Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1877-06-29
THE PUBLIC DEBT.

r -
THE PUBLIC DEBT.
The opponents of the payment of the
public debt of Virginia say they want
frankness from the other side. AS far as
one journal is concerned they shall have it.
The curse of the representative body of the
State, ever since the State government was
restored, has been unconquerable timidity
and vacillation. For the last six years the
most of our representatives have been con-
tent to rave about the Funding Bill, and
lay all the ills of the State On that. This
bill has been so befogged with figures, real
and imaginary; so denounced without ex-
PLANTATION, and so surrounded with hints
and open charges of corruption. that it has
been made al object Of suspicion to unin-
formed people, who almost believe that no
money due under it's operations is righteous
" due. The whole history Of this bill is
that: Virginia, on the first day Of July.
1871, owed, with her debt incurred before
the war (for the payment Of all other debts
was forbidden by the United States) and
the accrued interest, $44, 5S3 900. The
whole of the principal of the debt had been
incurred for public improvements. It was
money loaned, dollar for dollar, for Vir-
ginia bonds were always at par before the
war. 1t was resolved to pay this debt by
giving Virginia bonds for two-thirds of it,
and for the other third a certificate pay
as should hereafter be made with West
Virginia. In other words the old State
got rid of one-third of the debt, for if no
settlement be made by the new State there
is accordingly no settlement to be made
with the certificate holders. What private
debtor is there who would not be glad to
settle with his creditors in this way-a re-
duction Of one-third of his debt and
thirty-four more years to pay it in9 How
much money was made by private parties
on the passage of this bill; how much lob
bying there was to procure it, and how
many middle men found their advantage
in. it would be hard to say.-Doubtless
quite as many and as much as are found
following all bills in legislative bodies,
where there is an interest of many millions
of dollars; but that there was bribery and
corruption, or anything amounting to
faint of the bill, we do not for moment
believe. That action of the people of Vir-
ginia, through their representatives elected
at an untainted ballot-box, stands to-day
unimpeachable before the courts. A ia
oF itot of
six years after the act, is That ''you all
did it. but that won't do. 1t was done
by men who they themselves aided in
electing. What there is in having accept
ed the most favorable terms ever gotten by
a debtor, to be ashamed of, we are at loss
to see, and the only solution we can see fol-
it is that professional politicians have been
assuring the people that after making AZ
irrevocable bargain they have a chance
for better terms by repudiating it.
So much for the justice of the debt and
its reason to be. And now for the burden
On our people to pay it, and 20 look at this
we print the very worst view of it that has
been presented. that given by Gov. KEMP
Err in mood of exceeding low spirits two
years ago and quoted in pamphlet, writ
ten and extensively circulated by Rev. JNo
E. MAssIE, of Albemarle-a document we
wish we had room to publish in full. 1t is
doubtless from this despairing array OF
figures that some of our friends, Col. Will
L1AMs for example, got their figures. Here
is the extract showing the burden the Gov
IL t1,o h RI
State revenue derived from taxation ZAP, 1854
Amount of reported county, township, 80 .
road and local school levleS, 2,ZIIooS Il
Amount of unreported county, town.
ship, road and local school levIeS, as
estimated by the Auditor of Public
Accounts, ZoZ,foIo
for one year. 5,oe4. 26s.5
Brought over. 1904, 268. s.
During the sameIyear the United States
government collected in Virginia in
the shape of internal revenue taxes, 1913, a5t
And assuming, what is far short of the
truth, that the money directly and
indirectly drawn from the people of
Virginia by United States tariff taxa
ton, is in The proportion of the pop
ulation of the State to that OF the
whole country, it is shown that Viz
gnia pays, by reason of the national
custom laws, the further sum of 1916, 4Ol. 9;
Total in one wear, SIS. 3ss, 6s1 o.
This, says the Governor is about 81 pei
cent. Oh all the taxable property of tive
State. He ought to have added. and could
with as much propriety have added to the
E'annual taxation of the people, the s12, 0G0
0O0, that DR.. RUFFNER adduces figures tn
show is spent in whiskey inside the State.
In better cause, but still "tax'' drawn
from the people, he might have put TIL
$6,00O,0 900 annually spent for the churches
in the State, those glorious preservers of
the civilization of the people. To any far
mer who reads Gov. KEMPER'S figures for
information about State taxes, that derived
will be unsatisfactory to the last degree.
He knows that his county taxes are direct
ly the work of his own hand and are made
to meet his necessities and that not dollar
of the money goes away from the county.
He knows that the seven millions of U. S.
revenue paid has no place in the discussion
of the subject, and Indeed if we are to ac-
cept the arguments of our Republican
friends does not come from Virginia, but
from those outside who buy our whiskey
and tobacco, or as they say it is a tax paid
not by the people but only by those who
use the luxuries named. And so with the
tax of five millions Indirectly taken out by
the U. S. custom laws, it is something that
it is not competant for the people of Viz
ginia as State to reform now, though
sometime hereafter as a member Of na-
tional party they may have a word to say
about it, which will be as we all know in
1880. But what is practical, what We have
to do with now, and what it is in our pow