The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-02-19

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..,,,.d net With individuals, that when par
s;es nromise TO pay, though 1t be but q
Mustard rv seed or bushel of corn, and meet
their engagements, their credit Is good.
r. however, without the visible means to
nav with, they from day to day postpone
and promise without paying, their credit
fails. Better far would their credit be to
own up at once, and say Lam unable to
pay, but will pay when ! can. knownot
why the same rule should not apply to
States as well as individuals.
Can the State pay 1T Her entire bank
ing capital to-day is represented to be not
more than one million five hundred thou
sand dollars. Her circulation does not
exceed five hundred Thousand. Now, MI.
President, II you can tell me how you can
pay two or three millions with fve hum
dred thousand, and at the same time edu-
cate your children, live like gentlemen-as
all Virginians are-re0rganize your farms,
and encourage your mechanical and in
dustrial pursuits, you will solve problem
to which no mathematical rule can apply.
Thus, / predict if you pass this bill and
present it fairly to the people Of Virginia,
that upon the standard Of honor by which
senators on this floor seem to square their
actions, you will run the risk of having it en-
dangered, under the law Of necessity, by
the masses of the people at the polls.
Why, sir, a large majority of these bonds
are held outside of the Commonwealth
only sixteen millions Of them, according
to the Auditors report, being held within.
II would be rather an interesting in
ouiry for the Senate to 60 back and see
who these bonds were held by IN 1861, and
to ascertain by whom they are owned To-
day. and at what prices they were SOLO.
1t would be well worth inquiry to find out
how the bonds now held outside of the Com
monwealth got there. 1t is due to the
honest yeomen of the country to ascer-
tain these facts if possible, for l am
satisfied the result Of such an inquiry
would be, to render untenable the pretexts
upon which it is now sought to impose the
tax which this bill will render necessary.
One of the pretexts for this legislation is,
that the widows and orphans of the State
are suffering from want Of the interest due
upon their bonds. Why did not the able
chairman Of the Committee on Finance,
the senator from Chesterfield (Mr. McRAE),
bring in bill providing that the widows
and orphans of the Commonwealth should
be paid the interest upon their bonds dollar
for dollar If he did SO, would cheerfully
vote for it. The widows and orphans are not
knocking at the doors of this capitol for
relief. The bondholders whom represent
are neither asking nor demanding what this
bill proposes to give. Those men who are
specializing in these bonds are the parties
who are knocking at our doors and urging
the passage of such measure as the Sc
nate is now considering. All the facts and
records will sustain me in this assertion
and when / appear before my people in
the country, and inform them that among
the measures we had adopted was the
neritorious one of providing for the pay
ment of interest on our State bonds, which
is to involve an onerous tax upon
them, it strikes me that l shall hear
some one away over yonder cry out :
"What about Thad. Stevens's bill" An
other will doubtless say: "Look here, If
YOU are going to pay the accrued interest
upon your State bonds held in New York,
Europe, and elsewhere, why do you not al
low me the privilege of collecting my lit
y
interest upon it. There are debts due me,
and YOU have debarred me from collecting
them for over year, with probability OF
your continuing the restriction for two or
three years longer!" l cannot see how
you can consistently discriminate against
your own citizens and in favor OF bond
holders and spectators at the North and
elsewhere. You so changed your legisla-
ton last winter as to reduce the taxes upon
the railroads of the Commonwealth more
than two hundred per cent. You gave
the banking corporations of the State three
wears to wind up their affairs, with the prl-
vilege of collecting their interest in the
most summary mode known on the CONT
nent that is to say, upon simple motion
in court. On the first day Of August next,
if the law stands as it is now, these corpo-
rations can collect the interest upon their
whole amount of debt, retain lien and
Judgment therefor, while they themselves,
in many instances, are not paying upon the
whole of their debt more than the amount
of the interest.
Will the people stand all this? Do you
believe. senators, that when the question
comes to be investigated before the people,
the honest yeomanry of the country, OPP
pressed and embarrassed as they are, will
stand it? No, sir. 1t is more than hui
manity itself can stand and | charge you
to-day to be cautious, and weigh we'll every
move you make upon this question.
Inreply to some remarks Of Mr.. MCRAE,
of Chesterfield, tending to show that this
action was no pre.judgment Of any settle
60 no r.
ginia, and that Virginia was in honor bound
to pay even without such settlement, Mr..
KEEN said: / suppose that by the same
rule of argument, if the Valley was to so,
Richmond was to 60, or all the territory
north of James river, the senator from
Chesterfield would be standing on the
banks on the south side Of the James, in
his native town, crying My God, the
honor of Virginia must be saved, and we
must pay the whole debt?" But, sir, the
senator from Chesterfield says this would
be no pre- judgment Of the question. This
may be so. lido not believe it. 1t is the
opinion of the ablest men and jurists that
! have talked with upon the subject that
this bill would PREJUDICE the question
and bind us for the whole debt. At any
rate, it would embarrass the commission
in the work of adjustment; for West Vir-
ginia, though it might be ascertained that
she owed half the debt, would say to them
at once (" Your General Assembly has de-
clared that Virginia owes two-thirds."
As to the remark made by the senator
from Chesterfield, that he would not re-
present constituency who were not will
ling to assume and pay this whole debt, l
will say that doubtless some Of them would
be very loath to part with him. But, sir,
does the senator know that in one county
in his district the issue of utter repudia-