The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-12-13

Houses OIL the a14e9lSlaIHleses line 1OllOW-
ing is the full text Of the DOCUMENT
10 the General Assembly
Full and comprehensive reports villa he fur
nished to yonr body simultaneously WIN tihis
communication from the different executive
departments and offices, and from the colleges
asylums and other public institutions OF tnt
commonwealth. Those reports cover the ms
cal periods ending the 30th of September, lSS2
and the seth OF September, 1888, ana VIII pt
found, it is believed, to embrace all tne neces
sary information upon which to form Judgmen
as TO the fidelity with which fpublic AFFAIRS nave
been administered and upon which 10 Dase leg
islative provision Tor the inttife ley VII a -
referred toheren only so far rs may pc need
ful to support Il statement or enforce u RECON-
mendation.
TIE PUBLIC DEBT
Now, as for many years past, foremost in i'm
portanee OF the Subjects which Will demant
your attention stands the public debt. Durlhs
The last session Of the General Assembly inc
act approved February Il, lSS2, established q pa
sis UPON which the creditors of the StateWere
invited to fund their claims for princlpal ant
interest into new bonds bearing per cent.
and the supporting enactment contained il
chapters :ntly1I OF the Acts of Assembly ses.
sion SS- 81, have so far fulfilled their purpose
as to afford relief to the1reasuly, ana 70 MAKE
possibeTle discharge OF The floating debt Whiie
meeting promptly all cash demands 1orsthe ex-
penSes ot adm nstratlon.
But these measures in no sense constitute q
settlement of the debt. The total amount of Ole
Indebtedness all classes, principal and inter
est, funded up to the lst of October last was W
1872 7U7. 10. and the amount of bonds and certiH-
Gates issued under the act OF February Ii, 1857
TO the same date was 81 527 ,S03.O. 1t is thus APP
parent, while the new bonds have been ready
for delivery duringa period covering more tnan
twelve months, the amount funded under the
Riddleberger bill has been less than per cent
of the entire debt, and of unfunded obligations,
principal and interest outstanding AGAINST me
Commonwealth remains the sum of 3d. Ii ,tSj.-
%. Within a much shorter period, under the
McCulloch BILL more than eight millions OF
bonds were surrendered, and yet that measure
utterly Tailed settle the debt. 1t is true that
the Supreme Court of the United states in the
case OF Antoni IS. Greenhow sustained the act
OF January H. 1882, as furnishing an adequate
and constitutional remedy to the holders OF tax
receivable coupons. But experience has shown
that act to be deficient in several important
particulars. The enacting clauses omit any ref
erence to the coupons detached from DondS OF
the Commonwealth under the act OF March y,
1872 The eventual effect of this omission
must be either to exempt the holders OF ten
forty coupons from the conditions imposed up
on persons presenting IN payment OF taxes cou- +
March 80, 1871 OF to force both the state and the
holder OF McCulloch coupons to rely on the act
of january rs, 1882, commonly known as Coupon
Killer No. 2. That act has not been subjected
TO the construction of any court ofappellate Ju-
risdiction, State or Federal. Experience has
also proved that the requirements OF section
of the act or January II, 1882, are not sufficient
to procure proper care of the States interest In
the suits therein authorized TO be brought in
corporation and county courts by persons i'll
whom the claims of coupOn-holders and tax
payers are conjoined The law says that proof
OF Inc RenulOS0eSS Oh ll6 coupons SllstIi D0
made, and requires 1.-The attorney for the Com
monwealth in the lower courts to appear for
the Commonwealth and require proof of the
genuineness and legality OF the coupons in
question: 1t is further provided that "either
party shall be entitled 10 exceptions, and an
appeal to the Circuit courts and supreme Court
OF Appeals on the trial of this ISSUE But the
service of attorneys for the commonwealth in
the lower courts in this behalfhas been at best
Thousands of dollars of coupons
have been passed through such courts without
the scrutiny needed to establish either their
"genuineness or their legality" Unless eXcep-
ton is taken in "the lower courts by the attor-
neys for the Commonwealth no ground for APP
peal on the part of the State exists. Within the
official knowledge OF the Executive, coupons
have passed through the courts upon the sole
evidence of persons who could not by any pos
sibility testify with knowledge as to their gen
uineness and legality" Judgments have been
rendered against the State Treasurer on cou-
pons which had no number, and therefore were
the legal product of no bond. During the past
six months, owing to such causes, funding under
the OF February II, 1882, has practically ceas
ed. During that period, for the causes stated
above, no sutton has failed to establish his case
against the State, except where the executive,
relying upon his constitutional authority to ex-
ecute the laws, has been forced to employ coun-
sci to represent the Commonwealth, and some
times to require of the Attorney General servi--
ces which i'll no lawful way could be imposed
upon him.
Again, the Riddleberger bill and accompany
ing acts are seriously threatened by a recent
decision of the Federal Court for this circuit.
A Federal judge has deliberately pronounced
an opinion which asserts jurisdiction for his
court OF a sulror against the Commonwealth of
Virginia, should the eese- invalve certain
amount of money.
1t is not the province of the Governor of Vir-
ginia to assume the intentions of the legislative
body: still less to dictate their path OF duty
But as a former Governor Holiday eloquently
wrote in 1878 "It has appeared that the Gener-
al Assembly is not the Government OF Virginia.
There are two other departments whose dntles
are as solemn and whose responsibilities are as
profound. The same oath holds them within
the sphere of their RESPECTIVE operations as
81 1afip ed Inv the Constitution. No
one of the departments has right to shuttle it's
duties upon another, thinking thereby to evade
or avoid Responsibilities"
Accepting this view, and attempting to pass
no Judgment those who have differed and
may still differ with the principles and policy
with the public debt, the foregoing statements
and the subjoined recommendations are re-
spectfully submitted.
1t is first Recommended that the act of January
II, 1882, be so amended as to require service of
The attorneys for the Commonwealth second,
ton of coupons third, to demand that witness
ses should be summoned from such departments
of the State government as would at least be
likely 10 know which coupon was genuine or
which fraudulent; fourth, that the act above
referred to should be SO amended as to include
the coupons on the ten-forty issue of bonds
fifth, that i'll obedience to the Constitution no
money be paid out OF the Treasury under plea
of reclamation except by bills OF appropriation,
The measure of duty which seems do apply to
the Executive in this is to seek absolute sue
cess for the policy and honesty of the settlement
attempted. III cttfllOb DIS HGb NC calltu III any
true sense a settlement. Remaining with the
General Assembly is the duty or the privilege
Of making to live or letting to die the scheme of
funding known as the kiddleberger act. 10 be
successful it must be forceful. The question
now is, not whether the General Assembly will
1--WE negative support to an attempt which is no
but whether the majority of that
body will sustain and advance the present Leg
slation on the debt question. Let the respon-
now as it has always been that readjustment to
De successful must be coercive and that every
ultimate power residing under the Constitution
IN the Commonwealth of Virginia must be ex-
aausted to protect her from excessive and un-
uct claims.
These opinions and belief in the righteous
ileberger bill are not new on my part. On the
every impulse of conviction and every
demand of consistency exacts repetition here
IN substance of what has already been said to
I former General Assembly.
In this connection it should be suggested that
Ihe act commonly known as the Riddleberger
dill calculates the principal and interest of the
public debt only up to the LIST of July, 1882. Ow-
ing to delay in the delivery of the new bonds to
The Board of Sinl1ing-Fund Commissioners the
public creditors were given no opportunity to
fund as of that date il such had been their de-
Sire The tendency since then has been towards
The funding of coupons and certificates which
interest due previous or up to July,
1882, and to withhold the consol and 1910 bond
which called under the Riddleberger bill for
scaled principal. TO have allowed this process
TO continue when all interest, past, due and UNI
paid was fundable in new bonds at par, would
nave been 10 create new debt from
year to year, leaving the original obligation of
The bills OF 1e7l and 1879 untouched. Apprecia-
ting this fact, the Board of Sinking Fund Com
missioners construed the act of February Ii,
1882, to prohibit the funding of detached cou-
pons bearing date subsequent to July |, 1884,
This decision was obviously right under the law
and in policy. And it appears that from no
fault of the creditor delay occurred in the pre-
paration of the new bonds, and in order to pro-
[ect the revenue from contingencies very justly
TO be feared, it is recommended that such legs-
IatiOn be made as will enable the holders of tax
receivable coupons. maturing at any semi-an-
the same into new 3s, dollar for dollar, and that
no coupon maturing after that date shall be
fundable unless attached to and funded with
the bond OF which it is the product; and then
only, at the rate prescribed Tor the principal of
the bond on which it is the interest.
PUBLIC REVENUE.
Notwithstanding the interception by coupons
between the taxpayer and the treasury of more
than a half off, million of dollars, the sum re-
TO the credit of the Commonwealth on
the LIST OF October, 1882, was 5l,540.5l. During
the year ending LIST of October, 1888, there has
been PAID on account of interest on the public
debt 1913, II. and the balance on hand in the
as OF that date to the credit of all funds
was 81 ,53I ,20iSS. This sum will be increased by
several hundred thousand dollars during the
current month, but the amount available for
general purposes is subject to deduction in the
sum OF $780, 100 yet remaining to the credit ofthe
school fund as by proceeds appropriated but
yet uneXpended of The sale of the States inter-
est IN the Atlantic mississippi and Ohio rail-
road. During the period commencing on the
lst of January, 1882 the floating debt OF the State
has been practically extingushed.
The suspension i'll the summer of 1882 of
bank designated by law one of the State de-
positories, and the refusal of another to con
tinue TO actas such, taken i'll conjunction with
the rapid accumulation offunds in the Treasury,
made it necessary that the Governor should
exercise the discretion given him. and make
new arrangements for the care of public mon