Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1843-12-14
are incapable of any union with improbi-

1t was the policy of the Legislature,
in framing its revenue law, to raise a
sum which should be sufficient to extin-
guish within the present year the tempo
rary debt, as is called, which is due from
the Commonwealth to the banks, and
thus to remove, at once, this extra bur
then from the ordinary charges against
the Treasury. The failure of the law to
! produce the whole amount, which was
requisite for this purpose. has defeated
this policy for the present. Should it,
i however, be considered wise one, and
worthy to be prosecuted, as cannot but
think it is, not only will it be necessary
for you to continue the present range of
taxation, but it may be necessary to a
dept some precautionary measure to pre-
/ vent future disappointment. Such mea-
sures may especially be required in the
case of the new subjects of taxation
which have yielded SO little. because,
unquestionably ,of temporary and extrin-
sic causes, and which for the most part
ought to be made, strong and healthy
contributors to the public burthens from
which they have been so long and SO ge-
nerousl y exempted.
The temporary debt which is here
spoken of, consists of loans which have
been made from time to time by the
} banks to the Commonwealth, beginning
the present day. These loans have been
regularly passed through the form of re-
: payment every year from December,
1910, when they amounted to two hum
) dred thousand dollars, to Decem. 1912,
when they had risen up to three hundred
) and fifty thousand, the Treasurer for
; this purpose, and in obedience to law,
taking in the December of each success
sive year as much of the newly paid re-
venue, then on hand, as would pay UP to
the banks their loans to the State, and
immediately thereafter commencing these
: loans a!resh, and continuing them just
as before. So again in the present
month, the three hundred and fifty thou
sand now on loan to the State and due
to the banks, will be paid up as usual,
: and such balance of that sum as the ad.
ditional revenue of the present year will
not be sufficient to extinguish will be
borrowed again, unless it shall be tho't
best by the Legislature to provide for it
I otherwise.
1t was for the express purpose OF ar
resting this continual resorts to the bank
to replensh the treasury with daily sums
and to give it The independent command
OF whatever means were required for the
public service, THAT the present revenue
law. as already stated, was intended, and
this purpose would have been carried
into successful effect, had the revenue
yielded according to expectations, and
i the state been relieved from the pay
ment Of a years interest on her guaran-
J; teed bonds.-Should the James River
and Kanawha Company, for whose bene-
tit this years interest was paid, be re-
J quired and be able without mi jury to re-
fund it, should the dividends Of the
! State Stock in the Bank of Virginia be
raised from their present to their ordina-
ry amount, and the new rates and sub
! iects of taxation yield an increase Of on.
ly one half more than the sum already
received from them, the whole amount
thus arising. if appropriated to the pay
ment of the temporary debt, would leave
scarcely vestige of it behind at the end
of the present year. But the revenue
alone. lfleft unimpaired by any act of
the Legislature, will in all probability be
quite sufficient of it itself 10 extfnguish
this debt entirely within the present and
the succeeding year. In the meanwhile
however, it will be necessary to antci-
pate the funds which may be relied upon
in this matter, by authorizing the Exec
utive, an heretofore, either to borrow
from the banks, or to raise upon the
credit of the State III some other form,
such sum. not exceeding two hundred Or
two hundred and twenty thousand dol
lars, as existing DEFICIENCIES may from
time to time require.
After saying thus much upon par,icu-
lar objects and applications of the reve-
nue., it will be almost superAuous to say,
SO. For the payment of the interest, and
the final redemption of the principal of any
sum to be borrowed in conformity to- this act
the stock of any joint stock company sub
scribed for or purchased by the money so
borrowed, together with the dividends and
other nett income which may accrue there's
from to the Commonwealth, or TO The Fund
for internal improvement, shall be, and the
same are hereby appropriated and pledged !;
and in like manner the nett income and other
profits Which may SO accrue from works in
which the State is interested, other than
those of joint stock companies, and on which
the money borrowed is to be expended, shall
be, and the same are likewise hereby appro,
priated and pledged for the payment of tie
interest and redemption of the principal of
the money SO bororowed: and if the stock a.
foresaid, and the said dividends, nett profits
and other income, shall Be inadequate to the
payment of the said semiannua interest, and
the final redemption OF. the principal, of the
respective loans, the General Assembly pied
ges itself to provide other and sufficient
funds, andSfor THAT purpose to levy, if neces-
sary. an adequate tax upon any or all sub
.iects liable to taxation Under the constitu-
ston."