The pilot and transcript. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1840-1841, 1840-12-09
rINANCEs oE vIRGrNrA.

! ors' message
the details of our fiscal system have become
! very complex, not on account of the numerou:
subjects of taxation, for these are fewer than il
most other Governments, nsr on account Of the
rates of reveRue assessed for state purposes, fol
these are lower, il is believed, than any State
whose Jurisdiction and civil list approximate "a
our own, but IN consequence of the multiplied
agencies assigned to the various corporations
which form parts OF IT.
The two great funds of education and inn
nrovement, each Of which consist chiefly OF
Stocks of the State and of other corporations,
the amount of Stock owned by the Common
wealth proper in the Banks, State Stock held
bv the Banks, and the relations of debtor and
creditor, which exist between each of them and
fine State, however convenient they may be in
practice, render the accounts Of our finances
very intricate. The aggregate public debt of the
State is about Ss,720,94S.
The commonwealth holds stocks
and funds in banks and other
companies to the amount of 2,54S,939 So
The Literary fund 70 he amount of 4, l6S 116 80
The fund for internal improve
ment TO the amount of 7,9S7,5SS 50
The sinking fund to the amount of 1,547 10
Making an aggregate of SI2,066,1S7 so
held bv the commonwealth and corporations
which it has created, and over which it has en-
tire control. From the amount of these stocks,
viz s., 1851, 5S3 50, held by the fund for internal
improvement, and the amount of these, viz:
S2,7I4,27S Al, which now productive, 1t
will be seen that large portion of the stock
held by the state and the state institutions, are
not now available as a means of revenue, OF
the aggregate of Sl2,066, 1S7 30, the sum of
Sc, SS7, $50 "a, is either now productive, or may
soon become so, and of that portion of the pub
lie funds which is now totally unproductive,
there Is a large amount held in works of inter
nal improvement and not yet complete, much of
which, it is hoped, will ere long become pro-
ductive. The aggregate of debt, viz; S. 720,-
94S, and the aggregate of funds, viz; Sl2,066,-
1877 30, both include the sum of 81 PAT ,S62 81,
of state certificates held by institutions under
the centrol Of the state, or in fact by the state
itself. Dtductng this amount, the debt of the
state will be reduced to the sum of S5,473 Sc,
In estimating thcpublic debt, it Is proper to re.
gard the amount of subscriptions authorized
but not yet applied for, OR account of some cor
templated improvements, viz: s2,7S7,520.
II will be several years before any consider
able portion of our debt is redeemable, and many
years before it is entirely so. There is, there
lore, ample time, and in my estimation, abund-
ant reason, for the establishment Of an adequate
sinking fund, which will render the redemption
time, the stocks owned by the state and not now
productive, shall become so, their proceeds can
be applied to augment this fund, or to such other
purposes as the interests of the commonwealth
may require.
The actual deficit in the revenue Of the last
fiscal year, exceeded the estimate of the last
general assembly, and made It necessary for the
executive, under the act of Mach Is, 1910, to
authorize the treasurer to borrow from time to
time from the Bank of Virginia, the Farmers,
and the Exchange Bank, the sum of Sl75, 200,
prior to the LIST of October, and S25 600 since
that period. If THE policy of loans generally
is questionable, there can be no doubt that it
is impolite to borrow to meet the ordinary ex-
penses of government The necessity for irnpo-
sing the tax is only postponed, and its burden is
finally increased by the accumulation Of interest.
This policy of loans ia time of peace, commence
ed so long since, and has been so gradually con-
nected with the operations of our treasury, that
! it is difficult even now to put an end to it al
once unless an advantageous disposition can b.
! made of some of the Stocks held by the Stale
! As very little of the reveRue which you may as
| sess will be received into the treasury before
the list Of October next, and large portion Of
the revenue now in the treasury, viii be required
to pay the banks ON the 18th of the present
month, it will be necessary to provide some tenn
porary means Of supplying the deficiency. The
value of all stocks is of peculiar and delicate
nature, that the peremptory sale Of any large
amount, must always affect the price and cause
a sacrifice a discretionary authority to sell,
with some alternative provision, in case a sale
cannot be effected on advantageous terms is pro-
badly the only means by which our stocks ca be
used to answer the immediate demands of the
treasury.
The banks, which promptly aided the com.
monwealth dming the past year, were required
by an act Of the last session, to furnish means Of
paying the interest on the public deb. in specie,
/ or its equivalent, when demanded BY the public
| creditors So far as this demand was made, they
were subjected to loss of the difference between
specie and current notes, and it wa incurred for
| the accommodation of the State, submit ,8heth-
er it Is not proper to relieve them from it.