Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-12-25
Our state Indebtedness.
An Open Letter from Ger. Porter.


An Open Letter from Ger. Porter
+ Executive OFFicE. NASHVILLE
TENNESSEE. Dec. 15, l975.-Jame
Morton ESQ.,, New York, Sir-You
Communication, covering article iron
New York Times, is received. Tn
January interest on the debt of tn
State of Tennessee will not be paid, ans
all that can now be promised is that 81
soon as the requisite amount of none,
~ paid into the treasury it will be ap
piled 10 the payment Of jhe interesl
due the first OF July last. Before thu
can be done. however, there is bal,
ance oftwo hundred and fifty thousand
dollars, borrowed by the State, to pay
the interest due January, 1873, and an
outstanding warrant account of four
hundred Snd twenty-five thousand dol
lars to be provided for.
An effort was made to borrow the
money to pay the last July interest,"
| believed then that twas unfortunate
for the State that the negotiation failed;
now | am thoroughly satisfied that the
failure was fortunate circumstance
both for the State and for the holders
OF her securities, for the reason that
the January interest, due In few days,
could not be paid without resorting to
another loan, and to undertake to car
ry an additional loan account of fifteen
hundred thousand dollars, with. an
empty Treasury, would be at the sac
ri6ce Of whatever of credit is left TO
tue State. The executive officers of
the State have therefore resolved to
look to the resources of the State for
the payment of the interest on the pub
lie debt, and not to further loan
The article enclosed by yourself as
sumes that the resources derived from
taxable property, amounting to 500,
600. 900, was dedicated to the payment
of the interest Gu the State debt, and
that the Legislature had provided
Treasury warrants to pay the floating
debt" Neither assumption is true.
A tax of four mills was levied by the
State to pay all ijexpenses, and subss-
quently the Legislature provided for
the issuance of treasury warrants, re-
ceivable in payment for all dues to the
State, limited to 500, coo at time, to
be issued for c,aTeas ecpessscs only
and because of the alleged poverty OF
the people, resulting from a general
failure of the crops for the year 1874.
the collection of the revenues with
which it was expected to meet the last
) July interest, was suspended until the
10Th day of November, 1875. Since
that date there has been paid into the
State Treasury the sum of $l51, ,167 &c,
of which amount $71 ,66024 was in
Comptroller's warrants, Sl0,576 in old
issue of Bank of Tennessee, the bal
ance SIS, ,90l or in currency. The wri-
ter of the article enclosed, is in error
as to the expectation of realizing large
collections from the S77 900 of arrear-
ages reported to the last Legislature.
From a careful investigation of the I
subject, it is found .hat the sum covers |
not yet allowed, insolyen- /
cies and lend sales not yet reported,
judgments aud debts in suit in favor /
Of the State, where principal and sure
ties are insolvent, aud represents a
very small sum of collectable revenue.
This statement covers all of your in /
lulrles except the one in reference TO /
a reputation of the State debt; and |
do not hesitate to say that there is not l
a man in the State with the slightest
claim to respectability who favors such
a proposition; but l do believe that
there are many good and wise men in
Tennessee who believe that the bonds
of the State carry too high a rate of
interest, and hold that it would be to
the interest of the holders themselves
to consent to such a reduction of the
rate of interest as would be acceptable
10 the tax payer this proposition can
not come from the State but | have
Information that induces the belief
that the large holders of Tennessee
bonds will accept reduced rate of in
forest, If they can be satisfied that per- /
manent provision will be made TO pay /
With promptness the rate agreed upon,
and that all holders Of our securities I
10 this reduction. Unless
such an arrangement is consumma-
ed, the shrinkage in values in the
State will compel the next legislature
10 raise the rate of taxation from four
10 six mills on the hundred dollars,
Ind in any event lam confident that a
sinking fund of some amount will be
provided by the next legislature, for
he gradual extinguishment of the
State debt. l have the honor to be
7our obedient servant,
JAS. d. PORTER.