The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-03-12 00:00:00

AMERICAN STATES' DEBTS.

The remarks of the Rev. Sidney Smith on the conduct
of the United States towards the holders of State Bonds,
and other signs of the States' indebtedness, have produced,
it would seem, a salutary effect upon the minds of the
American people, who are about to make an effort to wipe
away the disgrace that now attaches to the union, in
.con-
sequence of repudiation. It appears, from accounts re-
ceived from New York, that the legislature of Pennsyl-
vania has at last made a move in relation, to their State
Debt. The house has taken up the subject in earnest,
and passed a bill providing for the February interest.
This bill contemplates to pay cash for the interest when
the amount does not exceed twenty dollars, and the issue
of Six per Cent. Certificates, for all larger sums, payable
in August, 1846. The bill requires the applicant to make
affidavit setting forth that the stock is the bona fide pro-
perty of the person in whose name it stands, and that he
is not the owner of other certificates, and has not divided
his stock for the purpose of receiving such payment. The
several States have lately made moves regarding their
debts that must be very gratifying to those particularly
interested. New York has taken an important step in
this matter. A resolution passed the House of Assembly,
by a vote of 64 to 46, to stop all appropriation of public
works, or any other system of internal improvement, until
the debt of the state was liquidated or reduced. The legisla-
ture of Alama has passed, and the governor approved, a
bill increasing taxation, by placing a tax on property here-
tofore free. Goods sold by auction, all kinds of commis-
sion businesses, insurances, all lands, foreign and domestic
merchandize, money whether employed in usury or other
ways, also all cotton warehouses, which are charged with
a fractional rate of half a cent on each bale stored, are
made to contribute a quota of this taxation. This bill
creating taxes, added to the act of February last year,
will create an annual revenue of 350,000 dollars. The
legislature of Ohio have in contemplation a bill creating
additional revenue from direct taxation. The committee
of ways and means in the assembly of Michigan have re-
ported a bill recommending the sale of the public works
for State Bonds. The indebtedness of the State on the
Ist of July, 1845, on account of the five million loan,
would be 3,131,903 dollars. The value of the Central
and Southern Railroad is estimated to be 2,776,297 dollars,
which would leave a balance of 355,607 dollars to be pro-
vided for by the State in some other way. The income
from these internal improvements may, in time, be more
than sufficient to pay the annual interest on the whole
debt, but the committee, considering that result proble-
matical, advise a bona fide sale of the interest of the State
in the works. The legislature of Tennessee have also
made a movement which may be considered highly fa-
vourable to the improvement of its state securities. With
regard to Louisiana nothing very decisive can be reckoned
on ; but the legislature of Indiana has adjourned without
doing anything towards the liquidation of the State debt.
They plead poverty, and there is truth in the plea.
Maryland has made no decisive move yet.

THE VETERINARY PROFESSION.—Her Majesty has
granted to the Professors of the Veterinary Art, a char-
ter of incorporation, by which they are recognised as a
profession as well as a body politic. This is an important
step gained, and opens bright prospects for veterinary
9f•iene,., pkilfttl preetic.e in 1-,-hich is raore deanan-.2ed in
England than in ony other country.