The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-01-22
The Wreckers.

We are struck with the desire manifested
by all the towns to get shares OF the large
balance now in the State treasury. FunderS
and anti-funders all combine for this division
Of the deposits Of the State. This shows that,
after all, the motives that control wrcckers are
very natural to humanity. The desire to get
the money unitcs those who want the stat"
TO pay with those who want the State TO rc-
pudiatc. Like the wrcckcl9, they cannot
ie!p selling upon what fate has thrown iii
tuclr way.
This is n grave error Of those who have
stoutiy maintained that it Is The duty of the
State to meet her obligations. DO they not
sec TINT if they distribute the large sum now
IN the treasury amongst tie small towns they
viii increase the opposition to paying inter
est al al: VIII the people who borrow the
States money in the rural districts be III
c!Ined TO pay it hack rs long as they can pos
Silly keep il? Oh, no! they will feel less in-
ctiued to urge the payment of the States In
terest than ever, because to pay the interest
would greatly incommode them. The anti
fundcrs would be increased in numbers, and
those Of the journalists who advocate the pay
mcnt Of interest will find their followers de-
sorting in large numbers.
Let those who think Richmond is greatly
benefited by her banks being the repositories
Of this money consider the facts, and they
Will change their opinions. First, the banks
TO compelled to pay four per cent. on the
State deposits. They arc obliged to charge
ten per cent. to get themselves six per cent.
for loans. But this leaves no insurance against
bad debts. In these days banks endeavor to
fortifv themselves against the "protit and
loss" account by charging rs much more
than six per cent. as they can get. SO the
people of Richmond have to pay on all they
borrow the four per cent. to the State and
the profit and the insurance of the banks be.
side.
Again, the community that borrows the
State deposits will be sure to suffer great en-
barrassment whenever that money Is called
in. This trial Is one of the severest. To
have money eaSy for few months from It's
abundance, and then to be driven to great
stralts to stand up against a sudden curtail-
ment Of discounts, Is one Of the most tryinl,
Of oil financial vicissitudes. Bad rs it is in a
city of respectable size, it will be Infinitely
worse IN rural or village population.
The destinations INDUCED by some to-
wards this city are unfounded. Our dele
gates reflect the sentiment Of our people.
They want the State credit maintained, and
they advocate the payment Of interest not
withstanding the heavy pressure upon them
Of the calling in of the money Of the State
for that purpose. Richmond is unimpeacha.
bic on this point.
We see in this cry Of the villages for part
Of the State deposits the demoralizing effects
Of keeping so much money i'll the treasury.
Considering the ideas that ore disseminated Oh
high authority now-a-days, if the State We're
to send out its money to the villages it would
DC in very great danger of losing much of it.
The Richmond Wig has furnished the easy
way to justify the holding OH to it. Ii
Inns declared in substance that the errors or
wrongs Of u Government which result in loss
to the people make it wrong in the Govern.
ment to assess the people with taxes to pay
its own debts. How easy it is to deducc
from this premise that the money now in the
treasury is wrongly gathered from the peo-
pie, and that if the people, or any respects
bic number OF them, shall get hold Of it,
they will be ut least morally justified in hold
ing on 10 ii. If the State scatters its money
in oil directions while such ideas are spread
ing, 1t will find no little trouble in collecting
it.
The State ought TO have no more money
than it needs 1T any tune on hand and that
onght to be where it can be readily gotten
at. 1t should pay out promptly; and If it
does that, there will be no great advantage
in having Its deposits. Communities find
more Of embarrassment than benefit in the
use Of large sums for a sholtqtime. They
lose more by the sacrifices consequent upon
sudden cUrtailments than they gain BY the
accommodation in borrowing.
But let people consider where the loose
ideas Of public and private obligations now
ineulcated would lead us. They would end