The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1870-12-15
ghe Ta1len Uikai1iau.
STANTON, VIRGINIA.
Thursday, : December Is, 1870.
GOVERNORS MESSAGE.
CoMMoNwBALTu OF VIRGINIA,
EXECUTIVE CHAMBERS,
RICHMOND, December Z, 1870.


monwoalth has Legislature assembled upon
which devolved graver responsibilities than
upon you" This opinion was expressed to
you in my inaugural address at the opening
B of your first session, and desire to reafirm
it now, at the commencement Of your last
/ session. How you have met those '..grave
responsibilities is matter Of record. Your
present session will complete that record,
upon which tho public judgment, the judg
ment Of your constituencies and Of posterity,
will be formed. While you have done some
things which, in my judgment, you ought
not to have done, and have left I'm done
some things which you ought to have done,
nevertheless, the ninety days of official exis-
tepce remaining to you will afford ample OPP
portunity for correcting the former and per-
fecting the latter Coming together as you
did, young, and, to some extent, an mex
perienced body of men, with a new and
somewhat homogeneous constitution to put ia
force, working radical changes in almost
every department of the government; with
nearly every Office in the Common wealth,
from constable to Lieutenant Governor, to
fill; with an imperative necessity for the i'm
mediate modification Of nearly every statute
in the State, and the enactment of many
new ones; with an impoverished people,
suffering from the terrible ills Of a four years
devastating war, anxiously looking to you
for relief, without, perhaps. proper con-
sideration of the limitations of your powers
contained in the constitution; with vast
variety of public and private interests de-
handing your attention, you may we'll con-
graduate yourselves that with all this variety
and multiplicity of important subjects de-
manding your prompt consideration and ac-
ton, you should have been able to accom-
plish so much with so few errors. Time
enough remains to you to correct whatever
errors may have crept into your legislation,
Y some of which was necessarily hasty. and to
enact such other laws as may be required to
put the constitution fully into force, and to
meet the wants and necessities of the State
and the people.
Ore Of the first, as we'll as one of the most
important subjects which should engage your
attention, is our. State finances. The re-
ports of the auditor and treasurer exhibit
the receipts and disbursements for the last
fiscal year, and the condition Of the treasury
at its close. These reports, however, afford
no just criterion by which to judge of the
future The new system Of taxation inau-
gurated by the constitution, and which you
put in force by legislation at your LIST SEES
sion, is not yet in full operation, and our ex
perience under it is too brief to form an &C.
curate judgement of the results Of this our
first experiment. The new assessment Of the
real estate in the Commonwealth will be
completed this month. From this and the
returns made to the auditor under the two
acts approved June 26th last, and entitled,
respectively, can act in relation to the as
sessment Of taxes on licenses" and Gan act
for the assessment of taxes and the act APP
proved July 9th last, entitled "An act i'm
posing taxes TOR the support of government
and free schools, and to pay the interest on
the public debt" you will be enabled to OBJ
tain very correct data upon which to base
your action upon the subject of future taxa
ton You already have my views as to the
amounts necessary to be raised. On the 9Th
day Of March last submitted to you full
statement of the financial condition of the
Commonwealth, together with my own views
as to the policy which ought to be pursued.
Further thought and reflection have served
to confirm and strengthen my confidence In
the correctness of the recommendations then
made They have been heartily endorsed
BY the best fnanciers of both this country
and England Had the Legislature prompt
ly adopted them, am satisfied that not only
would the State debt have been reduced over
ten millions of dollars the present year, and
our deprecated credit advanced from fifty to
eighty-fve or ninety cents on the dollar, but
also that much of the cost and irritation incl
dent to some of the special legislation of your
| last session would have been avoided.
I earnestly invite your attention to those
recommendations. They, each and all, form
part Of the general plan for our relief from
the great evil that depresses us-a dlshon-
ored State credit. When the body polite
becomes disordered, learned and patriotic
| doctors are never wanting, each of whom
has some sovereign specific which he mag
unanimously and persistently urges upon the
attention Of the sufferer Some are actu-
| ated by the sole and sincere desire to benefit
| the patient, while others: with loud protes
tations of like desire in rendering their
new and questionable nostrums, have always
a keen eye for personal gain and future az
grandizement. Our patient has not been
free from these attentions. Numerous
remedies, some of them new and untried,
have been freely suggested. In my opinion,
there is but one sovereign remedy for the
evil which afiicts US, and that remedy IS a
strict fMt7zment Of our solemn obligations
Heretofore, since the close OF the late war
and until the restoration Of civil government
in the State, we were powerless to adopt this
remedy; but the time has now arrived when
we ought and must apply it. Some deem 1t
advisable to inaugurate the resumption OF
the payment of interest on the public debt
by paying three per centuna interest the first
wear, four the second year, five the third,
six the fourth, seven the fifth, and so on, In
creasing each year until all the deferred in
terest shall have been paid, and then resume
the regular payment Of interest as it falls
! due. While this plan weuld not fully ac-
complish the desired obj viz: a complete
restoration of the State credit, because 1t
| would not be ful6lment either in letter or
spirit of the obligations Of the State, and ba-
cause it would necessitate the payment of
interest upon the deferred interest, and thus
compounding it in order to finally and fully
meet what would be justly due, and would
thus become an increasing burthen from
year to year, until the resumption of the