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

i
Total on bonds and eoupons.....-.SS222, ,5S2 g.
This amount is upon such bonds and
coupons as have already been funded
Upon the bonds and coupons that may
yet be presented, saving of interest
IN the same proportion will likewise be
made.
/ On bonds yet 10 be presented.-....s l5s,9IO %
On coupons yet 10 be presented l4l, $50 VI
sol $50 90
Add amount already saved...~.-... s22,5S2 81
Aggregate amount tsaved--....--si, ,l2i ,242 81
And while this amounts clear gain
to the State, the interest to be paid on
the new bonds is only the same inter-
est tor which the State was bound on
the old securities, And while this large
amount has been saved, the execution
of the funding act has cost the State
less than four thousand dollars. The
popular error, that the whole debt of
the State, which is assumed to be $25. :
OO0, 900, has been postponed forty years,
and that at the end of that period the
State will have paid $60, ,000, 900 of in
terest without reducing the principal,
grows out of a misconception of the
practical effects of the law and is COM
pleteiy refuted by this statement of the
facts. The eleventh section of the act
provides that the bonds that may fall
due between the first day of July, 1874.
and the first day of July, 1884, shall
be fundable, at the option of the State,
in bonds authorized BY the first section
of this act The construction given
to this section by the Executive de-
partment is that this option of the
State must be declared by the General
Assembly so that the bonds matur-
ing between those dates, amounting to
S371 900, can either be funded or paid,
as the General Assembly in its wisdom
may declare. And so of the $43S.0O0
of bonds that mature after July, 1884,
and prior to 1892. And the balance,
which mature between the latter date
and the year 1900, will also be the sub
jeet of future legislation. All
THE FUNDING BONDS
already authorized, which will amount,
already shown, to less than 81 900, 900,
are redeemable at the option of the
State. So that neither the funding
bill nor the resumption of interest
payment can, in the least, embarrass
the payment of the principal, whenever
the condition of our finances will justi-
fly such a policy. The third section of
the act pledges 'the faith, honor and
creditofthe State for providing sink
ing fund for paying the principal
as well as the current interest;
and the people are not hindered |
by this act from levying a tax at
any time for the payment of all or any
part of the principal, and they will
never find difficulty in redeeming
bonds to the extent of their ability to
do so. But the friends of this meas
ure and of State credit believed the
burden upon the taxpayer would be
too great to provide at once for sink
ing fund to pay the principal of the
bonds. They deemed it time enough |
to do this when our bonded debt |
should be thoroughly sifted under the |
operations of the funding and registra-
ton bill, and after the country should |
still further recuperate from financial
depression. But the theory of the
most intelligent friends of the State
credit was, and still is, that a rate of
taxation that will now pay the current |
interest on the bonded debt will, In |
less than twenty years, with an ordi-
nary prosperity in the State, absorb |
the principal, as well as pay the inter-
est.
One of the ablest statisticians in the
State, and who speaks from a nOnpar-
tisan standpoint, has made the calcula-
ton. and with the official sanction of |
the bereau he represents, has put it |
before the country as a feasible solu- |
ton of this question, and L reproduce |
it here with pleasure, believing, as L
do, that with ordinary prosperity the |
increasing wealth and population of |
the State will more than verify this |
reasonable expectation. 1t is as fol- |
lows
The taxes on merchants and on
privileges are estimated to be sufficient |
to pay the expenses of the State Gov |
ernment. The rate of taxation which |
will at present pay current expenses |
and interest will, at the average rate of |
increase in taxable property, absorb |
the principal in few years. The true
value of property in the State in 1850 |
was S201 ,246, ,6S6; in 1860, S493, ,903, ,S92::
in 1870, 1895, ,27, ,724. In the decade |
between 1850 and 1860, the value of |
property increased l45 per cent. In
the succeeding decade it did not in
crease quite one per cent, though this |
was owing to the destruction of prop |
erty by the war 1t is estimated that |
at least S2O0, 900. 600, including slaves,
we're lost to the property holders of the |
State between 1860 and 1870. But for !
that calamity, 500, 600 900, would have |
been the true estimate in 1870, or |
about AZ per cent increase. Estimat-
ing the same rate of increase to have |
obtained since 1870, and we ought to |
have $500, 100000 in 1875, 500, 900, 900 |
in 1880, and nearly 81 ,0e0, 100000 in |
1880. In sixteen years from the pres
ent time, we should collect double the |
amount of taxes, at the same rate OF |
taxation and the same relative assessed |
value of property, as in 1910. To |
put it in different way: If the
INCREASE IN THE VALUE OF PROPERTY |
be four per cent. annually, the increase |
in the amount collected at the rate
ought to be four per cent. if the ratio |
between the true and assessed value is
maintained.
If the revenue derived from taxa
ton on property in 1873 should be
enough pay the interest on the State
debt, We can set aside a sinking fund in
1876. per cent. pres. rev. deriv. from prop.
iS-S ~ .. "a =. %