796 



VIRGINIA. 



court, but stated his concurrence in the opin- 

 ion of the majority. Judge Staples dissented, 

 and gave an elaborate opinion upon the ques- 

 tions involved, concluding as follows: 



I do not believe the Supreme Court of the United 

 States will ever hold that one Legislature can, by any 

 form of enactment, hind succeeding Legislatures and 

 the public revenue in the manner attempted in the 

 provisions of the funding act ; and, until they so de- 

 cide, I am not willing that this court should sanc- 

 tion a precedent which may prove most disastrous 

 to all the vital interests of the State, and under au- 

 thority of which, practically, liens and mortgages 

 may be given upon the future revenues of the State, 

 by statutes assuming the form of contracts. We 

 have heard a good deal of violated faith, and of the 

 obligation and duty of paying the public debt. 

 These are questions for the consideration of the 

 Legislature, and not of the courts. They who pur- 

 chased the bonds of the State were well aware of 

 this when they made their investments. They who 

 deliberately, and in defiance of a positive enactment 

 of the Legislature, that these coupons will pot he 

 redeemed in payment of public dues, persist in pur- 

 chasing them, are not entitled to the least favor or 

 consideration, and should receive none from the 

 court. Upon this question of public faith, I will say 

 this, that for four years Virginia bore upon her hosom 

 the burden of a civil conflict as great as any record- 

 ed in history. She came out of the struggle present- 

 ing a lamentable spectacle of a prostrate and bleed- 

 ing State, without a currency, without any organized 

 system of labor, one-half of her territory almost a 

 waste, and vast numbers of her citizens reduced to 

 hopeless insolvency and ruin. For years after the 

 rage of battle had ceased, she was kept in subjec- 

 tion to military power, under the rule of aliens and 

 strangers, unacquainted with her laws, her tradi- 

 tions, and her sufferings ; and yet her statutes ex- 

 hibit the gratifying spectacle of an honest endeavor 

 on the part of her representatives, while still under 

 the shadow of these great disasters, to make some 

 provision for the payment of her creditors. I believe 

 it will still be done, and payment be made, from 

 time to time, until the last farthing is paid. But, 

 regarding the whole subject as involving the exer- 

 cise of legislative functions of sovereign powers, I 

 am content to leave it where it properly belongs 

 under our constitution and form of government. 

 Virginia's representatives will not fail to preserve 

 untarnished Virginia's honor. 



When the Legislature of 1872-'73 met on the 

 4th of December, this subject of the financial 

 condition of the State was still the most im- 

 portant with which it had to deal. Early in 

 January the following resolution was adopted 

 by the Senate : 



Resolved, That, in view of the late decision of the 

 Court of Appeals, the Governor of this Common- 

 wealth be requested to give to the General Assem- 

 bly his views, at the earliest moment, as to the best 

 mode of raising money to pay the interest on the 

 public debt and defray the expenses of the State, 

 and the increase of taxation necessary. 



In response to this request, the Governor 

 submitted his views at length, in a special 

 message, on the 13th of January. They were 

 expressed in these three propositions : 1. The 

 reduction of the principal or sum total of the 

 public debt to the lowest possible amount, by 

 applying our non-productive assets to its liqui- 

 dation. 2. The reduction of the current ex- 

 penses of the State government to the lowest 

 degree consistent with its proper and efficient 



administration. 3. The assessment of all the 

 property in this Commonwealth, in accordance 

 with the mandates of the constitution. 



Under the first proposition, lie recommended 

 the sale of various stocks and bonds owned by 

 the State, amounting to $6,819,200, and the 

 application of the proceeds to the payment of 

 the debt. This would reduce the principal to 

 $38,898,912.23, one-third of which is to be 

 assumed by West Virginia. The interest on 

 the other two-thirds, or $25,932,608.14, would 

 be $1,555,956.48. He then made various sug- 

 gestions for the reduction of the expenses of 

 the government, and recommended "an entire 

 change in our system for the levy and collec- 

 tion of taxes." He made a calculation of the 

 necessary expenses of the government, which 

 he set down at $600,000. This, added to the 

 annual interest on the debt, would give $2,- 

 160,000 as the amount to be raised yearly by 

 taxation, aside from that required for the 

 maintenance of public schools, which, lie 

 thought, should be raised by a capitation-tax 

 of two dollars, and by local taxation. On the 

 subject of reform in assessment, he urged sim- 

 ply conformity with the requirements of the 

 constitution, that "taxation shall be equal and 

 uniform, and all property, both real and per- 

 sonal, should be taxed in proportion to its 

 value ; " that " no one species of property from 

 which a tax may be collected, shall be taxed 

 higher than any other species of property of 

 equal value; " that "no land shall be assessed 

 above or below its value ; " and proceeds to 

 show how these requirements have been sys- 

 tematically disregarded. He declared the re- 

 assessment act of the last session to be " wrong 

 in principle, and unjust and demoralizing in 

 practice," and that "the true system to be 

 adopted, and the only one which will ever 

 solve the difficulty without trenching upon 

 constitutional principles, is that which shall 

 provide for the revision of equalization of as- 

 sessments among the several townships of 

 counties and the wards of cities, and then the 

 revision of equalization of the assessments 

 among the several counties and corporations 

 of the State." 



According to the official statements for the 

 fiscal year, ending September 30, 1872, the 

 public debt at that date amounted to $45,718,- 

 112.23. Deducting one-third for settlement 

 with West Virginia, $30,478,741.49 remains to 

 be provided for by this State. This is exclu- 

 sive of $1,543,669.65 in bonds and stock held 

 by the literary fund. There was a balance 

 in the Treasury at the beginning of the fiscal 

 year, amounting to $1,084,486.07, and $3,282,- 

 974.70 was received during the year, making 

 an aggregate of $4,317,460.77. The disburse- 

 ments of the year amounted to $3,218,961.74, 

 leaving a balance October 1, 1872, of $1,098,- 

 499.03. 



Aside from this matter of public finances, 

 there is little of importance to chronicle in the 

 history of the State for 1872, The Legislature, 





