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

From endorsed bonds for which
State is secondarily liable:
Nashville and Chattanooga r. RS, ,2S7 900 90
East Tenn. q Va. r r. consol'd-. 2i2 900 90
Memphis city bonds endorsed by
Memphis and Little Rock r. K. 673,4O0 90
Total Is, 100 90
From purchasers of delinquent rail-
roads:
McMinnville & Manch'ter r. r. S 1O5,OoO 90
Edgefield & Kentucky r. R. 33025O %
Knoxville & Kentucky r. R. 1880 90
Tennessee & Pacific r. R.......... 10000 90
Interest ON all OF above-.-- l25,527 90
Knoxville d Charleston X. R., e
unsOld, valued.-.-..........-.- 100000 90
Total sS23,277 90
Total amount due State...... 6,4S7, ,5IS 81
Balance. 81, ,1s2, ,s37 70
Deduct amount now in treas
ury but not cancslled...-...... so, ,986 45
Net amount for which the
state must SO, $50, ,S5l %
While the bonded debt has thus
been reduced flo S43, ,052, ,652.25 to
$50 900,05l %, the floating debt has not
been neglected. The old issue of the
Bank of Tennessee, amounting to
g, 1910, has been received into
the Treasury and cancelled. The float
ing debt, consisting In part of out
standing treasury warrants amounting
October 1, 1871, to s752, ,417.27. has
been reduced, up to January 1, 1873, to
$476.S34. ", and since that time, up to
July l. 1874, to S232, ,066.01. The loan
account, amounting, January l, 1873,
to 100000, has been reduced to S121,-
600, making total amount paid, in
addition to thecurrent expenses of the
State Government, and including the
interest due July, 1874, s3,4S8, 1868
and leaving unpaid, at this time,
floating debt, including balance of
loan account, of 1853, ,066.01, with
large part of the taxes for 1873 uncol-
lected, and the revenue of 1874 un-
touched. As early as
THE EGUBERNAToRIAL CANVASS OF 1870
it was apparent that the finance ques-
ton, and the management and control
of the State debt, would, for some
time, be the most important and diff
cult measure, addressing itself to the
executive and legislative departments
of the government. 1t was necessary
for the State in divorsing herself from
her railroad system, by the sale of the
delinquent roads, to provide interest
upon so much OF her bonded debt as
was left unpaid out of the sales of those
roads, and the payment of loans by
solvent companies; and at the same
time she was receiving into her treas
ury from her sources of revenue,
almost exclusively, the issues of the
Bank Of Tennessee. With no assets
to meet the accruing interest, it had
matured and been allowed to remain
unpaid since January, 1869. 1t was
the unmistakable policy and purpose
of both the Democratic and Republi-
can parties, to resume the payment of
interest so soon as the notes of the
Bank of Tennessee were extinguished,
and the floating debt provided for. At
the date of the first message | had the
honor to transmit to the General As
sembly, on the 23d of October, 1871,
the past due bonds and coupons of the
State amounted to over FIVE millions of
dollars, and was increasing at the
alarming rate of over one million of
dollars per annum. [ recommended to
that General Assembly the necessity
of an early resumption of interest pay
ments, and in order to enable the State
to do so, | suggested that the past due
debt should be taken up by issuing
new bonds, at par. to the holders of the
matured debt The convention which
met at Nashville in May, 1872, to select
State ticket for the Democratic and
Conservative voters, did me the honor
of unanimous denomination, and,
without a dissenting voice, indorsed
the policy of my administration in a
most complimentary manner. In the
canvass which followed, the question
of State policy which overshadowed
all others was the solution of our f.
nancial troubles, with a view to put
the State again upon the highway to
prosperity. The floating debt, which
was the great obstacle at the previous
session of the General Assembly to the
adoption of any general and certain
policy in relation to our bonded debt,
had either been paid or provided for
out of the taxes collected or assessed !;
and following noi on ly my own conyic-
! tons of the true demands of the hour
for the redemption of my State, [ re-
hected the desire Of the people, as then
unmistakably manifested, in advoeat-
ing the early resumption of interest
payment. And | could not then per-
ceive, nor have | since learned, any
! lust or feasible mode Of resuming the
payment of accruing interest without
| first redeeming in some way the de5t
| that was past due, some OF which
matured before the war. There were
but two modes of redeeming the past
due debt. One was to pay it by taxa
tion, aud the other to renew it by Civ
ing new bonds, bearing interest, which
i is called funding" 1t could not be
paid by taxation without an addition
to the ordinary levy that would have
ruined the country by its oppressive
ness. | thought the other mode-that
is, taking up the past due Indebtedness
by new bonds, to be issued at par
could be adopted, and current interest
paid on the " hole debt without increas-
ing but very little, if at all, the rate OF
taxation Therefore, with the highest
and most disinterested motives, lmade
THIS POLICY
the burden Of my address to the people
throughout the entire canvass. One
Of my competitors indorsed this posi-
ton, and the other, without discussing