The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1877-06-21
State Affairs.

cCdJc hldlTS.
The financial condition OF Virginia is a
matter that should seriously engage the
attention OF the people of the State. No
device, no snecious promise, no delusivc
assurance should for an instant draw their
thoughts from question which so deep
IL affects their present and future well
fare The Treasury of the State is now
substantially empty; demands for money
borrowed ont of the banks to pay current
expenses of government are pressing; the
Treasurer, himself, is respondent, and has
given out that the necessities Of government
may compel an extra session to devise ways
to provide means for the indispensable wants
of the various departments. Even during
the session OF the Legislature, there were
times when there was not dollar at the
Treasurer's command; the paper of the
State was hawked about from bank to bank
to borrow enough ready cash to pay the per
diem OF members; at the same time the
coupons upon the funded debt were flooding
in, The bondholders having sold them at
discount OF Is per cent. to the tax payers,
with which to pay their taxes. There are
about $40, 100000 of these funded bonds,
upon which there is interest collected in
coupons to the amount OF $l,2O0,000. This
all finds its way into the Treasury in the
shape of taxes. The current expenses sot
government have been about 81, 200, 600. The
annual revenue drawn from all sources OF
taxation is about 50, 1000 00-one-half OF
which is paid By coupons. There is the
Literary fund and the Sinking fund, upon
which the State pays interest amounting to
about $5OO,6OO. This. added to the interest
ON unfundcd tlebt-$10, 100000 principal
makes a default of about 81, 100, 000in interest
annually, without considering the $l5 1000
of principal assigned to West Virginia, and
which that State has never recognized as
lust, and never will, bearing per cent.
interest.
This is, very briefly, the plight in which
the Funding Bill has placed the State. 1t
makes her defaulter in interest to- the
amount of over one million of dollars an
nually on what she has assumed in that bill,
and of 100000 on the certificate of indebt-
eduess issued and arbitrarily apportioned to
West Virginia.
We find the Treasury empty, the State IN
debt to the banks for money borrowed to
meet current expenses of government, and
a default in the interest each year OF more
than one million of dollars in one view OF
the case, and about two millions in the
other, and yet the men who are SO sensitive
about the 'honor of Virginia" demanding
that the question of the States Indebtedness
be "let alone ''!-that it will work out its
own result, and tIlat-repudiation! III
We ask the people-the honest, we'll
meaning, debt paying people OF virginia
whether they intend to allow these schemlng
.demagogues, who care nothing about Vir'
pinia's credit, and, in many instances, moth
ing about their own, who would cheerfuliy
look upon the increasing obligation for
which the peoples property is mortgaged'
and make no sincere effort to avert the evil.
so they are elected to positions OF trust and
prolific again get control OF the Legisa-
tive and Executive branches OF the govern
ment. It is matter OF vital concern TO
every taxpayer in the State. 1t involves
the very life of the Commonwealth, and is
an issue that The people, who are so deeply
interested, should demand that it be met
and disposed of.
The people cannot be too seriously i'm
pressed with the importance OF the duty
that is before them. They will be ap-
preached with all kinds of statements OF
what can be done under the present Constr
tuition, and through the Bell Punch, and
new sources of taxation. These are mere
devices imaginary specifies, patent cure
alls-which will not be worth the breath
that conveys them when the supreme test
comes. The only sensible and legitimate
and practical way to deal with the whole
matter is to elect Legislature and Governor
who feel with the people, ami who will have
the courage to confront the facts as they arc
and deal with them.
All this Generalization, these serious COM
plications, this impairment Of public credit,
come from the Funding Bill-a piece OF
legislation binding neither in morals, nor IN
rood law, as can be demonstrated. 1t is
known that 1t was the offspring OF bribery
and corruption-it is known that it was con-
ceiyed in falsehood and born in duplicity,
and that it was fastened upon the people by
fragrant disregard of the first great princi-
Piles of Republican. government, by which
the people were stripped of their power, and
remanded to the embrace of money sharks
and Shylocks.
There has not been a year, except one,
since 1871, when the Funding Bill was en-
acted, that over one-third Of the interest on
the two-thirds of the debt was paid, although
the, assurance was given that the present
rate of taxation would be sufficient to meet
the entire amount. In one year it was re-
ported by Governor Kemper. in speech he
delivered in Harrisonburg, that five per cent.
had been paid on the amount assumed BY
Virginia. lie never, however, stated to the
people how it was paid. He did not tell
them that, paying it as it was paid, ought to
have caused his impeachment and vacated
ais office. It was by robbing the school
fund of 100000, which is sacredly reserved
by the Constitution and the laws for school
purposes, and borrowing from the banks OF
Richmond about s230OO0. This is the way
the five per cent. was paid. The bond
holders, it is true, received their five per
cent, but the public schools were crippled,
the law and the Constitution were violated,
and another debt bearing 6 per cent. inter-
lest, at least, created for $230,000, for the
people to pay.
It is in this way these praters about Vir-
,ginia's honor would preserve lit is in this
way they would attempt to delude and de-
ceive the people and soothe them to quiet,
while the canker of Reputation and Dis
donor is silently gnawing at the very vitals
of the body polite.
Taxpayers of Virginia, you have it in
your power to remedy these evils-to arrest
the fatal disease that is eating away your
substance, and place the old Commonwealth
in a position to meet all just demands, and
start afresh in the path of progress and pros
r.r,fu Calf nracAruatian demands that avarv