 1872, at Shepherdstown, Athens and Glenville.
By 1869 the school system was better organized; but as late as 1872 over
half of the county superintendents failed to submit reports, and the state
superintendent reported that in many districts there had been no schools
for two years. In many instances progress was hindered by misuse of funds
by the school boards, who voted themselves a liberal compensation for
their services. The sheriff often postponed the payment of the salary of
teachers until they were compelled to sell their orders at great sacrifice
to the curbstone broker, often a confederate of the sheriff. In spite of
laws to prevent, this abuse continued for more than a quarter of a
century. Examinations in many counties continued to be conducted so
loosely and so dishonestly that incompetent teachers found little
difficulty in securing certificates until, finally, the widespread jobbery
in teachers' certificates was almost terminated in 1903 by the adoption of
the uniform examination system. Supervision of schools by the county
superintendent in many counties remained a fraud and a farce for decades.
An effort to secure more efficient supervision was made in 1901 by
forbidding the county superintendent to teach, and in 1907 by increasing
the salary, of the office.
Although progress was slow
for so many years, it has been more rapid in recent years. High schools
have increased in number and improved in character. The normal schools,
whose work has been largely that of the high school, have begun to give
more attention to the purpose for which they were founded. A state board
of education, created by the revised school law of 1908, is empowered to
prepare a course of study for the public schools of the state, and to
unify and increase the efficiency of the school system by defining the
relations of the different kinds of schools, and by securing better
articulation of the school work.
West Virginia University,
since its foundation in 1867, has exerted a gradually increasing influence
in the development of the education and other activities of the state. For
many years the growth of the new institution was very slow and uncertain.
This retarded growth was due to many causes. Among these causes may be
enumerated the partially local foundation, the sectional questions which
had divided Virginia long before the war, the new sectional jealousies,
the post-bellum political questions and partisanship, the lack of a
satisfactory system of secondary schools, the divided responsibility and
laissez faire policy, and the lack of means of communication with
Morgantown, the seat of the institution. Gradually the power and
importance of these causes were reduced by changing conditions. Industrial
progress has been a prominent factor in the transformation of the earlier
school into a real college or university. Women were admitted to the
collegiate department in 1889 and to all departments in 1897.
The growth of the
university has been greatly aided by the development of better secondary
schools. The normal schools have partially solved the problem of suitable
preparatory schools. A preparatory school at Montgomery, opened January,
1897, was established by an act of Feb. 16, 1895. Another was established
at Keyser by an act of 1901.
To supply the demand for
state institutions where colored people could receive special or more
advanced academic training, the colored institute at Farm (Kanawha county)
was established in 1891, and the Bluefield colored institute (in Mercer
county) was established in 1895.
Interstate Relations.
Between West Virginia and
her neighbors, since 1863, there have arisen several interstate questions,
two of the oldest and most prominent of which are still pending in the
United States Supreme Court.
Among those of minor
importance were: (1) the boundary question with Pennsylvania, which was
settled by a joint boundary commission in 1885-86; (2) the trouble along
the Big Sandy boundary between West Virginia and Kentucky, resulting from
the Hatfield-McCoy feuds which, after periodically disturbing the peace
for several years, were terminated by the wise action of Governor Fleming
in withdrawing the rewards which had been offered by West Virginia for the
arrest of some of the McCoys; and (3), the question of transferring from
Virginia to West Virginia the records of original grants of land in West
Virginia-a question which was satisfactorily settled by negotiations of
Governor Fleming.
More important was the
contest between Virginia and West Virginia for jurisdiction over Jefferson
and Berkeley counties, settled by the United States Supreme Court in 1871,
and the Maryland boundary and the Virginia debt questions still pending.
The boundary question with
Maryland was an old one in regard to the meaning of the "first fountain of
the Potomac," which, in Lord Baltimore's charter, was mentioned as the
southern point of the boundary between Maryland and Virginia, and which
had been marked by the Fairfax stone at the head of the North Branch in
accordance with the decision of the king in council in 1745, after a
careful survey by a boundary commission. The North Branch had practically
been accepted as the boundary several years before the Revolution, and
again in 1785, and even later when Maryland claimed that her western
boundary should be located about a mile west of the Fairfax stone. Though
in 1852 Maryland finally accepted the Fairfax stone as the southern point
of her western boundary, in 1859 she secured a new survey of the meridian
line northward, which terminated at the Pennsylvania boundary about
three-fourths of a mile west of the old line (which had been surveyed in
1788), thus laying the basis of the later controversy with West Virginia
in regard to conflicting land claims and jurisdiction in the triangular
strip between the two lines -some of which culminated in personal
encounters and breaches of the peace, which each state treated as a crime
within its jurisdiction and attempted to punish. Though West Virginia,
wearied with the resulting "border war," in 1887 was willing to yield her
claim to jurisdiction, Maryland ignored the terms of the proposition and
three years later authorized a boundary suit before the Supreme Court,
into which the attorney-general of Maryland injected the old claim to the
South Branch as the farthest source of the Potomac-a claim which, if
sustained, would extend the southwest corner of Maryland southward to the
southern border of Pendleton county, thus completely dividing West
Virginia into two non-contiguous parts. Governor Fleming, with the
sanction of the legislature, employed counsel to defend the interests of
the state against the claims of Maryland for territory which had been
embraced within the limits of Virginia since 1863, and which had been in
the undisturbed and exclusive possession of West Virginia, and under her
jurisdiction and control since 1863. After the suit was brought, Maryland
proposed arbitration, but West Virginia has preferred to leave the
settlement to the court.
The Virginia debt question
arose with the formation of West Virginia, and has been a prominent factor
or issue in state politics at various times. At the time of the
separation, it was agreed that the new state would assume a just
proportion of the public debt of Virginia prior to 1861, "to be
ascertained by charging to it all the expenditures within the limits
thereof and a just proportion of the ordinary expenses of the state
government, since any part of said debt was contracted, and deducting
therefrom all moneys paid into the treasury of the commonwealth from the
counties included within the said new state, during the same period."
In 1866 Virginia appointed
commissioners who, in case of failure to secure reunion of West Virginia
to Virginia, were authorized to negotiate for the adjustment of the public
debt and a fair division of the public property. The West Virginia
legislature, expressing a willingness for a prompt and equitable
settlement, authorized the governor to appoint three commissioners to
consider the adjustment of the debt question after the announcement of the
decision of the Supreme Court in the case brought by Virginia for the
recovery of Berkeley and Jefferson counties. In February, 1870, Virginia
appointed a commission which went to Wheeling and induced the West
Virginia legislature to appoint a similar commission to treat for the
purpose of adjusting the question. The West Virginia commission, without
any appropriation for expenses, failed to act; and, a year later when an
appropriation was made by the succeeding legislature of 1871, Virginia,
having changed her policy on the mode of adjustment, proposed arbitration
by commissioners who should not be citizens of either state-a proposal
which West Virginia declined.
The West Virginia
commission, acting alone, went to Richmond, examined such documents as
were accessible, and reported that of the $31,778,867.62, which had been
spent on internal improvements, $2,784,329.29 had been spent in West
Virginia. To the latter was added an additional $559,600 from other
sources, and from the sum was subtracted a credit of $2,390,369.06,
exclusive of taxes paid to the Virginia government, leaving a remainder of
$953,360.23 in favor of Virginia. On the ground that the commission had
been unable to secure complete data, and for other reasons, the
legislature did not accept the conclusions.
In 1873 the subject was
considered by the finance committee of the Senate. On December 22 the
chairman, J. M. Bennett, who had been auditor of Virginia for eight years,
submitted a report showing that from 1822 to 1861 the state expenditures
in counties in West Virginia was $3,366,929.29, that the counties of West
Virginia had paid into the treasury of Virginia at least $3,892,000,
besides an equitable portion of the ordinary expenses of the government,
and that after subtracting from this sum the amount expended for internal
improvements in West Virginia there was a remainder of over $525,000 in
favor of West Virginia. This view was adopted by the people of West
Virginia, who, believing that they owed no debt, urged the basis of
settlement which was persistently refused by Virginia.
In the meantime, in 1871,
Virginia passed a funding bill, giving in exchange for the old bonds, new
bonds for two-thirds the amount surrendered and certificates for the
remaining third. These certificates identified the holders of the unfunded
part of the debt, and were to be paid only as should be provided in
accordance with the future settlement between Virginia and West Virginia.
Thus Virginia became liable for these certificates as soon as she settled
with West Virginia. In the later certificates of 1879, 1882 and 1892,
however, there was a clause releasing Virginia from all liability. These
Virginia certificates, thrown on the market under the misleading name of
"West Virginia certificates," greatly injured the financial standing of
West Virginia and prevented immigration and investment of capital at a
time when they were much needed.
In March, 1894, after
Virginia had compromised and settled with her creditors and had been
released from all liability, the legislature of Virginia adopted a
resolution providing for the appointment of a commission of seven members
to negotiate with West Virginia for the payment of the certificates, and
on the basis that Virginia was bound for only two-thirds of the old debt.
In 1895 and in 1896, when the negotiations were proposed, West Virginia
refused to accept the condition that Virginia should be held liable for
only two-thirds of the old debt. Again in 1900, Virginia, as trustee of
the certificate holders, tried to secure an adjustment, but again on
conditions which West Virginia could not accept. She then instituted a
suit to secure an accounting and settlement under the supervision and
direction of the United States Supreme Court. On various grounds,
including lack of authority of the attorney-general to bring the suit, the
plaintiff's action as trustee for private individuals, lack of
jurisdiction by the court, and lack of power to render or enforce any
final judgment or decree in the case, the attorneys for West Virginia
entered a demurrer which the court, in March, 1907, through chief justice
Fuller, overruled "without prejudice to any question." The court appointed
a master of accounts under whom the representatives of both parties to the
suit are collecting data for presentation to the court in October, 1908.
This data was not ready to be submitted to the court when it convened.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. - Acts of the
West Virginia Legislature; Ambler: Disfranchisement in West Virginia (in
Yale Review of May and August, 1905); Callahan: West Virginia, in
University Studies in West Virginia History; Census Reports (1860-1900);
Fast and Maxwell: History and Government of West Virginia (1901).
(Bibliography on pp. 496-503); Governors' Messages and Public Documents of
West Virginia (18631907); Hagans: Formation of West Virginia (West
Virginia Supreme Court Reports, Vol. I.); Journals of the House and Senate
of West Virginia (1863-1907); Journal of the Constitutional Convention of
1863; Journal of the Constitutional Convention of 1872; Lewis: History and
Government of West Virginia (1896), History of West Virginia (1889),
Handbook of West Virginia (1904); Maxwell: Histories of Tucker, Randolph,
and Hampshire Counties (1884-97); Reports of West Virginia Geological
Survey; Willey: Formation of West Virginia (1901); Wheeling Daily
Intelligencer. A full bibliography of the various state publications of
West Virginia has been compiled for publication under the editorial
direction of R. R. Bowker of the Publishers' Weekly, New York.
J. M. CALLAHAN,
Professor of History and Political Science, West Virginia University. |
