Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1890-01-17
GOVERNORS MESSAGE CON
CERNINQ THE STATE DEBT.

To the General assembly:
I have the honor to transmit to
YOU letter froE. Mr.. john Luhbock,
chairman of the Council and Commit
tee of Foreign Boldholdc-s in Lon
don, bca, ing date December IS, 1889,
and addressed to the Governor OF
Virginia. The letter expresses the
hope that the Governor will take all
early opportunity 10 bring to the no
tice of the Legislature the earnest
desire of the bondholtlers to put an
end to the protIactcd contest be.
tween them and the State, md al
]egcs that the points in divergence
upon which the negotiations in 1887
failed are not so great as to preclude
II hope that the question ut issue
may be adjusted, sc.
The communication expressed the
desire that i'll order to preclude the
possibility of similar miscarriage to
that of 1857, Il preliminary under
standing shall be arrived ut rs to the
general principles that should govern
such deliberations. 1t suggests that
accredited representatives of tho
State to carry out and conclude
matters at issue be sent to London
but if il should not DO deemed prnc
ticablc to meet this suggestion, then
the Council and Committee of the
Foreign Bondho.dcrs would be pro
pared to send commission to Rich
mond, Va, with full authority to
conclude an equitable compromise.
Mr.. Lubbock assures us, in the
meantime, of Il sincere desire on Tho
part of the Council and Committee
to cooperate in bringing about an
early and equitable adjustment, which
may afford u permanent settlement
acceptable to all parties He says
that we mny with perfect confidence
rely that any agreement made by the
State with the Council and Commit.
tee would be Il permanent settlement
so far as the bondholders arc con
cerned.
l deem it proper to say to The
General Assembly that would be
greatly gratified if the question of the
public debt of Virginia could be set
tied in such manner as TO satisfy
ull parties and retire it from the
courts, from the Legislative halls and
from the politics of the State. From
my knowledge OF the financial condi
ton of the people of Virginia and
the action they have heretofore taken
upon this subject, it is clear to me
that we arc not able to offer our
bondholders more liberal settle.
nent than that embodied in the set,
Element known as the Riddlebcrger
bill, and that any considerable de.
parture from the provisions of that
bill would be contrary to the ex
pressed will of the people and to the
pledges made to them by the party
in power.
I sec no good reason why we
should send q commission to the city
OF London to confer with the bond
holders. We have offered them un
der the Riddleberger bill terms MS
liberal as the financial condition of
the State will allow; that bill has
been approved repeatedly by each
political party in the Stale, i'll its
conventions, and ratified by the PEG
pie Mt the polls.
The annual expenses of the State
government are now larger than at
the time of the passage of that bill,
having been made so by the increas.
od annual appropriations to the luna
tic asylums, rendered necessary by
the distressing increase OF lunacJ; by
the increased criminal expenses,
caused by the unfortunate increase
of crime; by the adoption OF pen
sion law to afford some little relief to
the disabled soldiers aud to the wild
ows of those who lost their lives in
the late war; by the appropriations
to the Female Normal School al
Farmville, the Colored Normal School,
at Petersburg, the free school in con
nection with William and Mary Col
lege, and the Soldiers Home since
theni and whilst our annual expenses
have increased our resources have
diminished materially. The decision