Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1881-10-05
M alone In New Work


about 100 members of tho Uaiou Lasgus
Cub OF Now York last 1ighs. Among those
present were pumbsr Of rroui1eu! delegates
to the republican State convention. Senator
Malone wss introduced / Judge Noah Davis,
OF tho State Supreme Court. He splk as fol
low:
Mr.. Chairman, Members If the Union
League Club and FELLOW. Citiz IDS: Ithapk y:u
nost ctrdlsily for lhs weIcoue you cxtcrd me
20 night, add in the name of the State which
have the honor to represent | thark you.
| sill remark fist to eight 90 the c.upsisp 10
| virginia. l did not expect 10 meet o formal
gathering, but r ,lca that en- able to speak
before such an intelligent GudIercs. Tho sub
Jet will ESPECIALLY choose will b. the debt of
Virginia Gnd tho sentiments Of The people c0a
cernipg it. first ell your attention to one OF
the issues Involved in the c;1vass. There are
two parties. ore for the settlement and The
other TOR the same, but their methods are diff
terent. | submit item 10 you. that you may
od2e which party has the BIS: plea and which
tho best right TO respect
| AT the commencement cf tho var the j, bt
OF our State was S3l ,OOO, 900, but at The esd Of
u The debt had Increased 10 $50 900 COO. This
covered the entire ais Is CT the Safe. snd de
pEl7e!d Us by the separation Of Wes. Virginia Of
oae 1hird OF the land, One-htth Of the pOpua-
| tloo. atd the rlmainier 10 assets, the value OF
Ghch were rather implied than acknowledged
| We 10 Virginia undertook then TO carry debt
| equal TO The entiro liability of tho STATE. The
NEST attempt to test tho matter was in 1871
@hen the Laglsla ur3 undertook to mako set.
tiement by allottllg one third Of tho debt to
west Vlrglnla, and were 10 tho act OF deoIsr.
log that the becp!e should not pay interest on
Inc one halt OF The debt remaiuiog. THIS was
audaolous to an extreme. Ii meant that out Of
| three bonds the owner Should ouly reosigo the
legal interest CT two, and thus virtuslly repudi
atlog the rcmslnlng one. This was torcibu re
! adjustment. TIE referoLc, of this so,ion to the
| oeDt yJu clo readily understand The fist
DUTY was to ascertain tho uu3 debt oil the State
This was selling 90 business standpoint, or
was following a business principle by businosu
meu. Tho second duty WAS to asoartsin how
muoh tho people could pay. We solved the
questions 10 January. 1861 Twenty years
have elapsed. Add the iulerest of that to the
DEBT OF the entire State, and cut off the portion
OF West Virginia. end tho balance wo acknoWI
eogo Wo owe. Our silastion was apparently
thh: West Virgins accepted one third of tho
SIa'o debt and wo assumed two ttirds. There
was no longer dispute. All agreed. aud nuo.
third OF the debt was assigned to West Viz
eit!s. Inc merits OF the debts were self evil.
| dent and could not BE- overlooked There was
no difficulty 10 them to business men Hhen they
epdeaVored TO ascertain tho precise debt, We
| nave EIsGo this flank 10 cur platform, sad 10
the Legislature NO have sls'eiDed il far four
months without challenge. We do not ctftr TO
tsko tho entire dtbt you understand, but the
to'al II mains one tLltd ct tho begiuoipg of the
Var, ahd NO acknowledge the int rest from then
uas'' DOW. This brings up tho simpie quss, ion
OF what tho interoat was, AID we ,o.trrtd il
TO The President. Or mcs1s OF rssourcas iu-
| dlcato ooLdIton TO pay per cont., and We have
determined to fulfill it. Tho wealth of tho
State Is estimated at $3.50 900 900 ia taxable
! properly, but Wo have 40 enormous standard of
| laterts', 1t ls at le,st So per cent higher thsn
n average OF States OF the UtiIp; crinsiar Gee.
| using the Utl.ed States government standard,
horse which would be regarded as taxsbIa OF
Sl0O IN kentucky you'd 10 VngiCi. be placed
az l5o. his rate is cjEotdtd universally TO
Dc the highest that NO Gao tax our res0uro, s,
| or that the property of the State will bear.
The ratio OF taxation is not fixed but luou
| stcs aud OCCASIONS Confusion erd loss. Same
OF lis results are necessary Tor the msn.c1sncc
OF the government Of tho STATE and The iateror
! ADMINISTRATION. especially Ct education. EX
perienos has tod US what the State effi1oos ccs;
the COMMONWEALTH. Disrogarding s tn past
abd tho possibility or tepreolating tho STATE E
| Liability. the glYernmCu! had accumulated tic
| amount ct the debt to tic cX.eat CT $500, Geo
| per year. IL Rss at first fixed ut 81 800 COO,
! bu! it accumulated rapidly uo. it reached IN
exceedingly large smcu1t.
we saw thst me Safe was lsnsui:hirg ui-
der suoh 90 sdnl aistri!ioo of affairs aud VIC
| Saw that the remedy must be prompt ard eff
cac!aus While Tho STATE was ia this condition
| We could not ioVl;o capital. Ii would not couc
with Uncertain mortgage. With no cteCit, with
tho taxation bud. |. bccsCss the harves. is!d
OF low cless OF sDcculstcrs, who thrnatc1CG 70
tuID our State At last hero vera eb0et lOO
men who |eIc bold enough to stsvd uD 10 the
| legislative chamber a: d to vote fer an Increase
| OF taxation. Nov the bonds eff the Sla'e eTe
| WORTH IS huca ss any of thu o!he.s. 1t wss
thoo the sius TO take determined hold 90 .nc
matter, the lime IL administer heroic ;reetm2 ut
to Lilac the way in W; ioh VIC could justly ETC
honestly pay Gu: dcb:g There was IL V!fg
| nla aoyRhtr0 and cveryShcrc Rrowirg ;dts
| that rcpudlitioa WIS necessary. The people
had not paid anything 10 eight years, AID ea 20
| provision had been made. ttoy iouEd that il
| had baeomo not alous locooVenlent, but almcsl
| impossb e to pay. The bmount Of ths d. BIT
| had grown 10 such largo proportions that the
psorl1 ctull not pay. There was formed the
| Two parties. aid the debt bt Ime ono OF the
mos: importspt lssuls. 1t was CD The payment
| OF three per c:nL interest on the State debt that
the readuittr movement was founded. We,
| 10 this Way purchase charac or for hotety ard
l0tcgTl y, aud should VIZ ever again fad it nuces
ssry to obtain another lOsn, We oan borrow
The government costs the people 10 rtuld nun
bers 81 O47 600, but We propose to taxa il 81
100000. lbs constitution OF Virgins provides
lha, OF tho ratio of tax DO less than che lih be
devoted to tho purposes of education. The rate
was fixed at 40 c,nis, and iaalIy 10 cents wss
| added 10 educate The children. Thus 50 cents
is now tic taxation. All psrlies viii not .ui.
tain nor support the increase. This seems to be
easy to uaderssDd. With So per cent. and 90
moro ne csn do it. Can you tbiIk that 40 i'm
portsut State like Virginia osn have 30 neryio
90 its restuio,s? We have a f,aliog debt Of
SIS. 900 OOO, which W, arc obliged 10 keep up.
bat they steal the means Of doing 50 tho from
chiIdtoo. The State is behind half million 90
kk. IL