The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-01-16
TUESDAY EVENING, JAN. 1G, 1872.


posely RETAINED from such mention of the
subject as could be deemed ofiicious be-
licying that the bill would receive candid |
and thorough discussion at the hands Of the
committee; and practical solution Of
the financial difficulty be arrived at.
The Enquirer, however, seems stmu-
lated to renewed activity its industry and
boldness Of statement rising with the
emergency, and emitting it to admiration
for its fertility of resource, and ingenuity
of defense. . .rs .H
,- The later efforts seem to be wholesale
manufacture of linen of straw" which it
sets up with great flourish, and then pro-
ceeds gravely to demolish, as if they were
dread realities. @ . .m..
It would take up space which can be
more proftably occupied, to strip these
straw bug-bears of the shreds of argument
in which our neghbor DISCUSSES them. We
shall but briefly allude to one or two of
them, and think even cursory examination
will show that as lions in our path they are
as "gentle beasts,'' as the counterfeit
lion presented by Snug, the joiner.
With its eyes fixed upon the sl,S00,000
in the treasury of the State (Which its friends
fondly hoped would ere this have been
transferred to their own pockets it roars
YOU Reputation, answering echoes from
its satellites in the country districts
take up the grievous roar, and inconslder-
ate persons are actually led to believe that
those who oppose the Funding Bill are adj
vocating reputation, when the direct con-
trary is the fact their efforts being directed
to the adoption of measures, which, being
justly proportional to existing means of,
the people, can be carried out /; and to the
rejection of funders' schemes, which are
Impossible of fulfillment, unjust in amount
of impost, premature in time of enactment,
carried by Improper, if not Illegal means,
and worse than all, inconclusive as to liabil-
ity for further demands, for upwards of
SIS 100000 suspended debt.
Public and private financial operations
are both subject to, and governed by, the
same rule of morality and equity.
An individual who, in time of solvent
prosperity, contracts debts, and before day
of payment arrives, meets with losses
against which he is powerless to shield HIM
self, is not branded repudiator, because he
meets his creditor with a candid exhibit
of his affairs, and offer of compromise at
deduction from the original debt, gradu-
ated according to his present means or re-
quest for extension of time of payment; or
sion of time. u g
The true repudiator is one, who, while
he assumes payments far in excess OF his
ability to meet, forces upon his creditors q
pretended compromise, with the threat
that or nothing land he is the true type
Of the friends of the Funding Bill.
The Enquire, strikes an attitude and
exclaims-is 80 cents on the 500 too much
for Virginia to pay as the price of State
financial honor? The present rate Of tax
is 80 cents on the 500, and there is
enough in the treasury to pay the six
months interest on the debt due January
LIST, 1872 but to claim that the present
rate will satisfy the demands of the Fund
ing Bill is more than even the Enquire
dares do, except by such indirection as thu
following proposition, which is repeated
daily in its columns, in one form or other
"The present rate of taxation is 80 cents OF
the 500; at this rate there is money
enough in the treasury to pay the 81
months interest on the amount of funded
debt, due january LIST, 1872; therefore
so cents on the 500 lisa sufficient rate o
tax to meet the requirements of the Fund
ing Bill y and @. L. D. is appended to eacl
repetition, and as garrulously announces
as the rejoiced hen cackles over her new
laid egg.
But the widows and orphans; would you
withhold from them the money due to then
by the State? We are not anxious abou
the ordinary bondholders, but the widows
should not have their tears embittered o
increased by adding want to bereavement
This is tender chord to strike, and on
never irresponsible but are all the widow
and orphans in Virginia bondholders? Ever
the Enquirer will not make such a state
ment nor even the modified statement
that one-ffth of the widows are bondhold
crs and even were this so, their needs ar
no more pressing than those of their les
fortunate sisters who were left with moth
ing save empty hands and bleeding hearts
But have widows and orphans interest
always been held so sacred ?
Let MS state case, as example of tn
treatment of some estimable widows, witt
whose history we are familiar, suppressini
the names:
A died just priorto the commencement
of the war, leaving his widow and famit
an estate ample for their support. Th
executors, perhaps rightly Judging that tn
widow could not manage the property ad