The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1875-01-21


On looking about me, / found accord
ing to the official report, an Indebtedness
Of six hundred and fourteen thousand
dollars on account Of Auditors warrants,
alone. Did / recommend an increase OF
taxes. or system Of funding BY which
the Indebtedness would be retired out OF
sight for a season, only to return with
accumulated interest TO vex US? did
neither the one thing or the other. l re-
commended a more rigid economy, and a
General cutting down Of expenditures III
every department Of the government to
the lowest point consistent with healthy
and vigorous administration of the laws.
And for the rest | relied on an increase
Of population, and wealth, on a more
exact accountability from tax gatherers,
and other officers, ana more than all on
the cordial support Of tax payers. With
ont this last. | could have done nothing;
and | could easily have lost it by simply
repelling the advances Of every political
opponent.
How, YOU may ask, was that debt in
CURED No doubt some Of it came OF
maladministration, bat much the greater
part was chargeable to other causes
First among these was general breaking
Of the banks, taxes had been paid in bank
notes, and when the banks broke, the pa
per became utterly worthless, and large
sums were thus lost to the treasury. But
the State Just prior to the time Of which
1 speak had built this capitol, the Peni-
Tertiary. and the Governors Mansion.
| Very little had been wasted on furniture
| for the Mansion. ] shall never forget my
first night in that house, my wife slept
on shuck mattrass, without sheets, and
rested her head on carpet sack. 1t was
bitter cold night in January, and she
used wooden garments as substitute for
| blankets.
remained in the Mansion four years,
and in all that time there was never APP
propriated one dollar to furnish it.
did not ask it, and would not have allowed
| it if it had been offered, until the State was
out Of debt My salary was three thou
sand dollars, and | have distinct recol-
| lection Of selling the first quarter for less
than one-halfof what its face called for.
With this beginning, it was no sooner
known that the Governor, the Legisla-
ture, and the people were a unit on the
subject of redemption, than the credit
/ Of the State began to revive. At the end
| of the first year warrants had gone up to
about eighty. AT the end Of the second
warrants were nearly at par. AT the
end of the third, the Treasury was paying
| coin on demand. And at the close
| of my second term in 1913 there was
eighty thousand dollars, gold and silver,
| in the treasury, Independent of the Trust
| fund: and not an Auditors warrant out
standing, that the holder could be in
duced to present. 1t may look incredi-
| bic now, but it is actually true that the
! Treasurer came to me one morning In q
state Of CONSERVATION saying that the
bottom of the Treasury had dropped out.
The truth was that there was an accumu-
| Iation Of some two hundred thousand
dollars, mostly silver, in heavy iron safe,
and the weight pressing on wooden sleepers
near the ground, and somewhat decayed,
had caused them to give way. The pres
ent Treasurer is not likely to suffer alarm
from the same cause.
Tax-collectors in my time, as now,
were too much in the habit of being dill
atory, and often delinquent in making
settlements. For these offenses | dis
missed about one-third Of them the first
year; some ten or a dozen the second
year, three or four the third, and the
fourth year not single one. When it was
t. lie thoroughly understood that neglect
of duty or malfeasance in office would be
summariIy punished, there was no farther
trouble. / could not have done this if
: my omcial hand had not been upheld
| by the courts and the people. This
absolutely necessary support | secured by
course Of strict impartiaIity. OF the dis
missed officials majority were my per-
sonal, or political friends, some of them
the most efficient, and Jealous, that l had
| in the State. Nc man ever had warm
| er heart for his friends than |. But as
! Governor it was my duty to treat all
alike and | did it. May | not say that a
return 10 this rule and a faithful observ-
ance of it in practice would greatly re-
dound to the interest of the Treasury and
contribute powerfully to a restoration of
that confidence and public tranquility,
which we all know to be essential to the
public prosperity.
One other reference to these olden
times, and will tax your patience no fur
Their with such matters.
1t will be remembered that the war with
Mexico broke out suddenly during the
term Of my service as Governor The
people became at once immensely excited.
In almost every part of the State they
assembled in mass meetings and urged Il
call of the Legislature in extra session. /
respectfully declined and for two reasons:
first the emergency was great, and | pre-
ferred relying on the prompt, and en-
ergetic action of a patriotic people, rath-
er than the slower process Of Legislative
action. The result showed that my conf
dence was not misplaced and | had then
another occasion TO feel grateful to the
people for united and generous sup
port In the second place, Il call for the
Legislature in the then excited state
of the public mind would not have been
conducive to wise, and dispassionate coun-
sells, and would have involved an expense,
most Of it useless, of quite one hundred
thousand dollars. When our troops had
been placed in the field, with wonderful
CELEBRITY, and had covered themselves with
immortal honor before Monterey, and at
Buena Vista, to say nothing Of other
will contested fields, the people thanked
me for keeping cool, when they them
selves had been carried away by an all
pervading excitement. Without mean
ing to find fault in this presence, with
what has been done recently, l may be
pardoned for asking whether You do not
think the late call for the Legislature
could have been avoided without serious
detriment to the public interest?
| have thus, my tellow-citizens, told
You what ought 10 be done, and this
brings US to consider more especially
what can be done. | have already
pointed out some Of the obstacles in our
way. 1t remains, and that is the main
point for Us to consider, how these and
other obstacles are to be removed, or