American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1866-03-24
STAY LAws.--It is worthy of note, tha,

whilst the Stay Law of Mississippi has been
pronounced unconstitutional by several Cir.
cult Judges of our State, and, finally, by the
High Court Of Errors and Appeals, all the
Judges concurring, the legislatures of Geor-
gia, Alabama, and Texas,--each of these
bodies being composed, in part, of some of
the finest legal minds,--have passed laws
staying the collection of debts, almost pre-
cissly similar to that of Mississippi. The
truth is, the conviction forces itself upon
every rejecting mind, that the debtor class
Of the Estates lately in rebellion" at this
particular juncture, need relief, and must
have it in some shape or other, or ruin and
bankruptcyswill be entailed upon nine tenths
Of the people. The debtor class is, for the
most part, the producing class-the tillers of
the soil. We have just passed through a
most desolating war of four years, the result
of which has deprived them of that which
constituted their greatest wealth, to wit their
slaves. The result of this deprivation is g
great deelension in the value of their lands.
These two items-uegroes and land-consti
tuting almost the entire property of the agri-
cultural-the produeing-the DEBTOR class
losing the W hole of one and half of the other,
Of course, leaves 1t almost bankrupt. These
are not the only losses of the agriculturists
however Wherever the Federal armies pen
etrated in the Southland where did they
not 2-they swept away from the farmer, no
matter how old, how infrm, how poor, how
humble, every vestige Of stock-eyery horse,
every mule, every OK, every COW, every cattle
of every kind destroyed every wagon and
all vehicles and farming implements; and
then foraged upon them, and ate out their
substance. In addition to this, mauy, very
many, of these agriculturists were soldiers
in the Confederate army-servng their coun-
try for eleven dollars per month and glory,
during which time their farms went to wreck
and to waste, eking out bare subsistence
for the "loved ones at home" But this is
not yet quite dH-this is not the "last feath-
er that broke the cancels back" At the close
of the war, the farmer Tor planter if you
prefer, found that all he had been able to
accumulate by four hard years of toll, was
In Confederate money--nothing or worse
than nothing-and he was left without dol
lar of available funds. Have not all these
losses been sufficient to well.nigh bankrupt
any elass7 And yet we are told that, not
withstandiDg all this, almost Immediately up
on the close ofthe war-before they have had
time to recuperate their shattered fortunes, or
rssuscitste the corpse of prosp erity that once
smiled upon them-before they have had
time to make fair experiment with the
new labor systematic producers must pay
their debts, or in default thereof, must see the
little remnant Of property the ravages Of war
have left them, sacrificed under the sheriff g
hammer. The creditor-the memorable Shy
lock-must Rave his money-his pound Of
aesh-and must have it aov. This may be
lao but it is neither wisdom nor morality.
But, when we began this article we simply
intended to note the fact contained in the
frst sentence. We had no purpose whatever
of inAictiug upon our readers leader on
the subject. The Stay Law has been pro-
nounced unconstitutional---it has been
knocked on the head by the courts below II
and the higher court" and it is dead, very
dead. But some relief might yet be afforded
the larger class of our citizens and the man
ner 10 which this could be done was clearly
pointed out By the able letter addressed to
Governor Humphreys, which we Published
in our editorial columns couple Of weeks
since. II the suggestions contained in tina;
letter, or something similar, are not adopted
we will see times here in Mississippi, com.
pared to which, what has been called "hard
times" heretofore, will be regarded as halcyou
days-golden hours.