The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-05-14

THE INCONsIDERATE ACTS OF THE LATE
DEMOCRATIC GENERAL ASSEMBLY --THE
CAUSE THEREOF.
These decisions are creating great deal
of excitement and uneasiness among the
people of Virginia. Although the opin-
ions have not been published, yet the news
paper reports furnish a sufficient account
OF what the decisions declare to inform US
that all the legislation in Virginia upon
the public debt, since the passage OF the
I Funding act OF lS70-'7l, and the McCul-
loch bill. las been pronounced unconsti-
tutional and void.
The Court decided everything else out
and out for the bondholders. 1t held that
/ the tender Of a coupon in payment OF a tax
is a legal tender, and it is the same in
effect as il tender Of coin. 1t distinguishes
the State 5 claim for the tax, save and ex-
cept her right to demand the coupon. 1t.
| holds that it is Il trespass for the officer to
levy to compel the payment of the taxes in
any other medium after a tender of the
coupon, and that he must be enjoined from
|
laws of the State of Virginia which for
| bid the officer to receive coupons in pay
ment Of taxes are unconstitutional and
| void, and all the laws that command him
| to levy after the tender of coupons are un-
| consti tutional and void; and that the
State law which forbids the taxpayer to
| sue the officer for his trespass in the State
courts is likewise null and void. 1t af-
! firms the taxpayers right to sue for tres
pass or for an injunction at his pleasure,
either in the State court or the United
States court. 1t declares that all of the
acts which the Legislature OF Virginia has
passed must be taken and considered to-
! gether, and that when thus considered
they disclose purpose on the part of the
State to destroy the coupons, and that it
is not within her power to destroy them,
and, therefore, that all must fall together
| Specifically it declares the right of the
taxpayer to sue the officer in detinue who
seiZes his property after a tender of coll-
pons, and to force him to surrender the
property. 1t declares it is his right to sue
him for damage for trespass in Selling the
property, and to have an injunction to
prevent him Selling and selling the prop
erty.
We are therefore at sea again in respect
| to the debt question and the awful spec
tire of over S., 0OO,0 600 of past due coupons,
| necessarily to be received for taxes and
other demands, due the State, will be star
| ing its Treasury in the face for entrance,
and they Will, of course intercept the re-
ceipt of all money revenue for long time,
unless the people of Virginia put back in
to power the Republican party, who may
rectify the errors Of the late Democratic |
! Legislature and devise some adequate rem
edy to counteract the cravings of this |
''cut-Worm of the Treasury" Cur people |
would like to know the reasons of this I'M |
expected decision of the Supreme Court,
thus remitting the debt settlement back
to the act of 1870'71. and establishing the |
| absolute receptibility of the tax-receivable |
Hcoupons by all fhe collectors of revenue
T for the State.
The cases were ably and exhaustively |
argued by Attorney-Gene Blair, Judge |
| w. r. Staples. Hon. Richard T. Merrick, |
and HCE. a. FL. Garland, the Attorney
| General of the United States, as counsel
for the State of Virginia; and for the |
bondholders, by William L. Royal, Esq,
ca. r. L. Maury, Senator VIM. NJ. |
Evarts and Ex-Governor Chamberlain. n
short history of the legislation upon the
State debt as we'll as an account of the |
opinions of the Court of Appeals of Vir-
ginia, and of the Supreme Court of the |
/ United States heretofore expressed upon
the same subject, viii be necessary to
make plain why the last named court has
arrived at the conclusion which it has just |
announced. The Funding act of 1S70-'71, I
which is the "Iliad of all our woes,'' the |
! primal cause Of all our troubles about the
| public debt of the State, authorized it to
! be funded and created the self-eXe-
cutting coupon, which has ever since
! hung round the throat of the Treasury
with such tenacity that no power has yet
/ been able to loosen its clutch.
The Supreme Conrt of Appeals of Vir-
| GINA, 1872, i'll the case of Antoni u.s.
Wright, declared this act to be constitu-
! tional and unrepealable. and said that not
! to receive coupons would violate the obi
cation of the contract made by the State
with her creditors, which cannot be done
because it is prohibited by the Constitu-
ton of the United States and it required
the collecting officers Of the State to re-
ceiye them in payment of all taxes, debts,
dues, and demands owing to the State
| Notwithstanding this decision, however.
the Legislature, after much consideration
and after attempting various schemes to
get rid of this coupon incubus, at last, in
1882 when the Readjusters were in power
passed the Rddleberger act, which de-
clared what the amount Of the States in
debtedness was, and proposed to the cred
itors fair and equitable basis of settle
ment.
The same Legislature, on the 14th of
January, 1882, passed an act, commonly
known as C0upon-Killer No. l +: and on
the Goth of January, 1882 it passed an
other act, known as Coupon Killer No. ,.
The object Of these acts was to give spe-
citc remedies to the bondholders to prove
the genuineness of their coupons and to
make them available. i'll the place of the
writ OF nadadoneas and other legal remedies
before existing, which We're declared not
to be applicable in coupon cases.
These laws were drafted by some of the
best lawyers liz the United States.
They did not force the bondnolder to
fund his old bonds nor did they refuse to
receive coupons in payment of any taxes,
debts, or demands due the State They
did not Interfere i'll any way with the OBJ
legations of the contract as embodied in
the bonds and coupons issued under the
Funding act of 1S70'71, but only required
the coupon-holder to prove his coupons to
be genuine. These acts were so carefully
drawn up with regards to the rights, both
OF the State and the bondholders. that the
Supreme Court Of the United States in