New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-01-08
VJpGINI4. And HER NEW SENATOR.

General Malone Objects to the bad emf
ncnce of a liquidation leader before
entering the United States senate as
representative of the Old DOMINION,
he makes statement intended to con
vince the country that he Is at least no
worse than his political opponents; that
the differences between them are as
to methods, not as 20 ends; that he
is as willing as anybody thai Virginia shall
pay all she can, and that i'll general
his sympathies are with the cniGht-
ened and progressive clements OF his State,
while his opponents are the rcactonists ana
the Bourbons His manifesto will command
the widest attention. The hhal impress
sion it creates must depend almost en-
tlrely upon the question whether lts
statement of facts can be successfully
disputed. Accepting his facts. the public
would surely form more favorable opinion
of the man and his work; for his MARIA
tive is sngulI rly plausible and cOS"nf. But
there are few who will be ready to
believe that the course recommended by ex-
Secretary McCulOch, Is to tic debt OF Nir-
rinia. can be correctly described in General
Mahonc's paper ; and III other features also, II
will, 10 doubt, be sharply challenged.
The basis of General Mallones policy il
found in the fundamental assertion that the
State of Virginia is bankrupt. 1t Is now
taxed, lie declares, as much as the pi )pcrty
of the State will bear; the taxes
arc not sufficient TO pay anything
like the interest on the debt; neither the
Debtpayers nor any other party will consent
to make the taxation any heavier. Now, on
the assumption that this is the literal fact 1t
NAV be safely affirmed that the bankrupt State
is entitled to use its revenues
a. To discharge economically and cn"r-
cetically all those necessary functions Of
government without which State organiza-
ton cannot cxiSt,-to preserve order, enforce
justice, etc.
ca TO maintain in reasonable ylRor its
common schools, and its charitable institu-
tons.
CD All its remaining resources should be
faithfully applied to the payment of its ac-
tual, legal indebtedness
If the property of the State has been en-
tirey and uniformly assessed at its fair valu-
ton; and if upon that valuation the highest
tx which the State can reasonably
bear is faitLf fully levied and collected +;
and if the resulting sums are honestly applied
as above, then the bankrupt State is doing
all that, for the present, morality and good
government can require. Reputation is one
thing; bankruptcy is another.
Now that General Malone has thus chal-
lengad the attention Of the country, it is
desirable that the public should fairly CON
slider how far thcse obvious principles
are justly applicable to the situation
in Virginia. Some of the hardshps Of the
case are plain. Virginia is charged with the
full debt Of the old State, but is deprived of
one third of its territory, while the new State
of West Virginia thus far declines to assume its
share of the burden. The debt is swollen by
the accumulation of interest during the war,
in suite of the fact that interest was then
rendered I'm Virginia money! and refused,
| and again rendered in produce and refused.
| But the vi al questions are
is Virginia honestly paying all she can?
is there any party in the State willing to
pay any more than Mlhoncl
Is the State really bankrupt