Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-09-22
ESTABLISHED MARCH 80. 1886.

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tration, the best public school law, which
has ever blessed the State, has been de-
vised and successfully established. Its
value is too we'll known to you, and to the
people of the State, TO demand any further
notice on this occasion.
-. That the burden of government
should be borne by the whole property OF
the country; that all assessments OF taxes
should be equal, uniform and gust, and nc
improper discrimination should be made
against any species Of property"
As it is, more than two hundreds OF mil
lions of national bonds pay no taxes. Their
holders, equally protected in life, liberty
and property with tie tiller CT the soil and
the honest mechanic and the merchant,
draw their interest in coin, wrung from the
labor and the toll of the country, yet they
pay nothing 10 support the Government.
TIE rich corporations are, many of them.
exempt from taxation. Even in Ten
nessee the railroad property, worth
$l00, 100000, claims immunity from
the revenue laws of the State. Hith-
erto the holders of invisible, hidden wealth,
such as money, bonds, stocks, promissory
notes, etc, have been practically exempt,
while the owner of the soil and live stock,
and other visible property, We're burdened
with all expenses Of government and the
administration of justice. This is in vio-
lation of the spIrit of free institutions.
The Democratic and Conservative party
proposes to remedy these evils. Since its
accession to power in the State, some of
these evils have been remedied. Suits
are now pending IN the courts, in
stituted under the present admin
istraiion of the State government,
seeking to have all acts of Assembly ex-
empting railroad property, as well as the
property Ct other corporations declared nm
constitutional. And it is believed these
suits Will result successfully to tie Stale.
This viii tighten the burdens of taxation
upon the labor and productive energies of
the country. Elevate the Democratic party
to national IOWer, and the Odious eXemp-
ton in favor of bonds, national banks, and
other favored mOnopolieS, will disappear
from the Congressional statutes. Then,
and not until then, will be no unjust dis
elimination in the assessment of property
for taxes. This is in accord with the third
resolution of our platform of 1865 and the
eighth resolution of 1870.
Os AAelN AdlhtA cAAANb NOlotluNllOAl
of the Constitution of the United States,
and insist that no power should be exer-
cised by the General Government that is
not clearly delegated or clearly implied in
the necessary exercise of the powers 80 del
egated."
No intelligent man will question the
soundneSs of this doctrine. II is Z beauti-
full blending of the ancient theories of the
Wing and Democratic parties. Webster,
one of the great expounders of the COnsti-
tuition, and by his political opponents,
charged with favOriDg a strong central
government, declared more than once, that
the States OF this Union had exclusive
jurisdiction over all questions at issue be-
tween its citizens, and for the punishment
of all crime within their borders. And
that by no ietitudinarian construction
could that power be assumed by the Fed
eral Government. Gen. Jackson, on re-
tirement to private life, said:
If the principle of constructive powers
shall ever he permitted to iusti-
IL the assumption Of : power not given by
The Constitution, the general Government
Will, before long, absorb all he powers of
legislation, and you viii have, in effect,
but one consolidated government,
And every friend iOf our free institutions
should always be prepared to maintain, I'M
impaired and in full vigOr, the rights ana
Of the States, and TO contine
the action Of tie general Government to
the sphere Uf Its appropriate duties"
And even the party who now set at de-
hance the time-honOIed landmarks planted
by the fathers of the Republic, enunciated
when they nominated Mr.. Lincoln in 1860,
this great principle in the most anlnistake-
able and emphatic manner, viz.
Resolved, Tls.t tie maintenance invio-
late Of tire rights of States, and especially
The right of each State TO control its own
domestic institutions, according to its own
Judgment exclusively, is essential t. that
balance of power on which The perfection
and balance of Cuf political fabric de-
ponds.
But what is now the theory and practi-
ces Of that party? 1t is to annihilate the
last vestige OF power in the State govern
mentS, by unwarTanbed constructions Of the
Constitution OF the United States. For
their practices, look to the Reconstruction
Acts, and amendments thereto; tie cotton
tax law, passed duFinS Or. Lincoln's ad-
Under which so much money
was coerced from Tennessee, alone ovpr
81 100000, in direct violation Of the Con-
stitutiOn: the Internal Revenue laws and
Stamp Acts the Freedmen's Bureau bills;
the Con6scation and Treasurer bills; the
Enforcement Acts of 1865, 1870 and 1874.
and many other measures, less C0tnprehen-
sive in their operations, but eaually OBJ
nOXiOUS to the oszanic law.
All this legislation is justified by the
party Ia power, Jhder what they call Gin
lJiiea bowers, evolved from the instruments
by literal construction. Tnder sech con-
strUctions we are drifting rapidly into a
centralized feSpOtism. The Constitution
is ,;i5de TO mean anything, in their utter
disregard of IFS plain teachings, if by tor
turing its obvious meaning, they uan attain
party ends and pr0lOng their ieasR Of pow
er. One OF two esafiip,o are sufficient.
Sec iOt : Of Article l of the Constitu-
tfoH declares: The privilege of the writ
habeas corpus shall not be suspended ualess
when in cases of rebellion or invasion the
public safety may reuuisI 1t
This is ePgr,efated among the powers of
C,rss'+ssS. Our Chief Justice Story, in his
Treatise on the Constitution, vol ,, page 200,
ed. 1888, in constr ruling this power, holds that
OOliGItSS lidS tfft tACt itcttt Nt%tFtF - u-lSE-
mine and declare whettcr Tie exigency has
arisen, w;ierc tic privilege Of the writ of
ltSttsSs corpus shall be suspended. Mr..
jefferson so construed the constitution. In
a critical period of his term, he declined
upon solicitation to exercise that power
holding that Congress alone @oii.d do It.
And both be and Congess were forced by
popular indignation from their purpose to
declare this right SUSPENDED.
Crowned heads of England, when inva-
ded by a foreign foe, in more than two in
stances were afraid 20 defy public opinion
by declaring this writ Of right suspended.
But now, this dominant raT]y, defying pub
lie sentiment and the Constitution alike,
lay the fourth section of this Enforcement
Act, places the writ of habeas corpus at the
mercy of the President alone. by one
stroke of his omrinotcIi; pen he can declare
that there is rebellion in State and wipe
out tie civil law, assert military rule, close
the courts of justice, and set up in their
Steads military conrts, where any citizen
can be tried without jury, and without
the right Of resort 10 the writ OF haOGas
corpus.
This is no fancy sketch. And yet the
Republican party Of Tennessee have at the
head of their ticket a supporter of this and
other infamous measures already REFEREED to.
~. That we oppose al mOnOpolies, rings
and combinations formed for the oppres-
sion of the people; that we are for the aboli=
ton of all useless and unnecessary offices:
for the proper reduction OF all excessive