Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1873-02-27
virgal 100000 90 Sinking Fund and assets de-
W. Val Quoted,
Wiscon a,252, 057ca

NOTE. - Early III January last L adj
dressed q circular note to the Governor
| Of each State, requesting a statement of
the exact amount Of its debt, the a
mount of its sinking fund applicable to-
(. the reduction of the debt, together
with the amount and character of its
contingent liability The above state
mcnt is made up from the responses
which have been received from most Of
| the States, and the others marked with
an Sttg1, from the Census of 1870 and
other public documents. As to these
latter States, changes may have occur
! ed in the amounts will be found to be
considerably less than those given above
| The contingent liabilities generally con-
sist of endorsements of railroad bonds
| which are safe and secure and hente do
not properly enter into any estimate of,
| the actual Indebtedness Ct the State.
Ali educational funds invested in State
bonds are included in the actual debts.
The debt of Virginia and West Virgil
MIA is the amount Of the principal Of the
debt and interest to January LIST, 1873,
after tleducting assets and funds pro
perly applicable to its reduction, the
same never having been apportioned be
tween the two States. North Carroll
ma has assets OF the nominal value
with INTEREST," Of S26, 500 and the
amount OF her debt, as given above,
| includes her old and new debt and I'M
paid interest. AS to whether the State
debts shall be paid at their par OF mar
ket value, as well as the entertainment
Of the exact and proper amounts thereof
after the deduction of assets, are mat
| tiers OF practical detail to be provided
for by an act Of Conar SIS.
In the above table the contingent
liability Of arkansas is put down as
probable" and that OF Georgia as "re
cognized as legal:"]
| From this statement it appears that
the total Indebtedness of all the States.
after deducting the assets which should
be applied to their liquidation, amounts
to the sum of S292,2e5, 150.45. And
this sum would be further reduced by
several millions if that portion of the
| debt of North Carolina, and some other
States, claimed to have been fraudulent
ly contracted, be thrown out Of the
calculation. But to be entirely safe,
take as a round sum S300,000,00J
Counting all bonds, fraudulent as well
as the unquestioned, at par, for l pro
| pose to answer this objection even in
its most questionable form) as the total
of State Indebtedness, and we have the
utmost possible increase Of the national
debt; which the assumption Of the State
debts by the general government would
cause This sum, at five per centum
interest, the rate at which the govern
ment is now funding its public debt,
would annually require Sl5,o0o,000 to
meet the accruing interest thereon. and
to this extent, and no more, would the
burthers Of the Federal treasury be in
creased.
But could this comparatively small
sum cause any embarrassment or neces-
state any increase Of Federal taxation
OF effect prejudicially our national
credit? Why, the present revenues Of
the General Government are sufficient
to meet all its current expenses, includ-
ing the interest upon the public debt
and leave balance of nearly SloO,oo0-
300 to be applied to the payment of
the principal Of the public debt, and
that, too, in advance Of its maturity.
Without stopping here to discuss the
wisdom Of "a financial policy which taxes
the depressed and disordered energies
and industries Of a people just com
mencing to recover from the disastrous
effects Of gigantic civil war, to antici
pate the payment Of the debt which
it necessitated before it is required by
the terms of the bond, it is sufficient, for
our present purpose, to note that the
only change which the payment Of the
interest upon the total debt ofthe States
would necessitate in the present fnan-
cial policy of the Federal government,
would be simply the decrease for a brief
period by the sum of Sl5, 100000 OF the
amount of the national debt which
might otherwise be annually paid. In
other words, instead of annually paying
as now Sl00,OoO,ooo of the principal Of
the public debt, we should pay but
100000, the balance Of $4,000, 600
being applied to the payment of the
interest upon the debt Of the States
assumed. The assumption and payment
of the debts of the States by the Federal
government would not, therefore,
necessitate any increase of national
taxation beyond what is now imposed,
nor any increase Of the revenues of the
government. If the taxpayers Of the
nation would not be adversely affected,
could the public credit suffer? l think
not. The fact that we should be able,
without any increase of taxation, not
only to pay the current expenses Of che
government, together with the interest
upon the whole debt thus increased, as
well as to annually set aside, for a
sinking fund, the amount required by
law, but also, in addition to all this, to
have LETT surplus of $4,000 go to be
applied to the reduction ofthe principal
of the public debt would fully sustain
our national credit at its present high
standard. Public credit is based upon
the ability and disposition of the State
or nation to meet its obligations, and
both of these we have already con
clusiyely established to the entire salts
faction Of the financial world During
the last seven years we have not only
promptly met all our obligations matur-
ed and maturing, but we have also paid
more than $5o,Ooo,00o of the principal
of the the national debt.
And these astonishing results have