Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-12-24
Who Sc Accountable for the 100000 OF
Bonds Already Tssuesi-TOugh Co
nundrum PrOpOunded-
Fifteen Thousand Dollars Due this
Morning and net One Cent IN
sight 10 Pay IL.
Money Borrowed at Eighteen Per Gem
Enterest-Are the TaE-Payers 10
Saddle All this Pile Of Debt?
A General system OF Reckless and HI
iFavagant FfnaneieniDg
All Quarters.

bonds, and expenditures, and debts, an
all that sort of thing, which he expecter
to have finished and ready for tn
Board, but the job was so laTg
that he could not compass it il
time. Presently DR.. Maury dropped in
and the other members followed, so tina
in the course of an hour there were pres
ent nine members, as follows: Messrs
Maury, KortTecht, Gavin, Elliott, Nc
I Council, Merrill, Fontaine, Wiggin an,
Il President Mitchell.
A rafting conversation was kept "a
by the members and our reporter, tn
most obsTeperOus and cantankerous o
his kind, when he likes. If be did no
floor them all seridtiH1 in argument, b
wore out their patience, and got the bes
of them that way, so that they all haC
( to sUbside, or else take refuge in suci
] general expressions as universal hu
manity, y the progress Of the age" anC
( the rights of Infants The charte
! question and the constitution, the build
/ ing difficulty and the bond trouble wer,
all up. 1t was stated that the BoarC
/ had drawn two hundred bonds face value
/ of one thousand dollars each, since tbs
| charter was adopted; thirty of thOs,
/ bonds were given for the Market stree
7 lot. The remainder were disposed Of by
/ hypOthecatiOn, principally to pay FOL
/ the superstructure raised upon that lot
/ and for the work done on the Peabody
schocIhOuse. The bonds were simply
! given as collateral to secure the paymen
/ of notes that various parties took, a
/ viii be found by the statement made by
/ Mr. Gavin in reference to the building
debt. 1t will be seen that there is due
on buildings nearly $50, 900. This sun
/ is enormous, in view of the fact that thu
/ people were led to think that the Mar
! ket street schOOlhOuse cost but So, 600.
THE CHARTER.
/ The charter of the School Board, OBJ
/ tanned in January, 1863, constitutes tina
body an independent corporation. Sec
[ ton one says:
Be t enacted By the General assemble
! Of the State Of Tennessee, That the Mem
phis city schools shall hereafter be
placed under the exclusive manage
ment and control Of a Board of Educa
ton, consisting Of two members from
each ward of the said city, elected a
hereinafter directed, and that saiC
Board are hereby created and eOnstitu
ted a body polite and corporate, by the
name ard style of the Board of Educa
ton Of the Memphis City Schools, who
shall have succession for ninety-nint
years, and by the name and style afore-
said, may purchase, receive, hold anC
possess property of any kind for the use
of said city schools; may sue and be
sued, plead and be implicated, answer
and be answered unto, in all courts o.
record and courts of inferior jurisdiction;
and said Board shall have power tC
make, have and use a common seal.
THE CONSTITUTION.
The constitution says of such indie
/ pendent corporations:
Section Twenty-ninth Of the Second
| Article: 'But the credit of no county
/ city or town shall be given or loaned tC
| or in aid Of any person, company, asso-
! citation or corporation, except upon al
election to be first held by the qualified
voters Of such county, city or town, and
the assent of three-fOurths of the votes
cast at said election
THE CHARTER AGAIN.
Standing boldly out against the pro.
vision Of the constitution, we have the
tenth section of the charter talking il
this manner. We beg our readers tC
read well and ponder the whole of thi;
section.
SEC. 10. Be It further enacted, Thai
the Board of Education shall have pow
er to purchase lots and contract for the
/ erection of said school buildings there.
on; provided the cost of such lots anC
buildings shall not exceed the sum o.
fifty thousand dollars per annum for the
term Of ten years from the l4th day o.
January, 1869, unless authorized TO eX.
coed that umOunt by vote of the citi-
Zens in their respective wards. at al
election held for that purpose by the
Board Of Education; and the Mayor
and Board of Aldermen of the city o.
Memphis are hereby required to make
immediate provision for the payment Of
the same, to DO which they shall have
power TO levy a special tax upon such
property as is taxed for other city pur-
poses, either for the whole or in part o.
the required amount; and the better tC
enable them to provide such means
promptly and lessen the burden of i'm
mediate taxation, said Mayor and Board
Of Aldermen may, at their discretion,
issue the bonds OF said city, if issued,
not to exceed in al the sum of five hun
bred thousand dollars, having not more
than thirty years to mature, and bearing
six per cent. interest per annum, paya-
bic semi-annually in the city Of
New York, or in Memphis as
thew may designate, for all
or any portion Of the required amount.
and all money accruing from such tax
and said bonds, if issued, shall be paid
at once to the Treasurer Of the Board Of
Education, and shall be known as
School Bonds, and the semi-annual in
terest that may become due on the same
shall be provided for by the Board OF
Mavor and Aldermen, as may be re-
quiied BY the Board of Education, in adj
ditiOn TO the school tax heretofore pro-
vided for in Section 8. And the Board
of Mayor and Aldermen shall be re-
quired 70 provide a sinking fund to
pay the principal Ofsaid bonds. And so
soon as the bonds of the Mayor and
Board Of Aldermen of the city of Mem
phis shall have been issued for the pur-
poses named in this section, they shall
constitute a lien on the real property
belonging to the said Board of Educa-
ton. and the holders Of said bonds shall
be invested with said lien without a
mortgage or deed from the said Board
of Education, to secure the payment Of
said bonds, as well as the interest there
on, as the same becomes due.
Two hundred of these bonds have been
issued already and we have the Market
street schOolhOuse as an equivalent,
a small amount, it is true, was expended
on tie Peabody also. This debt is now
saddled on the city, besides the debts we
have mentioned several days ago. We
never have any account rendered Us Of
this financial feature. We venture to
say the public became acquainted with
ali the facts in this case for the first time
when We called attention to il some
days ago.
THE MEETING.
The facts aud statements here given
viii enable cur readers TO fully under
stand all that was said at the meeting Of
the nine named.
At quarter past eight Mr.. Cairns said
that Is there were only seventeen men,
bers on the board at present, q quorum
was present, and they might 60 into
business. I'll G nine, therefore, walked
into the great front room and sat down
round the board, thus constituting a
Board of Education.
The chairman said that the board had
been called together at the request Of
three members to take into consideration
the condition Of the finances of the board.
The three members named are MessTs.
Kortrecht, Merrill and Gavin.
Mr. Gavin said that the cab had been
brought to him TO sign, and he thought
the idea was a good one. There was a
grave necessity now for consideration of
the finances. At the beginning Of the
present month ten bonds had been sold