Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-03-21

harbors insufficient to contain the ship
ping, artificial rivers joining the chief
inland seats of industry to the chief sea-
ports, streets better lighted, houses bet
ter furnished, richer wares exposed fol-
sale in statelier shops, swifter carriages
rolling along smoother roads. He
had, indeed, only TO compare the Ed
inburg of bis boyhood with the Edin-
burg Of his old age. His prediction =
listen 70 this, you who have as
sumed the prophetic office for the past
few dsys-listen to this, you who have
! appealed to the experience Of Eng
land in the matter of funding the
debit When the impartial historian
became to recount the prophecies of the
ordinarily sagaeious Hume, he says His
/ predictions remains to pOsterity, men,
orable instance Of weakness, from which
the strongest minds are not exempt" F"
And just in this connection Adam
Smith, the favoTite author from whom
the gentleman from Upton Mr.. Cum
Minis delights to quote, finds place in
! history. He figures as a witness against
the gentleman who made such free use
of his name. Why, Mr.. Speaker, we
! find that this Adam Smith admitted
| that immense ss the burden was, the
nation did actually sustain 1t, and thrive
under it in q way which nobody could
have foreseen." Here you see Ito Mr..
| Cummins who was sitting BY your man
owned UP that he was mistaken, Just as
I In a few years you will have to confess
your mistake in this matter. So let US
| fund this debt, and those who are now
opposing it will see that Tennessee
will sustain il, and thrive under it
much better than they now suppose.
| AS England twas given over, and again
the strange patient persisted in becom-
ing stronger and more blooming in spite
of sll the diagnostics and prognostics Of
State physicians so will Tennessee
continue to prosper and grow richer and
greater, and more powerful. AS Eng
land again and still again funded the
debt until it now makes
MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS
Of pounds sterling, and becomes rich
er all the time, so we will see Tennessee,
instead Of a beggared and bankrupt So
ciety as predicted by the slarmists of
this house, be table TO meet all her OBJ
legations We will see Sin every coun-
~ waste places turned into gardens; in
every city new streets, and squares, and
markets, more brilliant lamps, more
abundant supplies Of water; in the sub
uTbs of every great seat of industry we
viii see villages multiplying fast, each
embOsomed in its little paradise of lilacs
and roses" And while politicians were
making false predictions of ruin in the
midst of prosperity, England put in
operation her railroad system, which has
greatly blessed and enriched her. And
now / will conclude my quotations by
one which ask the gentleman opposed
TO this bill to remember. 1t Is this: at
can hardly be doubted that there must
have been some great fallacy in the no
tions Of those who uttered and of those
who believed that long succession of
constant prediction so signally fslsified
by a long succession of indisputable
facts. They enormously imagined that
there was an exact analogy betW cen the
case of one individual who is in debt to
another individual, and the case Of So
ciety in debt TO a part of itself, and this
analogy led them into endless mistakes
about the system of funding. 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,
anu Dl tic AugceSdnl cilDIlS Vi every
man to get on in life. They saw that
the debt grew; and they forgot that
other things grew as we'll as the debit
They greatly overrated the pressure of
the burden; they greatly moderated the
strength by which the burden was to bel
borne" Could anything more appro-
pirate be written? / think not, and
snail pass from this part of the discus
sion. But leaving England, let US come
nearer home. Why is it, we are asked,
that the United States can fund its debt
at four per cent? 1t is simply because il |
is well known that the interest will be
paid. 1t is not because the United States
are any better able to meet the liabilities
they owe than is the State of Tennessee. !
But it is because the United States has
all the time paid its interest to the very
day. And who ever heard of any
LACK or ENERGY
on the part of the government in pro-
viding for the payment Of the interest
because the bonds were sold in the mar
ket during the war for less than full
value. In my opinion, il the debt is
funded TO forty years from this time, |
Tennessee will be able, yea, more able, |
to meet the accumulated interest and
lAloAi ~ IL AAOn " uldhc pdH- |
ment Of q single years interest. And |
whatever may be the result, ! be
lieve the debt can be refunded at not
more than three per cent. The question
has been propounded why Tennessee
money (old issue) is worth ninety cents
to the dollar, while State bonds !
are only worth about eighty cents of
their face value? This is not a perplex-
ing question. 1t is easy of solution, but
can be better answered by examining it |
in connection with what has been
sprung as a legal point in this contro-
versy. 1t is assumed by one side that
past due coupons bear interest; the other
side deny that they do. Now do not |
care a cent whether they do or not bear
interest. AS a matter of law, think
they do bear interest. But rise in this
matter above all technical rules and con-
siderstions. place
OUR OBLIGATION
disposes of the debt which we owe on
higher and broader and more just prin-
ciples than the cold-blooded 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 a question Of right and
luHt4Cc. anu HD6l bbdil VIC hO4 auu
how shall we meet it? The reason our
past due coupons and bonds are not
worth as much in the market as Ten
nessee money grows out OF the fact that |
In reference to the cold issuen of
the Bank Of Tennessee there is |
no dispute on the liability Of the |
State. Ithas been judieially determined |
that the State is liable, and the legislR- |
ture has recognized that liability. But |
In regard TO our bonded debt the case is |
very different. Parties have been con-
stantly fiuctuating; and while / do not |
allege there is single member here In |
favor Of repudiation, yet we all know it 1
has been threatened at various times
since the war. Now, here is legisla-
ture almost equally divided, so far as |
political sentiment is concerned, with
DEMOCRATS, INDEPENDENTS AND RE-
PUBLIcANs,
no party, in fact, having a majority. |
Would II not put orr creditors at rest for |
ever for the legislature to give legisla- /
tive recognition to the validity OF our |
bonds, and thus declare the purpose Of
the State to pay them? Then the ques-
ton propoundeo In reference to the rela-
tive value of bonds and 'old issue" of
the Bank of Tennessee would be an
swered by our bonds advancing in the |
market, and If ys do cur duty by pay
ing the interest commanding q prem |
ium. Mr.. speaker, / trust the house |
will indulge me long enough TO refer TO
the argument that the State cannot
be sued, and therefore we have
the bondholders in our power-we can