764 



VIRGINIA. 



The process of funding the debt was begun 

 on the 5th of July, and went on with consid- 

 erable rapidity until the session of the Legis- 

 lature of 1871-'72 commenced in December. 

 In response to a resolution of the House of 

 Delegates, the State Treasurer then made the 

 following statement of the debt so far as funded : 

 In coupon bonds, $12,361,500; in registered 

 bonds, $6,351,471.68 ; certificates for one-third, 

 $9,356,485.84 total funded, $28,069,457.52. 



Meantime, there had been an election of 

 members of the Legislature, and the principal 

 question which had entered into the canvass 

 was that of meeting the demands which the 

 public debt would make upon the resources of 

 the State. It was contended by some, that 

 the people were unable to bear the burdens 

 which the Funding Act imposed upon them, 

 and that the action of the Legislature had been 

 premature. The grounds of the popular aver- 

 sion to the funding bill have been stated thus : 



1. Because they think the bill was passed by cor- 

 rupt and improper _ influences, employed by both 

 foreign and domestic bankers, brokers, and specu- 

 lators, as a scheme to raise the market value of Vir- 

 ginia bonds, and thus make it a matter of a " ring" 

 speculation. 



2. They maintain that the debt of the State, having 

 "been originally created by the whole State before 

 any division of her territory or destruction of her 

 property in slaves, it therefore should fall equitably 

 upon both of the States, as provided for in their 

 respective constitutions, and that such division of 

 the debt should be made between the two States 

 before old Virginia should obligate herself to pay 

 the whole. 



3. The people contend that the bill is odious, 

 because it makes the taxes of the rich payable in its 

 coupons at far less than par value, while the poor 

 or non-bondholders, who compose the great body of 

 the people, will be compelled to pay their State dues 

 in money, dollar for dollar. 



The new session of the Legislature began on 

 the 6th of December, and scarcely was the 

 vork of organization over when a new agi- 

 tation was begun on the subject of the finances. 

 The Attorney-General gave it as his opinion 

 that the Funding Act did not make provision 

 for the payment of interest on the 1st of Jan- 

 uary, 1872, and that a special act for the pur- 

 pose would be necessary. A bill was accord- 

 ingly introduced, but met with strong opposi- 

 tion, and, about the same time, a joint reso- 

 lution was brought forward suspending the 

 funding process. There was an animated dis- 

 cussion on this, but it passed by a vote of 27 

 to 12 in the Senate, and 104 to 18 in the House. 

 The resolution was vetoed by the Governor 

 on the 28th of December. He pronounced it 

 "unwise, unjust, and fraught with the gravest 

 consequences to the public weal unwise, 

 because it would indefinitely postpone the 

 further operation of a law already in great 

 part executed, and that too without the sub- 

 stitution of any equivalent, or any expressed 

 purpose of improvement ; unjust, because it 

 would withhold the benefits of an established 

 law from a minority of our creditors, equally, 

 if not more deserving than the majority who 



have already availed themselves of its provi- 

 sions ; and the gravity of the consequences it 

 would entail upon us has already begun to 

 be felt in the heavy depreciation of our State 

 securities, and the loss of confidence in our 

 integrity as a people." He gave his views at 

 length upon the subject, condemning the reso- 

 lution, and sustaining the wisdom and expe- 

 diency of the Funding Act, but the resolution 

 was passed over his veto by the requisite two- 

 thirds majority. Any intention of repudiating 

 the debt was denied, but it was claimed that 

 the interest, falling due on January and July, 

 could not be paid, and the exact amount of 

 the debt falling upon Virginia should be ascer- 

 tained before an attempt was made to fund it, 

 and provide for its payment. 



We now go back to the work of the Legis- 

 lature in the spring. The subject which, next 

 to the finances, occupied most attention, was 

 that of the railroads. A continuous line of 

 rail had never been established between Rich- 

 mond and Washington; and the Richmond, 

 Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad Company, 

 which had originally been secured against any 

 competing line between these points for a 

 term of thirty years, desired to have its mo- 

 nopoly continued. Its road had never been 

 completed farther north than Acquia Creek, 

 but another line had been built from Alexan- 

 dria to Fredericksburg, and it was now pro- 

 posed to give the Alexandria & Fredericks- 

 burg road a franchise to continue its line to 

 Richmond, and assume the name of the Wash- 

 ington & Richmond Railroad. The opposing 

 interests fought this proposition long and hard, 

 and there were charges even of the use of 

 bribery and corruption in the attempt to carry 

 their object. The bill was, however, passed, 

 and a continuous line of railroad authorized 

 " from the end of Long Bridge, opposite Wash- 

 ington City, through Richmond and Danville 

 and Bristol." Another proposition, which met 

 with strong opposition, provided for the sale 

 of the interest of the State in various railroads. 

 The principal ground of opposition was the 

 fact that, in some cases, the parties desiring to 

 buy were connected with railroads outside of 

 the State. The point was finally carried, and 

 bills were passed providing for the sale of the 

 bonds and stock held by the State in the Rich- 

 mond & Danville Railroad Company, the Rich- 

 mond & Petersburg, the Richmond, Fredericks- 

 burg & Potomac, the Washington & Ohio, and 

 the Atlantic, Mississippi & Ohio, and other 

 companies. Among other railroad changes 

 authorized was the consolidation of the Vir- 

 ginia & Tennessee Railroad with the At- 

 lantic. Mississippi & Ohio, and the consolida- 

 tion of the Lynchburg & Danville with the 

 Orange & Alexandria. The most important 

 effect of this legislation relating to the rail- 

 roads was the introduction of capital from 

 Pennsylvania, Maryland, and other States, and 

 the consequent assurance that lines will^ bo 

 completed and developed which will put im- 



