Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-03-27
S,s2s,ssO
Deduct 2Oper cent. to cover commits
sions, etc. =. .-........ ). s.............
s4.OOs,OOO

The above calculation goes on the pre-
sumption that every dollar OF arrearages
will be paid and the entire tax OF 1873 col
Iected before July, 1874, neither OF when
things can possibly occur.
II turns out when the items are put to-
gether, that the precise sum on which inter-
est is to be paid, the debt being funded, is
SIS, 125, 948, and the precise sum Whicn wiz
have to be raised to pay the interest and TO
meet tie known and fixed demands OF one
year is So, 929 800. To meet this, if the as
sessment can be increased S78,0O0,O OO, and
then every dollar of the delinquent taxes
collected and the entire taxes of 1873 also
collected, eighty cts. on the hundred doIsdrS
,oorM of taxable property, Will only leave
ia the Treasury at the end Of the fiscal year
1874, 100000.
Therefore, unless the friends of this fund
ing scheme are willing to levy tax OF
nearly 8Oc, which has been proposed by no
one in this House, or in the Senate, as We
are advised, speedy reparation should there
fore be made by this body, as far as posi-
bic, by unanimous avowal that the act
was hasty and irconsiderate. And with a
manly acknowledgment OF error the fund
ing scheme should be repealed, as it is an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 measure was
basty and inconsiderSte. The main argu-
ments for the bill were, the assertion OF a
right on the part of the bondhOlders to en-
force the collections of compound interest,
and at the same time the danger Of dishon-
oring the State by the inherent power of
the people to repudiate the principal.
The undersigned do therefore, solemnly
protest against the funding law, believing
as we do, that our people are not prepared
| to met its requirements, and fearing as we
do, that the time is not far distant, when
| the toiliDg masses will rise up and resist the
burden that mus needs come upon them,
under this law. The fortunes CT che peo-
pie of Tennessee have not been regsined
since the ravages Of the late war. They
| still remember with what reckless extrava-
gance, the bonds of the State were issued
soon after the war. They have, and will
continue to have, keen perception of the
so-called moral obligations that they
are under to meet the liabilities of
the StSte, when they reflect upon the pro-
visions of the law under which the State
bonds were issued, and when they remem-
| Der the price obtained for many of the
same, when put on the market in violation
ofthe law that conceived and brought them
forth.
They will soon realize the fact, that while
ga pubic debt is public bless
ing" in such Governments as England, such
is not the csse in such a Government 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 exclusion of the few.
We, therefore. respectfully suggest that it
would be infinitely better fer the tax payers
and for bond-holders to make haste leisure
ly on this great question OF funding. Bond
holders had better retain the ills they have,
than 10 fee to those they know not of.
Our earnest desire to see the bondhold
ers and the taxpayers treated justly and
equitably by the Legislature prompts this
expression of alarm.
Were we repudiationists in deed and N
truth, then we would insist upon this ini-
quitous law remaining on our statute books.
But we sOlemnly protest, desiring that
justice in the management of this mixed
question, should be melted out to all.
We insist that it will be far better for al
concerned to wipe this deceptive law from
our statutes, and go to work earnestly and
theoretically and enact q better assessment
and better revenue law, so that the current
expenses of the State can be promptly met,
and 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,