Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1867-01-08
LAws-RE-
PUDIATION.


The fear Of doing wrong is sometimes one OF
the most potent sources Of evil, by inducing
Il temporising or an inaction more pernicious
than positive mistakes.
70 us it is palpablc that the legislation on
the subject of the collection Of debts, in the
state in which it has been left, is working
..y,, and Euin - debtors and creditors alike:
while the result to which it tends is lrpudia /
ton We know there have been YER; hand
some resolutions passed against rcpudlation
public or private but we know also that the
sentiment among the people is growing
stronger every day for indefinite delays Of
n,ymcnt and we know also that no one
has proposed such scheme Of taxation as is
requisite for paving our.annual public indeht-
eLncss. Reputation, if it come, will never
come 10y resolutions. 1t will come Il wolf i'll
sleeps clothing. 1t vii! come in the form OF
nou.u.fion. wrcathcd in the smiles Of alniablc
protcstationS.
Are we any nearer payment to-day than
We were last year? What has been done to
put the people a. rork ? What has boen done
to revive the general prosperity Who is
better able now than year asu TO pay hls
debts? How many farms Of debtors have
been reclaimed from their desulatinn How
many Of them have made their personal and
family expenses during the past year Sup
pose the wheat crop should fail tits year as II
did the last,-who does not know that the
clanlor for a further extension Of the
time for paying interest would be as
broad as the State, and wholly irresistble2
Very few debtors are in condition TO make
money. They arc not in condition to make
their property available-cSpecially such as
are the owners Of devastated farms. The
whole influence OF our Legislature is reprcs-
,iye Of the debtors energies. \ briar stay Of
execution is granted to him-but the respite
is dulcI out in manner to make it too mar
row Il basis ui. adventure. He has farm.
worth say, twenty thousand dollars at COM
mon ratcs--hut it is in the commons. He
ow4s debt of five thousand. Is it IT, DC cx-
could find them, to raise the means of en-
closing and stocking his farm, and repairing
his premises. VIXEN the limits Of tie stay
law would find him with double
debt and when the forced sale
Of his land, in the midst of the many similar
sales then to be expecte.if gould not bring a
sum sufficient to discharge the five thousand
dollars of original debt with its interest? No
wonder that the multitude Of men situated as
We have described should have settled down
in inacti"n. They have not dressed their
farms, and renewed their buildings at the cost
of Che expense and privation which it would
have required, when they had nothing else in
prospect but to be speedily driven from it all,
with new debts to follow them, and other
creditors to suffer. They have preferred to
enjoy what comforts they could while the stay
law kept of the sheriff.
Suppose . HOMESTEAD LAW had been
passed. such as all the other States have
assed. or are passing, and such as North
Carolina has inst passed. Suppose some full
crum of operations had been made sure to
each householder and farmer. With how
much more Of energy and hope. would every
debtor have set himself to the work Of repair
ing his desolationS, and paying his debts.
Secure Of home. and Of little farm. he
would have sought to make it available and
productive. Sure Of not losing shelter, he
would have been encouraged to enterprise and
activity whereas the wiser the bird, the less
disposed TO bcautify its nest, or wander wide
in search of food for its young, when con-
stanty liable to have its home broken mp.
Shelter and sustain the people by Home
stead law, and they will be encouraged to
work; they will be stimulated to rcfit, and
repair. and produce. Apportion our State
debt equitably with West Virginia. and let
us have our own part only, and do what is
practicable towards paying interest on that
at once. Do these things and our people will
be substantatel and attached to the soil -
their hopes will be encouraged, their hands
strengthened, their enterprise stimulated,
State will bud and blossom and abound and
our people will pay their debts, and our
State its annua. liabilities without trouble,
because they will be able to do it. But
continue the present policy; keep credi-
tors in leash like hungry hawks in sight
of their quarry and impatient to be let
loose keep debtors in such a condition that
efforts and enterprise will but involve them
in greater caamitics; keep the State poor,
with it's citizens all sufferers, and creditors
and debtors going to ruin together and
legislators may vote against reputation, but
it will be as if boatman caught in Niagara's
rapids were to vote against going over the
falls. The interest that has been put off till
August will be put off again, and again.
The State debt will be complimented by an
occasional flourish, but it will never be paid.
Why cannot we all consent to be practical
Why will not creditors and debtors and lcgis-
lators all consent to see the actual situation. |
and take the means calculated to bring IL" !
best result for each and for all, out Of the |
general difficulty. We owe duties to the
Commonwealth and her people as communi-
tv. We owe duties to creditors. We owe
duties to debtors, overwhelmed not by their
own imprudencc or negligence, but by public
action. Let the Legislature substantiate and
encourage the people by a Homestead Law,
and by such limited indulgence as the case may
otherwise demand ON reasons Of State
Let creditors compound literally with debt