Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1879-02-11

should pay. west virginia SnOuiu pa.
one.third. We lost in property during
the war another third SO that our jus
and equitable part would be $l5 900.
900 at six per cent. or $50, ooo, 900 a
three per cent, provided the presen
rate of taxation win pay it.
He showed that on the 9th of July
1870. when the present fifty cent Ia,
on $loo was adopted, productions o.
all kinds, agricultural, etc., had dou.
b!ed their present values, and tha,
thus we are now paying double taxes
that in 1872, one year after the Fun
ding bill, the property Of Virginia
was assessed at 1915, 900, 900 in 1877
it fell to $32b, 600, 900, and in 1878 it
fell to $3l5 900, ,ooo-that is, fell
$50, 600, 900 in six pears.
The speaker depicted the poverty
of Virginia in feeling terms, billowed
with the graves Of her sons fallen in
battle her household>gods destroyed
her sons now "hewers of wood, &c. -
her daughters, as fair as Helen OF
Troy. subjected to masculine labors;
her fields wasted, without means to
till or stock them; prices at nominal
sums--pork at So wheat 70 cents,
corn 40 cents. oats 25 cents, horses
$50. Federal raids, late freshets,
and other calamities have wrought
widespread ruin.
He showed that Virginia pays SIo,-
900, 900 of revenue to the U. States
alone, as much as all of the six New
England States; $4,000, 900 to State,
and So, 900. 900 to counties and towns,
aggregating $40, 200, 900 of taxes paid
by Ter. And yet the "Three Ball
Sign" of shaver is all over the land,
and money interest up to say, fifteen
per cent, while the farms of the State
do not yield, on an average, a profit
of four per cent. He deprecated the
"Funding Association of the United
States, with ex-Secretary McCulloch
at its head, and feared the conference
of the agents of bondholders, who
are to assemble in Richmond soon.--
1t would be a legalized lobby, and
fraud and corruption would hold hign
carnival there as in 1871, when the
Funding bill was incubated and
hatched out with its viperous spawn.
He feared the "Black Star influence"
of the Richmond Funders, and all
promises Of relief from the conference
would be dead Sea apples to the taste.
If the agents of the bondholders to
come, the people of Virginia can
exclaim, as the unhappy Dido did
when abandoned by the faithless,
Aineas, "fIappy had | been, yea, too
happy, had the ships of Troy never
come to this land" The bondhol.
ders themselves do not come, but a
lot Of brokers, bankers, and Wall
street and Boston "Barons Of the
Purse. "
The speaker spoke in rapturou'
terms of the glorious Free school syS-
TEN Of Virginia. He showed how
the Constitution had dedicated GER
tain proceeds to them as sacred, and
said that the schools were the adopted
policy of the Realjusters OF Virginia.
Schools were social, political and
moral benefactors, and great consti-
tutional right. He exposed the hos
tilty of the Funders and Last-dollar
party to free schools; how the State
was in arrears to the free schools over
81 900, 900, and yet the protean Aud
itor had paid to Richmond College,
Lexington Institute, and Others, ALI
OF The interest on State bonds held by
them, as also their appropriations,
and to the University Of Virginin all
except $4,000. He showed how free
schools were being closed; district
school funds necessarily taken to pay
the worthy teachers their salaries,
while the Governor, Auditor, and
other State officials were paid in full
and promptly, The speaker advocated
that free schools should be maintained
for all classes, white and colored,
male and female; of course the white
and colored to be kept SEPARATE
The colored people were making good
citizens, and If they will be honest
sober and industrious, they should
have the benefit Of the free schools
and other blessings Of the State.
The speaker showed that repudia'
ton was not n new doctrine;
I. American colonies repudioted
after the war of 1916. Gen. Wash
ington a repudiator
a. Confederate States repudiateo
with Davis, Lee and Hampton.
4. Mississippi repudiated.
a. Minnesota did, and lately relus
ed TO re-assume.
&. Here the speaker, with great eff
feet, spoke of the "Virginia Treasury
Note" with Honest John Letcher''
vignette upon 1t, and "Virginia's
promise to pay" on it--and yet II wa
repudiated. =.
8. Funders repudiated West Vir
ginia's third.
Funders and Funding bill repu
dated peeler bonds, etc
He, however, averred that the Re
adjusters did not wish to follow tb'
example of Funders and repudiatei
but wished an equitable readjustment
according to the circumstances OF ouI
losses and wrongs.
lie showed that the Conservative
party had recognized readjustment as
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