Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-04-25
SATURDAY. APRIL IS, 1885.
The cutworms Of the Treasury.


fog redemption. All the talk about
rushing coupons into the treasury Is
based upon a mistaken idea, or is care
less talk.
Q. There is no decision Of any court,
Federal or State, under which coupons
can be redeemed at the treasury.
8. Not one dollar Of coupons can
ever get into the treasury unless volun-
tarily paid to some collecting officer by
. taxpayer. 1t rests with the tax
PAYERS themselves whether even sim
gle coupon shall or shall not ever be
seen in the hands of any collecting Off
Ger or other State official. In word,
the whole matter is entirely within
the control Of the taxpayers oil
Virginia themselves. How, then,
is the treasury to be flooded
with couponss We repeat it, and
emphasize it, that not one coupon Will
ever get into the treasury unless some
taxpayer shall prove false to the peo-
pie Of Virginia. There are millions OF
matured coupons in the hands Of specu-
lators, but they will never get into the
treasury Of the Commonwealth If oil
virginians will only make up their
minds to stand by their old mother.
Let the millions of coupons stay in the
hands of the spectators. The 'bulls"
will continue to try to render wide
spread the belief that there is some
other way by which these coupons can
get into the treasury but the "bears"
will soon follow in the track Of the
q bulls" and set public opinion right.
4. So, then, after all the alarm and
the excited condition Of the public
mind, nothing has as yet been done that
can in any degree cripple or embarrass
the old State il her own sons remain
true to her. If for only two or three
years the taxpayers will periodically
pay all their taxes in money, the cou-
pons of all sorts will become absolutely
valueless, and the British and other
bondholders will all be glad to refund
under the RIDDLEBERGER bill.
s. 1t would in the end cost the tax
payers Of Virginia more to pay in cou-
pons than to pay in money. For unless
the State government is to be totally
abandoned, there must be money enough
brought into the treasury in some way
to pay the necessary expenses Of that
government. We say money, not cou-
pons. The coupons will not aid in the
slightest degree to pay criminal charges,
nor to keep up the public schools, nor
to provide for the penitentiary, the col
leges, the asylums, nor any other State
institutions. The Commonwealth her
self wiH need just as much money an
addition 10 the coupons as Il Toutd
need if no coupons rere paid into the
treasury. This Is not an extravagant
statement. The receipts of the State
treasury are say twenty-seven hundred
thousand dollars annually. Whatever
proportion Of that sum the Common
wealth needs. for her own wants, she
must necessarily have in addition "a
tie coupons. She needs annually six
hundred thousand dollars or more 70,
the public schools. She needs one OF
Atwo hundred thousand dollars for legis-
slative expenses. She needs hundreds
Of Thousands Of dollars to pay the sala'
ries Of ell her officials Of one sort ant
another. She needs hundreds Of thou
sands Of dollars To pay criminal charges
These arc only part of the object.
for which the State is obliged to have
money mot coupons. Now, then, vii
il not DO = poor speculation for the tax
payers first to buy twenty-seven hun
drsd thousand dollars Of coupons an,
than to pay twenty-seven hundre'
thousand dollars in money?
6. But this latter will never be done
No Legislature is going to double tn
taxes. The State government is not L
Be stopped. The public schools arenot L
b abandoned. The taxpayers willpa.
their taxes in money. They did it las
year almost unanimously, when Their
{ was no such pressure upon them q
Mr.. STANLEY MATTHEWS has nov
brought to bear upon them. Let then
continue firm in their purpose, and vic
tory viii crown their efforts befor
dong. The bondholders cannot mucl
Ionser be humbugged. The more suit
thsy gain the less money they will &c.
IL tbs bs the determination Of ever,
tax-payer.
We had written the foregoing whe
ths Washington Post Of yesterday va
hands1 to ~. In II we find the FOL
lowing article, which, to our great sat
is1he>ion, snforces the very view tina
~ ~ taken in what we had penned
The Pot says:
s. II ANYBODY BEKEvITEDf--ln on
o. ths recent Virginia coupon cases
1lnrse against PArsons--ths Suprcm'
ooqft dscidsd that the contrsct-right Q
z ecupen-hoIder under the act Of Marcel
=. lb7l, q. b exercised only BY
1n1eeyer, ard, II might have sddsd, Z
r. 6xloof e ~ taxes.
~ posuons ksyp any direct jntsFss'