The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1875-07-22


in reference to the debt Of Virginia, one thing
is certain if the Conservative party had not
obtained and held possession OF the govern
ment, the fate of South Carolina and Louisiana
would doubtless have been ours, and it is equal
Nv true that the success of that party is still
requisite to sustain and guide the old ship.
This is strange paragraph to find in the ed
itoral columns Of so cautious paper as the
Alexandria Gazette. When it is remembered
that the Conservative party has COTTON rid of
the assets of State, amounting to some twenty
millions of securities, without an equivalent
that it has failed to pay the interest ON the public
debt. and by this means augmented the States
obligations nearly $4,000, 600 of defaulted inter-
est-that it has sq,,andered the current reve-
nues of the commonwealth, in protracted ses-
sions Of the legislature, without settling a sim
gle important question involving the substan-
tial interests Of the people-thatit has so direc-
ted the affairs of the State as to depreciate
real estate at least so per cent.-that it has
drive from the State capital and enterprise, that
were looking for Investment and so Frustrated
every interest, that our young men can find no
encouragement here, but are leaving as fast as
they can get the means to do so-when these
things are remembered, it looks like reckless.
ness for such assertions as are embraced in the
paragraph we copy, to be submitted to the
people.
The Republican party, had it succeeded to
the control of the Legislation of the State,could
have done no worse, certainly. All the availa-
BILE resources of the commonwealth have been
disposed Of, and what is the Condition of the
public interests? Can any State in the Union
present a more unfavorabIe aspect, considering
it's national capacities? Credit at the lowest
ebb, business Frustrated, enterprise paralyzed,
and a growing indisposltion on the part of ac-
tive business men and desirable immigration
to seek our borders.
While the management of the affairs OF the
States of Louisiana and South Carolina has
been bad enough, yet there were causes opera
ting in those communities which we.did not
ding the bloody contentious there, provision
has been made to meet the interest on the pub
lie debt, which Virginia has not done. Their
State Constitutions do not inhibt the credit Of
the Commonwealth to aid in public improve
ments, and by reason of this privilege much OF
the embarrassments that have oppressed those
States has resulted. Had not the Constitution
of Virginia, the work of a Republican Conven-
ton, prohibited the State from increasing her
debt, by loan, or lending aid to works of pub
lie improvement, there is no estimating the
extreme embarrassments that would now envi-
ron us.
| We may look in vain through the legislation
OF the past six years, to find one great measure
enacted by the Legislature of Virginia, that
has been of real, genuine benefit to the people.
Stay laws, interest laws, the funding bil-en-
actments affecting the relations Of creditor and
| debtor-have all had a tendency to destroy
confidence between the people-to discredit
the Commonwealth and operate harmfully to
the public interest and there. has been no
compromising results from any herlegislation
to relieve the Conservative party from the obi
um Of striking down the material prosperity OF
the people, for the sake of party dominancy.