Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1881-01-25
own sweet will and pleasure.
REApJusTER REFORM.

In taking possession 30 far of the Gov
/ eminent Of Virginia, which had so long
been administered by the Fundefs or So
called Debt-Payers, the Readjusters not
only found an empty treasury be-
leaguered By immediate claims amount
ing to TWO and a half millions Of dollars,
all clamOrons for plyment-nOt only
/ surprised the Auditors Office in the very
act of issuing tax certificates to be sold
ut seYenty-iYe cents in the dollar TO
raise money at G225 per cent. year TO
I pay 3 per cent on the McCulloch bill
/ not only found that eight years Of debt
paying talk and Funder control had not
only failed TO pay the debt of 1871, but
/ had actually allowed arrearage to accu-
mulate to about $9.000.0O0, when you
include interest due the Sinking Fund
and the $l.5l600O with which they be-
gan TO run the government not only
found our asylums and colleges enibar-
raised for lack OF due support from the
State, and our whole free school system
paralyzed by an unfriendly and Illegal
| conversion Of its funds to the sum of
over one million and half to other use:
| but chaos and mismanagement, not to
say fraud and corruption, were discover
ed to have reigned throughout almost
every department Of the Administration.
In tie accounts Of the peni!entiary ii
was 1T once developed that the Agent
aud 5!orekeeper had defalcated to about
! $4,000; in the Office of The Auditor cf
/ Public Accounts the public business was
all Dehindhand, county reasurers and
other collectors IN arrears for an aggre-
gate running through several years of
over 100000; illegal and extortionate
charges on criminal account had been
improperly paid in large sums to city
sergeants and others, and by indulgence.
layoritism prOcrastinatiOn anil negligence
our revenues had fallen into wretched
disorder. In the Second Auditors Of
flee bonds refunded, or that had never
been legally issued, were missing. and
coupons that had been received for tax
a. (>ome of them uncanceled) were gone,
and legislative committee of invcstiea-
tion with long search still before IL
has already found that bonds and con-
pOns have disappeared to sum exceed
| ing 100000, and almost on every hand
nchlciency, II not speculation was ex-
posed. The party OF r. .orm and of the
pe09'". the HeaijilS' els at once set about
the Improvement Of State affairs. The
frauds on the treasury were stopped and
legal process appealed 10 for reimburse
meni from former offenders, or for their
criminal punishment: deiaulting and
delinquent collectors OF the revenue were
no longer INDUCED, and the necessary
steps we're taken to compel prompt set
tlement for the future and to recover the
unpaid Deficiencies Of the past; new
yigor and fresh vigilance were brought
into every division Of the public service
the voter and the litigant, as far "a the
Readiuslers were responsible for the eX-
ecUtiOn Of the laws, found fairness and
impariality at the polls and in he courts
the schools were revived, fof not only
were their current dues awarded them,
but large pay ments were made on the
arrears improperly kept from them: the
pcnilenIiary. which, under Fuuder rule,
had cost The STATE annuailya sum scarce
~ ever less than $50 900 has now already
become practically eeli-BuppOrting, and
under Read iusler management, will soon
Yield handsome income 10 the Com
monwealth: and in every department
where the Readjusters have gained con-
troll our affairs even in this brief interval
are exhibiting marked improvement.
Yet it Is not alone IN the important de-
tails Of practical government that the
Readjusters have wrought great aud ben
cllCial changes. Public sentiment itself
has been enlightened aud liberalized by
the movement. Bourbonlsm has lost IT,
grip on our politics. Our people
wrAEiRD AND EXHAUSTED
by the hard service eXacted of them I'M
der the unrcmuneratiyc despotism Of
prejudice and passion, they are opening
lhell eyes and diScarding the blind leaders
that have led them into 20 many bitches
Of disappointment and disaster, aud are
anxious 10 end The strife OF sections By
every proper and reasonable conception
that may contribute TO the full reslOra-
ton Of national harmony and good viii
aud that may afford them opportunities
Of fairly sharing In the material prosper
ity Of the country. But II was with the
debt that the Rcadjuslcrs were chiefly
expected to deal, and they ut once show
ed that they were equal to the OCCASION.
Taught by the long series of failures
made by the Funders, the Readjusters
bad learned HAT whatever spirit of re-
pudntlon existed In this State had been
loslercd by the reckless methods o" dcbt
paying" that only made a m0ckory df
promise and Jayce QfPeJoradnce. Too
often scdurcd 5ythese nominal "Dcbt-
A., Payers into schemes utterly beyond
thcir ability, and impossible of eXccu-
ton, people began TO grow familiar with
default, or irrJntod by postponcmonls
that but increased the debt or compllcat-
ed It's condition, while our capacity to
pay seemed pcrpetuHlly to become less
and less. II was, thus, by eXtrayngant
undertakings with regard to our obIIga-
lions, that some began 10 view these obs
legations, not M claims to be- paid accord
Ing TO our resources, but ~ topics for
"high rhetoric" aud for that Micawbcr
policy which readily gives lls bond on
no better security than what tho chances
Of the future may "lum up, When
this species Of triiling, which inevitably
tended 10 create n public sentiment care
lcsB Of payment, where only promises To
pay were required, and which az surely
pointed 10 population NJ mn eventual
result, The Rcndluslcrs would have moth
Ing 10 do except TO condemn and oppose
II. Recognizing The fact that the people
Of Virginia nevertheless are
non REruDtAfORs,
hut arc honestly cngcr to provide for the
payment of every dollar Of the principal
Of their just Indebtedness and Of interest
to the full extent Of their ability, the
frat inquiry Of the Rcndluscrs mcycr
before properly instituted Nus! What
! Is our debt aud what the utmost stretch
OF our annual revenues for the payment
Of INTEREST," These Inquiries, 20 natural
nnd so necessary ln the ease Of oil debt
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