The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-07-20
West ViTEInIa,s Debt.

Richmond DispAten, TIA inst r.I .
We beg our friends Of the Wheeling
press TO believe thRt we did not intend
when We wrote our article Of last
week, on the debt Of West Virginia, to cay
anything unklndl Of that State. We tried
10 Gonfne ourselves strictly to the record.
Holding 1t to be q fact that the people Of
that State are almost unanimously opposed
10 paying any Of her debt, we mentioned
the same as q fact. To pretend that one
million out Of thirty.one millions is the
fair proportion o! the debt Of anti. bellum
Virginia which West Virginia owes is to
insult the intelligence Of the man to whom
such 3 proposition lie stated, West Vir.
glnia owes In proportion to her wealth
and population at The time Of her seces.
sion from the present State. No other basis
Of settlement can possibly be considered
either by Virginia or her creditors; and
We have not the shadow Of q doubt that
such would be decided to be the proper
basis by the Supreme Court OF the United
States II the question should ever get be.
fore that tribunal, When we say this, we
Of course concede that Virginia has no
more right arbitrarily to assign 10 West
Virginia one!third Of the debt than West
Virginia has TO assign to Virginia thirty.
thirty.frsts Of II, Virginia does not claim
that her assignment oil one'third oil the
debt 10 West Virginia released her from
oil obligation Tor 80 much Of the debt;
but does claim that the creditors have, by
funding under the acts OF 1871 and 1879,
released her from all liability for the one.
third thus turned over TO West Virginia.
And u seems to us here In Virginia to be
too plain for argument that whereas the
Legislature which assigned one.third to
West Virginia was q real Virginia LeRisla.
ture, the Legislature which pretended 10
ASaign thirty thirty.Hrsts OF the debt 10
Virginia was q bogus assembly-a mere
straw LegiBlature-R Quaker gun-a paddy
"a ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS had no
semblance Of regularity, or authority, OF
lie, or reality-a swlndle and O disgrace
to the Federal Governments wicked in.
ventlon OF interruptions and perjured
politicians and traitors TO Virginia, which
invention has returned TO plague the in.
ventors-feturned In the shape OF two
Democratic United States Senators whom
those same 'acurvy politicians" Tor such
oil them az are now living would like 10
see expelled from the United States
Senate,
We said the other day that we didn't
intend 10 discuss this debt question, and
we don't. There 10 nothing 10 be gained
BY liz discussion. West Virginia 10 not
able 10 pay even her fair proportion OF the
debt, much lees 10 pay the twenty.iour
millions which Virginia has assigned 10
her, including interest, and from all obli.
10 pay which Virginia claims that
her creditors have released her, There.
fore, II were q waste Of time 10 undertake.
10 prove that West Virginia Justly owes
one. sixth Of the debt oil 1851, lac she I'm.
doubleday doee,O and 0 much greater waste
eftime 10 undertake 10 prove that she owes
one.third. She can't pay even one.
and Bhe has not the least intention
Of paying one-twentieth OF it-not the
least. She can't be made 10 pay II AZ
matters now stand. II Irrational 6ohsoltda.
ton goes on, however, as rapidly In the
iutdfe 90 II has done In the past, Il will
not be many years before UnCIs Sam viii
ind q way Of compelling the several
States 10 pay THEFT debts. The "honeety0
which ofets 10 pay only ohe.htth Of Tho
one sixth which West Virginia Justly owes
does not differ In kind from reputation
out and.out. So we class all West VII.
gihianH az tepudlaLionlsib 4, though We have
heard that Archie Campbell and A iev
other Republicans mo DemoctatSl Ara
willing TO pay whatever The State IA owing
and able 10 pay.
The James River Canal and the Covino.
ton 4 Ohio Railroad are the tCbemss n
which the largest potion Of The moSsv
borrowed by Virginia was sunk. Thass
we're u. all ihtents and purposes Wept Viz.
oinia schemes. To say that West Virginia
should pay none Of the many millions
sunk In The canal because West VIf1iniS
seeded from Ylfgihls,And The canal never
reached her borders, ,is 10 express a dis.
honest mans opinion. So 90 10 the eniiFe
debt. In law and In morals, West VII.
ginla owes IN proportion 10 her taxable
and population IN 1851. This 10 a
proposition which does not admit Of die.
cusSion any more than does the PROPOSE.
lion that Richmond ought not to pay for
deepening James river because The needed
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