The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1857-12-08

Tie thing ii buys may be said 70 M ~ value
expefienee u centuries hss proved that the use o.
naosry has An average value ntssfverytninR eise,
Il ike iasarance or an, thing else;t h.s Its law
that l. be, ond ssnia.ien: Bnt Il does atfempt g
a certain and fix normal relation Of things. The
exercise af this power IL not founded so much
upon the reason OF protecting the weak against toe
Ma currency and 10 AZ Standard v puyiao rsee-
me toet as other debts. rate o Interest Affects
the standard 81 value, and the fixing of ths one il to
On at ex ent the regulation OF the other We have
made gold and silver cur ony standard OF value,
and its ASSAY and coinage and stamp are not by AM
means arbitrary and Fictitious IL has us lays OF
alloy anu OF weight And after being made int COIN
ts loan It's has its law OF interest That nte
rest Ia limited by time and experience They have
shown that il there be noiimit. speculation will sup
plant regu ar business, and that the maximum rate
which regular business can bear is the average OF
about per ceut That to vary with commercial
actuat,on. is TO initiate and xpand the more whtn
infati n and expan ion the evils of the times,
aua Is TO eoutrast and crush the more at the very
time when pressure is already bearing too heavy
such aiicense to capital night suit wnere the rich
ri aud the poor are poor tndeed, where the few
have all the money and the many have nothing:
but II cannot I've borne by people. 0nr many
will not submit to any such legalized dominion
money, which does not stand Oh the same footing
with any other speci $ OF property. Money Is the
VERY subject of sovereignty because it is its creature.
1t exchanges for ever, thug else 1t il that iver
sally and Unfortunately dc demanded; that which must
be had as the only tender in payment of debts and
IL IL that which maintains government iteef IL IL
common TO all other subjects OF value ia every
way thar they are not common 10 each other or 10
it. IL may and ought 20 be, then the subject Of e-
gal reguis where other property may not be anu
ought not to be regulated by law. And allow par
tier to bar gain for their rates is repeal the
usury laws, aud at the same time to throw an OBJ
s,ructon in the way If business. trust therefore
hat one good effect of this money crisis will be to
prevent The raising Of rate Of interest aud TO pre-
rent the repeal f our usnry tdps 1 have refrained
TO urge the moral consderations against then re-
the error of this mistake. But the moral reasons
against repeal are lncalcuable. One of the most i'm
moral effects of the abolition of usury laws would be
t. depress all the nys stments in state securities al
ready made at and per cent. Unlimited usury
would raise the rate of interest so hi III that
would think of investing in bonds drawing only
and per cent interest. The investments already
made would sink low in the market that the faith
of the state would be broken, as by dishoporable
reputation itself And no new bonds could be sold
except at rate high that people could bear the
taxation NJ cesssry to complete public works or Il
gu, port public credit. And this brings me to cal
your attention to the
STATE Bonds
The state Of the times has, OF ceurse had decided
ene,t upen the price OF cur stat bonds in the mar
ket. Many Causes have conspired TO depress them
let. The circulating medium in bank notes ha,
been increased and speculation has thereby beer
so stimulated. that nothing but fancy stocks' bt
came fashi, Dsbe in the market. Virginia bond
intrinsic, and hnctuated but little, and there
by the trade in other stocks, they deprecated at
steady rate to a given pint and there stood, with
little variation, until tn" present crisis came an
their Intrinsic worth, by other causes They were
like every thug else. Affected.
End. By the demand TOR bullion and coin by Eng
land, France and all Europe.
3rd BY the speculations in the northwestern pub
lie lands and the consequent banking imitation there
wnlch issued almo-t solely on Stare stock, among
which, unhappy, are found a large amount uf FIT
gina skies, will be seen By referen - the report
of the secretary of the treasury the condition
the banks of the United States. These Northwestern
corpoi atoms mad, at first, demand for our BOMB
and raised them in the market. STAGE, they hsv.
tt.QnE 20 nc bonn tr fhn ma IT. .,
sacnfce, IN order to meet their imme iiate liabilities
TOR paper currency, based upon the paper of statt
bonds.
4th BY allowing our own joint stock companies t.
sell their securities and evidences of debt below ar
5th BY allowing our own Joint stock conpaniet Il
borrow money att and per cent inter 81 whilst
the state uds can be sold only at par and at
imum rate OF per cent. And
9th. Above ALL toy the taxing Of state bonds fol
state revenue ana b. permitting municpal corpo
r.tioEs 10 tax public credit also.
Assuredly it is false my for any people to tax
Their own bonds. It'll notunly M relief from taxa
ton, hut materially adds to lis burjen. They take
IRON one hand 10 put into an Their with all the cost
OF commissions on receipt sand disbursements. No
thibg can tens more to diminish taxation than IL
fecp state bonds at par. Tust alone will prevent
sacrifice of credit or Of means to raise money AID
nothing can tend more to depreciate state bond.
than TO abstract by taxes from the amount of THEN
interest And. yet the stat imp, a LAX of So, pei
cent the interest of its own stock And the city
Of kiChm nd imposes tax of ono per cent. on tbs
.tste stockthe two together making 81 40 cents on
every SIX rsduc ng the amount received by intividu
c8empts its own stock from taxation This consc
Gucnce is, capitalists invest IN city stocks in prefer
eICe to State securities Other c0rpoi aticns are,
believe fol owing the exam l of IN md; ami ~,
less the! arr all pryhbteu. from taxing stat .stocas
they can never rise 90 par 'ur bonds have stood al
most very thing. and have held ip uuaccountably
in the manet market. They are guaranteed BY :
a;,knE faEd OF one per cent over their rate of in
- -, Ich is honestly and rapidly applied: anl
/ states punctualitv Of paying interest withor
allure has given her bonds stahI+ ard in-1ia.5
! value ct cTF".t f;ut ataV - y - ATHEIST il
| FiF INN +g...F
pre-. own in1t - . ciiiti ion ,3t III,
pr!te thI1usbout ia" .'ats; aud whatever is til,
| where abroad. Under this onus of taxes our g.
were really at par ar less than II in the dollar
Yet until the panic of this crisis the ranged ad
lily at about % or near 20 per cent above real par
and in spite of the crisis, have rebounded to 90 /
any thing should be exempt from taxation it is Ger
tainly state credit: and il the bonds would sell
| 70. with rate of 81 co. what would they no; hay
brouE ut ID the market at rate of per centum ]
it be said that capitals who invest in state bond
| should be no more exempt than others who other
wise invest, the reply is obvious that this exemption
| is the best and most economical premium which /
TO spprec ate her credit. But whether this be tru
OF the state or not the corporations should assur l
| be restrained from taxing state credit. But tn
| bends were aft cited:
It'll By tue last legislatures omission to provide
| r the withdrawal, or layment, or redemption
of large amount of bonds which had Des
hypothecoted in ! ew York Tor advances, amount
ing to sum less by s5OO,fOO than the pa
van to "a hf bov b.
cation was made. 1t seems at first that fl06600 Q
| seriIng bord- were placed iH an agents hands b
he Beard OF pubic works 10 BE- RENTED to Europ
| and sold. On these he made an advance of $500 OK
| and pledged the bonds for that amount. He the
tn,ered INTO contract with another person in b.
| IN FEDERAL currency. They were TO be taken by in
saments from time to time called for by the cor
tract and to be paid for before delivery. To facl
tate tht lr delivery when Sold they were depusite
by the board or their agent in the Bank of the Re
public, of which the agent was president to be req
| bU i'm yrbe xcIJ d,
| selling and delivering them, and paw ing over thei
proceeds 10 the credit OF the Board of public work
If seems that he advanced S20 co. in addition to tn
100000 before advanced. and took the state fedora
currency bonds from their deposit in the Banl
% 'I1 S hepnon "ffe my o were awaltng sale
| them also fer the advances-amounting in all t
100000. Thus were bonds issued for the amount
$4,000, pledged for $670000 advan ed and the stat
] has no means of Identifying the bonds except tn
sterling ones, and interest far as preserved ha
been paid on the whole amount of the bonds for $50
600 advanced until this day; and a considerabl
| amount Of the bonds has been forced into the mai
| ket, and, fear, sacrificed.
| After the commissioners of the Sinking fund ha
prepared their presentreport, and after it was prn
ed, sum of upwards of $4,000 certified to ther
by the Board Of public works, TO be due for nteres
| They stated that the Bank of the Republic had az
| vanced that amount as unpaid by the commission
| ers of the sinking fund. The commissioners of tn
sinking fund had pr vided for the interest on all til
public debt which had been recognized and of hic
they were officially Informed. On enquiry they foup
| that this amount Of interest in arrears proceed
| probably from The bonds which had never been i
| sued bnt had been hypothetical as described an
which had never been included by the commissi I
| ers of the Sinking fund in their account of publ
debt And the Board of public works had never r.
ported this putlic debt until lately, hen they il
| formed the commissioners that the bonds hypoth
Gated in the hands of these parties. and must
recognized part of the publc debt, though the
have not heretofore recognized them SUCH and d,
| clare that they never authorized their hypothecl
| ton. The difficulty is that the commissioners MOI
cannot distinguish the coupons Of these bonds froi
| others.
had no direct authority or means of interpositio
it was the business # the Board OF public works
| but when appraied to by the agent / entered int
| the accompanying correSp ndence with the Boar
OF public works and their agent, which will OK lai
| ITSELF
The board had authority but not the means
save the state credit and interest, and they viii e,
| plain their action. This debt and its utter neges
has been an in ubus upol our credit all the rim
since the adjournment of the lrgis allure. | mad