Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-07-05
Constitutional Amendments.

IiEof OF t'fCClcy. H.
Constitutional Amendments.
The Constitution OF the State declares
hat .. to maintain the honor and good faith
ii the Sta'c llutarniShed, the public debt,
regularly contracted before and since the
rebellion, shall be regarded as inyiolable
and never bc questioned" and also that
the General Assembly shall, by appro
priatc legislation and adequate taxation,
provide for the prompt and regular payment
II the interest on the public debt, and after
tl., year 1870 ii shall levy NpccIlIc annual
tax upon the real and personal property OF
tIr State, and tlic sum thus realized shall
he -ct apart us i sinking fund, to be de
voted to the payment of the public debt.
Ey these provisions the highest security,
that Il State can give to 4 creditor has been
Given for the payment OF the principal and
interest of the State Debt. The Radical
putv, though both The debt and the Con-
.Iltution were of their own making, failed
10 lake any action concerning It, The
ConsaI vativcs, upon coming into power III
the Legislature, found the State to be
bankrupt, the people being utterly unable
10 meet the Obligations that Caldwell and
s,wepson and IIittlciield and their asso-
ciatrs had imposed upon then. The Con-
scrvativ,s, therefore, did not levy any tax
10 pay the interest, but referred the matter
back To the people in the shape Of 4 propO-
sition to call a Convention. The people,
howelc cr, the Legislative mode of amend
mcnt being open to them, refused to call
a Convention. The Legislature then, at
It's scaond session, in view OF the still i'm
pnycrishrd condition of the people, again
declined to levy the tax. 1t sought again,
however, to lift the burden by again re-
lcrring the matter to the people and asking
their approval Of bill Of amendments
accomplishing the desired purpose.
The question now is, Do the people wish
the Constitution to be amended, or do they
prefer to live under it rs it is" In other
words, do they propose Opay what is called
the Public Debt, or do they propose not 20
pay it ? This is serious question.
I'm the first place let us see what this
ing to the statement of the Treasurer, the
principal Of the Debt on 1st October, 1869,
was $50, ,9OO,O ,Ol5-with interest past due on
hat day of 81, 184, 500 70. The interest on
principal from 1st October, 1860, to 1st
October, 1872, amounts to S5,3S2,OOS 10.
TO comply strictly with the Constitu-
ton, if it be not changed, it will be ne
ccssary, therefore, to raise at one time
.,~,5GG,GO4 S5, to pay Off back interest.
The value OF the real and personal pro-
perry of the State. according to official re-
turns, is about 1928 100000; it will there
fore take SIX dollars and eighty-fve cents
on every hundred dollars worth of proper
'y in the State to pay up back interest
alone
If every man, woman and child,
black, white and mixed in the State Of
North Carolina should each pay into the
Treasury of the State the sum Of seven
dollars and ninety-nine cents, the aggre-
"atC amount would barely be sufficient to
pay of the interest due on the Public
Debt on the 1st Of october next If every
The last general election in the State, had
with his vote deposited the sum of forty
seven dollars and thirty cents, and ifevery
cent Of it had zone into the Treasury, the
amount thus collected would only have
paid the interest due on the 1st of OctO-
brr next. But neither all the population
nor Ill the votes, nor all the property pay
taxes, and it we'll becomes those who do
pay taxes To count up for themselves what
lmount they will have 10 raise i'll order to
comply with the requirement Of the pre-
Hrnt Constitution
The truth is, it is idle for us to
talk about paying promptly the i'll
t"rcst on the so-calIcd State debt. Tho
thing is simply impossible. Yet our cred
n"ls, 80 long rs those clauses stand in the
Constitution, will refuse to come to any
reasonable compromise. Indeed, they are
Row looking forward to the day when Con-
"reSS shall interfere and compel the South
crn States To pay these Radical debts, and
congress will have as much right to COM
pei us to Go this, rs it had TO do many other
things.
The question is a serious one. Ii
We are neither able nor willing to pay this
enormous debt, let us vote for those candi-
dates who will favor the DiiI now before the
people. Not even the most hardened Rad
ical in the State or Ot,t of it, can deny that
the present bill for changing the COnstit-
ton is perfectly lawful or assert that it
gives any pretext for interference by Gen
"ral Grant OF by Congress. The question
IS one purely OF dollars and cents.
The Raleigh SclaiAet says: A child was
recently born in Franklin county with a
double set of jaws, anil with full set of
tceth. u has lto ewes. affa las einht fin