The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1861-06-29

he A6s otats Lean.
We nhst however, make IN exception 10 the
general rule In ~ ease Of tic proposed loan Of
the State Of Iowa. That State q now IN the
market for var loan. In. order 70 borrow,
without violating the State Constitution, the
State authorities are Obliged 70 act ontAs seton
that the State d 10 danger Of invasion. II the
people Of the State of Iowa had established .
character for honor and integrity, the public
would perhaps feel that the vice which thus
taints the new loan in it inception would never
be pleaded in bar of It's due payment. But we
regret to say that the people Of the State Of
Iowa have earned precisely tie charact which
warrants the belief that they would. after they
bad got the money resort to this and eve ~ other
available Tick p defraud the parties who had
lent it There is hardly town or ,.opulous
county in Iowa which is not at this moment
evading or attempting to evade it's mos solemn
obligations Such towns as Davenport. Burling-
ton, Dubuque, Keokuk, Muscatine, aid such
counties as Henry, Desmoines, &C., which have
been built up by the railroads intersecsing the
State, are repudiating in the NEST barefaced
manner N the bonds they gave to help construct
the o'ds, generally on the shameful plea that
the towns and counties had no Legal right
to give the bonds which we're in effect the cause
OF their prosperity. These repudiating tricks
receive the countenance of the Iowa courts. As
was the case couple of years ago in Wisconsin,
and for many years in Mississippi, court judges,
lawyers, politicians and people are all leagued
together to cheat their creditors. 1t is with re-
greet that We fee. 1t to be our duty to protest
the negotiation of any Northern State loan in
the present crisis. But the dishonesty of the
towns and counties in Iowa has been SO uniform
and 30 fragrant of late that it would be mex
cusable to permit their war loan to pass without
remarking that it Offers tempting opportunity
for reputation, and that the people Of Iowa
have evidently no scruples of honor or honesty
on the subject Of repudiating their debts.
We copy the above very unfair and unjust as
sault upon the credit Of our State from the New
York Herald Of the oath.
The first assertion made by the editor, viz.
that Sin order to borrow, without violating the
State Constitution, the State authorities are
compelled to act on the fiction that the State is
in danger of invasion" is untrue. The Consti.
tuition, article Z, sec. 2, says the State may con.
tract debts to supply casual deficits Or failures
in revenue, or to meet expenses not otherwise
provided for, but the amount of such indebted.
ness must not exceed two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars; but section 4th Of the same
article gives full authority for the proposed loan,
as follows
lin addition to the above limited pc wer to
contract debts, the State may contract debts to
repel invasion, suppress instruction, Or defend
the State in war;"
Iowa has the Constitutional right to make the
proposed loan without resorting to any sic.
ton"
But the Herald writer seems to think that our
people have established character fos dishon-
ssty from which it is reasonable to suppose they
will, after they get the money, dodge the pay.
ment of principal and interest And he pretends
to write this Of the whole people of Iowa be.
cause few cities and counties in the State have
failed, because unable, to pay interest on Rail.
road bonds. Dubuque, Davenport, Muscatne,
Burlington, Keokuk, and some twenty counties
out Of nisety-seven in the State, saddled upon
themselves during the great imitation Of SO, '56,
and 81, debts amounting, in round numbers, to
say nine millions of dollars. Bonds to some.
thing like this amount were issued to the differ
ent Railroad companies, and by them spouted
in New York and elsewhere. Many of these
bonds are in the hands of our own citizens
They were issued in good faith, and the interest
on them paid by most of the cities and counties
a long as it could be done even by borrowing
at ruinous shave. Burlington paid interest up
to last year. The charge that there was dis
honest intent in issuing these bonds or repudi-
alton since their issue is false.
These bondholders, instead of looking at the
fact that We as cities and counties, had con-
.racted debts beyond our ability to pay, in the
changed condition of the eountry-instead Of
regarding the fact that we had made great sacri,
fees to this end, and were willing to do all in
our power, commenced suits, not in our State
Courts, but in the United States Courts, which
have made the decisions complained Of
With the same propriety, as we think the
credit Of Iowa could be cried down because ma;
ny of her citizens failed in 81. Many of her
citizens, as were those of other States, were
driven to the wall and unable to pay ten cents
on the dollar by the crash of that year,
Iowa has a bonded debt Of only 100000,
on which she has always paid interest. Her re-
sources are abundant, and her bonds are as good
as any in the market. Let our own citizens see
to it that this effort of the "bears" to break
down our credit and shave our bonds does not
succeed. We have the means at home among
our own people, and can take this loan without
going into Wall street at ALL We hope it will
be done.