Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-12-01
Stauntoit Spectator.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1885.
Ssliloquy Of a Taxpayer.

The time for the payment of the State
taxes has arrived, and it is my duty to pay
them, for the amount of my tax is the pro-
portion I am under obligation to pay to
help to make up the sum of near three mil
lion dollars necessary for the support OF
the government which protects my property,
my life and my liberties educates my
children, and provides for the insane, the
cripples, the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind,
and for the helpless and destitute. Shall ]
pay with coupons or with money? If ]
pay with coupons can save about one
half of the amount Of my taxes. Would it
be right for me to do sos My taxes repre-
sent the amount in money Of my proper
ton of the sum necessary for the support
of the government and if I pay with
coupons, the government will not receive
cent of my money, for one-half of it I will
keep, and the other half will 60 into the
pockets of the bondholders and the sharks
now specializing in coupons, and my dut,
to pay my taxes for the support of the gov
eminent will not have been performed, but
will bave been evaded. If I pay in cou-
pons, do not pay anything towards the
support of the government but, on the
contrary, withhold from the government
what justly owe it-one-half of which
keep myself, and the other half l give to
the Spectator in coupons.
If pay in coupons, violate the law OF
the State, and the pledges which botb
political parties in this State have solemnly
made in their afflrmance of fidelity to the
Riddieberger bill as a final settlement Of
the vexed debt question. If it be right fol
me to pay in coupons, it is right for all
other tax payers to do likewise but if they
should do, then there would be ne money
in the treasury for the support Of the gov
ernment,-nethipg but coupons, which,
though as numerous as the ''autumnai
leaves in Vallambrosa's vale," would be as
worthless as those leaves for the support o.
the government, and there could be NJ
government, but there would be insteao
bankruptcy, ruin, and chaos, and hence ii
could not be right for all, or even a con
siderable proportion, to pay in coupons, but
if it be right for me to do SO, it is equally
right for all others /; and as the direful re-
suit of such action shows that 1t would not
be right for them to do so, it follows, neces
sarily, that it would not be right for me-
Some,-not many-resolve to Pay witt
coupons, and these and the coupon-specu-
lators argue that l should do SO likewise
the former, because they want others te
share the obloquy with them-upon the
principle of the fox in the fable that had
his "eaudal narrative curtailed-and the
latter, because they want to make their
commissions OH the sales of the coupons
but they do not present it in that way, but
say they are only looking to my interest,
and that should not pay in money whilst
others,-and they greatly magnify the
numbers-pay in coupons. But that argu'
ment strikes me as one that proves toe
much, and, therefore, is no argument al
all for if it be right for me to do wrong,
right for me to cheat, to lie, to steal, tc
murder, because some others do SO. That
is the chief argument Of the coupon-payeis
and spectators, and yet it is worthless.
If it were neither legally nor moral.
wrong, would it be polite to pay in cou
pons? What would be gained by first with
holding from the government the funds j.
matchmaking it misunderstanding th'
schools closing public institutions, &C.,
and then imposing sufficient additions
taxas to raise the money necessary to SCI
them up and a-going again, or else leave
the government in ruin and society If
citizen could be benefited by such policy
as that. 1t would be like saving dolla,
to-day and losing two tomorrow. Thai
does not look like good fnanceeripg TO me
1t seems clear to me, after looking at tho
question from all sides, that it is neither
legally nor morally right, and neither prof
table nor polite to pay in coupons bu
tat it is both legally and morally right, as
money, and that is the conclusion to which
l have arrived, and I will certainly pay il
money. 1t has struck me as very remark a
BILE that those who belong to the party tina
originated, advocated, and adopted the
Riddleberger bill as the only true ant
proper settlement of the State debt. ant
condemned in the most emphatic terms tn,
payment of taxes in coupons-'the cut
worms of the treasury"-should now b.
the very persons who are trying to persuade
the taxpayers to pay in coupons. 1 hav'
wondered much at this, and have ponderet
it well, and have concluded, as have beer
unable to conceive any other reason for it
that their motive must be to embarrass til,
State Government as much as possible, Il
cripple, if not destroy, the public schools
to make confusion worse COMPOUNDED,
and then to say, "See what the Demo
cats have brought the State to"-hopinl
thereby to get themselves into Office, anc
not caring farthing for the fate of thu
State and its institutions. It has this ap
pearance, and that the more convinces MI
that it is my duty, and that of eveSy othe
taxpayer, to pay in money, as will mos
certainly do, for know that in SO doing
cannot fail to do right, for will be payins
into the treasury of the State the amount
owe, and will be faithfully discharging m!
whole obligation, whereas if l should pa!
in coupons, would pay nothing into thu
treasury-would not relieve myself of thu
obligation-but would put my money int
the pocket of the bondholder and coupon
Spectator.
Death of Hon. Walter n. Johnston.