Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-01-07
THURSDAY......JANUARY Z, 1886.
The Coupon Problem.

"Justice of Albemarle " comes to
the front again. He is entitled, we
think, to the credit Of having been the
first to make in the public prints the
averment, afterwards embodied In the
Virginia Democratic platform, that the
debt question had ceased to be one Of
dollars and cents and become one Of
State sovereignty. lie presents, for get
ting rid Of the coupons, a plan which
may be . good one. We submit it for
the consideration of the General As
sembly.
We are not by any means convinced
that the scheme which our correspond
ent lays at the door Of Senator McCoR.
MICK, but which really originated with
this paper, Of making the State taxes
fall due periodically, would not prove
to be both practical and effective. Sup
pose II should require for two or three
years the appointment Of tax-collect-
ors enough TO visit every house
and collect the taxes; yet if there
by the States creditors were COM
PEELED, as they surely would be, to
fund under the RIDDLEBERGER bill,
the State would have saved millions
upon millions Of dollars. We well re-
collect when the sheriff used to collect
all the taxes, besides being the minis
terial officer Of the Circuit Court of his
county or corporation. He was not
employed half the year, though he col
lected all the taxes, including license
taxes. Four times as many collectors
as there used to be sheriiIs could, there
fore, it is clear, collect the taxes at the
houses of the taxpayers, many, if not
most, Of whom would feel greatly re-
lievedsif they were granted the privi-
lege Of paying five dollars a quarter,
instead of twenty dollars all at
once. Virginia is endeavoring to get
rid Of a burthen Of debt Gncluding
coupons) amounting to more than
thirty-five millions of dollars-ffteen
or eighteen millions more than we are
willing or consider ourselves able to
pay. Can we get rid Of fifteen millions
of dollars Of debt without inconvenience
to somebody? Why, there is nothing
in the world harder to kill off than a
debt amounting to millions Of dollars.
Look at the bondholders. They pay q
lawyer a thousand dollars a month
to attend to their interests in the same
debt. They would land could we'll
afford toy expend five millions Of dollars
to get such laws passed by the Legisla-
ture, or such decisions rendered by the
courts, as would compel Virginia to
pay all the coupons which have matured
under the funding bills of 1871 and
1879, besides paying the bonds issued
in those two years. Can Virginians
expect to get rid Of those coupons
and those bonds without going to
any expense or submitting to any
inconvenience? II is Herculean task
that we have before us, and
one that cannot be performed if we
are to be deferred by the fear Of little
trouble or little expense-nay, it will
never be performed il we are to be de-
TERED by the fear of a great deal of
trouble and q great deal Of expense.
Let us have no idle talk when such a
question comes up for consideration.
If we are in earnest, let us show the
fact By our acts. What is the incon.
venience of two or three years, or
the expense Of five hundred tax-col-
lectors for two or three years, con-
trasted with the never-ending expense
and nevef-ceasing yexation and trouble
of fighting the bondholders as we are
now doing?
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