Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1881-07-26
The Debt Question SuccinctIy Stated.

of the question at issue respecting ouI
public debt and the principle underly-
ing it all, that was possible in the fol.
lowing brief and explicit paragraph OF
his speech:
"What is the difference between tho
two parties, or the divisions, those who
are called the debt-payiDg portion and
those who call themselves the readjus-
ters of the State debt tits simply this /:
The debt of Virginia ss it stands upon
her tatute-b0Oks, as attested by the
bonds issued under her seal, is every
cent o. it admitted by the Debt pay ing
or Funder party of Virginia, but they
call upon those who are creditors to con-
slider their condition and make with
them voluntary arrangement or COM
promise just and honorable to both, and
which they can with care and honesty
carry out; in other words. the Debt pay
ing and Funding portion of Virginia
will do nothing with their public obi.
cations except that to which the credi-
tor consents. TOlenti non fit injua d.
They propose to enforce nothing except
their own obligation, and if concession
is made in the spirit of compromise it
shall be such as their creditors consent
to. That is their position. It is to be
voluntary arrangement acceptable to the
creditor or accepted by the creditor with
out any eOmpulsion on the part of the
debtor, and upon that they propose to
adjust and settle their obligations in
full.
ION the other hand is another party,
the 'Readjusters,' as they call them-
selves. They say, 1--WE do not ask the
consent of the creditor it is not what
we owe; it Is not what he asks; it is
what we see fit to p.y him; we will
make new contract with him we will
fix our own terms; and to use fine
phrase and euphuism which 1 find in
the speech of the Senator from Virginia
(Mr. Mahone) at page of the Record of
March 81, we will eliminate such por
tions of the public debt as we do not
choose to pay. That means thirteen
solid millions of principal and the en-
tire interest since 1861. Lest L may do
injustice, let me read the language In
fixing the principal debt of Virginia at
$19, ,665, ,176 it is obvious that about $13,-
600, 900 of, the principal which the Nc
Culloch bill-[that was the Debt Payers
bill sought to fasten upon us has been
eliminated
'There is much in phrase. Said
Pistol:
Convey the wise it call. 'stealr fab fico
for the phrase"
"Repudiate? No, eliminate. Fur
ther, the Senator from Virginia says
How, then, is that enormous amount
vided Virginia) made up? By capital
which accrued during the period of war
on of "Dn n nf f<Nv, obi
to this usurious and oppressive mode of
accumulation against US, but we per-
emptorily reject the whole claim for any
interest at all for the period Indicated
by whose consent? The consent of
the debtor and what does the creditor
say? He is answered that his claim is
peremptorily rejected. or 1t is eliminate
ed or, if you use plain English, it is in
solently repudiated.
"Mr. President, that is the issue
which we are told by the speech of the
same senator is to control the election
in Virginia in the coming autumn. 1t
is that issue incarnated in Mr.. Riddle
berger, whose bill bearing his name
(passed by the readjusting Legislature
aud vetoed by the Democratic Governor
Holiday, } proposing to carry these pro-
jects into effect is to be the MahOne-
Riddleberger platform next fall in Vir.
ginia, and it is in that issue and upon
that side of that issue that the Repub
lican party in the Senate of the United
States propose to identify themselves by
choosing this man to be their represent
tative, to be one of their own confiden-
tial and important officers. 1t Is with
him, it is with his doctrines, it is to such
results that the majority stand commit.
ted. The Grecian fable tells US of the
man who slew the dragon and sowed
his teeth and the crop was armed men
who saturated the land with blood. 1t
seems to me that if you shall insist,
senators, in sowing the seeds of public
reputation of admitted and honorable
obligations, you are sowing crop worse
than that of Cadmus, and which will
bear infinitely more dangerous fruit to
US and to our posterity.
"What is credit? 1t is the honest
poor mans capital. 1t is because he is
trusted for his honesty that he can bOr-
row means to enable him to Outlive his
period of distress and wait the time of
the fruition of his labors. If Virginia
be poor, and / know she is poor, / beg
of you do not take that which is more
necessary to her to day than it was in
her times of fopulence and plenty. Leave
to her people the right to be believed
and trusted. Leave them that sense of
self-respect and honest manhood that
an unbroken word gives to any man
however humble.n