Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1909-10-07

half dollars in the treasury. Take the
Auditors reports for lS79-sO and fol-
lowing up to 1884, Mr.. Swanson, and
see if YOU can controvert these figures.
What should the people of Virginia
think when the Governor of the State,
either through Grass ignorance or parti-
san malice, so outrageously perverts the
the facts?
If the charges made by Mr.. Swanson
against the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES ad-
ministration of Virginia's affairs were
true, is it not strange that he now has
for his most intimate personal friends
and political allies two men who were
identified with and benefciaries of the
policies and administration that Swan
son so coarsely villifies. We mean Judge
Mann and Judge Rhea. 1t may be that
Mr. Swanson measured the whole Re-
adJuster party and its administration by
these two INSCRIPTIONS politicians
whom he knows so well.
After his misstating the record so
grossly as to Republican-Readjuster
rule, we are not surprised that Mr..
Swanson should again, as he has be-
fore, claim that his party settled the
State debt. Here is what he said in
his speech at Surrv Courthouse.
That the Democratic party had set
tied the State debt, that it had wisely
brought about a settlement with the
creditors of Virginia, had saved the
State from reputation, and that the
Democratic settlement was more favor
able to the State by $40, 291, 773. 90 than
the settlement provided for by the Rid
dleberger bill"
AS to these declarations by the Dem
ocratic governor we offer the following
in refutation: The Democrats of Vir-
glnia held State convention at Lynch
burg, Va, in 1888, one year after the
enactment of the Riddleberger bill, and
in the platform adopted by that con-
vention declared:
The Democratic party accepts as
hnal the recent settlement of the pub
lie debt pronounced constitutional by
the courts of last resort. State and Fed
eral' and will oppose any agitation of
the question, or disturbance of that set
Element by appeal or otherwise.
And on December 81. 1888, the Dem
ocratic Legislature of Virginia declared
that the people of Virginia have &C.
cepted the Act of February, fourteenth
eighteen hundred and eighty-two, known
as the Riddleberger Bill, as the ultimate
settlement of the debt of the State;
that it is their unalterable PURPOSE
that the settlement shall be final. anc
that any expectation that any settle
ment of the debt of this State upon any
other basis will ever be tolerated by
the people Of Virginia. is absolutely il
lusory and hopeless.
These declarations of the Virginia Dem
ocrats were made after unsuccessful eff
forts on their part to have the Riddle,
berger bill declared unconstitutional by
the State and Federal courts. Were
these declarations made in good faith.
1t seems not, if we are to believe Cover.
nor Swanson, IS he states that tho
Democrats made some other settlement
of the debt which was more favorable
to the State by $40. 291, 773. 80 than was
the Riddleberger bill. The Riddleber.
ger bill only assumed debt of So, O35,.
377.15. We recall the fact that the
funded debt of the State made by the
Democrats under settlement with the
Rlddleberger bill as a basis is S29, 825,-
O24 "a. Where then does that SIC. 600.
600 more favorable than the Ri6dieber-
ger bill come in? 1t looks to US like it
is about $4,000, 1000 on the other side.
This is the way the Virginia Democrats
have ratified the pledges of their plat
form and Legislature made in 1888.
What will an intelligent public think
of Governor Swanson's manifestly IN
true statements about the settlement
of the public debt? If the Governor
was willing to be so unfair and incor-
rect in his presentation of the record of
ReadJusters and Republicans, and so en-
tirely at variance with the truth when
ne spoke of the work of his party in it's
treatment of the public debt, what
credit should be given to his other state
ments where he undertakes to deal in
facts and figures?
The attack made by Governor Swan
| son uDOn the Readiuater administration