Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1877-10-10
would be undone. Almost simulta-
neously with this first funding they ap-

would be undOne. Almost Slmulta-
neously with this first funding they APP
pointed a commission of which Mr..
Stuart was member to negotiate for a
restora ton of the old State as it was
before the war. West Virginians de-
clined to treat. TOO many men there
wanted office the State was radical,
and radical congress came to the res
cue. The Supreme Court of the United
States was packed with a Strong and a
Bradley to complete the infamous job,
and the first funding assembly manifest
ed its disgust for its own work by levy
ing only fourteen cents on the 500.
But by their act the principal of our debt
was augmented by s6,237, 391,93, of
war interest. What followed? The
State which had.resumed all its func-
tons as government, whose people
had taken and subscribed every oath OF
fealty prescribed, and had elected a
legislature; whose Judiciary was organ
lied and all Of its machinery in active
operation, and whose position in the
Union had been recognized by Federal
authority, was remanded, by act of
congress March End 1867, into a militia
ry district with Weitzel, Ord. Halleck,
Terry, Scho6eld, Burton, Stoneman,
Webb. Candy and Wells as her military
governors, until the 9th day ofJuly 1869.
After which time the congress allowed
her to convene a legislature to adopt the
18th and 18th amendments and then
adjourn until it should be determined
whether she was properly reconstructed.
This was finally passed upon and ap-
proved by the president on the Goth Of
January 1870, since which time Virginia,
as she is, has been state in the Union.
During this period, from March '61 to
January 20, interest was accommodating
on the debt funded in '67. Here we had
a mass ofinterest upon principal, and in
terest upon war interest, approximating
millions ofdollars, grown from
a principal debt in 1861 of s3l, 197, $780,
80. In the mean time the Underwood
constitution had been adopted to which
we were compelled to adjust our local
and state autonomy. Almost every
feature Of it was new and great excite
ment prevailed throughout the State.
Men were elected to the legislature with
40 thought Of the public debt in their
own minds or those of their constituents.
It was the first legislature in which the
newly enfranchised were to participate,
and no property holder in Virginia ever
thought for a moment Of submitting the
Of state finances for their
first experiment. But the Brother
Jonathan cormorants and John Bull yu,-
lures had an eye thitherWard. That
General Assembly with unanimous
negro and alien vote and a minority
vote did proceed to fund
again the public debt Of the State. The
reconstruction interest which had accru-
Ill was thrown into the general mass of
lebt, and two-thir9s Of it was assumed
oy Virginia certain, with the doubts and
.he courts against her on the other
third as the sequel will show. Won
1erful achievement Sharp bargain !
Got rid of third of the debt we hear !!
Yet our two-thirds, as funded, amounts
20 s35, 1904, 1885: Or just about the
sinking fund IN excess Of the aeAo7e debt
Of the achole State at the beginning Of the
war. Note Just at this point how nice
" Mr.. Stuart rounds the corner by hus-
six millions back and forth.
70 make the debt appear large in '6l he
reports sinking fund (retird bonds) in
with the general aggregate to reduce
the debt, as funded, he subtracts, not
only the sinking fund of s4,9S6,781,90
but the literary fund Of s1,428, 245, %.
Is this the bequest Of the honored gen.
tleman to his constituents as he with
draws himself from the public service !?
Would he tell them that fund which
has been held sacred to the purposes OF
education from our early state history is
no longer inyiolable because, forsooth,
it has been diverted from the colleges
to the free schools and would he do
this in the year Of his rectorship Of
Jeferson's greatest benetaction. when
the State appropriations to her Uniyer-
sity, her Institute and her College have
been doubled and increased without
stint. and without murmur from the
masses who pay tall: l am not sure
but voted for every measure looking to
the raising ofrevenue which Mr.. Stuart
presented to the General Assembly
during his craftsmanship of the finance
committee in % and "A IS, and now
when remember how bravely the la
mented Cochran announced a change
of conviction on the funding bill after he
had champloned it in the House as a
chairman, and that he is now gathered
to his rest. and when 1 read Chairman
Waddell's letter and run up Chairman
Stuart's figures lam constrained to hope
that an exotic chairman may be found
in the next legislature. This last fund
Ing bill Mr.. Waddell at first objected to
because he thought ut practically repu-
dated one-third OF the debt" while in his
opinion we were illegally and morally
bound for the WHOLE" but as soon as
it was adopted by his committee he gave
it support and says he ''uid more to
promote the passage of the bill than
any other single member Of the leg1sla,
ture.' This strikes me as loose law
and questionable morality. He beliey.
ed us bound in Flaw and morals" fol
the whole, but the report Of his commit