Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1871-12-14


actment Of this law, cannot be measured.
Not only was the credit of the State in-
volved bat also the creeit Of every county
nun icipality and public and private cor
poration, as well as that of every citizen
in the Commonwealth.
y X 4: 49, = X \
The very full and able report Of The
first Auditor, herewith submitted. con-
tans, besides che tabular statements ex-
hibising The operations of his department
during ttTe last fiscal year, many perrin
ent suggestions some Of which | cordially
endorse, and all which I commend to your
earefull perusal. As legal proposition,
the interest on the funded debt must
unquestionably be paid. 1Aare is-no es-
Gaping IS We would, and [ am confden t
there is no disposition to avoid it if We
would, and am confident there is no
disgosi.ion to avoid it if we could. TO
do this, however, wltlou increasing the
rate and bar thens of taxation, economy
in every branch of the government must
be~rigid yenforced. No expense must be
incurred excep! suoh as shall be absolute
! ly essen tialsto the proper administration
of thesaffairs of the State, and the taxes
imposed musebe thoroughly collected iu
all cases and under all circumstances
| Taxation for State purposes is, lighter in
Virginia than id nine tenshs of the States.
and itsshQald be our earnest effort, as it
| is our duty, to keep as low as possible,
| both on account of the direct benefit re-
sulting to the people and because of the
inducement it offers to capital and i'm
migration. -
Blythe report Of the second Auditor,
here with submitted, it will be seen that
| the total debtof the State on the. LIST II
July last, fundable under the law above
mentioned, was S47 900, 1866 43 two
thirds ofshich is $3l 1913, $40 96, which
is the portion assumed by this State, and
on whclrthe annual in terest world be
$1,S65 $50 80, or 1882, 725 As semi
annually. ..-
Of the uhola debt the amount funded
on the LIST instant, was S26. 610,691 IS
on two.thirds of which, viz +: $17, 740 >
461 % interest will be due and payab lie
January LIST, 1872. It is safe to estimate
that by LIST of January, 1872. $50 .000,-
900 of the old debt will be funded and
that consequently $4,000, 900 will be
the sum on which Interest will have to
be paid at that date amounting to $780,
900. But the debt is in reality not SO
large as tho Auditor reports it, prov ided
the proper deductions are made. There
has been received from the Richmond and
Danville railroad company 81, 034, 924
%, and from the Richmond and Peters
burg railroad company $575 400, in
State bounds for the sale Of the State
stocks in those companies; in all 81 &c.
324 AZ, which must be applied to the re-
duetion Of the State debt and should be
deducted from tho total liability Of 81? :
900, 1865 43, VIII ich would reduce that
amount to $45 ,480, $40 81. And this
SUN will be further reduced certainly to
the amount of $755, 1852 and probably
more within sixty days by the sale, under
an advertisement of the Board of Public
Works in pursuance of law, of bonds and
stocks owned by the State, of the Rich
mond and Danvil, Richmond, Fredericks~
burg and Potomac and Washington and
Ohio railroad companies, which VIII re-
duce the total liability to $44, 724, $50
q and it is altogether probable that the
second mortgage bonds of 81 10000 of
the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio rail
road company held by the State and to
co sold at the same hmc will further. re-
duce the total debt to $40. 724,680 81
BY the SADIE o f the States interest in the
| Orange, Alexandria and Manassas rail
road company Chat company having al
ready accepted the law approved March
18th, 1879 amounting with interest and div
idends claimed by the Board of Public Works
to be ST, 573, 246 "a the total debt will be
reduced to $50, ,431, Al, two-thirds of
which sum is $26, 100, 954 81. But this sum
] is subject to further reductions by amounts
realized andS to- be collected on the claim e.
gainst Selden, Withers s. Co., and the sale
Of other properly and stocks held by the
| State. 4 very Considerable amount of the
debt will pr. baby never be presented for
payment, for, consul cring the age ann muls
| tipliclty of the forms indebtedness issued By
| the State and outstanding July Isl, 1871,
| some of it must have been lost or destroyed.
| One sure source of profit to banks Of issue is
| the loss and destruction of their notes. and
why should not the same be true Of the paper
issusssof our State. | am we'll satisfied that
the dept on which we shall have to pay in
| terest under The funding act will not exceed
| S26, 00O,0 coo, the annual interest on which
would would be ST ,560,00 But to be en-
1 tirely safe, suppose that the full amounts
given above should not be realized from the
bonds and stocks of the.Atlantie, Mississippi
and Ohio and Orange. Alexandria and Manas-
sas railroad companies, sufficient certainly
can be realized from these and other sources
to reduce our PROPORTION of the debt to TWEEN
ty-seyen millions Of dollars, on which the
annual interest would be $l,620,000. This
sum, together with sufficient amount to pay
| the current expenses Of the State Cavern
ment, must pe Annually realized from taxa
ton. But. #hat will this latter sum amount
TOT The answer rests mainly with you. The
Auditor on the basis OF last years expenses
estimated it at ], 1914 ,5091G dollars, but this
estimate includes about the sum Of 227 600
| for legislative expenses, and l am satisfied
thatithis af1Nint can be still further reduc
ed. .1r25z a
In my message of til of March, 1870
I estimated than the ordinary current ex
penses oil the State goverhm ent, e1clusive
Of Legislative expenses, ought not to ex-
coed $3.50 Geo per annum. and [ think
they can be reduced even below that sum.
The amount of the legislative expenses
rests entirely with you. I hope, and it
appears to me. that you will be able to
complete your labors in sixty days, and
if you do this the per diem of members
will amount to less than $65 900. | am
also we'll satisfied that you can very con-
siderably lessen the expenses of your ses-
sion in other respects, with advantage to
the State and without any considerable IN