Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-03-21
Speech of Judge HOuk, OF Knox, the
Republican Leader Of the House Of
Representatives.
II Interest-Payment was Not Provided
for, Where W.u'l cur Railroads
and Improvements be-
n we had Advised our Creditors that
we Would Not Pay Interest, Where
would be our Asylums and
Schools!
An UnansWerable Argument In Defense
OF Common Honesty, and Justice
TO cur BOndhOldeTs.
From the Ns,hviue Union and Americana
CONCLUDED.

From the Na,hviue Union and Americana
CONCLUDED.
Our opponents have offered nothins
except the proposed charter for the rail
road ring. Referring TO this subjec
again on page two hundred and ninety
two, this same honored historian pro
pounds this question: "How, indeed
was il possible that debt should no
have been contracted, when one party
was impelled by the strongest motive.
TO borrow, and the other was impelleC
by equally strong motives to lend?'
Indeed, are we not in the precise condi
ton here described? Have we not the
strongest possible motive TO increase
our debt? Have we not every reason
10 do so, in order to take q breathing
spell and be freed from the foul
and a-hslf or five millions now due
Again. right here, listen to what
the historian SAYS: "a states
man might well think that some
part Of the wealth which was daily
buried or squandered might, with ad
vantage to the proprietor to the tax.
payer, and TO the State, be attracted
into the treasury" Much has been
said upon this floor in reference to can.
didates for congress, and the part Ger.
tain gentlemen hoped TO take in the fu.
ture control and government of the
country. l call the attention Of those
who are aspiring to the language OF his
tory, that "a statesman might well
think Of" this mode of relieving our
State treasury from its embaTrsssments
just as thestatesmen Of England did re-
lieve the treasury OF that kingdom.
MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE
viii bear in mind that the history OF
England was appealed to in this mat
ter. "Unto Cesar the appeal has been
made, and unto Caesar let US go.u
History has been invoked, let us take
the voice Of history. And what is it?
Listen, beseech you, as the historian
declares: at was even asserted at Ia
ter period, by Tories, who hated the ma
tiOnal debt most Of all things, and
Bishop Burnet most OF all men, that
BUrnet was the person who first advised
the government to contract a national
debt" Don't you see the same spirit
against a public debt that is evinced
here? Don't you see that the same an
CRY Utterances were rife then that we
hear now? It has been asserted
EAlLE AuAH 0GHhLE commenced L0AI
the funding policy began with
England, and proved disastrous
20 the interests OF the people. 1t
was the fifteenth day Of December, 1892
that the house of commons resolved
itself into a committee on ways and
means, and proposition for a loan was
adopted. England borrowed this policy
from Italy, France, and other countries.
And il is recorded Of Holland that she
owed a bonded debt, on which the inter-
est was so promptly paid, and the bonds
became so popular, that "when any
part of the principal was paid the pub
lie creditor received his money with
tears, well knowing that he could find
no other investment equally secure.n
And here let me say, before proceed,
that what makes the credit of the indi-
vidual, or the State, Is not so much the
ability as the willingness to pay, and
especially is it true that the public cred
itOr never expects nor desires the prin.
cipal.
IF THE INTEREST Is PAID,
that meets the object of his investment
his purpose is accomplished, he is sat
isfied. And why is il that the men OF
money seek to invest in public at a low
er rate OF interest, rather than in pri-
vate securities at a higher? The answer
is plain. An individual may become
bankrupt, may squander his fortune, may
lose it by accident OF fire or otherwise.
He may die and leave an insolvent es-
tate. But States are immortal. They
live forever. Nothing but revolution
and overthrow impairs their ability to
pay accommodating interest, and that
Is all the capitalist wants. 1 shall re-
fer to it again. To recur to the English
debt but for moment, it is spoken Of
as "the greatest prodigy that ever per-
picked the sagacity and confounded the
pride of statesmen and philosopher" J."
And says Nacaulay, "At every stage in
the growth of that debt the nation has
set up the same cry Of anguish and de-
spsir, At every step in the growth of
that debt il has been seriously asserted
by lyi8e men that bankruptcy and ruin
were at handn SO we have aDise men
seriously asserting now that bankruptcy
and ruin are at hand. But what en-
couragement does history give these
Projectors of evil that their sad proph-
ecy will come TO pass? None whatever
Macaulay proceeds to say, "Yet still the
debt went on growing, and still bank
ruptcy and ruin were as remote as ever.
When the great contest with Louis the
Fourteenth was finally terminated by
the peace Of Utrecht, the nation owed
about fifty millions, and that debt was
considered not merely by the rude null
titude, not merely by fox-hunting
squires and coffee-house orators, but by
acute and professional thinkers as an
encumbrance that would permanently
cripple
"THE BODY POLITIC."
Keep up with me, II you please, as /
have only time TO read what Is a much
better speech than ] can make, on this
subject, although written In a foreign
land, and without any reference to the
public debt Of Tennessee. But says this
historian, "Neverlheless, trade flour
ishedr Yes; Notwithstanding the
croasings indulged in by the wise and
ignorant alike, wealth Increased; the
nation became richer and richer"
Again, after the war Of the AustrisDs
the debt Of England rose TO eighty
millions. Then these same false
prophets proelaimed-yes, pamphlet
eers, historians and orators pronounced
that now, at all events, the case OF Eng
land was desperatel "Yet the signs Of
increasing prosperity, signs which
could neither be cOuDterfeited nor con-
cealed, ought 10 have satisfied ob5ervant
and rejecting men that a debt Of eighty
millions was less TO the Eng
land that was governed by Pei
ham, than a debt Of fifty nil
lions had been TO the England
which was governed by Oxford" !" And
here let me say that in fifty years from
t0-day-the time the funded bond is
proposed 10 run before maturity; when
our iron-beds will he dug up, our coal
banks opened, our zinc and copper
brought into use, and the mineral and
other resources Of the State developed
Tennessee will be better able to pay
twenty millions than four at the present
time. And, 70 return for q moment,
the debt OF England, under her con-
slant use of the sword, "rapidly swelled
TO a hundred and forty millions. Oh,
now, you
cRoAKEBs,
We prophets imagined, like the enemies
of this bill now seem % imagine, that
the time had come at last when they
could see their predictions Of evil full
filed: "Men Of theory and of busi-
ness almost unanimously pronounced
that the fatal day had now really ar
rived. The only statesman who did not
share in the general delusion was Ed
mund Burke.n Can we wonder that
there are those now deluded in refer
eBee TO a similar proposition? Indeed,
is it not strange that while nearly every
body labored under this delusion ia
England, here, in the State OF Ten
nessee, it Is but small minority Of her
public Inen2 Even the celebrated phil
osopher, David Hume, was asoverwhelmed
by a similar delusiOn 10 that which has
enyelOped our friends on the other side