The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-10-16
Concessions Of the Creditors.

1 DIS W tlt uEUG quCStlOis 4lS1C dLt tIOSC WIZ
accepting the statement of partizans to one
side or the other of it, without giving the
matter that close investigation which it
should be accorded, announce their identity
with either one or the other side. 1t is tn cir
faith in the opinions of others, and not the
result of careful study and well founded
conviction, that influences them. We do
not believe, however, that there is well
informed man in the State, who, emanci-
pating himself from extraneous considera-
tions and impressions, will deliberate
ly state that Virginia does not owe the
amount recognized in the McCulloch Bill.
| Up to the time Of the adoption OF that
measure no argument was based upon the
assumption that the entire debt was not
contracted by competent parties, nor was
any one so bold as to assert that any part
of the equitable amount of it belonging to
the present Virginia, should be repudiated.
The whole burden of the reasons and ar
guments was directed to the reduction
of the rate of interest so as to bring
the interest charge within the capacity
|
of the State to pay, without leaving
deficit at the close of each fiscal ye ar
and thus augmenting the debt instead of
decreasing it. It was question of ability
and not disposition. The desolations of
war, the loss of resources, and the general de-
VISITATION which had swept over the Com
monwealth, were adduced as considera-
tions why the principal of the original
debt should be so curtailed and the interest
upon that so reduced that it could be fully
met by the revenues which it had been dem
onstrated we could pay. There was not a
legal mind in the State that did not know
that Virginia was bound for the entire debt
ascertained in 1871, especially as the point
had been adjudicated by the Supreme Court
of the United States in case embracing
however, that one-third of the territory had
been violently wrested from the State, a
settlement was agreed upon in 1S71-how,
we will not here discuss-which pretended
to relieve Virginia of one-third Of the prin-
cipal and interest, and by an artfully ar
ranged deception, so injected the interest
into the principal assigned to Virginia as to
effect no relief at all. Indeed, so ingeni-
ously was the Funding Bill of 1871 drawn,
and so greedy were the vampires who ar
ranged to prey upon the vitals of the Com
monwealth, that a strict legal construction
of the provisions of that monstrous piece
of Shylockism, would not only have held
the State of Virginia bound for the entire
debt and interest, but for the interest on
two-thirds of it compounded. There never
had been more mischievous piece Of
legislation enacted, and it was when this
phase of that settlement became clear to
the people that its repeal was demanded,
and re-adjustment of the Bill of 1871 re-
quired, so as to conform to the general I'M
derstanding Of what it should have been.
The agitation which followed had for its
objective points. First, the distinct relin-
quishment by the creditors, of the one-third
of principal and interest of the debt ap-
portioned to West Virginia, and second,
the practical surrender of the compound in
terest arrangement of 1871, on the part as
signed to Virginia. These demands were
reached by this formulation $4,000, 900 Of
principal at per cent, with non-interest
bearing certificates of Indebtedness for $1O,-
100000 Of accrued interest; or the debt
capitalized at $30,0O0,0OO, round numbers,
at per cent. interest. A further demand
was made for the surrender of the tax-re-
ceivable coupon, for the reason that it In
tercepted revenues and appropriated
them to the creditor, which the Constitu-
ton dedicated to the publc::schools. The cou-
pom became odious because of this fact
Had the revenues been sufficient for the re-
quirements of the legislation of 1871, moth
ing would have been said against the cou-
pom, and indeed very few Of the people
would have known that such feature had
been engrafted upon the Funding Bill.
The practical, vital fac. of these demands
has been fully recognized in the McCulloch
Bill. By its provisions the creditors for
ever relinquish Virginia from the part of
the debt assigned to West Virginia; the
compound interest feature is cut out of the
settlement-and the interest charge so re-
duced and re-adjusted as to bring it with
in the power of the present revenues to
meet. and at the same time support the
State government. and give to the public
is true the tax-receivable coupon remains.
but cannot possibly work any disadvantage
to any interest of the State. 1t represents
an idea which had become offensive to the
people, by reason of its operations under
the Funding Bill of 1871, in the absorption
of the funds designed for the public schools.
1t will no longer have that power under
the Bill of 1879. and will only remain a
sentimental eye-sore to those who may pre-
fer to deal in impractical distractions to
recognizing practical and essential facts.
With the exception Of this non-essent5al
feature, we believe the McCulloch Bill sub
stantially meets the demands of every
original re-adjusterin the State except those
who desired to re-adjust the creditor oat OF
everything and relieve the State Of all re-
sponsibility for any of the debt. 1t conforms
to the demand of the people as expressed
through conventions, the Legislature, upon
the hastings, at the ballot-box and in every
other form by which public opinion has been
made known. Itcomprehends in the first
instance. the surrender by the creditor of
one-third ofhis legal claim, to the equitable
demand of Virginia. It, in the nextplace.
embraces the further surrender of one-third
OF his legal claim for interest on this read
justed principal. sustained by the adjudica-
ton of the highest State Court, to cores
pond with therecognized ability of the State
to pay. We have been met upon our own
terms and every practical requiem emit con-
coded. AS the people have demanded the
creditor has surrendered, until the extrem-
est requirements have been formulated into {
law, upon more favorable conditions than
we ever expected.
We ask our readers to run over the past
and back to the discussion of this ques- ,
ton, and see whether the creditors {
IL