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

! COMMENTS OF PROTEsTERs.
| 1t turns out when the items are put
! together, that the precise sum on which
| interest is to be paid, the debt being
funded, is 500, l25, ,94S, and the precise
sum which will have to be raised to pay
| the interest and TO meet the known and
fixed demands of one year is 50, 929, $50.
| To meet this, if the assessment can be
increased S7S, 900, ,0O0, and then every
| dollar of the delinquent taxes collected
and the entire taxes of 1873 also col
| lected, eighty cents on the hundred dol
lars worth of taxable property, will
only leave in the Treasury at the end of
! the fiscal year 1874, S7S, $1,000.
Therefore, unless the friends of this
funding scheme are willing to levy tax
of nearly eighty cents, which has been
proposed by no one in this house, or in
the senate, as we are advised, speedy
reparatiOI should therefore be made by
this body, as far as possible, by unani-
nous ayowal that the act was hasty and
inconsiderate. And with a manly ae-
acknowledgement of error, the funding
scheme should be repealed, as it is an
undeniable fact that to fund and not
meet the interest would be discreditable
to the State, and wrong on the public.
1t is therefore manifest that the action
on this important and perplexing meas
ure was hasty and incOnsiderate. The
main arguments for the bill were, the
assertion of right on the part of the
bOndholders to enforce the collections of
compound interest, and at the same time
the danger of dishonoriDg the State by
the inherent power of the people to re-
pudiate the principal.
4
emnly protest against the funding law,
believing, as we do, that our people are
not prepared to meet its requirements;
and fearing, as we do, that the time is
not far distant when the toiling masses
will rise up and resist the burden that
must needs come upon them under this
law. The fortunes of the people of Ten
nessee have not been regained since
the ravages of the late war. They
still remember with what reckless ex-
travagance, the bonds of the State were
issued sson after the war. They have,
and will continue to have keen per-
ception of the so-called moral obliga-
tions that they are under to meet the
liabilities of the State, when they reflect
upon the provisions of the law under
which the State bonds were issued, and
when they remember the price obtained
for many of the same, when put on the
market in violation of the law that con-
ceived and brought them forth.
They will not realize the fact that
while "a public debt is public bless
ing" in such governments as England, |
such is not the case in such a govern |
ment as ours, which is not maintained |
for the benefit of bonded nobility, at
the expense of the tOiling masses, but |
is for the benefit of the many to the ex-
clusion of the few We, therefore, re-
spectfully suggest that it would be in
finitely better for the Taxpayers and for !
bond-holders to make haste leisurely on |
this great question of funding. Bond |
holders had better retain the ills they |
have, than to flee to others they know |
not of.
Our earnest desire to see the bond |
holders and the taxpayers treated Justly |
and equitably by the legislature prompts |
this expression of alarm.
Were we repudiationists in deed and |
in truth, then we would insist upon this
iniquitous law remaining on our statute |
books; but we sOlemnly protest, desiring
that justice in the management of this
mixed question should be meted out
to all.
We insist that 1t viii be far better for
all concerned to wipe this deceptive law
from our statues, and go to work earn
estly and energetieally and exact bet
ter assessment and 8 better revenue law,
so that the current expenses of the State
can be promptly met, and a sinking
fund provided, at the same time, that
will gradually liquidate the past due
liabilities of the State, and then the
whole debt. Respectfully and truly,
Horatio r. Moore, j. A. West,
L. NJ. Wester, D. ]. Noblitt,
A. B. Haynes, j. 7. Latin, jr.,
Lee Head B. NJ. Tillman,
Jesse f. Brown, J. F. Young,
w. w. Wilson, 2. ]. BIulvfhilb
J. H. McCampbell, John S. Kerr,
John Overton, jr., j. II. JamisOn,
a. ! n. Hughes, ir., HoImg Cummins,
NssfIVILLF. March. 1873