Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-03-29

the present law by that date, and these
companies will have no other alterna-
tive than to pay in coupons maturing
after that date. After dedueting from
the treasury statement this amount due
from solvent railroads as being i'm
properly entered as an amount upon
which the State must pay interest, it
will be seen that the balance of
S25, 167, ,562 is greater than the estimate
of the debt as made by us by the sum of
81, ,529, $40 "a. This discrepancy arises
frcm the erroneous calculations of in
terest made by the treasurer upon the
several items of his statement. The
reader will not fail to see that while the
statement of the treasurer is so framed
as to produce the impression that an
annual revenue of 1854, 800 will be
necessary, yet such is not the ease. The
items of
OUTSTANDING WARRANTS
Tennessee money, loans and interest
can never again occur, and during the
next year at least the items of legislative
expense andappropriations will not have
to be met. These items amount to.
81, ,006, S34. AS to the item of $50, 900,
we presume that it will not be contro-
verted that all the school moneys hereto
fore raised by taxation, for which war
rants have not already been issued, are
embraced and included in the school
fund, as fixed by the present general as
sembly. A close analysis of the comp
trOller's reports will show that the ordi-
nary expenses of the State government
including the legislative expense, will
not exceed the sum of $500, 900, 600, after
casting out of the account such unusual
expenditures as are not likely again to
occur, such as the cost of the State prison,
now self-sustaining; the decrease of leg
islative expense in consequence of
shorter sessions than heretofore. We
conclude our remarks upon this subject
by presenting the following
EXTRACTS FROM THE TREAsURER'S RE-
PORT PRESENTED IN JANUARY
to the legislature, from which it will ap-
pear that he thought then the resump-
ton of the payment of interest might,
with but little additional burden, be be-
gun by July, 1874: sit is to be hoped
that the period when the State shall be
able to pay interest on the bonded debt
may be fixed by this general assembly.
The Importance of SO doing is
of the greatest interest to Tennes-
oCCg anu OuI Ohu uOilOI ue-
mands that it be not much longer
delayed. 1t can be done only by an in
creasad assessment with present rates,
or by much higher tax on the basis of
the present assessments. With a very
small floating home debt, We would be
without excuse were we to delay
preparations for the early pay
ment of interest on our bonds.
1t is a matter of little moment, now,
how they were issued, or what return
we got for them. With a few exceptions
we have legalized them, and it only re-
mains to meet principal and interest as
we may be able. The tax of
1878 would defray the current expenses
of the State government, and a surplus,
perhaps, remain, enough to warrant the |
resumption of interest payments on the |
first of July, 1873, if not sooner, provided !
the assessment laws of the State are
changed, as they should be, so that our
taxable property shall, for once in the |
history of Tennessee, appear on the tax |
books. Struggling as Tennessee has
honestly done for some years to dis !
charge an immense debt, in manner
alike honorable to debtor and creditor,
it behOOves her to leave no resource un- |
tried to further her efforts. ANY change |
in our assessments, no matter what, will |
be desirable