The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1872-02-29
ssvIKGINIA IN DANGER,

ine apoVe Is the neadlng OF an article given
below, taken from the New York Observer.
religious paper. We publish it at the re.
quest Of one ofour subscribers, who says he
is full blooded Yankee, but no carpet Dagger,
and has invested every dollar he possesses III
the Valley Of Virginia. We will add that he
owns one of the most fertile farms in Angus.
county, and that if all the full s'blooded Yau
kees'' such as we know him to be, would come
to the Valley, they would receive a cordial
welcome.
! The press of the North seems to be yerv
much interested, just now, in the "honor Of
Virginia" We have received numerous
papers-many Of them religious in their pro.
| fession-containing articles similar in sentis
ment to the one annexed How much has
been paid for their publication. originally. We
are Unable to say, but it is very apparent
the stockholders and bondhoders are far
from being idle or penurious in their efforts
to effect popular sentiment in Virginia in
favor of the Funding Bill.
The Observer says:
No word connected with financial affairs ID
| more odious, or more Justly odious. in tho
ears of the world at large than .repudiatien ,;
There is none that has brought greater res
proach upon some portions of our country
and this reproach has extended to the whole
country in years past, in the inability of for-
egners to understand the relation of one
United States-E FuriJus Unun. Sydney
Smith rang all the changes upon the word
and succeeded in exciting much odium against
our Government and people, although thew
were no more responsible for reputation in
Mississippi than was Sydney Smith for the
failure Of some farmer across the Scottish
border to pay his just debts.
We would not have the odium connected
with this word relieved single particle, we
would make the thing more odious, if possible:
and because everything savoring of repudia.
ton is justly deserving of condemnation and
will rarely receive it, We deeply regret that
| another State is now hesitating on the brink.
We sincerely trust that it may not prove to
be true in this case, that 'sshe that hesitates
is lost" The great State Of Virginia-one
Of the grandest Of the Union in extent aud
surface and climate and resources, living be-
tween the North and the South one Of the
most natural outlets from the Valley of the
Mississippi, and from the Pacific coast to the
Atlant!c-is threatened with calamity great
er than the destruction of its fertile fields
and the loss Of it's material resources. viz !;
the loss its credit and good name before
the whole financial world.
The exhaustion Of the State npon the close
of the var is we'll known. In common with
all the States Of the Southern Confederacy:
it had expended It's energies and was COM
PEELED to struggle on with heavy load of
debt. But its citizens stood up manfuly to
the work Of rebuilding the shattered fabric of
State finances. A plan was adopted for dis
charging all the public obligations and for
laying the foundation of future prosperity all
though it was we'll known that years must
elapse before its construction would cease to
be a burden, But nothing else could be done
consistently with commercial and public honor
than to meet and bear the burden of the wear
and of years to come. The public debt was
equally divided between the Old Dominion
and West Virginia, and the Legislature of
the State not only acknowledged the obliga-
ton Of its bonds, but the duty to provide by
taxation for the interest aceruing. The cffeot
Of these measures was to advance and main.
tain the credit Of the State at home and
abroad
We regret to know that there is class OF
persons in Virginia, and that there is a party
in the Legislature, which do not have regard
to the honor of the State and who are to
speak plainly, in favor of reputation. The
Legislature, at its present session has voted
to repeal the measures by which the credit
and honor Of the State were maintained, and
it has failed to become law only by the veto
of the Governor, who has returned the bill
to the Legislature, with his objections. It
has not yet received the requisite number of
votes in order to pass over the Governors ve-
to, and we sincerely hope, for the interests of
the State, for its present and future good
name, for its future prosperity, and even for
its ability to command the elements of pros-
perity that no such disastrous result may be
reached. -"f
Whatever present advantages may be de-
rived from casting off obligations to pay, there
are none that can compensate for departure
from the strlctest liue of rectitnde in such
transactions. A State, in all its monetary
transactions, must be like Caesars wife-above
suspicion aud without faint of wrong; not
merely that its citizens and representatives
may carry with them always The consciousness
of right, but that it may be trusted in the
time to come To have even the shadow of
reputation resting on its -cscutcheon, would
be lasting disgrace and a bar to future credit.
In the present case, such a course would BID
all the more destitute of the shadow of justif-
cation, inasmuch as the money for paying
the interest is already IN the Treasury, and
only awaiting the order for its payment:
7 AN ODD Fellow INCIDENTAL Mr..
Whitford, recently removed to the western
| frontier Of Kansas, with four other men,
went out to hunt buffalo Lass month. They
were overtaken by a snow, and all persisted:
| " h;tG,ra YES IN odd falluH and Mare a rim.