Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-03-31
AHaRp OF ONE STRING.

est possible terms. But If the indl-
vidual or State be so circumstance
that immediate payment cannot be
made, the next best thing is to prevent
the debt from growing! This is pre-
cisely what the funding bill does. Al
ready several years Of neglect had en-.
larged the State debt over a million
dollars a year, when in 1873, the Leg.
i~slature determined to stop this growth.
before the burden should become too
great. To delay the matter till the
coming legislature of 1875, would have
involved a furtherinereaseof over three
millions, to permanently saddle on tax
payers an ddition alannuallevyofS200
900. So of every delay. By unearthing
millions of property which hitherto es-
capped, the funds are provided for re-
suming the payment OF interest and
stopping the growth Of the debt, with
out increasing the rate of State taxa
ton. The rate last year and this is
only 40 cents, against so cents a few
years ago. 1t may be that men whose
property used to escape taxation, while
enjoying all the benefits of protection,
do not like the new arrangement, and
hate the funding bin for inducing leg
i~slators and other officials to be more
energetic in unearthing hidden wealth.
But honest taxpayers r not likely to
sympathize in such grievances. In so
far as the present assessment law tends
to equalize the burden on the wealth Of
all, it is an improvement on its pred
ecessor. In this, however, as well as
many other respects, it needs still fur
ther improvement and emendation.
Such is the funding law, and such the
means of stopping the growth of the
State debt. The Memphis Aralanehe con-
tinues to speak of itas 'the most iniqui-
tous scheme ever force dthroughth Ten
nessee Legislature in the interest of a
monied ring" (which purposes to con-
fscate the property of the State" If
it regards the State tax of forty cents
on the hundred dollars as confiscation,
what does it think of the Memphis tax
of four dollars on the hundred9 From
which of these is Memphis suffering the
most? The AUaldnche says the fund
ing law, unless repealed, viii compel
an increase of the taxation rate for the
next 20 years" Does it propose repeal?
If so, what substitute does it offer? 1t
is easy to point to existing burdens,
the legacy of Republican rule. 1t is
easy to abuse the funding law. What
a practical people want to know is, how
| the situation can be bettered. If our
contemporary has discovered Aladdin's
lamp, it ought not to keep it forever
under a busheL. Dat with it. When
you repeal" the fundinglaw, what are
you going TO do with the debt? Let
the interest swell the principal, from
Legislature 10 Legislature, increasing
it each term by three to four million
dollars, according to your figures? Is
that the way to get out of debt, or to
decrease the burden? VIII our con-
temporary please develop its own
plan, if it has any. We do
not want its might, could, would
or should have been, but what can be
now and in the future. The Araldnche
seems to think there is a wonderful ar
gument in its statement that the fund
ing bill requires ''S64,0O0 900 to be paid
in interest on So, 900, 900 debt, and
without at all reducing the debt" So
an individual would have to pay S64 in
terest IN the course of forty years on a
note Of hand for so, without reducing
his debt. Theargumentis apowerful one
against debt itself in either case. But,
to assume that Tennessee viii not or
can not wipe out the principal before
the forty years expire, is to assume
either that Tennessee viii stand still or
that more Brownlowism is to play
ducks and brakes with our
revenues. In 1880 the pop
ulation Of Tennessee was 6S1,-
9O4, by the United States census. In
1870 it was 1,25S,520. Population has
doubled in the past forty years. VIII
it do less in the coming forty? From
1880 to 1851, the existence of slavery
is supposed to have materially retarded
immigration. The following nineyears
were filed up with war, carnage, and
Ku-Klux stories. From 1880 to 1858,
there were no railroads, those feeders
Of humanity. In view of these draw
backs, the next forty years is more
likely to ~quadruple than double u
population. The growth of Tennessee's
wealth has been equally remarkable.
The census of 1850 placed the total
true value of GU real and personal es-
tate at 1901 .246, $3.50. The census of 1860,
showed S493, 903,892, an increase of
nearly one hundred and fifty per cent
in one decade of peace. After all the
losses Of war during the following de-
cade, with the extinction of slavery,
which decreased the assessment Of per-
sonal property from S162, 5O+,O20 to
$50, 746, 766, the census of 1870 shows
that Tennessee more than held her
own, the total wealth being S499,237,-
724. In the light of such develop
ments during the past forty years,
what viii not the next forty years IN
fold, with the advantages of multi
piled railroads, the working of our vast
mineral resources, and more intelligent
agriculture? If the people but pay
enough attention to politics to select
good officers, and beware of fresh debts
bOuravar plausibla their Drateyt II ic