Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1874-08-22

Railroad bonds issued since the
War- o,lllUOu
Renewal bonds issued since the
Uu
.......s $50, 900
Total...-................... .......sl5, ,O72, 600
OF which there have been since
cahceied--.----.---.- I|o.OOO
Total registered bonds outstand-
ing 1st July, IA ss6, 600
Making a grand total of bonds
funded and registered under the
act of 1873 and still outstanding
Oh
This is complete and accurate ex-
hIbit of what has already been done
in execution of the funding bill. The
following table shows the mdriimun. OF
bonds and coupons still remaining to
be funded or registered. Past due
bonds yet to be funded, to-wit:
Bank of Tennessee bonds due May,
Turnpike bonds due from 1868 to "A $4,000
Capitol bonds due from 1870 10 IL. l74,OU0
Total bonds. .....-.-.--.....-.,-. 7l7,OOO
Fundable coupons that may yet be
presented due prior to July. lS74.s 100000
Total that may yet be funded.-sl ,5I7 ,OOu
Bonds not due that may yet be reg
1Stered of all classes ,jO2, 900
Making the total yet 10 be register
ed or funded 5,Ol1 ,OOO
And the grand total which has been OF
can be funded or registered will thus
amount to S25 ,266, 900. OF this amount
the solvent roads will hereafter pay
So, ,461 ,S7l75, and the purchasers Of de-
linquent railroads will pay 1923, ,277,
total, 81, ,2S5, 1885; leaving to be pro-
vided for by the State, $50. $50, ,S51 .25.
THE BONDS
which have been thus renewed under
the provisions of the funding law,
were all issued before the war, to es-
tablish the Bank of Tennessee, for the
construction of the Capitol and the
building of turnpike roads. and large
majority of the coupons funded were
from the same class of ante-war bonds,
against which no possible questi n
could arise. Not one bond issued
since the close of the war has been
funded under the act, nor can be.
The past due debt amounted to less
than 81 900 900, and, as | believe, less
than S6,500,000. But this amount
could not be paid at once without par
alyzing industry and bringing distress
to the country. Complaints are made
of tax of forty cents on the hundred
dollars, which is barely sufficient for
the current interest. To have devoted
the entire tax to the payment of this
past due debt would have required five
years to extinguish it, and in the mean
time the current interest would have
matured TO the amount of $4,000, GOO.
To have left these bonds and coupons
unprovided forwhile resuming the pay
ment of interest would be like an in
dividual who makes provision for pay
ment of debts not yet due, but fails to
provide for those of equal dignity al
ready past due. The State found her
self like many solvent individuals who
having large property have no money
with which to pay past-due debt, and
like any business man In your CONNER
cial circles surrounded by these unu-
sual and untoward circumstances, she
proposed to her creditors to renew her
past-due obligations at their fIce to
some future day, and in the meantime
pay interest for the forbearance, trust
ing to renewed prosperity and increas-
ed business to meet her obligations,
thus doing justice as between creditor,
and preserving intact her own faith and
honor. And this very process of indi-
vidual adjustment of debts by renewing
them, is essentially funding" The
State under the operation of this fund
ing bill, instead of paying her matured
debt, renews il, payable at a future
day, and obligates herself, in the mean
time, to pay interest upon it, Before
the convening of the next General As
sembly the law will have been fully
executed, and the people Of the State
through their chosen representatives
have plighted the faith and honor of
the State to a compliance with Its pro-
visions. There is a striking feature
IN the practical results of this legisla-
ton which has not yet been considered.
1t will not be questioned by any well
Informed legal mind, that as a legal
proposition, all of this due obligation
bore interest from its maturity until re-
deemed by the State. In the case of
the city of Nashville VS.. the First Ma
tional Bank, adjudged by the Supreme
Court at the December Term, 1872, il
is held that the coupons of the bonds
of the city of Nashville bore interest
from maturity, and the terms and Ian
guage of those coupons DO net differ,
in any essential particular, from our
coupons. Now, the holders of our
past-due bonds and coupons. in cousid-
GRAFTON of the pledge of the State to
commence paying interest the first OF
July, 1874, and her solemn promise
to continue its payment as it accrues,
were willingto and did. accept our new
bonds for the face OF their securities.
They thereby lost, and the State saved.
this item of interest. But the creditor
gave il up. under contract with the
state, that he should receive interest
regularly upon his new bonds. Had
this contract not been made, the cred
! itor could, and doubtless would, have
demanded of the State this large
amount of interest.
THE FOLLOWING TABLE
/ shows the amount already saved to the
State by this means upon the securitie,
already funded, as well as the amount
that will be saved, when the funding
is completed:
SAVING OF INTEREST Blythe FUNDING
BILL.
The creditors Of the State have sub
mitted to loss of interest on past-dut