Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1873-04-01

past few days-listen to this, you who have APP
pealed TO the experience of England in themat-
ter Of funding the debit When the impartial
historian has come to recount The proghecles Of
ne sssssous Hume hs ys pTsdssase re- e
~ssness %Eds @ IL srsass.t minds
not exemptp And Just in this connection.
Adam Smith. the favorite author from whom
the gentleman from Upton Mr.. Cumminsl de-
lights to quote, finds place in history. How
man who made such free use Of his name. Why,
Mr.. Speaker, We find that this Adam Smith
Admitted chat immense Is the burden was the
nation did actually sustain. il, and thrive under
it in any way which nobsdy could have fore
s 81 y ySn sn Owned ~ has Il s nss
mistaken, just as in q few years you will have
to confess your mistake in this matter. So let
sus fund this debt and those who arc now OPP
posing it will see that Tennessee will sustain 1t,
suppose. As England was given ever and
again the strange patient persisted in becoming
stronger and more blooming in spite of all the
diagnostics and prognostics Of State physician"
SO will Tennessee continue to prosper and grow
Teass ana Create and more
until it now makes millions upon millions Of
pounds sterling, and become richer all the
time, SO We will see Tennessee instead Of beg
gard and bankrupt society as predicted by the
alsrmist Of thus House. DO able to meet all her
We will sec Sin every county waste place.
turned into gardens; in every city new streets,
and squares, and markets, more brilliant lamps,
more abundant supplies Of water; in the suburbs
Of every great seat Of industry we will see vii
little paradise of ilacsand roses" And while
politicians were making false predictions of ruin
in the midst Of prosperity, England putin opera
ton her railroad system, which has greatly
blessed and enriched her. --,.-.f +
And now I will conclude my quotations by
one which ask the gentlemen opposed to this
bill to remember. It is this :: 1T can hardly
be doubted that there must have been SOME great
faUacy in the notions Of those ,cho uttered and
OF those scho bcliercd that long succession of con-
slant predictions so signally falsifed By a long
succession Of indisputa6te facts. They errone-
ously imagined that there was on exact analogy
between the case of one individual who is in
debt to another Individual, and the case of a So
ciety in debt to part Of ITSELF and this analogy
led them into endless mistakes about the system
offunding They were under an error not less
serious touching the resources of the country.
They made no allowance for the effect produced
by every experimental science, and SX the in
Gessant efforts Of every man to get on i. life:
that other things grew as, we'll as the debt"
"They greatly overrated the pressure of tho
burden they greatly underrated the strength
by which the burden was to be borne Could
anything more appropriate be written? think
not, and shall pass from this part of the discus
sion. But leaving England let US come nearer
home. Ha f't. .l4J = - -lt .
Why is it, We are asked, that the United
States can fund its debt at four per cent? 1t is
simply because it is we'll known that the interest
will be paid2 ~
Ills not because the United States are any bet
ter able to meet the liabilities they owe than is
the State Of Tennessee. But it is because the
United States has alfthe time paid its interest to
And who ever heard of any lack of energy on
the part Of the Government in providing for the
payment of the interest because the bonds were
sold in the market during the war for less than
full value. Inmy opinion, If the debt ID funded
in forty years from this time, Tennessee will be
interest and principal, than it is now to make
payment Of single year interest. And what
ever may be the result, believe the debt can be
refunded at not more than three per cent.
=: The question has been propounded why Ten.
nessee money told issue) is worth ninety cents to
about eighty cents of their face value? This is
not perplexing question. 1t s easy of solution
but can beybetter answered by examining it in
connection with what has been sprung as a legal
peIn. IN this controversy. Us assumed BY one
other side deny that they do. Now1- do not care
AGENT whether they do or not bear interest As
q matter Of law, think they do bear interest.
But rise in this matter above all technical rules
and regulations, % hH @-
I place our obligation to dispose of the debt
which we owe on higher and broader and more
just principles than the cold bloodsd logic Of
figures and the bugaboo of compound interest
The question before US is not whether the debt
will be made larger or smaller 1t is . question
Of right and Justice. And what shall we do, and
how shall We meet it? The reason our past due
coupons and bonds are not worth as much in the
market as Tennessee money, grows out of the
fact that in reference to the "old ISSUE Of the
Bank of Tennessee there is no dispute on the liza
termined that the State is liable, and the Legis-
latnre has recognized that liability. But in re-
gard to our bonded debt the case is very diff
ferent. 49,, !, .Tfft. -ett,,.. 49,. .s.- "a.
Parties have been constantly fuctusting.
And, while do not allege there is single
know it has been threatened at various times
since the war. Now, here is Legislature al
most equally divided, 50 far as political senti-
ment is concerned, with Democrats, Independ-
ents and hepabhG,ns1no party-in fact. hav-
at rest forever fsrthe Legislature to give legsla-
tive recognition to the validity of our bonds.
and thus declare the purpose of the State to psy
them Then the question propounded in re-
ference t. the sslstys value OF bonds and od
swered by our bonds advancing in the market, |
and if We do our duty by paying the interest |
premium. Mr. Speaker, trust |
the House will indulge me long enough to refer |
to the argument that the State can not be sued, |
and therefore We have the bondholders in our |
power-we can pay or not pay, as we like, and |
remain free from judicial annoyancel SirI has |
it come to this Will the grand old State Of |
Tennessee, the sound Of whose name makes our |
hearts swell with pride? YesI sir, wherever |
We go it is our boast that We are sons of Tennes-
see. And can it be possible that we win now
cover her name with blot, with stigma, if not \
Of Reputation itself, of the high-handed act |
that She proposes to screen herself behind an |
iron wan Of legal protection constructed by her |
own Legislature iT, a'tt ,-CrlIllr
2 Ibeg of you, gentlemen, not to commit this |
suicidal act of refusing to provide for the pay
ment of the debt of the State simply because the
State can not be sued /, -.--r-4slT .lfG /
I know gentlemen disclaim any affinity for or
intention of Reputation, and do not charge to |
Butt have been very much reminded by their
argument on this subject Of the old darkey /
cot hssd
when preaching, replied: well, massa when |