Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1886-12-23
MIR. John Wise on the Coupons.
RICHMOND, Va, Dec. 20, 1886.

piomPt Ine Or0efS now IN force from the
Executive department of the State govern.
ment to the Ink .collecting officers, forbid.
ding them from taking into their possession
such coupons rs are offered to them in pay.
ment of taxes? No advantage is gained
over the Taxpayer by such refusal, for the
supreme Court has declared tho act of ten.
der CithoM delivery of possession complete
payment. NJ disadvantage can accrue to
the State 10y taking the coupon into the pos
session OF the tax gatherer, because form
OF receipt can be prepared which will pro.
tect the State as fully as an absolute refusal
On tho other hand. beg you and every cit
zen OF Virginia who loves his State and is
interested IN her solvency to observe and
consider what is the result of the failure 10
lmpound every coupon that is rendered in
payment OF taxes. A man in my office Sat
u!day boosted that in few days he would
pay his taxes Tor 1886 with the Identical
coupons ne used last year to pay the taxes
OF 1888, and that he proposed to make these
same coupons do duty for some years to
come.
This is the legitimate result of the nstruc-
tons OF the Auditor forbiddin4 tax-collect.
oIs to take into their custody all coupons so
offered. | am informed that license can
be obtained in this city or in Baltimore for
one third the amount required by law.
How Why, simply enough. Certain par
ties nave coupons and make a regular bust.
ness OF rendering them. They are put up
IN packages according 10 the demands of
the trade" The party desiring license
pretends to buy package of these coupons.
he goes with them TO the tax. collector, ap.
plies for license, tenders the coupons they
are retused-the tax.collector not only de.
cllnes them, but absolutely takes no memo
randum OF their numbers or amounts the
adviser OF tho Taxpayer returns with the
applicant TO his place of business, receives
back from him the coupons, prepares an
affidavit OF the facts of application, tender,
and refusal, and gives him q certificate
Thereupoa the tax payer proceeds to bust
ness, and the State officers dare not modest
him, owing to the decisions 10 the PondeX-
ter and Royal cases. His tax is paid.
But where are the coupons that were ten
dered :? Are they retired No. They are
"alve and kicking" awaiting the next ap.
picaut, and the next, and the next ad IN.
fniium.
The daily journals inform US that $50 900 of
license takes have been rendered in cou-
pons in this city alone and refused. If the
coupons thus rendered had been taken into
the custody of the tax gatherers we would
at least have the satisfaction of knowing
that our public debt was reduced to this ex-
| tent, even II the treasury was depleted of
cash. But as matters stand it is twice as
bad as that. Neither has the tax been paid
nor is the public debt reduced, for while by
operation OF law the tax is cancelled. the
coupon that was used to cancel it is still
outstanding, unstopped and not identified j.,
and may he used to cancel hundred or
thousand times its amount and still present.
ed for payment. One hundred dollars of
coupons may have been used, and none
others. TO make tender of the whole $751;
0G0 of taxes. understand that men in this
city have these little packages, aud have
used them until they are soiled by constant
handling; that they have paid them many
times their cost by this process bringing
forth some hundred.fod, some sixty fold,
some thirty fod;" and that they are still
vital and e0icacious for tender, under the
terrible folly which refuses even to look at
them when rendered
Exactly the same process may be, and
doubtless Is, resorted to touching the tax
on real and personal property.
| The bankruptcy which must overwhelm
The State under such management is inevi.
| table. Not only must the revenue fall short
| ASSiA'hiabS'J ny ollO pa CSCuldllOu vi coupons,
but the same coupon will come and come
again to cancel taxes, so that tax of
$40 600 900 year might be absolutely wiped
out by very few coupons thus actively EN-.
| ployed, and nothing left TO pay either the
expenses of the government or the honest
coupons. To refuse to mpound every cou-
pom rendered is not only folly but crime
against the State, her taxpayers and the
| holders Of her public debt.
am believer in the principle of read.
Justment, and forcible reimbursement was
| the only practical REIMBURSEMENT. I believe
the Rlddleberger bill was right and the cou-
pom killers were right. When sought their
enactment did not believe the Supreme
Court of the United States would interfere
with their operation, because as understand
the eleventh amendment to the Constitu.
ton of the United States and their rulings
IN Snead VS.. Tennessee, Cunningham ys.
The State of Georgia, and other cases,
could not see how they could exercise in.
rlsdlctlon in such cases az would arise; but
the Supreme Court did find jurisdiction,
while the decision was reached by process
OF ratloclnatlon incomprehensible to me,
and was, as | think, totally irreconcilable
with the its former decisions. Nopower Oh
earth can avoid the decision that tender
" SShuiu0 Soupou III pay ucub VI tuA6S On
property or for license is valid and dis
charges the deb.
The necessary result is that until new lesisla
tho can be devised these taxpayers who tender
coupons are escaping taxation. But in the name
OF all that is sensible, why lei the coupons es-
cape also?
do not advocate accepting coupors I do say,
however, that ii is folly not to provide for i'm.
pounding every coupon rendered, so that it can.
not. as now, be used to discharge taxes twice,
thrice or hundred times, and yet be presente
for payment. The policy now pursued is suicidal.
Under it we are in the whirling rapids of bank.
ruptcy. few years of such folly will pile the
debt mountain high. l am well aware that am
poweriess for any active usefulness to my State.
lhe community in which l live has so often
shown radical dissent from every view have
on political questions that have no hope or de-
sire to be in any representative position in VIII CHI
l might serve it. At tho same time we all have
an interest in common in a question like this. II
1T were mere exhibition of democratic stupidity
| would enjoy it, although such exhibitions have
lost their novelty, but to point out and protest
against this folly is duty l owe to every man
whose property is taxed to pay this debt and |
merely utter my cry Of protest in hone that tho