The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-06-18
State Interest

Tho Teo,slature could not do better than
o., foI,ow the advice of Governor WALKER
a. the matter of paying the interest on the
while debt. While indicating period
nhen the State might safely begin to pay III
.erest on it's debt (July 1919. he laid DOWN
the proposition shat the payment OF inee-
rsst ought not to be begun until such time az
would enable the State to continue paying
her interest. Were she to resume payment
before she is ready, and afterwards suspend,
&C she would be obliged to DO, her credit
would he more seriously impaired than II
she had not resumed. The Governors
policy is sound.
On the other hand, it would be injurious
to the State to postpone paying interest
single day after the State is able TO pay.
Her credit would be disastrously impaired
nv any such untimely apathy and seii-'noui-
gcnce. 1t would affect her physical pros
perity. The capitalist knows that the State
has control Of the subject, and If she does
that which will suggest the suspicion that
she thinks more of her case than OF her
honor she will lose respect abroad, ana
capital and labor seeking employment will
turn away from her borders. Men OF en-
terprise will not be disposed to trust their
means and energies to the control OF Go
venment whose policy would be so sadly
wanting in practical wisdom and forecast.
Therefore, the decision OF this point
should be ut once sagacious and resoiute.
There should be no payment OF interest I'M
til the State is ready to continue payment,
and the resumption of payment should not
be DELAYED one moment after the PERIOD
when the State is so able to resume.
The great indicator on this point is the
crops. The wheat crop is thus far promls-
ing: but it is still bcset with dangers. The
corn crop is in its infancy, and though Ia
boring under the disadvantage of being
much infested with grass at time when the
farmer is busy saving his wheat, it may yet
be attended to and may turn out finely. But
there are risks to run, and the drou. h; of
last year having destroyed the corn crop,
the people are all the less able now to bear
the burthen OF taxation should the crops
of this year prove deficient. We hope
and are inclined to believe they will not.
But since we have had not single good
crop year since the war we should be well
assured that this years crop is good before
we tax the farmers heavily. They have
been most unfortunate. They have had but
one really good crop since the war, and
that was the wheat crop of last year, and
the good effects Of that were almost wholly
lost by the complete failure of the corn
crop, destroyed by the unprecedented
drought of last summer.
The wealth of the country must come out
OF the ground. The stock jobbcrs ana
gold spectators may deal in stocks ana
gold from now till doomsday without add |
inc dollar of real wealth to the land. The |
miner, the manufacturer, and the tller of
the soil, alone add to the real riches of the |
country. They are the men who alone |
can furnish means to pay taxes and dimin- |
ish the public debt. Their success Is the |
true and only basis Of State and personal
independence. When they succeed, the
State may pay its interest and its obliga-
lions generally. If they fail, interest must |
stand unpaid, and all the enterprises and
prospects of country and town must suffer
and decline. No calculation as to the time |
the State may resume the payment of her
interest which leaves out the farmer is en-
titled to respect or can be considered safe.
The Legislature should therefore not be in
hurry to settle the time of the prospective
payment Of interest. Time and delibera.
ton are indispensable to avoid unnecessary
delay on one hand and precipitancy on the
other.