The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-12-29
West virginia's Portion OF the osa'e
Debit. es.s.r

the public debt OF Virginia. Inc De"'ot't
Is. we believe, Democratic paper, s," -
published in the town in which r'uo
NJ. BENNETT, formerly Auditor OF nus .''
.JoTs BnASSoS. formerly STATE ''"'.o.'
and other persons who ought to nav. Wv
ated sounder public opinion III VIC" ;,,s;
than the article from the De":'' ~ 'l.
Gates as existing. The Designation vi ""'
chief executive officer as cafpe',''s
co,orror,, ;s rather amusing than o'her-
,,s. considering whence it comes. bu'
tho general tone of the article Is hiShiy oo-
;oc,;on,ble. For instance, the Democrat
says: -. ,,o,,a
The share we (Wcst Nirginia) shouia
"bcar in the bonds Of Virginia can never
"be allowed to exceed the money raised oy
"the,n and appropriated ssi!h'n our terri
story. To this extent We will go, anu no
"turther.'
Spch basis "a this for the adjustment OF
the relative portion of the pubic aeot
which each OF the two States shall pay Is 80
unjust that il would amount to an olisfaac
upon Virginia. 4 large portion OF the
debt in question was contracted IN con-
structing the Covington and ONO rait-
road and the James River and hanawha
canal, both Of which improvements were
intended as much for the benefit OF "eS'
Virginia as Of Virginia Indeed, IL ma! oe
safely assumed that nue-tehthS OF the pub
lie debt of Virginia was authorized by inc
votes Of what were called "western meln-
bers' OF our Lcgislature-that is, men VINO
lived west Of the Blue Ridge. 1t Is well
known that the tiGe-water region OF VIZ
ginia always opposed the appropriation OF
public money TO the construction OF WORKS
of internal improvement. Mr.. sEGAR was
almost the sole exception in his day among
the Underwater members.
To the two works we have named MIL
lions of dollars were voted by western
members, and voted for the purpose OF al
fording IN outlet to market to the produces
of West Virginia. One OF those great
works penetrates the very centre Of West
Virginia, and the other lacks but few
miles Of touching her border: and yet we
are seriously assured that West Virginia
will nav not one dollar Of this Immense
market at her own expense, she woulo
have opened them just where these are, and
commenced them just where these were
commenced; and yet she will not con-
tribute dollar towards paying for them!
To state the proposition is 10 show It's
shameful nature, and is enough to cause
every honest man in the land to cry out
wiz n ion, Of hlS
eyade lust debt. We are not yet ready TO
believe that the people Of West Virginia
are so dishonest as the Weston Democrat
represents them to be.
=. Further to show the nature Of the Dcm-
ocrdt's proposition, let Us assume that it is
q reasonable one, and proceed to inquire
which Of the counties of Virginia rs she
now stands must pay the State debt. Ac-
comac and Northampton are, of course, un-
der no obligation to pay any of it. They
are cut OF by water from the rest Of the
State, and have never had any public money
expended within their borders to build
railroads or canals. The counties OF the
Northern Neck are ia similar fortunate
condition. They will have nothing to pay.
The rich counties of Kockbriage, Bote-
tourt, Buckingham, and many others, have
Just the same excuse for repudiatlng the
State debt that West Virginia has-name-
ly, that the money was not appropriated
,ctthtn their territory" ,',.'',t,<: ,arir q
mond city itself. - "
community IN GAG ctale' u's oe'',t
cuse far .:ScIining to pay any part of the
a.A., seeing that not only was.the money
not appropriated within her territory,
but she has paid out Of her own pocket
hundreds Of thousands of dollars to aid IN
the construction Of lines Of internal lm-
provement which merely terminate here,
just as the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad
merely terminates in West Virginia. 1t is
thus made clear that if the Democrats idea
be sound one, there are very few counties
even in Virginia which are under any
moral obligation to pay u share of the pub
lie debt. The creditors must be turned
over to the counties within whose borders
the money was expended.
Perhaps the Democrat will answer tina
every county remaining in Virginia is boil
legally and morally bound to pay its pro
portion of the State debt whether any o
the money borrowed was expended within
its limits or not. That is unQuestionabl.
true. Being true now, it was true ten year
ago. And if it was true ten years ago, theI
every county in West Virginia was at tina
time legally and morally bound to pay it.
proportion Of the State debt. Can anybody
in the world tell us how these counties re-
lieved themselves of this legal and moral re-
sponsibility? Will it be pretended that in
the act of erecting them into a new State
Congress changed the proportion of the
debt for which they were responsible? Or
did they relieve themselves? Why, the
operation of the bankrupt law is a slow
process compared with this patent method
OF paying off old debts. Rather than sub
NIT to such division Of the burthen, let us
carry the whole of it ourselves.
AS to whether West Virginia shall pay
her share of the debt into the Treasury OF
Virginia, or issue her own bonds for it to
certain Of the persons now holding Vir.
ginia bonds, it may be remarked that it Is q
question Of no sort of Importance. Ii any
Of our creditors will exchange our bond,
for those of West Virginia we certainly
shall not object. 1t would be the better
arrangement of the two for our own pro-
lection, and might save future trouble, as
1t is hardly to be expected that West Vir-
ginia can now pay this debt. All that she