Wilmington journal., 1871-07-14

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my sympathy.
Ignoring. as do, these SlJ OOl 600 oi
especial tax bonds" may state the pub
| iic debt rect goized to be, IN round pun-
oers, $50. .O0O. 900.
Upon this there was due in interest
r. oCs b,c5 dsf ls dd ONE ,e.r, in;efe.t '2O00 oO
from Oct. LIST, 1870 to Oct. 1sC 1871 81, 200 0OC
And we have due Oct 1st, lS7I.. 81. .23o, co..
You propose to postpone ths Ie. yIug
! OF this tax til you taxa the
| of the people on Calling a Conven
! tiOn and stl king out OF their Con-
| siitution this ObhgstlOD. II tie
| people, anxious to Ply this tax,
J vots down the convention, then
when you 60 levy the tax in
/ 1872, there will b another years
! intereus due. being ,............. sl.1oO, ,0GO
So that there will be due ia interert,
Get 4stB 1o'&-- ....'............. 81 49,, ,OJI
! This smount is to be raised elf OF Sl23.-
$50, 900 worth of properly; for according
TO the last assessment, that is the valuo oi
all the taxable property OF the Stale. Il
you will take the trouble to- make lust a
few figures you will see that it will lake a
tax to raise the ns cessary amount OF three
and a h"H per cent. or Lhir4y .tsre dollars
on The thousand. TLis will be ia addit., d
10 tn tax tor state. County, township end
school purposes, which will amount TO at
! ust one and hatf per cent. III ort, or FL
teen dollars on the thousand. IF. th.n.
the Constitution remains unchanged aud
you do our duty, the people of North
Carolina will be called upon in 1872 to pov
| to the tax-eatherer five per cent of the ir
wealth, or ffy dollars on erery thousand
dollars acorM O.. property IN The Stase
Before you irapoee this intolerable bur
! den upon the EeJple, ought you not, as
men pledged to your people, to give item
all possible relief, to agree to tff thrm
that relief which they Uny can find III a
! Convention ? Gail it Il burden ~ iatol-
! cradle to be borne. Will any of you sag
that our people can stand that amount of
taxation But suppose majority of you
should gay or the supreme Court should
decide that these f'so-called special tax
bonds" are the bonds of the State, the
barden will thon be Increased for toe
year 1872 one aud half per cent. more
/ at least Now it is true that after
the year 1872 and till the year 1880. the
burden will not be SO great, for the annual
tax on the bonds other than special tax,
will be about 81 200. 900 or one per cent.
of the taxable property of the State. he
Interest must be- kept PAID up, for in the
year 1880 the burden must be again in
| creased to rslee fund to commence pay
irg the principal. Il is utterly impossible
for our people to stand up under this bug
den. It will crush them to death. How
can any one of you hesitate to Cffer them
the only means by which they can re-
move it-a Convention The overwhelno-
ing argument. taken from 'the prompt
and regular payment of the interest on
the pubIict debt, addresses itself particu-
larly to those who believe with the Supreme
Court, that there is no limit fixed in the
constitution to the power of the Legislature
to levy taxes. Most of you, and indeed I
believe all OF you, have adopted this con-
struction Of the institution, by voting W
special tax bills for various counties. For
my own part, it is proper that l should
state that never have abandoned the po-
sition I took Oh that question, III a speech
bad the honor to deliver in this house,
In February. 1869; but believe nov, that
[ then laid down the true construction OF
art. '. of the consti ution. I ask pardon,
sir. for this reference to myself. We will
continue to puFSue oar Investigation CT
this question of taxation and the public
1ebt In the light shed upon Us hy the Su-
pIeme Court.
Well, am now asked, If mean to re-
pudiate the State debt ? That sir, is hot
my purpose. But if am to de:ide be
~een the ruin of the people and the de-
-truction Of every interest Of the Sac on
the one baud, snl a repndiation Of the en-
am for Reputation. The former WI be |
,he case, if all the provisions of our con-
+'iiution are faithfully administered; tho
after will be the case it our penple are
IriveD to that despeI alton by the refu al
of tbi~ 1t gieiature to give them the prop
er relief. think both IF these extremes
cau be avoided by 8 Convention I
furthermose give it as my decided opinion
that by means o. a Convention Our whole
L L. 4
easy to our people, honorable to our
--lvt aud satisfactory to our oFediturs.
What man among you will refuse to give
is aid in bringing about this desirable
end !? But you ask me how Can it be done
b Convention will tell you Let the
meet and strike from the con-
titution every word, line aud section tina
refers 10 the public debt 50 as to leave the
e gislatqre free to take whatever action Ga
tue subject it may dt tem best. IN other
Words, make Tur COL sfitutiOn perfe ectly 81.
q It on the subject. Theu let the legisls- [
;ure propose compromise to our credl- ,
ors by issuing to them new bonds. upon .
wnicn he intere.t will be prompt Y paid.
70 his way the entire debt of the State
"a be reduced to $40. 600, 900 or SI2 600. I
DU0 Then, with the assets of the Ssate, ,
We can Ply of large portion OF tnls new a
bt Created oy the compromise. and thus ,
c4IoFe o. oear OId mOtAer OF Q0LC. x0lS
70 nprom!ss the Legislature cannot pro- (
rose and enforce as long as the 9Th section '
4 the declaration of rights declares ''the ,
'ublic debt regularly contracted before
nd siucs the rebellion shall be regard I'd
8 inviolable AID never bs questioned. q
)ur creditors will accept no compromise, t
o much ext. NJ, SO loDg as they have their E
ebt secured by a mortgsge on al, the Eea ::
nd personal property of the State. witt Il
be fur her qua ante that the mt mbers o, Q
be Legislature are, every two years. sworn p
o issue an execution upon this property, !,
q the way OF tax list, 60 pay them their
interest. Let this registered mortgage BE-
and the Legislature relieved of