Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1878-05-31
OUT OF THE ARENA,

FRIDAY MORNING.. MAY 81, 1878.
OUT OF THE ARENA.
We suppose that there are none Of our
friends who during the last campaign called
themselves Adjusters, and who have kept
themselves posted on events since, who will
not agree with us that the question of ad-
iusting the State debt of Virginia is no
longer within the power of her people,
either by the acts of her legislature, or by
a convention, or by any means whatever
that the people Of Virginia can use. Since
the adjournment of the legislature, the
constitutionality of the Funding Bill has
been re-sffirmed by the Court Of Appeals;
it has been decided that it is contract,
and that no legislation can repeal it, and
that no acts making taxes payable in
money for school or government purposes,
can be of any avail. Still later the ques-
ton has been taken before the same court,
of the right of state to tax its own
bonds, and has gone on farther to the U.
S. Supreme Court-a tribunal which has
Just decided the principle involved, in an
other case. and the decision Of which
contained the following unmistakeable
language:
''1ere is more important procision in the Fed
erdl Constitution than the one Which States
from passing lalos inapairig the obligations OF con-
tracts, and it is OF the highest duties OF this
Court to take care, the prohibition shall neither be
given to it in all its spirit. The nvioability of con-
tracts and the duty of performing hem as made, are
foundations OF all wellordered society, and to pre-
vent the removal or disturbance of these fOunda-
tons was of the great objects for which the Con-
stitutiOn was framed
The judgment of the Supreme Court of South
Carolina reversed and the record is RENTED with
instructions to proceed in accordance with this
opinion
No convention. no change of the Court
Of Appeals, no action that can be taken
with view of getting rid of the debt
without the consent of the creditors, can
evade revision by the highest tribunal in
America, which has declared so pointedly
that its chief solicitnde is to see that
States and corporations shall not evade or
fritter away contracts but shall keep them
as made. It is idle to argue against stern
facts.
Then if this question is put aside for us,
as it has been, the uncertainty that has
Impoverished and enfeebled the State
should be put aside with it, and our people
should bend all their energy to improving
the condition of the Commonwealth. Their
attention should not be called off from
their work by the cries of demagogues,
who neither know nor care If what
they promise them is true. And this is
strictly correct. For the chief agitators
of the debt question in Virginia have not
been thinking of the debt at all, 1t does
not matter to these leaders whether they
overstate the amount by fifty millions, as
many of the more ignorant of them have
done. or whether they underrate the pow
er of the courts of the State and Union. 1t
does not matter to them that they are
sending the people to butt against stone
wall, they only wish to excite them suffici-
emily for their purposes. They wish only
to clamOr loud enough to distract the peo-
pie from their work, that they may catch
their eye and make them leave the work
shop and the plow handle long enough
to aid in the elevation of some aspirant to
a higher place, with the accompanying per-
quisites to the henchman The pretence
of relief for the people is the falsest deceit
The legislation of the past winter, and the
decisions of the bench since have fully
shown that to be the case. Ithas not even
the merit of bluff game to frighten the
creditors into terms. 1t scares none of
them, for up to this time only man has
been reported as offering to exchange his
old six per cent. bonds with receivable
coupon for the new three and four per
cents without the recoverable coupon. Had
the coupons of the new bonds been made
recoverable for dues, the fate of the offer
might have been different one, but of
this it is Of no good to speak now. What
of any promises held out to the people that
any legislative action, or action Of a con-
vention can in any way effect the funded
debt of Virginia, and the uselessness of
further agitation of the subject. If there
is any further forcing of it into the Con-
servative party it can only be for two OBJ
jects: one being to crafty the personal
ambition of member of it, and the other
an effort on the part of the dying Repub-
lican party to furnish itself with new life
by disorganiMng the victorious Conserva-
tive organization. The movers are quite
regardless of the important fact that our
people want quiet from politics, and time
to attend to their own affairs, and their
persistence in insisting on keeping up the
discussion is only equalled by the lack of
patriotism in their motives.
The President of the Vermont State Re
publican Convention says: ''The Repub-
lican party, born OF necessity, has
been shattered and riven. Never since
prior to the war has the spirit of rebellion
been so violent, so rampant as to-day.
What means the reduction of the army
reduction of appropriations 2" Well, the
answer to this may be found in the reading
of the following kilograms:
HEADQUARTERS !
'fWAsHINGTON, Oct IA, 1876
$40 Gen. Buyer, Columbia, s. c.
1--WE are all back from California. If you want