The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-01-25

1874: nor In the NTH, SIXTH seventh, nor
eighth final and conclusive never-to-be.dis-
turbed compromises and arrangements
which will be proposed by over-sangune
tinanciers hereafter. They go along their
own way disturbing nobody, and by nobody
disturbed. But the Virginia bondholder is
moving to Virginia. He is becoming ma
turalized, and be proposes to live here; ior
| the Virginia people are steadily investing
their savings in Virginia bondS-in taX'
receivable coupon bonds. This movement
| has been going on for over two years. A
| leading Baltimore banking-house told me
| they had sent SG0, 900 to one county ID flr-
gnia alone, and that in SUMS Of teW thou'
| sand dollars each. Their orders Tor invest
| mcnt from Virginia have steadily increased.
Such is also the experience Of the Richmond
| bankers and brokers.
IF this movement goes on, and see no
reason why it should not accelerate, it Will
not be long before the mass of the debt is
| owned by our own people. The result OF
this will be that the debt will be no drain,
the interest will be paid at home, and the
savings Of the State will every year become
larger, because all she takes out of one
pocket rs taxes she will pay into the other as
interest on the public debt.
1t seems TO be clear that the experience Of
the last ten years ought to have taught us
something; and if there is any lesson to be
drawn from it, II is that it is neither cheap
nor wise to attempt to shirk our present diff.
ticulty nor to evade payment Of our debts.
For ten years great power In The Safe has
been eXcrted in the way of pOStponements
| Of settlements. Stay-aws, lopg-credit sales,
| prohibition of sale without valuation prices,
| are obtained, and the most cumbr0us ma
| chinery to prevent creditors from enforcing
| their rights have been devised. And |
| assert they have ruined one hundred debtors
where they have helped one. The debtor
is no better of, for his debt is increased by
! natural growth. But he is broken down in
spirit and heart; the prime OF his life Is gone
| not in manly struggle against hardship, but
in a repining and waiting for something to
turn up, and his energies are sapped. He has
lost his life in waiting. when straight, manly
settlement ten years ago would have given
him ten years OF fresh, vigorous life.
This policy has kept large body of lands
in the hands Of debtors who could never by
| any possibility pay for them, and who, there.
fore, have had no valuable interest in them.
They have had neither capital. nor credit, nor
energy, for they knew that by no effort of
! theirs could they pay their debts. In this
way development has been checked. 1t will
fairly show itself when these old debts are
| closed out-whcn the lands are held by peo.
pie who have really an interest in improving
| them, and who are impelled by the motive
power Of Self-intereSt TO be industrious, fru.
gal, and intelligent. This process of settle
ment is slow because the debtor class in the
main possess political power, and they pre-
vent the sale Of lands and the settlement of
old debts; but the lapse of time will make
it surely even if it does so slowly.
believe every thoughtful man in the
State, and a very large majority of every
body else, knows that this stay-law, procras-
| tination theory and practice has done inf
| mite harm, and has done no one good; that
it has destroyed hundreds where it has
helped one; and that it would have been far
better to have forced settlements of ali old
accounts as rapidly as possible, or as the
parties themselves would have been willing
to have forced them. But this is precisely
the same policy that is being now pursued
AS TO the State debt. 1t will be paid. There
is no doubt of that. Virginia will just as
soon repudiate the memory of all her great
deeds, and all her great sons, as she will re-
nounce her great name and position in his.
| tory. and acknowledge that she has been
bankrupted and utterly broken down by the
effects OF four-years' war. There is no
more possibility that this energetic, thriving,
slgacious people will perpetrate so suicidal
and senscleSs an act than that they will de-.
hDerately renOunce their love of liberty and
| OF right. There are many men who would
be glad to get Virginia to do it, but they are
men whose misiortuneS have rendered their
position unhappy and hopeless.
| Young, robust, ardent, sangune Virginia
is not going to sacrifice the great treasure of
| State credit-a treasure from which they
know they can always draw in any urgent
necessity or for any great enterprise
| out consideration and without reason. They
know that credit is necessary to constitute O
great and powerful State, and they will see
| that it is preserved intact to Virginia. They
are not now paying much attention to the
| croakings, and groanings, and advisings that
| are being layished on them by those invalids
who believe the State is afflicted with the
| same maladies which are rendering their
own lives burthens. They are at work at
tending to their own business. They will
see to the Stare-credit business in time. But
/ desire merely to suggest: Will it not be
better for the Stakeholder for the debtor
and unfortunate, broken-down citizens in
the State-to stand up at once to such mea-
sures as will revive State credit?
AS have suggested, the bondholder has
very little interest in the matter. He is very
safe as to his taX-receivable coupons. But
the farmer, the mechanic, the laboring man,
each one of them feels this burthen when.
ever they buy a pound of coffee or yard Of
calico.
The merchant bortows money to use in
bis business. lie pays higher interest on it
because he lives in Virginia. This extra
rate of interest he puts on sugar, on coffee,
on calico, on whatever he sells or the coun-
tryman buys; and the land and the .aborer
pay the tax which is thus levied on Virginia
on account of her loss Of credit.
This tax comes into the State on every car
that is hauled in on railway; it is incorpo-
rated with every cents worth of goods
bought outside and sold within it; and it is
deducted from every pound of tobacco, bar
rel of -four, bushel OF corn, or any produce
raised in Virginia and sold beyond ner Dor.
deIs. 1t increases the price Of every article
Virginia buys and sells, and diminishes the
proceeds Of everything she sells.
1t would therefore seem wise, or it may
even be selfish, in US all to reestablSh State
credit solely for our own advantage, without
regard to obligations of honor or the dictates
Of duty. b. L. y.
How TO PRONOUNCE IT.-As the Senate
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