Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-07-12
ALTON UPON EACH $1,000 (TRUE
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The simple truth ls, II is not the
State tax which is burdening our peo.
pie and causing her not to prosper. The
causes lie much deeper. It is for want
Of a proper diversity OF labor and pur-
suits; for want of manufacturing estab-
lishments to convert our raw material,
which is in so great abundance, into
manufactured articles; it is because we
buy so much abroad that might be
made at home; it is because our men OF
capital do not use that capital in i'm
proving and in enriching the country
it is because we have so much unavaila-
bic property yielding nothing, either to
its owners or to the State; it is because
we have 80 many hundreds Of thousands
Of acres Of land that might be in clover,
or some Of the valuable grasses upon
which 1ocks Of sheep, herds of cattle or
droves Of horses might be pastured,
now going TO waste and being washed
into gullies for want OF proper manage
ment. These are among the causes that
lie at the root of our depression, not the
mere amount of State tax paid. The
State tax is now forty cents on the hun
dred dollars worth of taxable property,
or four dollars on the thousand, OF forty
dollars on ten thousand. II you reduce
the State tax to twenty cents, how much
will be saved? Only twenty dollars on
ten thousand, or two dollars on a thou
sand. What a sum for which the great
State of Tennessee should blacken her
reputation forever and become q by
word Of reproach!
EVILS OF REPUDIATIoN.
Reputation instead of lessening our
difficulties would increase them greatly,
What we now need are capital, labor
and enterprise. All of these repudia-
ton would drive from US. We need the
opening Of more coal mines, the erection
Of more manufactures and furnaces, the
bringing in Of more industrious, ener-
getic and thrifty immigrants, the more
thorough cultivation of our soil, the in
PRODUCTION of a higher order of practical
and scientific agriculture. None of these
would a repudiatiDg State ever get.
Who would be willing to come to State
where a majority Of the people were in
sensible to their obligations? The re-
fusal to pay the State debt, it would be
said, would lead to a refusal to pay in
dividual debts. As q mere question of
dollars and cents, to say nothing of
honor or the love Of the proud name of
the State, whose character is without q
stain, Reputation is u losing business.
No State that repudiated its obligations
ever prospered or ever will prosper as Il
otherwise would. Those vino would not
recognize public obligations would not
recognize private obligations. Capital
and immigration would shun such
State and such community as people
in eastern countries shun a man with
the leprosy, or as the people of Japan
shun the valley where grows the deadly
upas.
EXCUSES FOR NOT PAYING HERETOFORE.
There have been some excuses for the
failure to pay the interest heretofore,
such as the enormous amount of the
debt, the ravages of the war, the unset
tied condition of the country, the hav-
ing to redeem such a large amount of
Tennessee bank notes: but these excuses
are all past. The debt is greatly re-
duced; the Tennessee money is all taken
in; we are nine years from the end of
the war, and il we are not now in a con-
dition to pay we cannot hope ever to be.
Let US commence repudiating, and our
wealth will decrease; olIr population will
also decrease, because many will leave
and none will come in; all our enter
prises, Of public and Of q private ma
ture, will be stopped; q general stagns-
ton of business will be the result, and
then il will be more difficult to pay a
twenty cent tax than it now is to pay
fifty, or even seventy cents; for be it re-
the opponents Of payment
admit that It is much easier for prosper
Gus States to pay high taxes than It is
for those that are not prosperous to pay
low taxes.
THE REMEDY.
Let US husband our resources, encour-
age the development and Improvement
of our country, create a small sinking
fund, and introduce economy into all
branches of the government. In that
way we will soon have our debt in such
a condition that we can manage it with
ease, and bring it within our ability 10
pay IL off Ia few years. II is not our
State debt, but our enormous city debt
and great county expenditures that are
depressing the country. Memphis has
a city debt Of S4, 500, 0C0, and very little
to show for it. Nashville also has large
debt. In the counties, towns and cities
we should introduce sweeping reforms
and retrenchment, and in this way the
people will be greatly relieved. / do
not mean to oppose necessary and proper
for there may be a nIg-
gardly economy which would result IS
as wild extravaganza, but
ali useless offices, all elsorbItant salaries
and foolish expenditures should be dis
pensed with. Surely such cities as
Memphis and Nashville can be more
and at the same time as
governed as they now are.
It is not the State tax, but other taxes
that are bearing 80 heavily on our peo-
ple, and q reduction Of the State tax to
twenty cents would afford very little, il
any, relief.
ARE OUR ASSESSMENTS TOO HIGH?
1t Is sometimes said that our properly
IS assessed at too high rates, and that 10
this way high taxes arc imposed, whilst
the rate Of taxation is low. This Is not
true. Scarcely any property in this
State is assessed at more than two-thirds
Of It's market value. Many instances
can be given Ia each ind every county
to show that property ie assessed far be-
low the price at which il sells. The
Of 1878 puts the land, exelu-
sive Of town lots, at $500, ,673 1858. The
average value OF land ky the asssssment