Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-07-03
TEE RADICAL ,.wilAlRBs.s,
The Financial Condition OF the
State and the Payment Of i \
.rne lnterestrdsGN
The secretary Of State Defends
Himself Against the Attacks
OF the Press and
seSi r.a Times.
To the Editors Of the Union and American:

| ETY. ofnoticing the repeated attacks Of the
Press and Times upon me, / have cons
Guided to ask your permission to be
heard through your columns. have
doubted the necessity Of this step be-
cause there is no reasoning advanced
and no facts stated in any Of the articles,
which require attention. Only the
spirit of these attacks needs any notice.
The editor of the Press and Times, in
his new born zeal for liberal principles,
seems to think that Governor Senter is
in some way assailed in my letter to the
Comptroller on the question of borrowing
money to pay the July interest; and that
the surest way to defend the Governor
is to deuounce the Comptroller and Score
tary in words of bitter defamation and
abuse, without showing in any way that
the Comptroller could have taken any
course different from that he has pursu
ed. The editor does not propose any
plan for raising the money, nor does he
controvert single fact stated in the
correspondence he so bitterly de-
nounces.y On these subjects he seems
to have no ideas. and no informa-
ton. 1t may be assumed, however, that
he is in favor of issuing millions of new
bonds to be hypothetical for a loan OF
so cents on the dollar at 8 per cent. on
four months time, with an absolute
certainty that the new issue would be sold
at auction. This was exactly the ques~
ton submitted to me by the Comptroller,
and the editor denounces me for declining
to advise and consent" to such q trans
action. He thinks 1 deserve to be
changed" for this failure. I think that
posterity would have hanged me, in effigy
at least, for asserting to such proposition.
Not posterity alone but the present gem
Grafton Of taxpayers would have to com
mence, at once, the payment of the in,
terest on the new issue, Sl,l0OOOO OF
new bonds would increase our taxes
$4,000 semi-annually, to be repeated
every January and July for years to
come, adding Sl32 900 each year, not to
the debt of the State but to the actual
taxation of the people. In three years
under the system advocated by the
@Press and Tines the addition to our
annual taxation would reach 1896, COO
and whether the increase would cease in
three, five or ten years may be doubted.
When we consider that in short time
our currency will be brought to aspecie
standard, so that ..nese bonds and the in
terest theron viii have to be paid in gold
or its equivalent, we shall have no diff
Guilty in determining whether the policy
suggested in my letter to the Comptroller
or the policy advocated by the Press and
Times will lead quickest to reputation.
1t is due to the editor af the Press and
Times to stae that he is very clever
writes on subject that he understands.
But he is not citizen OF Tennessee
and knows nothing of her finances. He
has never paid and never expects to pay
a dollar ia taxes to the State. Though
rot q citizen he sympathises with that
class of our citizens who, one and two
wears ago. were in the habit Of harrangu
ing the negroes on the subject Of high
taxes. "What do you and said these
streetScorner orators, care for high
taxes ? We don't have any taxes to pay.
| The rebel people of Tennessee have them
to pay. Heavy taxes are just punish
ment on these people for going into the
rebellion" hence the editor OF the
Press and Times would file up the
new bonds mountain high.
| He will not be present when pay day
comes. His position on the editorla
staff of the Cincinnati Gazette" is held
in reserve for him, and as soon as his jot
Of six weeks is done on the Press anC
Times his thoughts will be turned upoI
his carpet>bag and his Cincinnati berth
For it is not liLely the people OF Ten
nessee will hang the Comptroller or Sec
retary to make room for him in tinancla
affairs. r.. n.
| The charge that favor repudiation .
any form OF to any extent is ialseohod
unmitigated by any thing | have said
written. / have advised the funding
interest for some time to come, from a6so
Lutte necessity, seeing no way to pay 1t
present, except by such an operation q
that submitted to me by the Comptroller
and which would affect the credit OF tn
State among intelligent financiers nor
than a proposition to fund. The cours
/ suggest has been advised by some
the best friends and largest bondholdeI
of the State in New York; among ther
our financial agent, the President
, the Fourth National Bank, wh
, has aided more than any one man
+ America to hold up. our credit. lie DO
not call this reputation He funded Il
entire interest for four years in 1S6
amounting to five millions. That W
not called reputation. 1t is to be r
,, | GREETED that we did not fund the intere
;, for the first two or three years alter u
war so as to have enabled our people
recover in some degree from their loss'
. What we failed to do then we may ha
o to do yet. .. ...e - aar o.. ..
= "The Press and Times has gre
" deal to say about the improperly OF e
: posing the financial condition Of the Sta
= -of"exhibiting its private affairs; a
a stupid writer in the issue OF the 2ot
- characterizss the correspondence betwe
y the Comptroller and Secretary as
a "pe ition in bankruptcy" l confess
= have been weak enough to suppose II
- State should have no. private affairs.
~ had supposed that every tax payer in
~ State and every bondholder in the wol
were directly interested in our tnant
- and had an honest right to know all abb
=. - them. Hence, the law provides that
y Secretary shall furnish copies of
81 records and papers in his othce to q
one who may call for them, and anne M.
a heavy penalty to his refusal. In
n are no private papers or private atall
ne in the Office of Secretary of State.
Us, Besides, to conceal this knowledge
re not honest. For the State officers
do represent our financial condition as 3
ed ter than it really is, is simply lying. !
led the editor has his own code OF ON
'oy morals, which he can bring into
he when he can have the present State
ZEN GERS hanged To illustrate: The a.
d. ton, "Will the July interest be pal
IN. had been asked of me in person or
Ter, letter. So long as it was matter
i'm, doubt declined to give any opin
vas But when it became manifest that
hid payment could not be made it was
pat, nv duty to deceive an honest inqul
ers, For several days before the reporter
am the Banner was permitted to have
'uf- facts, report was current IN Nash
: to that the interest would not be paid,
,uld that the Secretary of State was to 81
ear, for it, by refusing to sign bonds for
in a laterals. Under these circumstanc
. to determined the public should hay'
the facts. l alone am responsible 10
and publication. The Comptroller did
The write his letter for puoiic'
/ his but when delivered 20 Tue
lock retary's Office, it became
from lie record, and the public ha'
day. right to see 1t, and l migns nave Os