Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1877-10-10
A PLAIN. OPEN LETTER ON THE DEBT.
ANDREW BRoADDUs Esq,
Editor Page Courier.
dads My. Dear Sir:


\ irE ! am much pleased
with the emphatic tone of your paper
whenever it discusses the public debt
Equestion, the more pleased because
know the Courier is the reflex of Page
county sentiment, and its positive utter
ances on this vital question give assur
ance OF the same community of thought
and interest between Shenandoah and
Page people which has SO long .charac-
terized them in the political affairs of
the State. And may express, in this
connection, the gratitude ofmany others
of this county for the fair and compli-
mentary report which your paper gave
of the meeting held here at our last
court, and its resolves. Our people and
yours are all producers engaged in
some industrial, pursuit, and when they
express an opinion it is sure to be one of
/ patriotic suggestion. We have no ma
tional banks, brokers OF. spectators in
bonds among us-none of those who
subsist upon government but simply
citizens who consider the functions
/ ofgovernment ended with the proven
ton OF positive evil. and never expect
from it any positive good, the mere at
tempt at which always-has proved, and
always will prove. disastrous to the only
interests and industries which assist
progress and compel prosperity. The
bold and uneQuiyocal resolutions of our
people stand out in marked contrast
with the sophistical circulars of gentle
men above and below us who claim to
stand upon higher plane of personal
and state integrity. I have read the
cards of Aiessrs Stuart, Waddel and
Barton, the two former in yindication Of
past legislative careers. and the latter
presenting himself as candidate. Mr..
Stuart's has some Of the true ring, but
the old gentleman writes much more
like the political philosopher than the
statesman. In reading Mr.. Waddell's
card, one loses his wonderment at the
enactment of the Finding Bill as soon
as he strikes the paragraph which tells
/ that the writer was chairman Of the
Senate committee On finance. Mr.. Bar
TOMS is a second edition of Sir Giles
OveTeacl, or a New way to Pay Old
debts" much enlarged and improved.
The inky signatures have all faded from
the ''Peelers, and our only contract is
with the holders Of ''Consols" by logi-
cal analysis OF his card. I shall trouble
You with some brief comparisons. The
substance Of the Shenandoah resolutions
IS readiustment that Will rebate all war
ana reconstruction interest from our
State debt. This is conceded to be hon
est, but is claimed to be impracticable.
This is an anomoly. Ifit be honest it !
MAY f9F DO YRhRasfffpu bd posy
demand it, it should assert its preroga-
tive despite any and every impeachment.
Mr.. Jefferson very promptly notified
the British government Of the deter
mination of the Colonies not to pay
interest that accrued on their debts be-
tween 1776 sand 1873. Marshall and
Henry threw the full weight Of their in
ffuence and learning into the Colonial
balance on this question. Judge PEN
dleton, president Of the Virginia Court
Of Appeals. gave an exhaustive opinion
in test case, in which we may find
language as little complimentary to gen
tlemen who held otherwise as are the
modern high place epithets Of "thieyes''
and highway robbers" applied to gen
tlemen who would square their public
conduct by the standard Of integrity
fixed by the Revolutionary Fathers"
and who revere the law for its science
and its equities rather than its case ac-
commodations. Nirginians Of that day
could not be inti.nidated by threats from
a Gerstenberg, and their highest court
had the temerity to ignore decision of
the Federal Chief Justice at the hazard
Of being denounced as revolutionists by
the Skimkins ofthe profession Who pro-
flied by British suits then, as some do
| now in buying coupons and selling them
to large taxpayers /; or, better still, by
acting as brokers and agents for the
sale OF the coupons or the collection of
the interest. l have to see the first
man who controverts the view that
neither law nor equity holds us to
auy obligation for the payment Of war
interest. Observe what this war inter-
est has done for us in making up debt,
and compare these figures with Mr.
Stuart's to note how deXterously he
shifts four to five millions from side to
side in making his plausible showing.
Our debt at secession was s3l, 1877, $780,
80. Mr.. Stuart puts it down at $780,
$40, 109,59 by giving table Of e1pendi-
lures up to 1861, and not deducting
what had been purchased into the sink
ing fund, or virtually retired. The in
terest reported by the Auditor to the
first General Assembly after the war
amounted to $6.237, 391,o3. Then COM
menced the funding process, and this
war interest was compounded by act of
assembly, under the Pierepoint govern
ment. To this the flinders point with
great zest as the beginning of our woes
and their precedent. 1.-THE finance com
mittee had given as much attention to
all the circumstances attending this
first error as they should have
done they never would have
committed the second one in 1871
That act funded the whole debt. Vir-
ginia had not given her consent to the
; formation Of the state Of West Virginia