The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-02-03
SATURDAY EVENING. FEB. 8, 1872
FUNDING BILL AGAIN.

FUNDINH h"HAN' |
1t is stated by one of our contemporaries
hat the opponents of the Funding Bill IN
he legislature have become so far satisfied
wish it's merits that they now limit their
objections to the single provision making the
coupons receivable for taxes. We are very
far from understanding this to be the full
and complete expression of opinion among
the opponents of the bill in that body
Their objections are by no means limited
to single point. There are those VINO
agree with US that the validity of the obli-
cations resting upon the State should be In
quired into before any more of the debt is
funded, or before any interest is paid on
what has been already funded. There are
others who believe that the surest way to
force reputation upon the State, is to
adopt the bill in its present form. There
is still another class who regard the bill as
unconstitutional in some Of its features, and
would SO press their objections, were an
attempt made to carry it through without
change in its provisions.
Great stress seems to be laid on the fact
that the debt is due from the taxpayer to
the bondholder, for a valuable considera-
ton, the justice of which is fully recognized
in the very terms Of the bond" But
how came this debt due from us as tax
payer to somebody else as bondholder
When and under what circumstances did
we ever give our assent to such contract?
and what valuable consideration moved
from the bondholder to US in giving it :?
!, When did we seal and deliver bond ac-
cording to the prescribed forms of law, to
pay our rateable proportion of this thirty
two millions debt, with interest compound
cd thereon Not this year, nor last, nor
at any antecedent period of time when we
had our financial wits about us.
The State, it is true, undertook to force
such contract upon us; but the people
who made the State, and put limitations
upon it's power, speak in their sovereign
capacity in our behalf, through their
organic mouth-pieee--the constitution
and say: mo. You cannot take this tax.
payers property, and give it to another
in any such way. You the State) cannot
take it for your own use, much less for thu
use Of a railroad corporation, without jus
compensation therefor" And what il
meant but 'Sust compensation 2" Ger
tainly not the incidental advantages tina
might accrue to US with hundred thou
sand others, from building railroad acrof
the Blue Ridge, over which we might no
pass in a lifetime. These Incidental ad
vantages could not be offset even in assess
ing damages for right of way; muci
less could they be held as full, ample an
valid consideration for the obligation &C
cruing from the taxpayer to the bond
holder by virtue Of the legislative enact
ment in question. No matter how man
acts may have been passed by the Legisls
I trre to this end. Fifty enactments woul
have no more validity than one, SO long Q
I the substantive act itself is forbidden b
the constitution.
But to assume and pay the interest o
this debt according to the terms of I'll
Funding Bill, and financially, where al
we? The Auditors report shows a pr
bable deficiency in resources to meet Il
interest, together with the current expens
of the State government, of not less thu
Sl,l43,742.1S at the end of the yea
With this startling fact before US, is it n
the height Of folly to go on issuing bon'
rs il we had untold millions with which
pay? We must either bring up in repudi
ton at the end OF two years, or stun
through the crust Of our financial poll
more ANONYMOUSLY, aud into a mo
bottomless quag, than ever. Our fol
consists in attempting impossibilties-
making huge display Of financial integ
ty with bankruptcy staring US full in
face. All that will ba gained by it will
to enable the bondholder to get ]
OF his obligation--pass it into
hands of some innocent third party
fore the bottomless quag shall open. Pr
aence would dictate that we should WI
until we had regained in part our ability
pay; until the Auditor of the State,
some other reliable financier among !
could get the first glimpse through Q
financial milestone. There is always b.
way of doing everything, unless it be
boiling of added eggs, and it matters lit
how that is done, only the more you b
them the worse they smell. The folly &C
sists in attempting to boil them when
know that their vitelline membrane
gone.
IT is singular fact, historically dem