National Republican., 1881-08-06
The Debt.Poyers' " Platform.

As we predicted before the meeting Of
the Bourbon convention at Richmond,
that body has adopted platform pledg-
ing the party to another readjustment Of
the State debt. It is true they call it o
settlement, and attempt by peculiar
phraseology to mystify the casual reader
and conceal from outsiders especially
their real meaning; but careful perusal
of the secondplanlS of that platform cam
not fail to satisfy the public that the in
terests of the creditors are likely to fare
much better at the hands of the Read
juster party, who seem to have some de-
fined policy on the debt question, than if
committed to the keeping of the Micaw-
ber-likc Debt-Payers.
The promise to "make every effort to
secure a settlement of the public debt with
the consent of her creditors which is
consistent with her honor and dictated
by justice and sound public policy" has
been made by this same party before,
and would be much more satisfactory if
they had given us to understand what, in
their opinion, such a settlement would be.
The funding bill of 1871, which assigned
one-third of the debt to West Virginia,
was thought by them to be consistent
with Nirginia's honor" and so was the
McCulloch bill, which subsequently made
further reduction of the States liza
bility. The Ross Hamilton bill, which
failed to become a law, though voted for
unanimously by the trainers of this plat
form, provided for still another elimina-
tion from the debt established by the
McCulloCh bill and this, too, was thought
to be consistent with Virginia honor
But as to what the nature of this new re.
adjustment is to be we are kept some.
what in the dark. There can be nc
| doubt, however, about the intention tc
cut down the debt again, else why should
the consent of the creditors be asked
Creditors would not be apt to interposC
objection to the payment of the amount
they have agreed to accept, and there il
certainly nothing in the past history o.
this party to induce us to believe tina
they intend TO offer more. But they say
that this new settlement must be made
with the consent of the creditors. 81
they said of the funding bill of 1871, the
McCulloch bill, and the Ross Hamilton
bill, and upon each occasion the consent
was given because the creditors daret
not withhold it. Suppose-what is moi
at all probable-that this consent should
be refused what do these financial
experts propose to do? They mus
either pay or continue to repudiate. Dc
they acknowledge their ability to pay the
whole of the debt? If they do, what Is
more contemplate than to be constantly
begging for reduction? Would it no
be more honorable to say, "We think We
owe so much; we are certainly able to pay
no more than that amount; but that We
will pay, dollar for dollar, without any
sort of default If the present rate O
taxation is insufficient to meet this obi
cation, we will increase it," Then the
creditor would know upon what
he could depend, and the new
bonds Of Virginia would be
worth one hundred cents on the dollar
Instead of taking such stand, the "Con'
servative Democratic party of Virginis
pledges itself as part of its policy not tc
increase the present rate of taxation,
when the experience of the last ten years
has shown that with that rate the Stat,
has failed by more than half of mil
lion Of dollars annually to meet her obi
cations During all of this time, too, tn,
State government was in the possession
of this same party, and we leave it t
them to say whether the failure of the
people of Virginia was due to inability OF
their part or the imbecility and dishonesty
of those who had the management of hen
affairs. The platform is a notice to the
creditors that the State will refuse to pay
her debt even after this next readjust.
ment if such payment should require an
increase of the rate Of taxation. This is
a step further than any other party has
ever gone in Virginia.