Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-01-24

have accumulated into rallrOau cOue.
They are, in the main, guardedly drawn,
and framed to promote the object in view,
and at the same time protect the interests
Of the State Treasury. In the lobbying
which has come to be part Of all Ameri-
can legislation, several projects of ques-
tionable utility have been included, and
which, for the general interest, it would
have been wiser had they not been at
tached This, however, it was concluded
by the present Legislature, was not a
sufficient reason for abandoning the
system, and suffering the entire railroad
interests to become inextricably involved
in financial difficulties, and languish and
perhaps lapse altogether Under the in
fuence of these views, the Omnibus
Bill so.called, was passed at the present
session Ii is liberal and munifcent in
its grants of State aid in the shape Of
bonds. But as the whole system is liable
to abuse, and its endowments subject to
wasteful misapplication, it is necessary
that its provisions should be strictly con-
strued in order to guard the general
welfare.
The point to which it is the present
object to direct the attention of those who
represent the State in its transactions
with the railroad companies, is this. The
aid is given directly to the companies
| (their several Presidents and Directors
acting for them). Each company by
formal vote of its Board of Directors is
required to accept the conditions of the
law before the bonds can be issued to it.
Their acceptance by such vote gives the
State, upon the issuance of the bonds,
prior lien on the property of the COM
pany in the road. Without such action
by the company through its authorized
agents, no lien passes, and in this lies the
security Of the State for the investment
by loan which it proposes Take for in
stance, one example.
The preamble recites the situation of
the Nashville and Northwestern railroad,
and the grant made in the enacting clause
to that corporation, requires as cOndi-
ton precedent to its receiving il, the ac-
ceptance of certain terms prescribed in
the law Those terms are set forth in
subsequent sections, and are substantia!~
" as follows
First--the consent Of the company to
receive a certain number of Directors in
its Board appointed by the Governor on
behalf of the State
Seeondly--the concession by the cons
pany to the State, of the right to take
possession of and sell the road, il the
company fails, for two consecutive years,
to pay interest on the State bonds issued
to it.
The evident intent and-import of this
law is to change the law of 1852 in re-
gard to Receivers ON the part of the State.
In substitution for this system, which
has not effected uniform good results, it
places the security Of the State in for
fixture to it Of the entire road in the
event that the interest on the loaned
bonds is not promptly met within speci-
fed time The State gives to the cOm>
pany two years in which to test its ability
to pay the interest and manage its affairs
with degree of success which will inc
sure that the aid given will not be sunk
in proftless enterprise. Should it fail,
it possesses the right of sale as provided
in the act This construction certainly
applies to all roads not specially except
ed or provided for in the law, and in the
case OF the Northwestern road st is ex-
pressly and positively recited in the Sec
tons referring to it Two years is given
to that company, and on failure to COM
ply with the interest requirement, its |
road is passed into the hands of the
Governor, Comptroller and Secretary of |
State for sale for decentralization Of the |
State Treasury.
Ii is clear that the objects of these
terms is to dispense with Receivers, and
remove the necessity for such officials.
Ii is so, not less by the plain meaning of
the language of the law, than by OBJ
vious inference The Nashville and
Northwestern corporation, in a certain
contingency, agrees to relinquish its pos.
session and claim to the road, that it may |
be sold Cor the benefit Of its creditor |
the State. Ii becomes the State debtor
under the loan, with the understanding
that, for the two years Of probation, so
TO speak, it is to have the exclusive eon-
troll of its property, and that in its own
way, its officers and agents are 80 use it
for the liquidation Of its interest obliga-
tons. 1t would be neither just nor
to require the company to
eoncede such a REIMBURSEMENT, and then
consent to have their property placed in
The hands of an agent of the creditor
rhereis no equity in this arrangement,
md under it the companys all is SUBJ
ected to circumstances over which it has
no possible control 1t has left in its
hands no recourse for self,preservation,
md if Receiver fails to make their
property pay interest, they are to forfeit
t to the full amount of their indebted
less The law manifestly contemplated
hat the roads, pending this two years,
hould remain in the use of the cempa-
lies which assumed the obligations and
estriotions it imposes
Nor is there room, in our opinion, for I
oubt on another point connected with
his important subject The bonds aa- !
iorized under this amended lew, cannot :
e issued until the corporations to whom \
hey are granted have subscribed TO the :
srms above alluded to, and then only to I
he corporations themselves, who have as &
nmed the liabilities which such accent