Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1877-07-06

FRIDAY MORNING. JULY 6, 1877.
THE DISCUSSION OF THE PUB
Lie DEBT.
Rev. J. II. MASSEY, of Albemarle, who
has done as much to call attention to the
debt of Virginia and as little to suggest
any way out of it as any man of his prom
inence in the State, publishes letter in
the form Of supplement to the Staunton
"Spectator" in reply to the recent letter of
Hon. A. III. HI. Stuart Time has modified
Mr.. MASSEY at least in the way of sugges-
tions. On the 23d of September, 1875, in
a letter written on the public debt he
mapped out an reputable settlement" that
would make the mouth of tax payer wa
ter. His plan was that Virginia was not
to settle more than two-thirds Of the debt
as it stood in '61 that no interest was to
be allowed on that two-thirds for the four
years of the war that even that two-thirds
when held in Virginia or the Northern
States was to be scaled in full proportion
to the destruction Of the property of Vir-
ginia tax payers, and finally those bonds
held in Europe were to be paid at there face
uaLaw by the Federal government. By this
happy settlement Mr.. MASSEY thought that
the debt of Virginia could be reduced to
s15,OOO,O 900 or less. These were the sug-
gestions of Mr.. MASSEY two years ago,
and he remarked at the time with pro-
phetic vision that some might be $50 weak
minded or so blinded by prejudice as to
charge that these views favor repudiation,' y
but all such weak persons he thought
sslacked common perspicacity or common
honesty" and therefore they could only be
pitied.
In his letter of this week it may be said in
Justice to Mr.. M. that he advances no such
impracticable suggestions as those quoted
above. but confines himself chiefly to a
demonstration that Virginia is held for the
whole of the old debt and interest, and to
the assertion that the fruits Of any Virginia
legislation hereafter will be applied to re-
ducing her taxes and not to the payment
of interest. His first position as to the
enduring responsibility of the State for the
whole of the debt has been so positively
denied by those engaged in the passage of
the Funding Bill as to the intent Of that
instrument, and so generally repudiated by
so many of the wisest hands of the State
as to the effect, that it is hardly of use to
discuss it. All his argument goes for
nothing in the face of the fact that the
Funding Bill was accepted by large
majority of the bondholders as a COM
promise of their claim, other wise, as
Mr. MASSEY must see, it was of no purpose
at all, and the exchange of old bonds for
new ones was the merest farce, as far as
changing the position of either creditor or
debtor was concerned. AS regards his
second position-that all efforts at deriving
additional revenue from the State will be
applied in their results to lessening taxa
ton directly, by reducing it, instead Of
lessening it Indirectly by reducing the
amount of the public debt, it is entirely
new to us. About the tax on the con-
sumption of ardent spirits, he says that
ssmany believe it's friends are doomed to
signal disappointment that if it materi-
ally increase the revenue the next step
will be corresponding reduction of taxes
on property, and that many who supported
the measure, ''did so in the interest of the
taxpayer, and not of the bondholder.' y
We say entirely new, because 1t has been
generally and fully understood in the
State that what efforts have been made to
raise more revenue, were for meeting the
claims of the creditors of the State. The
hope, we believe uppermost in the breasts
of the taxpayers of the State, has been
that by their contributions to the public
treasury they might In time turn the hill
in the matter Of the public debt, and re-
duce their taxes by the legitimate mode of
reducing the debt-Mr. Massey to the con-
trary notwithstanding.
Mr.. MASSEY suggests in concluding that
those who read his letter, ''mav. if you
will achieve victory at the approaching
State election, which you and your chill
dren may look to with pride and pleasure. :"
The victory itself is not so much, Mr..
MASSEY, it is what may be done with it
by the victors, that gives the gravest con-
Germ to everyone interested in the credit
and prosperity of Virginia! If the rest of
your compatriots are no more competent
to handle the affairs of state than those
who are put forward iii Augusta. a victory
for your side would be disaster for the
State, to which the coming generation
would look with the deepest modification
and chagrin.!
Between Mr.. MAssEY's letter of rs, and
this one, the come down is very great, and
between this one and his letter of next
November, the descent will be still
greater.
But all this is the mere skirmishing on
the outposts of the coming questions. The
issue, as we have the authority of the
s'Virginia Patron,' of Richmond, for say
ing, is just this:
1. Shall the funding bill stand as the
law Of the land?
2. Shall the free schools be improved
Or abolished?
Improve the public schools! Improve
Well, then, to improve what are already
a heavy tax it must require heavier
taxation, which we are told the people
can't bear. Then it means the alterna-
tive-abolish them. And any man who
has watched the drift of the tide in this
matter of reputation, cannot fail to have
realized that the public schools are to go
with the public debit that goes. If
laws can be passed to abrogate a solemn
contract to pay our creditors, legislation
will not be wanting to wipe out the pub
lie schools. They are not out of reach
of the class of legislators, who are now