Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-07-29

warrants issued Dy the auditor OF this
State, under the provisions of this act,
shall become due and payable by the
State in lawful money of the United
States, and redeemed by the Treasurer
accordingly. By section ten of this act
it is provided: "All the funds that
have been heretofore received and now
remaining in the treasury Of this State,
arising from the sale of swampand over
flowed lands, and the internal improve
ment lands of this State, and all the
proceeds of the sale Of the swamp and
overlooked lands, and internal improve
ment lands to be hereafter made by this
State, shall be set apart and constitute
a sinking fund for the payment of the
levee bonds that may be issued by the
Auditor under and pursuant to the pro-
visions Of this act, and the interest
thereon, i'm the following order: First,
all balances of interest that may be due
upon any of said warrants, as the am
| became due, that the tax collected for
the purpose fails or shall be insufficient
tOpay.
Second-To pay said warrants as they
shall become due and payable, accord
ing to the tenor and effect thereof; and
said fund, after paying the interest, or
the balance of said interest, as aforesaid,
shall be sacredly kept by the Treasurer
Of this State for the purpose of paying
said warrants at maturity, II shall lie
denominated a levee fund.
PrOrided. That between the first and
thirtieth days of July, in each year, IL
shall be the duty of the
TREASURER Of THIS STATE
to invest the surplus sinking fund re-
manning in the treasury on the first day
of July in each year, in the warrants
authorized to be issued under the
provisions of this act, at the market
price of said warrants at the date of each
instalment.
By section twelve Gan warrants here
t0f0re issued by the Auditor OF Commits
sionerlof Public Works and Internal I'M
prOyements, under the provisions of the
act of March 16, 1859, or the act supple
mental thereto, approved April Il, 1869,
to which this act is an amendment,
nag ~6eSuTreRdered by the holder thereof
at any time within n year from and
after the passage of this act, to the Treas
urer of this State, for the purpose of
having bonds issued to him for the like
amount under and pursuant to the pro-
visions of this act.n
The following are the constitutional
provisions Of the State touching the
question involved:
Section 6, Article 10 Of the Consti-
tuition Of the State of Arkansas,
THE CREDIT OF THE STATE,
or counties shall not be loaned for any
purpose without the consent of the peO-
pie thereof expressed at the ballot-bOx.
Section 9.-The State may contract
debts ID supply casual deficits or fail
uTes in revenues, CT to meet expenses
not otherwise provided for; and the
money arising from the creation of such
debts, shall be appropriated to the pur-
poses for which it was obtained, or to
pay the debt 50 contracted, and to no
other.
Section 10, Of Miscellaneous Provi-
%sions," "Any public fund set apart by
the General Assembly for one purpose,
shall not be used for another, unless in
each case otherwise specially authorized
by law"
1t seems to be objected to these secu-
rites: First, That they do not consti-
tute a part of the bonded Indebtedness
of the State, but are mere Treasurer's
warrants, payable only out of aparticu-
lar fund.
Second-That if they do properly pur-
port to be the bonds of the State, they
are issued in contraventiOn of the pro-
visions of the constitution of the State, |
and are therefore not obligatory upon
the State.
Third-That they are bills of credit,
and for that reason, void under the pro-
visions of the Constitution of the United
States, prohibiting the several States
from emitting bills of credit.
To the first part of
THE FIRST OBJECTION
that they are not a part of the bonded
Indebtedness of the State, it would seem
enough to reply that the highest author
tiles in the State have declared that they
are, for they say they shall " be denOmi-
mated Arkansas State levee bonds"
out the word "leveen as a part of
the style of the security. Does it change
or lessen in any degree the legal effect of
the paper? The insertion Of that word
is but for the purpose of readily seeing ON
what account or interest of the State
they were issued. But surely by the in
of this word they are none the
less the bonds of the State. The style or
of the bonds simply show that they
are the bonds of the State of Arkansas,
for the purpose of building and
repairing the levees Of the State. There
certainly nothing in this in the least
to show that they are not the
bonds of the State. Besides this, when
look to the Provisions of the sixth
of the Act of the sixteenth of
March, 1869, and the seventh and twelfth
sections of the act of March %, 1871,
he Legislature clearly intended to
the character Of the security
out for +
THE DEBT OF THE STATE t
incurred in the rebuilding and repairing !
he levees of the State, from swamp I
and warrants to bonds of the State, {
md to so appreciate their value t
IS also, by making the interest f
in New York instead of in Lit [
lie Rock. As to the second part of this c
objection, not only are the swamp and '
,verfiOwed lands made subject to sale G
or those loans, but also the proceeds of f
ales of these lands, and the lands ]
by Congress to the State for S
purposes Of internal improvement are {
dedicated to their payment. o
Not only this, but by the ninth sec p
ion of the act of twenty-third March, Il
S7l, as above quoted, they are made il
Expressly a general debt of the State, for a
hat section provides that they "shall S
due and payable by the State" il
1t matters not what form the State s
nay select, or what paper the State s.
hall call its bond, nor is it material if it a
las or has not a seal affixed to it, or q
What officer of State designated to sign b
hem, for it is perfectly competent to
he State to say what shall be an evil
ence of debt against il, and to give to II
~ s,nrNar a5gruad hwr fha Statn thu nnnaaI IL
nd title of a bond. Therefore, ?
THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE, !
aving provided for the issuing these (
ecUrities as evidence of an Indebtedness :
( the State, and f'denOminatedn them =
onds, we take it for true that they do Z
Onstitute part of the bonded indebted y
of the State, and, as above shown, T.
ayable generally by the State. This, l :;
mink, fully disposes of the first objec- Il
ion. -
The second objection is, as above II
lated, that they are issued in violation Z
f the provision of the constitution of !.
ne State of Arkansas, above cited, as =
ectiOn six of article ten of that instru- <
lent, that "the credit of the State shall ~
OF be loaned" etc. / admit that no q
Dnsent of the people, expressed at the y
allot-box, for the issuing Of those bonds q
as given. Are they therefore, invalid? 4,
think it clear that they are not, for the :,
reasons; First, for the reason =
lat by these securities the credit of the %
tate is not loaned. Certainly it can q,
OF be loaned unless to some one or more y
or persons, corporation or corpo- y,
ltiOns, or to the government, or to -
nation, or some subdivision of that a,
some other State or States. Then, to -
hom is the credit Of the State loaned? q
not to the payer, for to him it
given not as. a loan, but in payment m
nd discharge of OF as evidence of an w
.tual debt of the State 10 him for work of