Part 15

Another grave problem which faced the state at this time was the establishment of a state system of free public schools. This action was based upon a provision of the Underwood Constitution of 1869 and although having a most worthy purpose, the action was a costly one. Schools were to be furnished for the Negroes (approximately 30% of the total Virginia population) as well as for the whites, and this condition made the problem more difficult since there was a large number of illiterate Negroes. Dr. William H. Ruffner of Lexington, the first State Superintendent of Public Instruction, was elected by the General Assembly when the new state public school system was organized in 1870. The formidable task facing him can be better appreciated when one considers the creation of an entire public school system with very little money and few trained teachers available. The interest from the Literary Fund, all the capitation or poll tax, a new state property tax and a new one dollar annual tax on each male citizen twenty-one years and older were to constitute the financial support of the public school system. Local school and capitation taxes were optional with each county and public school district. Dr. Ruffner received much help from Dr. Benjamin Mosby Smith who helped him formulate a program and at the end of the first year, twenty-nine hundred schools were in operation with three thousand teachers employed to teach one hundred and thirty thousand students. From time to time, the schools were seriously threatened when the interest on the state debt was so high that there was little surplus left for educational purposes. Dr. Ruffner fought not only to keep the school funds from being used for other state activities but also to encourage Virginians themselves to favor a free public school system.

In 1868, General Samuel Chapman Armstrong was responsible for the founding of the Hampton Institute at Hampton, an educational institution whose primary objective was the education of the ex-slaves. The American Missionary Society, at the suggestion of General Armstrong, purchased a farm in Hampton where the Federal Government had established a hospital during the War between the States. The school began with General Armstrong as the principal, two additional teachers and fifteen students. Two years later, it became the Hampton Normal and Industrial Institute. Since General Armstrong believed in education of the "head, the heart, and the hands," training of the mind, character training, and vocational training were emphasized with the over-all objective of preparing the students to earn a living. The now-famous Hampton singers, originally led by General Armstrong, made their first tour through England and New England in 1870.

In the same year, Richmond was the scene of a dreadful disaster. When a sensational political case was about to be tried by the Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals which held its sessions above the Old Hall in the State Capitol, the gallery in the court room collapsed due to the weight of the spectators. It crashed so hard that it broke through the ceiling of the Old Hall of the House of Delegates causing the death of sixty-two persons and injury to two hundred and fifty-one other individuals. This tragic incident focused attention on the need for more careful supervision of the construction and maintenance of buildings, especially where crowds are likely to congregate.

In the following year, the United States Supreme Court, which has original jurisdiction in the settlement of disputes between two or more states of the Union, was asked to settle a controversy between Virginia and West Virginia concerning the joint boundary line. The Supreme Court held that the new State of West Virginia was valid and agreed with West Virginia as to the territory within her jurisdiction. At the same time, the Virginia General Assembly passed an act whereby the state debt of approximately forty-five million dollars was to be funded. West Virginia was to be responsible for funding one-third of this amount since she had helped accumulate this debt before her separation from Virginia.

In 1872, the Virginia General Assembly appropriated money to establish an agricultural college at Blacksburg. This college was created as a result of the Morrill Act of Congress whereby federal funds were appropriated by Congress and awarded to colleges which emphasized the teaching of agriculture and of mechanical arts. The federal funds were received from the money collected from the sale of public lands. Therefore, such colleges were called "land-grant" colleges. The college of Blacksburg, originally known as Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College, was the first land-grant college in Virginia and is now known as the Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

The recessions which took place in the United States in 1867 and in 1869 and the Panic of 1873 indirectly helped Virginia because, instead of devoting much time and effort to Virginia's internal problems as had been planned upon its re-admission to the Union, the Congressmen at Washington were busy with the national problem of getting the United States in a more prosperous economic condition.

When the political parties held their gubernatorial conventions in Virginia in 1873, the Conservatives nominated General James L. Kemper and the Republicans nominated Robert W. Hughes. Kemper won, and the chief issue in the election was the debt problem. The Conservatives had advocated payment of the debt in order to maintain the credit of Virginia in the eyes of the public and to assume what they considered a proper obligation. However, some of the Conservatives believed that the debt would have to be lowered somewhat if it were ever to be paid in full and that, from a practical standpoint, it would have to be adjusted to the ability of the state to pay. This group of Conservatives was called the "Readjusters." In 1870, the state had been gerrymandered (districted politically) in an effort to create Negro majorities which would guarantee "carpetbagger" rule because the "carpetbaggers" seemingly had been very helpful to the Negro. The Conservatives who had won the election then enacted some reapportionment laws which resulted in the restoration of white rule in the cities. They also took it upon themselves to abolish approximately one-third of the local jobs created by the Underwood Constitution. In 1876, a law was passed which required the payment of a poll tax before voting in the state of Virginia. Although originally this tax was levied for revenue purposes, it automatically kept some of the Negroes from the voting polls because they could not afford to pay this tax. At the same time another law was passed, disfranchising all voters who had been found guilty at any time of petty larceny. Since this method had been commonly used by the Negroes directly after their emancipation, this law was criticized by some individuals as discriminatory toward the Negroes and contrary to the Fourteenth Amendment.

As time passed, the old question of the state debt loomed more important and more controversial than ever. The problem had two types of backers: one group called the "Readjusters" who believed that the debt should be drastically reduced or practically repudiated; the other group called the "Funders" who believed that Virginia was honor-bound to pay the original debt in full. The "Funders" surprisingly enough consisted of the planter and merchant class men whose financial losses had been the greatest during the war. The "Readjusters" persuaded the Negroes to adhere to their ideas primarily for political reasons. The arguments centered around such issues as: (1) whether the interest on the debt should have been cumulative during the War between the States, (2) whether Governor Walker had greatly over-estimated the potential resources of Virginia in considering the capacity of the ability of the people to pay, (3) whether the payment of a debt primarily because the honor of a state is involved is a major factor in an economic world, (4) whether the Federal government had regarded the State of Virginia as "conquered territory" and hence should assume the ante-bellum debts of this "conquered territory," (5) whether the debt itself should be reduced in all fairness because of the severe war property destruction in Virginia and because one-third of Virginia's entire state area had been reduced by the creation of West Virginia as a separate and permanent state, (6) whether Virginia had been forced by the Federal government to have the status of Military District No. 1 from 1865 to 1870 and hence would the state be held responsible for debts incurred during this period, and (7) whether local state government debts should be paid before payment should be made to outside debtors such as those in New York and London. In 1877 Colonel Frederick W. M. Holliday, the Conservative or "Funder" candidate, defeated General William Mahone, the "Readjuster" candidate for the Governorship.

Mahone subsequently succeeded in getting himself elected to the United States Senate in 1879. He became so politically influential that he eventually secured the nomination and the election of a "Readjuster" Governor for Virginia in 1881 and a Republican Lieutenant-Governor. At this time, he publicly declared himself a Republican. His "Readjuster" friends gained control of the General Assembly and removed several state government officials solely for political reasons. Mahone was considered responsible for the use of the "Spoils" System throughout the State of Virginia. During the administration of a Readjuster Governor, the debt of Virginia, as could be expected, was re-adjusted to approximately $23,000,000. Since many of the Readjuster party members consisted of Negroes, the poll tax was repealed also. The public school system and even the court system became infiltrated with politics. Often the responsible positions in these fields were filled by employees of political ability or affiliation rather than by employees with qualifications pertinent to such positions. After much rioting and corruption, Mahone's political machine finally lost control of the state in 1883.

A permanent reminder of the "Readjuster" Party was formulated in 1880 with the creation of Dickenson County from Russell, Wise and Buchanan Counties. It was named for one of the leaders of the "Readjuster" Party, William J. Dickenson. This county has the distinction of being the youngest county in Virginia.

In 1892, the state debt problem was settled more satisfactorily when the balance of the debt was established at a figure lower than the original but higher than the "Readjuster" figure and the rate of interest was lowered. The creditors and the debtors cooperated in this situation, and the credit of Virginia was gradually re-established.

During the Reconstruction Period, a great majority of the Republican Party members in the South were Negroes. Lincoln, himself, had been a Republican. Since it was during his administration that the war started and that the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued, the word "Republican" in the South had for many individuals the connotation of a moral and social stigma. So permanent were the scars of events of the Republican Reconstruction era that until 1920, the former seceded states never cast an electoral vote for a Republican candidate in a national election. Thus, a vote solidly or unanimously for the Democratic Party resulted and the term "Solid South" came into existence.

In the Spanish-American War of 1898, many Virginians fought valiantly for their country. The outstanding contributions of such Virginians as Dr. Walter Reed (birthplace, Gloucester County) and his colleague, Dr. Robert Powel Page Cooke, in discovering that yellow fever was transmitted to human beings by the bite of mosquitoes, Major-General Fitzhugh Lee (nephew of General Robert E. Lee) who served as United States Consul-General to Cuba in 1896 and who was given the command of the Seventh Army Corps in the Spanish-American War and Robley Dunglison Evans (Floyd) who was Commander of the U.S.S. Iowa at the Battle of Santiago Harbor helped considerably in the efforts of the United States to win this war.

By 1900, although Virginia's population (both white and Negro) had increased at a rapid rate, Virginia ranked seventeenth in population in comparison to the other forty-four states in the Union. Virginia had approximately 1,854,000 people including approximately 661,000 Negroes. However, one-third of the area of the state--which had become West Virginia--was permanently separated. In addition, Kentucky had been carved from within the original boundaries of Virginia with the consent of the state government.

_Twentieth Century Developments_

On June 12, 1901, a state constitutional convention was held in Richmond at the request of Carter Glass, an outstanding Virginia statesman from Lynchburg. The major issue of this convention was the discovery of a method of reducing the large number of illiterate Negro votes which in the 1900 election had outnumbered the white votes in one-third of the counties of the state. Since there was a large number of illiterate whites in the western mountain regions of Virginia, careful consideration had to be given to any proposed restrictions on suffrage so that these inhabitants whose ancestors had fought bravely in the Revolutionary War and in the War between the States would not be severely penalized. Consequently, the Constitution of 1902 included the requirement that a poll tax of one dollar and fifty cents had to be paid as a qualification for voting. Furthermore, a constitutional requirement demanded payment of three years' poll taxes six months before general elections. Since the Negroes were financially very poor at this time, this requirement indirectly caused a great decrease in the total number of Negro votes cast.

This constitution also included an "understanding clause" provision which required voters to prove in written statements their understanding of the government of Virginia. This provision was to be replaced in 1904 by the requirement of each potential voter passing an intelligence test proving that he could properly interpret the constitution. Such provisions prevented many uneducated Negroes from participating in elections.

A State Corporation Commission was created for the first time in the Commonwealth to control corporations such as the public transportation companies and the telephone and telegraph companies. Other governmental changes provided for in this constitution were: the direct election of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the State Treasurer, the Commissioner of Agriculture and Immigration and the Superintendent of Public Instruction by the qualified voters; the replacement of County Courts by Circuit Courts; the constitutional requirement for the political status of a city: an incorporated community with a minimum population of 5,000 inhabitants is eligible to become an independent city, and, as the name implies, such cities are not subject to county administration; the establishment of racial segregation in the public schools of Virginia; a considerable extension of the powers of the State Board of Education, and a change in the age range used to determine school population as a basis for distributing the common school fund from 5-21 years to 7-20 years.

On May 29, 1902, the Constitution of 1902 was "proclaimed" by the convention members, whose delegates voted for its adoption. Although this Constitution was never ratified by the voters themselves, it was later approved by the state legislature. With certain revisions which were added later, this Constitution of 1902 is the present Constitution of the Commonwealth.

In spite of the political influence which had been prevalent in the public school system of Virginia in the 1880's, by the early 1900's numerous educational improvements had resulted: the local general public began to favor a public school system; professional teacher training methods were developed; a Virginia State Education Association was formed; simultaneous examinations for teacher certification throughout the state were standardized; state summer normal schools were organized; teacher scholarships were created, and education conferences were held.

The oft-called "renaissance" in Virginia education occurred in 1905. A New York educator had encouraged various educational conferences to be held in the South in an attempt to improve education in the South which had lagged far behind the rest of the nation. The Virginia Cooperative Education Commission and the leaders of the May Campaign of 1905 (so-called because the intensive campaigning took place in the month of May) demanded improved schools, better school regulations, an increase in the number of secondary schools and institutions of higher learning and a revised curriculum. The State Superintendent of Public Instruction at this time was Dr. Joseph Dupuy Eggleston whose leadership contributed greatly to the success of a movement to modernize and improve the educational standards of the State of Virginia. Vocational training (examples, agricultural, educational, manual training and domestic economy classes) which had long been discussed by certain educators became a reality, specific legislative appropriations for public high schools were made, public school libraries were established, health checkups for abnormalities were instituted in the school program and the number of teacher-training schools was increased.

Such educational progress was observed that, after five years of the new education planning and of the execution of such plans, a spokesman for the Carnegie Foundation remarked that "Probably no educational development in any State of the Union is more remarkable than that which is represented in the Old Commonwealth of Virginia." Practical education as well as theoretical education was offered with opportunities also available to study improved farming methods.

In 1906, Virginia filed suit against West Virginia in the United States Supreme Court concerning a judicial determination of the amount of money which Virginia should rightfully receive from West Virginia as partial assumption of the state debt accumulated while West Virginia was still a part of Virginia. Eight additional separate actions were filed against West Virginia by Virginia which finally resulted in an investigation of the financial status of each area, the debts incurred and the suggestion of a conference between the two states. West Virginia originally evaded such a conference but, later, appointed a commission to represent the state. More deliberation and delay occurred until 1915 when the indebtedness of the State of West Virginia to the State of Virginia was declared by the United States Supreme Court as $12,393,292.50. Finally, after continuous postponement and more court judgments, in 1919 a special session of the West Virginia state legislature passed a law which provided for the payment of the sum due Virginia. Over a million dollars was paid during 1919, and, by issuing twenty-year bonds, the balance of the debt with interest was paid by 1939.

In 1908, the first municipality in the United States to adopt the City Manager form of government was Staunton. After this form of government had been successfully employed, many additional cities in Virginia and in the other states proceeded to adopt the City Manager Plan of local government.

On March 4, 1913, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, a native of Staunton, was inaugurated as the twenty-eighth President of the United States. He was the eighth Virginia-born individual to attain this high office, although he had left the state for a college teaching position and later a gubernatorial post. From his experiences as a professor of history and as the governor of New Jersey, he had formulated a personal brand of political philosophy which he entitled "The New Freedom." He believed that government leaders should act through the people as well as for the people. During his first administration, he signed the famous Federal Reserve Bank Act, authored by U. S. Senator Robert Owen, a native Virginian, and Carter Glass, a U. S. Representative at that time from Lynchburg. Although he was re-elected President in 1916 as a peace candidate, Wilson soon had to wage an intensive war against Germany as conditions warranted such action. He stated his idealism in his famous words "to make the World safe for Democracy" and "a War to end all Wars." His famous "Fourteen Points" Speech before Congress concerning the war aims of the Allied Powers was constantly referred to during the Armistice negotiations and is still quoted in international conferences. His personal visit to the peace conference at Versailles Palace near Paris, France--the first personal visit of a President of the United States to such a conference--was history-making in itself. He will always be remembered for his idea of "A League of Nations," the forerunner of the United Nations, a project for international peace which is believed to have caused or, at least, to have hastened his death due to his strenuous speaking tour on behalf of the League.

In 1914, the General Assembly voted for a state-wide law providing for the prohibition of liquor. This law went into effect on November 1, 1916. At the federal level, the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States which prohibited the "manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors" throughout the United States and its territories was submitted to the states by Congress on December 18, 1917. Virginia was the second state to ratify it.

During World War I, the state contributed 91,623 men to the armed forces, many of whom participated in the Somme, St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Forest campaigns. Most of the Virginia troops fought with the 80th Infantry Division of the American Expeditionary Forces. This division was called the Blue Ridge Division because the Blue Ridge Mountains are located in the home states of the men from Virginia, West Virginia and Pennsylvania who made up this division. Noted for their bravery, this division was the only division to enter the front lines three times during the offensive and the only one to advance a maximum distance of twenty-two miles against the enemy between the first offensive and the Armistice. Many members of the 29th Infantry Division were Virginians who served in France, particularly during the Meuse-Argonne Forest campaigns. Thirty-six Virginians received the Distinguished Service Medal of the United States Army, the French Legion of Honor or the Croix de Guerre.

On the home-front, World War I caused a tremendous increase in business and, in some instances, prompted the construction of war camps in various parts of the state. Camp Lee, near Petersburg, was used as an infantry training base for 50,000 soldiers; Camp Stuart at Newport News was used chiefly as an embarkation point and Camp Humphreys, near Alexandria, was used as a training center for engineers. Langley Field, near Hampton, was used as training grounds for pilots; the Hampton Roads area was utilized for construction of numerous United States ships and as naval and military bases.

The present city of Hopewell actually owes its city status and growth to World War I and the construction of a huge munitions plant on Hopewell Farm by the E. I. DuPont de Nemours Company. As a matter of fact, the manufacture of fertilizer from nitrogen in the air still accounts for the great industrial activity at Hopewell at the present time. During World War I also, the famous Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond manufactured projectiles, explosives, shrapnel shells and other war materials of necessity.

Among prominent Virginians who played a major role during World War I was Admiral David Watson Taylor. Admiral Taylor was chief of the Naval Bureau of Construction and Repair (1914-1922) at Washington. He had responsibility for the design and construction of naval aircraft and he developed a type of flying boat during World War I. His contributions were later acknowledged by the establishment of the David Taylor Model Basin, a naval activity at Carteret, Maryland, near the Virginia border.

Health, too, was a critical problem on the home front during the war. For example, a dreadful influenza epidemic occurred followed by a severe fuel shortage due to a railroad strike. This condition caused many "flu" patients to develop pneumonia and to die. In Richmond alone, approximately eight hundred people succumbed during this epidemic period.

As a reminder of the sacrifices of Virginians during World War I, at William Byrd Park in Richmond, is a 240-foot tower constructed of pink brick. It is called the Carillon Tower and was erected in 1932 as a memorial to the war dead.