Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-11-12
PAY OR REPUDIATE,


are on the verge OF 5tate bankruptcy.
Tennessee will be hopelessly insolvent If
some relief is not speedily devised and
put into operation. The State debt Il
$40, 900, 000l And our taxes are .foat.
times more than before the warl The
people are groaning under the burden,
and still the burden groWs day by day.
The laws are 30 framed as to encourage
dishonesty. The knave builds palaces,
the upright go to the poorhoHse8'
Every politician is hoarse, crying, ere.
trenchment and reform l"-that watch
word of the demagogue and the hollow
head. But the shout of ''Retrenchment
and reformln even if loud enough to
make old Jackson tremble in his tomb,
will neither help US out of this ocean of
debt, nor take away even one drop
thereof. The State, financially, is going
to Halifax-or rather, has gone to Jericho
and "fallen among thievesln
Pay or repudiate! That Is the dilemma.
There is no third road, no middle ground.
Can we pay? And how9 These are the
two great questions; for it behooves
US to be honest if we can. 1t is
of infinitely more importance to Tennessee
that we invent and practice a true fnan-
cial system, than that either Democracy or
| RepubIcanism rule the State Not that
we love our party less, but that we love
our pockets morei In truth, we have be-
come financially demoraliZed. The talk
of millions of men during the late war, Of
thousands upon thousands falling in bat
| tie, of the hundreds of millions of money
spent every year In prosecuting that war,
of the inestimable wealth of the nation,
of the billions of national debt, and of the
unutterably great things In the golden fu
ture, has made the American people in
sane on the question Of figures; and
forty millions sound no louder now than
four millions before the war! We must
wake upl We must shake off the spell,
the sorceTy, wherewith we are bound.
Once upon atime-not ti0ev1ty years ago
forty millions E0as q great debt for the
aUhole United ,Stdtesl Honest tax
payers and men of wealth are leaving the
State, men of capital and enterprise are
deferred from settling among us-dH be-
cause our tdree are so high. Property
is depreciating in value, money is invested
in other States, commerce seeks distant
ports, machinery rusts in idleness, i'm
provement ends and dilapidation begins,
penury haunts our habitations, and repu-
diation argues against conscience before
the bar of reason-aH, all, because sCe
are being ground to p0s0deT 6ettceeE
the upper and neither BliLlstoneS Of tar
alton "a taxation deaf and cruel as the
grave, certain as fate, and greedy as
ghoul
The tYo-edged sword of an inYincible
honesty must be drawn, and we must cut
both to the right and the left, even if
we smite a few friends, and cash few
pet measures. Have the workingman
and the poor tax -payer 10 friendsl This
thing cannot go on thus forever. The
earthquake aViU come; and some houses
will be turned round, some thrown down
and some men will call on the mountains
to fall on them Why discuss universal
suffrage? That Is q settled question.
The fat has been pronounced. Enfran-
chisement is the order of the day There
is truly no more issue on Rebel suffrage
than negro suffrage. Why, then, waste
time over the grave of the Rebellion. The
Rebel Is not there. He has been resur-
rected and Disseminated by the invincible
genius of universal suffrage He has
been "born again Let US then all
unite to save our sinking ship. What
matters it who is Captain, If the vessel 60
to the bottoml And let US take heed that,
while we are quarreling about who shall
be commander, our noble craft 60 not to
ruin
With all Difference therefore, l submit
to the consideration of an enlightened
public the following
PLAN TO PAY Our STATE DEBT.
!. The cOlored man must pGy poll
tar
There are in the State about 1000
coloIed men, whose poll-taxwOuld amount
to $50, 900 annually to the State, anda ike
amount 10 the counties. The necessity
for this is too clear and and too great to
need discussion.
2. AL the defaultin5 railroads
must be sold out
The railroads owe the State over
$50, 900, 900, and fail TO pay the interest on
their debt by at least 81, 900, 600 annually;
and thus the taxpayers have 81, 00O-
900 added to their taxes at one stroke
of the pen. In other words, this failure
on the part of the railroads to pay the
interest on the bonds loaned them by the
State, more than doubles our taxes. The
annual expenses of the State government
are about 5000, 900, and if the defaulting
railroads paid their interest, our taxes
would be One-haG what they now are.
The roads should be sold for State
bonds, and these bonds at once cancelled.
If judiciously sold these bonds would
bring to the State about $50, 900, 600 in
bonds, and our State debt now $40, 000,-
900 would be reduced TO, say, SIS, 000,-
900.
Ii any one doubts the propriety OF selling
these roads, let him remember that, Seith
our present rates Of taxation, ace fall short
nearly 81, 200, 600 ereTy gear an paging
the interest on oar debt and State er-
genses In other words, the State debt
grows of itself $1,000, 900 more every ~
months Bankruptcy is almost at our
doors. The roads owe US the money-the
money Will save US from ruin and disgrace
why, then, should we be ruined and dis
praced? Let the roads be cold Stay the
monster, and save the State. A great out
CRY and uproar will be raised to prevent
this: for these roads furnish fodder, at
State expense, to many fat cattle
8. The passage Of private and
special ldlCs must be ended.
It is not generally known that more
than One-thiYd of all our legislative ex-
penses, including printing, grows out of
the passage aud publication OF private
and special laws. These laws affect but
a fer individuals, and oftentimes are Of
the most insignificant character. Very
frequently boys and girls debating socie-
ties, BARRIERS clubs, mythical adelphics,
bogus banks, imaginary mining compa-
MES, and never to-be no-accOunts are in
corporated and printed at an expense that
would be ridiculous, did we not have TO
pay the enormous cost. All these mat
tiers can be much better attended to in the
courts, and then, instead of costing the
State $3.50 every year, these cor
porations and other private and special
laws would actually produce respectable
amount of revenue.
The Legislature should have no right |
to pass these special and private laws.
Their statutes should affect every indi-
yidual in the State. Besides, this power
of special legislation breeds bribery and
corruption. We have railroad ring"
now that well nigh controls the whole
State. May Heaven deliver Us from
other rings" growing out of the exercise
of this dangerous and cOrupting power
Give the courts power to create corpora
tons and adjust the subject-matter of
special and private acts; and let the per-
son or persons benefited pay some tax
to the State for the benefit received,
instead of paying into the private pocket
of some member of the Legislature
4. Legislature expenses must be re-
dUced.
These expenses, for the year ending
Sent. 80. 1865. were $lI2, 600; for the