Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1881-02-05
NlrgEnsa.s Pnh.lc nena.
New York World.


/, About the middle of December i
waA announced In The World tha
the case OF Hartman vs.. Greehow
No. l5i ON the calendar of the su
preme court of the United States
had been argued and submitted t
tribunal Tor decision and that tht
decision of this case Would prob
ably have a great influence upon Tile
politics of the state of Virginia, in
involving, as it does, the question
whether the state of Virginia shall
be compelled to pay her public debi
or not. William l.. Royal, former.
| lyOf thesRichmond. VA, bar, but
now Of the bar of this city, argued
the case for the Virginia bondhold-
ers. He said to a World reporter
yesterday:
81 have information that the case
will probably be decided next Mon
day or the following Monday at
farthest. The case presents the Vir-
/ ginia debt to the supreme court OF
the United States in this way: I'm
like the debts claimed to be due by
the other southern states, that owed
By the state of Virginia is an hon
est debt, every dollar OF which she
owes. The larger part of what the
other sOSsthern states are alleged to
owe consists OF. obligations OF those
! states put out into the world by the
thieving carpet-bag governments.
The people Of those states got 70
benefit from them. The carpet
baggerS put out the states bonds
and stole the money that was lent
on them. Virginia, however, had
! the good fortune TO escape carpet
/ bag government to a great extent.
| No carpet-bag legislature ever sat in
Virginia, otherwise she too would
have known ali the curses that such
legislatures brought with them.
She, though, borrowed all the money
that she owes before the war, get
ting dollar Tor dollar for her bonds.
and the money was honestly spent
i'll building railroads, digging canals
and erecting asylums, universities
and monuments in the state. She
regularly paid her interest until the
war came on, when she defaulted
and paid but little more until the
year 1871. In 1871 the entire debt.
principal and Interest, had come to
amount to about $45, ,000, 900, of
which about $4,000, 900 was over
due interest that had accumulated
during the war and in the period
after the war when the state was
held under military rule. In 1871
the legislature, a great majority of
which was elected by the white peo-
pie of the state-lnilitary rule and
carpet-bag government having been
withdraWn-was confronted with
the situation and called upon TO
make some provision for the debt.
During the war the state of West
Virginia had been created out of
territory and population of the old
state, and as about One-third of the
territory and population which had
taken part in borrowing the money
was detached for West Virginia, it
was. thought but right that she
should pay one-third of the debt.
The legislature in 1871, therefore,
passed what is known as the funding
bill, an act which has given the
name TO one of the parties in Vir-
ginia-the funders. This act capi-
talized all the overdue interest,
making the debt $45,000,000, and
proposed to the creditors that if they
would surrender the states old
bonds she would issue them her new
bonds for tWO-thirds of the amount
and give them certificate of West
Virginia's Indebtedness for the other
third. AS an inducement to the
creditors to relese Virginia from
this third, the law provided that
the new bonds should bear interest
at the rate of six per cent, to run
for thirty-four years, and that the
interest promises should be put in
the form of coupons receivable for
all taxes, debts, demands and dues !
due to- the state This seemed to |
make the creditors chance for get
ting interest on tWO-thirds of the |
debt pretty safe. Consequently hold |
ers of about $50, 900, 900 of principal /
and overdue interest surrendered |
their bonds and took the new bonds. /
In this way the states bonds for /
about $40, 900, 900, bearing six per
cent. interest, with taX-receivablel /
were put out. When the
funding had proceeded to this point I
a new legislature assembled and re-
pealed the law so as to prevent the
issuing of any more bonds with tax
receivable coupons attached, allow
ing the funding to proceed in all
other respects. That is, it permit
ted the creditor to release the state
from one-third of her debt, but it
provided for his getting nothing in
return. The same legislature under
took to enact a law forbidding the
collectors of the revenue to receive
the coupons in payment of taxes.
This was at once attacked in the su-
preme court of the state as law i'm
pairing the obligation of a contract,
and it was declared to be unconsti-
Lutional and void. Those who MAIN
tanned the validity of the repeating
law did SO upon the ground that the
of the state made it inn
peratiYe upon the legislature 10 pro-
vide for public free schools, and !
hat the funding act might fiji the
treasury with coupons and thus de- !
'troy the free schools. They also i
held that state could not make a
contract like this which
night disable her from performing
he functions of government by de- Z
Driving her of revenue. The SUI !
Dreme court of the state pronounced {
against both grounds, however. All
he departments of the government
in this decision and it !
seemed that we Should have no
more trouble with the debt. The !
holders of twenty millions of dol /
ars had their interest secured to
hem, and there was a fair prospect /
hat some arrangement would be :
made with the holders of the resi-
lue that would give them satisfac- !
ion. Soon, however, General Will
lam Malone began his agitation
or readjustment, as he called it. it
5 most curious thing about the
negro that he has a passion for
voting to repudiate something. He
will vote to repudiate your debt or
my debt or his own debt or any
body else's debt. All that he asks
for is to get chance to repudiate
He will vote tomorrow
10 repudiate the national debt, al
though it was the price of his own
freedom. He had no interest in this
Virginia debt. The taxes that were +,
TO pay it did not come out of him; !
all that he paid was capitation tax !
Of 81, which, by the constitution,
went to the support of thefreescnooIs {
and not to the creditor. This ele-
nent was of great help in organiz-
1