The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-03-15
The Riddleberger Bill.

OF our cOtempOrarleS in the State and some
out of the State announced that it was an
opinion rendered on the constitutionality of
the Riddleberger Bill. The Riddleberger
bill proper is simply formulation of the
State debt Of Virgin ia as it existed in 1858,
when the State of West Virginia was
carved out of what is known in history as
debt of the State at that date, With accrued
interest. 1t then assumes two-thirds of
the amount ascertained, and calculating on
this per cent int rest I'LL July, 1882, al
lowing credits for moneys paid and bonds
cancelled, makes the result the amount
that Virginia is in equity bound to pay. 1t
assigns the other third to West Virginia, in
consideration of the division of the terri
being included In the boundaries of West
Virginia-and that intrinsically the most
valuable portion, and embracing nearly
one-thirdof the original population.
This statement of the equitable portion
of the present virginia's share Of the debt
OF the old State, amounting to $2l, $685..
377.15, as of July /, 1882. ignores all COM
pound interest-discards the several fund.-
ing bills of 1871 and 1s79-and taking the
two-thirds of the debt and accumulated in
terest as of July l, 1868, when West Vir-
ginia was recognized as State, and interest
on two-thirds principal to July 1882, incorpo-
rates it into the Riddleberger bill as the
just debt of the State. The bill provides
for funding the amount so stated in 8 per
cent bonds to run forty years, we believe,
but redeemable at any time after ten years,
at the option of the State.
This is the Riddleberger bill proper
There, were difficulties in. the way of con-
snmmating a settlement on this basis and
enforcing the provisions of the Measure
The funding bill of 1871 and that of 1879,
had attached to the bonds issued under their
| authority, coupons receivable for taxes and
all dues to the State. Under the decision
of the State Courts these coupons held a
prior lien on the revenues of the Common
I wealth to the mandate of the Constitut ion
in the revenues it dedicated to the public
schools. This tax-receivable coupon hav-
ing been declared an inviolable contract,
| the question presented itself, how it
could be Invested of its "cut worm
function, the public schools protected
against its invasion, and the State assert
her sovereignty over her revenues. To
meet the emergency, the bill known as
"Coupo1 Killer No. ~ was framed, as an
auxiliary measure to the Riddleberger bill,
the object of which was to provide for the
practical settlement of the debt on the ba-
sis of the amount and the interest charge
thereon formulated in that bill. The ''Cou-
pom Killer No. l" recognized the coupon
as legal tender for all taxes and Dies to
the State, but inasmuch as it had been dis
covered that certain coupons had been pal
into the Treasury twice-that others had
been paid in but not cancelled, and that
there had been great looseness, if not cor
ruption. in the management of the public
finances, it was required that their genu-
ineness should be first established in the
Courts, before the officers esignated to re-
ceive taxes, could accept them. And in
order that the Treasury might not be
denied the use of the revenues drawn from
tn e taxpayers, while the estigation OF
the genuineness of the coupon was in pro-
gress, the taxpayer was required to pay
his taxes in money, and, if after invest iga-
tion. his coupons should be found to be gen.
uine, they were to be received and the
money refunded. This requirement the
| Court, in its recent decision, did not regard
as violating the contract the coupon repre-.
sented, nor as destroying any of the le-
| gal remedies of the bondholders.
These coupons were not rendered in pay
ment for taxes by the large bondholders.-
They do not reside 10 Virginia, and own
no property here. They were sold to tax
payers at Is to 20 per cent. discount, and
then paid into the Treasury at par. The
larger property holders received this bene-
fit, while the small taxpayers paid dollar
for dollar in the currency Of the country
| To institute proceedings IN court to test the
genuineness OF these coupons would, In
most cases, cost more than the taxes to be
paid would amount to, and for this reason
very few of them would be purchased from
the bondholders. The brokers who had
handled the coupons and the taxpayers
who purchased them at discount were the
parties benefited by their existence-the
bondholders realizing very little if any more
/ than ha ho Riddle
berger bill assures-on their investment.
Neither the creditor proper nor the debtor.
has reaped any benefit from the tax-re-
| civable coupon but the brokers and large
taxpayers have, while the great mass Of
the people, whose taxes did not amount to
enough to make 1t an object to purchase
coupons, have been compelled to pay one
hundred cents for every dollar that was due
from them to the State.
| During the same session of the Legisla-
ture that enacted ''Coupon-killer No. :"
was also framed and passed law popularity
designated "Coupon killer No. g." This
was designed to meet the emergency of an
adverse decision on Coupon killer No. l,
and provides that all State dues shall be
| paid in gold, silver or other lawful money
Of the United States, and prohibits treas
urers and all taxcollectors, from receiving
any other.
| The Riddleberger bill was designed to re-
lieve Virginia from unjust and onerous impo
sitions which had been Incorporated into her
debt statement-to place before the country
the exact facts and figures which should
guage the responsibility of the State The
coupon killer was for the purpose of making
this statement effective; to restore to Vir-
ginia her right to control and disburse her
own revenues, ard to preserve her functions
as a sovereign State The taxreceivable
coupons, by the decision of the State Court,
constitutes contract, and how not to violate
that contract, and at the same time to destroy
this "cut worm" of the Treasury, was the work
in hand. How effectively it was performed,
the decision of the Supreme Court informs u.s.
We make these statements to show what
the Riddleberger bill is, and what relation
the coupon killers bear to it. The Riddle
berger bill proper was not before the court.
1t cannot, indeed, be gotten there, and un :
der the decision recently rendered, the
measure enacted for the practical enforce