Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1860-04-10

Gent for the payment oil interest upon t'ic ueo'
which you have created.
The Auditor estimates that there VIII he IN
the Treasury at the end Of the neSt llsca! year,
ending October lSt, 1851, 49,. So9t,lo- @
IrweIeduct from this amount sums aPPFo'
priated BY the General Assembly at THIS session;
10 contingent fund ..........- ........;'' -o, nv n,
10 defrayIug expenses OF Harpers Ferry faiu.' -'V'V'' w
TO defraylus expenses OF Armory in The con- Nh NJ,
struction " lU,VuJ stand Of arms Annually. .o"'o'' w
To pay the interest on the $500, 100 bonds to eeis.
sueu N ~ eco'1a". WIN - ...... $1,000 %
To pay Interest on guaranteed bonds Of city Of M N,
Aad 70 uns Q paym y abS vi s~"' 5000 90
>,,,,,,i all &C., O0 "
AID dr,Iuct n from 49,. s9i,l52 81
The amour, left in the Treasury at the end OF
the ascal year endi=g September SUM- leoi' i, ,ra 81
II We deduct from this amount actual and pro-
bablc charges upon the Treasury during US
ca! year which will end September 5Uth, 1871, u,
~ ss.sIon next winter l2j ,UuO W
~ xu.r NJ n,uitIs 25,ugU w
10 en'er m , NIss;s.inui nesrly .n~........... 1000 90
Besides appropriations directly from the trsa.
sury. YOU ha ve Increased the State debt about
a. U11, VvO. II We add, then, the interest and
sinking fund on this debt OF SG,Q00,OUO, winch
will be ,unded within the two years ending sep
tembel SUth, 1851, which, being funded al
Irregular periods, we VIII estimate that the In
terest 10 be paid thereon during the said two
ssia ~ "f fuud' say. 40, 900 %
tnyrs wta 0e W '"e . 81, SAG Is
.G Sie II W. o add to this amount intere.: and sink
ipr fund, which will have 10 be Pail, pro.
yided ~two.Rfths subscription be made b$
individuals TO authorized subscriptions Of
$3.50 81 81 70 works Of Internal improve nm
u,uts' at previous sessions OF the Legislature tot,o'o w
There will be on the lst OF October, ls6l, de- :,
Gcicncy of.......... "'I"
At an early stage OF tue session "heh al
dressed YOU upon the bill making an appro-
~priation to the Covington andOhio railroad, ana
when none scarcely Of these appropriations had
been made, I gave you very nearly the same es-
innate which | now present to you, but my
words fell UNDECIDED upon your car. Inc lde;'
was ridiculed that | should estimate $780, 0o
for the extension Of this and an extra session
Of the Legislature; and now, Sir, while am
speaking the last sands Of the one are falling,
and | was informed the other day BY one Of
the pages Of the House who had the list that
there was wanting only three signatures to call
the, other.
You disregarded my figures and the csti-
Inmates of the Auditor Of Public Accounts, and
lent your faith to the prophecies of the gentle
man from Monroe, concerning revenue to DE
derived from certain railroads and other quar-
tiers.
You were not content TO con6ne your aTgro-
p~riations to an amount that YOU were Justified
in making by the. permanent anu CERTAIN reve-
nues Of tho Government, bu. you based
your action upon resources you thought you
could derive from q temporary source, but iii
which you have thus fur failed, forgetting that
the debt YOU were creating must last !o- thirty
four years, and that it is q ruinous policy to
i,nposc upon Yourself a debt which you have
not yearly the means Of paying the interest on.
But let US again, before it is forcve" too late,
look at the gentleman'S figures, and see ii time
will verify one Of his productions
After going into an eXtraragant estimate 'oi
the revenues to be derived from the Virginia
Central Railroad, the gentleman made use OF
the following language, which quote from his
spcech, delivered in the House Of Delegates,
January Goth, 1860:
ut will thus he SEEM" said Mr.. Chapman,
s'that whilst the receipts Of this road are an
nuaily increasing, should you estimate that
there would be reduction from the nett receipts
of last year of 500. 500 90, and that the debt oil
the company should be increased by half n
million, q dividend declared Upon a sum
S275, OUO larger than the present capital, (and
which capital will not be increased that then
they would pay the interest upon their debts, a
dividend of 5 per cent. per annum, set aside
u sinking fund Of S45, 900, and have a surplus
Of $50, 0OQ, can there be . doubt then OF their
ability to pay a 5 per centum dividend: Ihcy
can pay and should pay Il 6 per centum divi-
dend." When, 10 and behold, not more than
one month elapscs after this prophecy is de-
clarcd,. before the Richmond, Fredericksburg
and Potomac Railroad obtain a decree in the
Court of Appeals against this company Tor an
account in which a large sum OF money is IN
volycd, and may be recovered, which will nc
c~essarily embarrass the company to some eX-
tent, anu knock the gentleman's figures into pL.
The gentleman said there was another rail-
road of which he felt proud. lie alluded TO
the Richmond and ,Danville railroad, and said
that he had been informed by tine President Of
said Company that they would hereafter make
q dividend of not less than 6 per centum per
annum, unless the revenues of the Company
should be diverted to some object not now con-
tcmplatcd. And, as in the first instance, his
prophecies will not "come to pass" For 10!
and behold in less than one month ne votes
for and aids in carrying through the Legislature
q proposi,ion to allow the Danville road to con-
struct n branch road to some point along the
North Carolina line, and to connect with the
coal field road, out Of these very revenues
which he told us were to come into the treasury.
Thus it will be seen that the gentleman es'
Inmates the revenues to be derived from these
roads as sufficient to justify us in an increase
of the Indebtedness Of the State to-day, while
on tomorrow he so legislates as to destroy the
fund out Of which this revenue was to be de-
rived. At the beginning Of the session, the
revenues to he derived from these roads were
to come into the treasury; but now, We have
so legiSlated that it will be discovered that these
dividends will either go TO construct directly
branch road or an extension, or to pay the In
terest on money which We have loaned them
for this purpose.
The effect Of the adoption of this resolution
will be to reduce the appropriation to the Gov
ington and Ohio road, to the sum Of 81 ,2o0, QUO,
not moro than $685. 900 Of which can be ap'
propriatcd in any one year. There will be,
then, left to this road a larger appropriation by
S171,429 than, on an average, it has received
from the Legislature. The average annual ap'
preparation to this road has been SS2S,51l.
The Virginia Central will receive $500, 600
Alexandria, Loudoun and Hampshire, 5000
Richmond and Danvillc Extension, l15,OoG
Manassas Gap, lIo,ouV
Norfolk and Petersburg, 10000
Rivanna Improvement 10000
Which will reduce the appropriations this Scs.
sion So, $50, 600, and bring down the public
debt to about what we can stand under. |
have thought proper, Mr.. Speaker, to call the
attention Of the House to this subject, that it
may see clearly the situation in which we are
placed, and that gentlemen may correct the
error into which they have fallen before it is
too late.
And here I will remark, in this connection,
that this same committee, from which this re.
solution is reported, have also reported a bill
which now lies upon your table, to prevent a
sacrifice of the bonds Of the State, by the sale
of which these appropriations must be raised,
and to protect the credit of the Commonwealth.