Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-11-30

Il VIC iLbI We nave DAlQ during
the last fiscal year:
| To the Penitentiary. ................s 5a47s As
For conveying convicts to the same. l4lO3 80
Registration of voters. ............ 2O73 80
Commissioners Of Claims. ......... IL 288 OF
Superintendent of Public Instruction. 26l6 90
Interest ON State debt. ...........l ,4gl 800 81
State Guards. 225, $50 As
Judge Frazier's impeachment. ...... 500 90
| Common Schools. observation-disclosures. 436, 791 81
| Committee to investigate school fund. 1,l36 GO
State prosecutions. Observation-Disclosures. 1885, 80
Making total of..................s2 879, 9O5 65
| Now, gentlemen of the Senate, the above
| amount can be disposed of How? We
can make the penitentiary self-sustaining
| institution. We must not pay any more
| money for carrying convicts to the peniten-
tiary. We must dispose of the Registration
Laws. We have abolished the Claim Com
missioner's Office We must abolish the Of
fee of Superintendent of Public Instruc-
| ton. We must pay no interest on our
railroads. We must pay no more on State
! prosecutions. We have already abolished
the iniquitous Militia law, which has done
| nothing but furnish the means of thievery.
We will pay no more money on impeach-
ment trials. All this drainage and stealing
should be checked at once.
Now, Mr.. Speaker, by doing all this, we
can, as l have said, reduce our State in
debtedness s., 379, 9O5 65. Well, take that
amount from the SO, 133, 25O "A, and what
| do we find? We find, sir, that our annual
| Indebtedness, In the absence of any of our
liabilities ON bonds, to be only 1888, $40 o..
And now, Senator'S according to the re-
| port of the Comptroller after deducting
the amount of all those unnecessary charges
that have been made and paid against the
| State, what amount do we find necessary to
| run our State Government, and that too
with all the increased fees of all the offices
of the State? We find that it only takes,
according to his showing, 1886, 43l 20.
| Why then increase our taxes We find,
| Mr.. Speaker, from the argument of the
Senator from Bedford, that there are now
outstanding against the Treasury of the
State the sum of 81, 400, $50, and not one
dollar to pay the same, and that there will
be due the b0RdIOlders of the State and the
holders of warrants on the Treasury and of
the Bank of the State of Tennessee on the
first day of Oct. 1870, Sc, 06O, 600, with
out including the current expenses for the
| present fiscal year (Which, as Ihave stated,
| if properly managed, will only be about
| 1896, 900, besides $5ll, $50 claimed by
the United States, as due to it under GER
tain act of the Legislature, 1 suppose for
certain railroads.
| Now, Mr. Speaker, will assume to say
this much, including all the liabilities that
| the Senator from Bedford has mentioned
in his argument lin the absence of our
railroad bonds, with a judicious manage
| ment of our finances, thatwe can pay every
dollar Of it within ten years, and pay every
dollar necessary to run our State Govern
| ment
And we might say to the United States
| government, as any of us might say to a
man we were owing, Of We were insolvent,
as our State is threatened with, } Just wait
| until can make the money, and will pay
| you.
| Let us take hold of our railroads and
lease them for a term of years, if possible,
to some company who will run them and
| pay the interest on our bonds. If that
cannot be done, then let them be sold out
at once to any one that will buy and take
in our bonds, giving the purchaser
| the right to buy the bonds as low as he
| pleases.
! Now, Senators, we can, as l have already
intimated, by curtailing our expenses and
| guarding against any further swindling,
| more than pay our whole liabilities, thrown
| upon us by the late decision of the Su-
| preme Court of the United States, of the
| Bank of Tennessee during the present fis-
cal year, without counting one dollar of its
assets, and run our State government.
Then why should we increase our taxes?
Mr. Speaker, while l might be willing
| (rather than to repudiate) for them to re-
main as they are, sir, l can never,
never, cast my vote to increase them while
| l., -, condition,
| lust emerging from one of the most de-
structive wars that ever swept over any
land upon the face Of the earth; coming
] out of the war demoralized, their houses
| burned. their fields devastated, their stock
of every description and kind destroyed and
taken from them, thousands upon thou
sands of them naked and penniless, with
out dollar to begin their new life with,
and many OF them perhaps, thought with
out friend To meet what One of the
most oppressive taxes that was ever
heaped on any people even an independ-
ent and prosperous people. Where Is the
history that furnishes parallel account of
such submission? Placing their necks
under the yoke of tyranny and degrade
ton, for four long and dTeary years has
this infamy and oppression been heaped
upon them. Mr. Speaker, for what has all
this been done? Was it necessary to be
done in order to carry on the Government
No, sir, only to fill the pockets of a few
of the most internal villains that ever
disgraced the wickedest portion of Gods
earth. who would to-day rather see the
whole State and everything in Il sink into
heH itself, than to give up the power
aud place that they have occupied for the
last five years, laboring and toiling to
keep the intelligence and refinement of our
State, which is the life of any government,
down by the heel of tyranny, not even al
lowing them the privileges Of those that
were once their slaves.
How can we increase the taxes upon such
a people2 They are not ready nor pre-
pared for it; they are not expecting it ;
they demand of US not to do it.
Mr.. Speaker and Senator'S sooner would
| stand here to-day on this floor and cast
nv vote for utter reputation than to cast
nv vote to increase the taxes on a down.
trodden people
We must aid them by our legislation
Let us try and heal the wound that has
been inflicted by those that have been il
power. When that is done, then we can
begin to build up then we can increase
our taxes
There are but two things before "a
What are they? We must either increas,
our taxes to make those laugh tina
have been sapping our very LIES blood fol
four years. or we must let them remain a
they are. if not reduce them, in order tt
keep our people from starvation and bank
Tuptcy.
Shall we not heed the cry that comes VI
from every quarter-frOm the North ant
from the South, from the East and from
the West, from every hill and from ever,
+ valley, from the rich and from the poor
from the high and from the low? All, al
cry Relieve us from the burdens and op
preston that are upon us.
Mr.. Speaker, have scarcely alluded t.
> our liabilities on railroads, from the fac
that there is now pending an investigation
7 IN regard to the condition of our roads
. and perhaps in regard to our railToa,
: bonds 1t may be that there have beel
bonds issued contrary to law. do no
know that such is the case, but
: has been intimated that such is tn
case If SO, our railroad indebtedness
NAV not be as much as reported
For. certainly, if there are any such bond
- issued, the State should not pay one dolla
, of them, or the interest thereon. No NOR
: so than 1 have a right to pay a note tina
4 has been forged against me.
# think that our railroad investment,
t legally done, is a good one. The Stat
; cannot lose anything; for my understand
n ing of the law is that the State retains
n lieu upon the whole property, not only NJ
s on her amount invested, but upon tn
a whole right of way, depots, rolling stool
and everything in fact, to secure her frol
o ell loss. Therefore, say, We should NJ
4 be alarmed about our railroads.
Y Speaker Thomas (AIr. Morris In ii
If chair said he I'D not suppose that th
e Question would have been sprung upo
e tbem st tbis time. He considered this ii