Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-05-03

HOW To PAY THE STATE DEBT
To the Editors Of the Union and American:
MANCHESTER, TENN, May /, ISL
The people of our county are gratifed to
see you open your columns to an expose
of the Railroad rings and Monopolists.
The proposed lease of the Nashville
and Decatur Railroad is 30 obviously for
the advantage of the tax-paying public,
not only of Davidson COUNTY, but of the
whole State that it is surprising that men
can oppose it, unless they had some other
fesssble plan to relieve our overwhelmed
people from the payment OF the debt that
built il 5-5s lo
There is q growing conviction in the
minds of the people that all the delin-
quent Railroads can be and ought to be
made pay their Indebtedness. The bill
that was hastily passed by the last Legis-
lature, creating special, if not uUcoDstitu-
tional courts. to rush its provisions
through, without time for discussion and
deliberation, is daily becoming more I'M
popular. The truth is, the bill and its
provisions will not bear investigation be-
fore the tax payers of the State; and
Judging from the speed of the plan it
seems that its authors (the powers behind
the throne, well know it.
The present writer is stakeholder in one
of the delinquent railroads. So far as he
is concerned, and so far as he knows the
sentiments of other stockholders, there is
perfect willingness to give up the stock
and lose 1t, if the State debt can thereby
be paid. But to require US to give up our
stock, and then as taxpayers, TO shout
der the forty or fifty millions Of dollars
that built these roads, is taxing our for
bearance oyermuch. The very extraor-
binary provisions of this very extraordi-
nary legislative enactment, taken in con-
nection with concomitant and subsequent
events, forces the conclusion on any In
formed and rejecting mind, that the
whole thing is the machinery of grand
scheme to enable few mes to buy the
splendid railroad system of Tennessee
for mere song" and leave our groan-
ing people, like galley slaves, to labor at
the oars of an insolvent treasury.
The '-agreed DEGREES" are artfully
drawn, so as under show of fairness, to
extinguish the rights of the stockholders.
A clause is inserted giving the stockhold-
ers the exclusive right to purchase within
a given time OF the price fixed. If they
fail, then any number of the Directors
may do so. The Directors are the
executive power of the stockholders. They
assume, at least, that the stockholders can
not even hold meeting without their con-
sent. In some cases, where the original
stock books are lost Cor as is be-
heved by some, frsudulently suppressed
the Board of Directors have resolved
themselves into court to adjudicate the
rights of the stockholders, and determine
who shall and who shall not vote for
them or their successors. Following in
the wake of BrownloW's State govern
ment, they disfranchise all who will not
vote their ticket. They prescribe oaths
unknown to the law, and dictate the form
In which they shall be taken, and after
the suppliant has complied with all their
requirements, they exercise their sover-
eign pleasure as to whether they will give
him certificate or set up his stock or not.
Instead of making an honest effort to
raise the money to buy the road for the
stockholders these men are throwing
every obstacle in the way of the stock
holders raising the money for themselves.
The plain English of all this, so obvious
that fool can see it, is simply that these
''any number of directors" or "stock-
holders, " as the case may be-the chosen
few-intend the time allowed the stock
holders shall pass and then they will
mortgage the road, raise the money and
in few years be millionaires.
These railroads are now bound TO the
State for the payment of the debt, and
they are far better than no security at
all. If the country is blessed with con-
tin1ed peace and prosperity they can be
and ought to be made pay these debts. 1t
may seem arrogance in me TO attempt to
solve a question that has puzzled the
brains of Sd many statesmen and inan-
ciers. If any one can refute the logic of
the following plan, / hope you will give
him space to do SO.
By the act of 1852, and ali subsequent
acts giving State aid to railroads, it is
expressly provided that the bonds shall
10 no case be sold for less than par dollar
for dollar gold.) This condition is part
of the contract, on behalf of the State.
None of these bonds were sold at par.
Before the war they were worth about rs
cents, gold. Since the war they were
sold for As cents grecnback, with green
back at so cents in the dollar, which is
about rs cents gold.
At Nashville, last winter, in the case
of William p. Hickman sgsint Ragnel s.
Co., the Supreme Court of Tennessee, in
an elaborate opinion, held that if party
sign an Obligation for the payment of
money, making at the time verbal con-
dition ss to the use of the instrument,
which condition is not complied with,
the maker is not bound on such instru-
ment in the hands of holder with notice
of the verbal condition. Now, if this is
good law, the conclusion is inevitable that
the State is not legally bound to pay
dollar of this railroad debt. The holders
of the bonds had written notice in the
public law, authorizing the issuance of
the bonds, that they were not to be sold
for less than par,
am for Reputation, then? yon ask.
No, sir. Mr.. Vsttelps Law of Nations
says a State is bound to do what a moral
man would DO under similar circumstaa-
ces. A moral man complies with the
spirit of his contract. want Tennessee
to pay every dollar she honestly owes.
The utmost stretch of her moral obliga-
ton could only require her to pay back
with interest just what was actually paid
for each bond in gold, and no more.
Take for example the McMinnville and
Manchester Railroad, which is, perhaps,
as hopelessly insolventas any in the Stste.
Its indebtedness is, in round numbers,
eleven hundred thousand dollars,
including unpaid funded interest.
More than half of this debt accrued since
the war. (Not having the figures before
me l do no: pretend TO exact accuracy
Say $500, 900 in bonds sold before
the war at 75 cents, gold......$375, 600
Say 5000, 900 in bonds sold
since the war at 25 cents, in gold $1,000
Making what the State is mora