Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1879-01-07
For the SPECTATOR
Memoir Of John Hewe PeytOn.

GENTLEMEN AT the request Of Col.
J. L. Peyton wrote a brief sketch of
my recollections of his father. I did
not know 1t was to be published till
saw it in the Vsrginidn.
Partly to correct some errors In the
printing, partly to add one or two para.
graphs, but chiefly to invoke the earn
est attention of the young men Of Au-
gusta to the example and the counsels
of this distinguished man, 1 ask space
in your columns for this inadequate
sketch.
| These young men, with their fellows
throughout the State, have succeeded to
the chief burthen of the Common
wealth. They have been treated, for
the past year or two, to perfect ''sat-
urnalian Of demagogis1n on the public
debt, irredeemabls cheap money. and
the public schools: They have Legis-
lature now in session, large section Of
the public debt, but to obstruct its settle
msnt; not to carry on efficiently the
schools by imposing the necessary tax
therefor, but by giving them precedence
at the public fisk over all other claim
ants Except themselves); not to aug
ment the revenues by improving the
efficiency of the liquor register, but de-
feating Important amendments thereto !;
and, In general, not to maintain the
public credit by fair and hopeful ex-
hibit of the States means and resources.
but by striving, In season and out of
season. to show her bankrupt.
Now you, the young men of Augusta,
have not been reared In any such faith
or doctrine as this. You have been
taught to know that there are but two
ways under heaven to get rid Of or to ex-
tinguish a debt: either for the debtor to
pay it or for the creditor to forgive it.
Until the one or the other of these
things is done, it remains. and forever
will remain, debt; nor can any sub
terfuge avoid or circumvent it. You
have been told and told again, till the
iteration grows monotenous. that you
cannot stand any more taxes. It is
property that pays the tax; and If that
property is fairly assessed, all stand on
the same level; and 500 here is equal
to 500 in New York.
If any where in Virginia land Ia as
sessed too high let it be corrected. But
this is not true Of the Valley of Virginia.
Nor is it true, apprshend, of any sec
tion of the State that personal property
is returned at too high an estimate. The
contrary is too notoriously true.
AS to the people of this great Valley,
they are exceptionally favored; their
lands smile with fatness and their barns
burst with plenty. How is it possible
for them to say they can pay fifty cents,
but cannot pay sixty or seventy cents
upon the 500 of their property, If this
be necessary to meet just and honest
debt and to keep the schools In opera
ton? How do other States pay, as a
large majority of them do, seventy,
eighty, and even one hundred cents on
the 500. How do cities and towns in
Virginia pay eighty and one hundred
cents-Staunton, one hundred and ten
cents-on the 500, and this in addition
to the fifty cents State tax ? And they
are not producers of the necessaries Of
life, but consumers. So long as this
question remains disturbing element
in our politics, no prosperity can come
to the State-neither influx of capital
nor Of immigrants. The private credit
Of every citizen is impaired by every
assault upon the public faith and, in
the condition to which our affairs are
now brought, passivity itself-a mere
do-nothing policy-becomes crime
against the Commonwealth. To the
plain intelligence of common men the
solution is not difficult. Require youl
representatives to cut off needless ex-
penees; enforce the honest collection ol
the revenues, especially the liquor-tax
and with these reforms add such in
crease of taxes as will provide for the
full interest of the debt. Do this hon.
estly, and two years will not pass before
Virginia can borrow at four per cent. all
the money needed to retire every six Del
cent. bond she owes at home or abroad
Credit is all we want. What but credit
enabled the United States government
to take up her six per cent. bonds with
five per cents, and now to be daily re.
firing these five per cents. with four pe,
cents, by the hundred million. With
like credit, Virginia can do the same
thing. And then every son Of hers car
hold up his head with the full conscious