The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1877-10-18
To the Voters of Augusta,

uleicencnt OF the hev0lutlOn OF 1851, Is SO
we'll known to the people of Augusta, as to
require no extended review. Suffice it to
say, that her ant-war debt, contracted upon
the basis of ample and lawful securities,
amounted in round numbers according to
the four years of war, for manifest reasons
aad for the five or six additional years of re-
construction, little or no money was paid,
and the debt increased, by the accumulation
OF interest, to $4,000, 900. For this amount,
under judicial decree, both of the Virg; has
were jointly and severally bound. The leg
islature of 1871. q body chosen with no ref
erence to o settlement Of this debt, under
took, at the instance Of alien parties. and
without conference with their constituency.
not only to ''adjust it, but also to subordi
nate to that adjustment for all time to come,
the sovereign will OF the people of this State.
Under the operations OF this Funding bill
agreement, the debt was increased by the
conversion of interest into principal, which
then became new interest bearing fund,
and the present State was forced to assume
two-thirds of it, for which her new bonds
were issued bearing interest at the rate of
six per cent. per annum, with coupons at
taclled, receivable for taxes and all other
dues to the State, and the remaining third
was left to be pTouided for IN the future.
Under the injurious influences of this legis
lative enactment, the sacred precincts of the
school fund, set apart under the constitution
for the education of our children, have been
every year invaded and the schools Grip
pied; the Government, for the most part.
tloated by temporary loans from the Rich,
mond banks and brokers; her paper gone
to protest, until the banks have
refused to loan; the most enormous
and enduring burdens of taxation are i'm
posed, and stlll the appalling fact is reveal
ed, that the State is defaultcr id tile start
ling ratio of a million dollars per ,ahnum.
six millions in six years. But this and kin
dred legislation, not only impairs the credit
OF the Commonwealth, forces deep and I'M
natural depression of all her material inter-
ests uncertain and reduced wages for labor,
a settled and sullen dependency among ali
property holders, and heavy decline in the
value of real estate, but it dooms to certain
and sudden decay the very interest upon
which the general prosperity depends. On
| the 18th day of NIay last the farmers and
mechanics of Augusta held q conference in
| our County Courthouse, looking to indie
pendent action upon these andsother cues
tions OF public policy, they introduced reforms
| that would, we believe, if adhered to, arrest
| many of the disorders and improve the GEN
eral condition OF our people. The policy
proposed by these gentlemen was bitterly
critlclsed, anu those who proposed it were,
| throuSh the columns OF our local press. on
the street corners. and from the hastings,
| denounced anu vlilfied as repudiationists, as
~, lllIerale empyrlcs IN State craft" &c.
lhese patfiotic denunoiations of the public
press. under the trading influence Of design
| ing politicians, have either fallen powerless
| by the Way or reboupded to the iniuru Of
the cause they were intended to promote;
the PROOF u.s., that the legislative canvass
1hfouSnohe the entire State, is fairly and
squarely made up ON the questions of tax
alton, which was the very issue presented
by these same s'illiterate empyrcs'' in State
craft, and of the sixty-five nominations that
have been made in the Statc,-fffty-t five of
them occupy the position held BY the far
mers and mechanics of Augusta on the 10Th
of May. Those who stand opposed to lis on
this absorbing question propose, son under
| one pre:ense and some another, to do the
very thing that Gov Kemper says would be
virtual confiscation of private property. and
against which the potent voice of our State
treasurer has warned us time and again.
They propose, first to extend the operations
OF the funding act, placing the peeler in this
way on a footing with the coupon. and then
| Increase the taxes to full compliance with
this fictitious and unnatural promise: a pro-
mise based upon taxable values that the
State of Virginia never owned :. a promise
that the people of Virginia believe to have
been secured by arts and devices, never be-
fore dreamed of in the legislative councils of
the Old Dominion. The advocates and sup
porters of this policy, vino are alone respon-
sible for the financial complications that so
seriously threaten the overthrow of orr So
cial institutions, hold, that this legislative
enactment OF 1871, as adjudged in the case
of Antoni VS.. Wright by our own Court of
Appeals, is inviolable,-that it is beyond the
control OF future legislation, and that there
fore the proposition to increase the present
burdens becomes an absolute necessity.
They might with equal consistency claim
that the State government could by contract
alien its revenues SO entirely as to destroy
its existence. Yet we know that the duty
OF preserving its existence is imposed not
only by constitutional mandate, but by its
natural obligations to society We know,
too, that the amount of taxation that can be
borne by the people OF State is q political
and not judicial question,-=it is the prom
inent question involved in the present polit-
lcal canvass. 10 fulfill the benevolent ex-
pectatlons OF our good friends on the other
side, an additional tax OF % cents on every
Sl00 worth OF property will be required, and
no provision is mace IN the calculation
Tor the accumulated interest, and no pro-
vision, except the uncertain working of the
Sinking Fund," is made for the ultimate
redemption OF the principal. Are the pco-
pie OF Augusta prepared for it? Can the
people OF Virginia bear 1t! We at least be-
lleve not; nor 90 we believe either in the
moral or lega! obligations that rests upon us
to undertake it, Not IN the moral, because
tne original contract mas been grossly vic
lated,-wlifully perverted, Nor in the le-
gal, because we believe the authorities are
numerous to show that the Virginia le9isla-
ture IS body created by the people, and
that their powers OF sovereignty is trust del
egated to them, to be executed by them to
the best CT their Judgment for the public
COCOA, ana tiiat no one legislature can, by
their own arbitrary act, eisarm their success
sors OF those same powers or rights of SOW
relgnty confded by the people to every leg
lslatlve body. We believe the authorities
are numerous to show that no one legisla-
ture has the right. upon questions OF public
policy, to tic the hands OF all future genera
lions. we belleye that it would be mon
strols and absurd to say that the Virginia
legislature, IN the passage OF an act that
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