Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1841-1853, 1841-10-12
Up to lst November 1889 S6,63G ,GO3
From st Nov 1889 to LIST Nov 1910, ,557 400


In round numbers upwards of EIGHT MIL
LIONS of dollars.
Besides this. there IS what IS called the sus-
pended debt The Fund Commissioners en-
powered to borrow money in the name of the
State, suffered themselves, IN their over-eager-
ness TO obtain funds, TO be outwiued by some of
the sharp brokers cf the eastern cities. They
gave the Promissory Notes of the State, ut DIFF
ferent times for some three millions of dollars, and
received in return-not cash, but the promises
to pay Of various halt-broken institutions, who
shortly afterwards openly became bankrupt, and
utterly failed TO comply with their engagements.
Our bonds, then, for these three millions are out
and no value received for them
In addition to this by recent acts of the Leg
islature, the Fund Commissioner has been au-
thOrized to parn the bonds of the State-hy-
pOihecdtc is the fashionable phrase-in order to
raise money for immediate necessities OF this
permission he has largely availcd himself; and
the bonds have been pawned, we are told at
little more than half their value The exact de-
tails of these and other recent transactions
cannot furnish to you, for they have not been
submitted TO the Public. Clouds and darkness
yet rest upon them. Enough is known, how
ever To assure us, TINT the Suspended Debt,
including the Bonds pawned and the eXpendI-
lures from the Internal Improvement Fund since
November 1910, amounts TO not less than Four
MILLIONS
Add Eight to Four, and we have TWELVE
MILLIONS as the amount Of Debt already in
CURED by Indiana for Internal Improvements
alone.
Twelve Millions of dollars well rcmcm-
Der the time when the Legislature Of Indiana,
checked by the old-iashioned scruplcs of honesty,
took alarm at the idea Of borrowing a single hun
/ 4 4
lnent doubling when it might ever be repaid.
Here i more than hundred times that sum,
borrowed without scruple and squandcrcd with
out return. 1t Is monstrous Indiana might
rejoice IN her uniooAod-ior good fortune, If any
one would give her single million OF dollar,
for all the scraps of Public Works Included IN
her mammoth system they would not bring a
haif-not quarter of that sum. Then SgUaR-
dercd not erpended is the proper word to desig-
nate the proceedings OF her Legislature and it.
agents The final result is the same as if they
had tied up ten or twelve millions of dollars il
sacks and wantonly sunk them to the bottom Of
the Atlantic
Twelve millions Let US take the sum tc
pieces and see what it Is. Let us weigh the bur
den that has been laid on our shoulders Six
teen or seventeen silver dollars weigh pound
therefore sixteen or seventeen thousand dollar.
Il
dred thousand dollars weigh three tons and
million of dollars is about THIRTY TOYS of sill
vcr Twelve Millions of dollars. then, ar,
THREE HUNDRED AND SIXTY TONS
OF silver. Thirty hundred weight is esteemed
"a heavy load for lour-horsc wagon, over oul
rough, clay turupkeS, not MacadamZcd, alas
even by all this lavish expenditure Then, /
the money sunk in our canals and railroads hat
been waooned to Indianapolis IN the shape o
specie 1t would have required TWO HUNDRED
AND FORTY hcayIiy-aden four horse teams o
its transportation. Allowing fifty feet for each
wagon and the intervening space 10 the next
they would have stretched IN continued line
of more than TWO MILES
All what a plausible, slippery, insinuatins
trlckster Is paper money, compared To solid, hon
est specie 1t tells no tales. Fifty thousan,
dollars Is paid over bank counter IN shorte
time than pen can record the transaction. 1t i
slipped into slender pocket-book, buttoneC
away out of sight. and changes hands, perhaps
without noise or ceremony, dozen times in TN,
course OLA forenoon What is fifty thousan,
dollars Who ever thinks about its being Il to
and a half Of silver
Imagine, for a moment, that the sum of none
which makes up the Public Debt of Indiana
ion Internal Improvements alone, had arrive,
among US in It's real. substantial metallic form
Imagine a line OF wagons two miles in length
laboring along under their load OF silver, an
passing through our state, from town 10 town
from village to village, like some vast caravan
of the desert, bearing the riches OF the East
The farmer stops his plough in amazemen'
Wagon after wagon appears, and still the end
less line holds on. Halt an hour passes, an
f vet it has no end. What would that farme
think-what must he think, # he saw and kne,
and realized what was gong on What woul
have been his feelings If prophet had the
foretold TO him, that before SIX wears had passe
, over his chidren'S heads he and they and the
descendants after them 10 be saddled wit
that vast sum by men chosen TO make laws Il
f his cood-and saddcd with It. for what 10
; nothing absolutely for nothing unless "
prize as something valuable, the odds and end
of huge mounds intended to bear railroads, an
dry bitches destined for canals, that are dotto
: over our State, here and there, without begin
I nng or end disconnected and worthless, 500
To be washed bv the storms of succeeding VII
I tiers into shapcless masses OF earth ; until IA
= future traveller, coming suddenly upon them |
I some opening of the forest, and installing theI
= perhaps for remains of Indian antiquities,
. told, that these were the works Otmen, claimin
' to be wise and civilized, yet with less OF fore
# thought and prudence, than the rude savag'
: once the occupant and the owner of our State.
e ask you again, what would have been 1t
. honest farmer feelings as resting from his labo
# that but slow-fiowing source OF tru
: wealth y he gazed upon that endless line
G borrowed riches dragged slowly hy Ncu