The Van Buren press., 1869-04-13
Pay what you Owe Not !

The GROWING act OF lnfsmy has beer
.perpetrated By the miserable body, calleo
the Legislature Of the State Of Arkansas
Many acts have been passed by this As.
semS,age that loudly called for condemna
ton, but none, or all combined, cannot
equal the :. Funding Bill" for strocious
iand deliberate outrage upon n tax-op.
pressed people. The people ofour State
viii be told by the members who voted
Tor this bin, and by those who would
fsign palliate their offence, that it was
done to " maintain the credit ofthe State. y
Or, as forcibly put by our contemporary,
Nr. Dell: The State had better pay
.sclat she did not ore than pay nothing.
This is very well and no doubt correct, if
1t will produce the fruit clsimed for II.
The Bonds Of the State, familiarly known
as the "Holford Bonds are not due
f.'om Arkansas nor were they ever paid
for BY Holford They were bonds hy-
pothecated by commissioners, appointed
for the purpose--for about onc-third OF
the face They became the property of
Mr.. Holford, for the same amount So
Arkansas owes the heirs Of Holford, or
whoever holds these bonds, about one
third their face and the interest stipulated
to be paid, and o'ees no more or greater
amoSns The bill passed by these highly
honorable men, who are SO soliciious
about the credit Of the State, so recently
made their temporary aboding place, gives
to the Holford heirs the full amount of
the face of those bonds, together NTH full
interest from date of issuance Will this
improve the credit of the State? We
humbly conceive it will have the opposite
effect. a man who pays promptly all he
Justly owes has good credit The spend
thrift who foolishly lavishes his money
upon others, loses all credit. and soon
becomes bankrupt. Here the State is
called upon to pay thousands upon thou
sands of dollars, that she does not oee -
to improve her credit The secret Of all
this solicitude about our credit, is the
money paid for the passage of the bill
How much this was we know not, nor
does il matter as it will not enter into the
nayment of the bonds. The dispirited
and tax burdencd people must pay the
bonds. Two HUNDRED THOUSAND more
to be added to our taXes,to pay for some
thing we never received Ifthe members
who voted for this Funding BILL do
net find it rather an uphill business to Sc
cure the confidence Of even the people
who did vote for them, again, we are
much mistaken This matter must and
will be thoroughly ventilated, The peo-
pie must know how basely their hard
earnings have been bartered away by
men, who will not contribute one thou
sand dollars, all told, towards paying the
enormous tax required to pay the State
debt, thus unnecessarily ssddled upon US
II the amount of the State debt actually
and honestly due, and no more, had been
funded, then the people might see some
thing to rejoice at, This might have
given US some credit; but to agree for
the people to pay thousands not curing,
will only lead to reputation of the
whole debt, the fear of which will con
tinue to render our credit worthless.
Think Of this you who, owing debts
contracted prior to the war, and who so
anxiously desire even to have the.rar-
interest released, here your Representa-
uves have agreed that you shall not only
pay the @or-interest. but that YOU shall
pay thousands of dollars that you do mol
Gre and the interest, war-interest and all,
on that Is this fair ?--is il honest ?
Answer TAx-PAYERs