Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-08-07
TUESDAY. .........AUGUST7 7. 1888.
The State Debt

The low prices at which non'fundable
coupons have for some time been selling,
and tho stiff prices Of tho Riddles, had
led us 10 hope that the war between the
State OF Virginia and her creditors would
soon come 10 an end. and consols, ten
forties, and all the rest disappear TO re-
appear as Riddles. There has certainly
been lull in the hostile winds. But it
seems that we reckoned without our
host that, ms we have often said, State
debt is one Of the most difficult things
in the world 10 kill. Our readers have
not forgotten the Baltimore brokers,
Messrs. JonS A. HAMILTON & Co.,
whom in former days we used to quote
80 frequently. Well, in their circular for
last Saturday they soy
"There was quito demand for Nir-
gina c0nsols, which advanced 10 81 on
very small transactions There were some
large orders in the market TO buy for
London account Wo are inclined to
think that the sudden demand for and
advance in cOnsols, was due To the ar
rival of Mr.. Cooper at London, and TO
his report Of his success in using coupons
in the PAYMENT of taxes while at Rich
m0nd, and 70 his expectation of placing
largeam0uuts of coupons with tax-p payers
in the autumn.
Mr.. COoPER has oil the logged OBJ
stinacy and untiring persistence in pur-
suit Of any object that he is seeking to
gain which belongs 10 the conventional
JONI Bull. It must have cost tho
British bondholders large sum Of
money 70 have kept him in this country
as long as they did, and to have paid the
debts which no contracted for them in
undertaking to protect from all harm all
persons who purchased coupons from
him and rendered them III payment Of
taxes. Thousands and tansof thousands
Of dollars have these bondhotlers thus
wasted. Thousands and tens of thou-
sands Of "good money" have they thus
thrown after "bad.'
These bondholders are the victims of
q dclusion. They suppose that the
Federal courts have the right and the
power TO compel the several States to
pay their debts whereas nothing is fur
Their from the truth. But for the uu-
wise and unfortunate AMI totally I'M
justihable issue in 1871 Of coupons re-
ceiyable for taxes, Virginia would be
to-day as free from the interference Of
the Federal courts as is New York
or Massachusetts, There is no lawyer
who claims for the Federal courts
power to compel a State TO pay its
debts. No such power is claimed in the
case of Virginia. All that the Federal
courts have undertaken TO do in this
matter was to decide that those coupons
werereceiyablo for taxes. They did not
pretend 10 be able TO 80 further than
this. In the last important Virginia
case which they decidod-a test case,
too-thcy held that though the State
might sue the taxpayers and get judg-
ment against them for not paying their
taxes IN money, yet until the State went
further than that the Federal courts
could not interpose.
If Mr.. COoPEa should convince the
bondbolders that moro suits ought to be
brought and that the Federal courts
will go further than they have gone
heretofore. he will only mislead his
clients and subject them to large add
tioratexpense. 1t is not to be supposed
for aHoment that the Supreme Court Of
the United States will hereafter trench
upon tie rights of the States
further thar it has done hereto
fore. The people of the whole
country now see that there is
more danger to be apprehended from
consolidation than from "indestructi-
BILE States" We have heard that
even MessrA JoHS A. HAMBLEToY & Co.
have advised their correspondents to fund
under tho RrDpLEBERGER bill. Whether
this rumor be true or not We cannot say.
But il ought to be true. The bondholder
who fights Virginia engages in q contest
which must necessarily end i'll his dis
comfture.