New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-03-02

Just ifv an act of undoubted bad faith. Ia
those days the general government had
no legal right to exact tribute from the
citizen. but was entirely dependent upon
the good faith of the several States to fur
nish the amounts respectively assessed
upon them. And as there was no
power to coerce q sovereign State
to perform even an act Of the plainest
duty default set in. and one State after
another rapidly fell into the bad example.
leaving Congress powerless. and the pub
lie creditors unpaid. This condition of
affairs had a powerful influence in the
formation of the "more perfect union
that was established by the constitution
OF 1877. Few if any Of our statesmen
have ever attempted to defend the morality
Of the reputation of the Continental
debt. And the whole nation suffered
severely, and paid dearly in consequence
by the bad credit of the United States
during the war of 1912. To do wrong,
no matter under what pretense. is to vio-
late natural law. and the penalty of such
wrong doing is hard to evade or escape
from. There is no doubt that the United
States government has been compelled to
pay in full the whole Continental debt in the
shape Of discounts on loans and enhanced
rates Of interest But while the people
have paid the full penalty of the great
wrong which a mistaken sense Of patriot
ism once made popular. the suffering
creditors failed to receive justice. and the
account remains unbalanced to the pres
ent day. The State of Mississippi is yet
suffering from her refusal to ratify the
acts of her agents, who negotiated large
loans in Europe and misapplied the pro-
ceeds. And she stands to-day as really
one Of the richest States of the South. full
Of undeveloped resources. without credit.
without commerce. without any great
manufacturing centre. unable to borrow a
dollar. to build a mile Of railroad. or to
even erect public building until the
money to meet the expenditure is first
placed into the treasury. This unhappy
condition Of affairs has been produced by
a mis- taken zeal to repudiate the pledged
faith of the State under the specious pre-
text that her own agents had cheated her.
We 10 not cite these cases as parallels to
the present history Of Louisiana. but de-
sire to show that there is no power great
enough or strong enough to sanctify a
wrong. or TO deny justice without suffer-
ing at last for violation OF natural laws.
The case of this State is different. We
owe great debt. partly for bonds issued
in aid of railroads projected before the
war. and for obligations since issued in
continuation Of the system inaugurated
years ago. We are. it is true, paying in.
terest on bonds issued to railroad cOmpa-
nias which never spent a dollar on their
projected roads. even to have them sur.
veyed. We pay interest on the Jackson
and the Opelousas railroad bonds. but We
have some little compensation in the one
case in the eighty miles of railroad to
Brashear. and an equivalent. perhaps, in
the other in i connection with roads lead !
ing to al. points North and East. Fur
thermore We ran behind during the war,
and were compelled to sell State bonds 10 |
take up past due coupons. certificates OF
indebtedness. apd TO pay a great many |
claims Of rather doubtful morality. Most |
of the local troubles are traceable directly !
to our own fault. and We have SO trumpet
ed our weaknesses to the world that our |
credit for steadiness and good sense is |
none OF the best. and it only needs some !
thing like reputation TO preeipitate us
down to zero.
Our local governments are a necessity |
for the protection OF property. Without
laws no weak man could be able to call |
anything his own any longer than it
would take for stronger to come along
and despoil him. If property owners re-
fuse to support the government it will
soon ensue that they will have nothing
left to protect. and We shall pass down
into history with bad name. from which
nothing can relieve us. Any appeal to
force. therefore. to resist the collection Of
taxes should be discouraged from the
highest motives Of policy by every citizen
who expects to make Louisiana his home