Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-03-12
THE FUNDING PROPOSITION.
Remarks OF Senator Coulter on the
FuDding Bill which passed the Sem.
ate ON the 9Th or March:

Mr.. Speaker: l cannot permit the bill I'M
der consideration, which provides for the
funding Of the accrued interest and ma
tured bonds of the State, t come to vote
without giving utterance to my views upon
the subject, and assigning some of the rea-
SONS which impel me to support the mea.
sure. .........-.... ...... r..-.ra
1t is well known to Senators, that l intro
duced the original bill-for funding our
deb.-and which occupied the attention
and received the recommendation of our
Finance Committee -snd which l greatly
prefer to the one before US, and FIR which
this bill was substituted by the Finance
Committee, upon my own motion, with
amendments, when the question was re
referred to us, because thought this. bill
would meet the immediate necessities of
the case, and it seemed to meet with more
general favor. And really l have nothing
personal, nor any pet scheme, which l will
not cheerfully resign in behalf of the public
interest and the general welfare of
the State, and frequently, to accom-
ptsh the desired object, we are compelled
to sacrifice our own preference. This
| funding bill, standing in lieu of all others,
demands at our hanJs candid and careful
consideration. Except to aid in perfectiug
this bill, during the time it has been under
| consideration, have been silent, hearing
aud considering the arguments adduced for
and against it, but recognizing 1t as most
weighty and grave question, involving the
honor and dignity of the State on the one
hand, and taxation upon the other. can
not content myselfto vote silently, without
assigning some of the reasons which actu-
ate me in its advocacy and support.
First. Is the debt proposed to be funded
a just one, such as demands payment at
our hands and which we ought to and would
pay it able? Certainly the honesty and
justice thereof is wholly unquestioned, for
none of the opponents of the measure,
have in the face of facts, dared to question
its validity, or raise point against the
Justice of the due debt. Indeed the intel
ligent opponents of the bill have declared
the debt eminen ly just; for every matured
bond fundable under this bill, and 80 per
cent of the accrued interest, which
can be funded hereunder, is the
interest on bonds of the State-issued prior
to the Woodworking the legality of
whose Issuance or the price at which they
were sold, upon the market, there has been
raised no complaint. And upon all these,
the legality ald justice of our Obligations
10 pay, is not disputed. This bill proposes
to issue new series of bonds, bearing 6
per cent, payable after 10, and within 40
years, at the pleasure Of the State, with
which to take up the past due coupons and
bonds of the State, including all that fall
due before Jan. l, 1874, and we
resume the payment of interest on our
public debt, on the LIST day of July and
January thereafter, semi-annnally. No
osher bonds nor coupons are TO be funded,
under this bill, except those maturing be-
fore Jan. /, 1874, and as oply those bonds,
which were issUed before the war, will ma
ture before that date, it is impossible for
any bonds issued since the war, to be in
Guided in The operations of this bill. Hence
all this noise about funding the bonds issued
since the war is nonsense. But If
it were possible to fund the bonds
issued since the war, under this bill,
it could accomplish no harm, admitting the
illegality of their issuance and sale, for it is
wellRnown to every intelligent legislator,
to every one who has examined the facts,
that all the bonds Issued since The war have
been paid into the Treasury, except less
than three millions. And except the Min
eral Home railroad bonds, and the twenty
bonds surreptitiousiy obtained from tie
Treasury, by the insurance company Of the
Valley Of. Virginia, there are none out
standing, whose legality is questionable.
Under the act of 18th February, 1869, aud
acts arhendstory thereof, passed Jan. 8
and Dec. 6, 1870, railroads indebted