Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-02-21
COZ. COLYAR's PATD-UP TAX GER.
TTFTCATEs As CTTRRENCY,

Colyar's series, published this morning.
Processing to quote the Comptroller's
report, he multiplies S77O,545.O4 by
three to get at the State expenses and
interest for two full years. Yet that
report, on page 80, gives the simi-an-
nual interest due Jan. l, 1876, at $685.
go, from which must be deducted
S9S666.SS Of interest from solvent
roads, as the same page indicates few
lines below, leaving the interest actual
ly to be paid by the State at $685.
583.12. The difference between this
semi-annual sum and SIG, $500, when
multiplied by three gives a discrepancy
of S545,SS5.76.
Perhaps the most striking example
of his mode OF handling Comptroller's
reports is lis treatment Of Mr.. Penne-
baker, asserting that the State dis.
bursements for the fifteen months pre-
vious to Jan. l, 1873, were S2,432, S58.
This looks startling enough until one
looks to Mr.. Pennebaker's report, and
finds, among many items not likely to
occur again, such as the expenses of
selling railroads, the single item of
Tennessee money cancelled $500, 492."
This alone explains away one-third of
the so-caned disbursements" But
here is still another statement that
would deceive even the elect:
He Pennebaker's successor leaves
uncOlected taxes Jan.1. 1875, as shown
in the report, Of 81, 828, 1892, and by
his own showing he owes a debt Of ST.
035, 54049, leaving, after paying his
debts, 1892, 1928. Looking to the
fact that these delinquencies run
through many years, it would be safe
to say that if the tax list Of the first of
January, 1875, pays the debt made, it
Will do we'll
The misconceptions Of the above al e
almost too numerous to mention. The
last Comptroller's report states that,
owing to the hard times, the taxes of
1874 had not been pressed, 50 that
sI,05S,256 of last years taxes alone
were due December 10, 1874. The
delinquencies of previous years had
been reduced by collections to $780,
O77.44. Col. Colyar Jumps these two
items together as running through
many years" although this is true of
the last item only. Again: in stating
that the Comptroller owes a debt Of
81, OBS, 54049, he ignores the fact that
it includes S687, $50 for the January in
terest. He also fails to deduct $685.
666.68 for interest Of solvent railroads
and 1928, 70455 cash in hand. This
style of figuring, which ignores items
at viii on either side of the books, is
well calculated to elicit any result de-
sired by the manipulation.
But Col. Colyar eliminates in his
third letter, and develops a scheme for
wiping out the State debt quite differ
ent from and much more complex than
the one he advocated last spring. At
that time he proposed to recognize in
terest to the-extent Of three per cent;
now he ignores it entirely. He wants
the State TO run her bonds down to 80
cents, then buy them for 20 cents in
tax certificates for which the people
are expected to pay 100 cents.
The supposed benefit to the
latter is that they Will
have two years time to pay their taxes.
As a return for this the capitalist or
bondholder is expected to make ont Of
the people thirty cents on his invest
ment Of seventy for the two years, or
over twenty-one per cent per annum,
while the profit on his original invest
ment Of thirty cents will be 233 per
cent. We do not believe the people
will stand it. Investing S1l5,OOO
Of greenbacks in Federal bonds to start
a national bank with $4,000 circula-
ton, is a cheaper mode for increasing
our supply of currency than Col Col.
yar's plan.
Besides this, he proposes to accept
tnree-fourths of the taxes in the paid.
up tax certificates. That would leave
but one-fourth to pay current expenses,
and the rate of State tax must be such
as to levy four times the amount Of
these expenses. Let us see what this
would amount to, taking his own fig
ures in the beginning of his present
article: He says the amount needed
each year to pay current expenses
and interest is $500, S96.76. De-
Quoting the interest from this,
as his plan does not recognize
interest, and again taking his own
figures for two semi.annual payments
Of S770.445.04, or Sl,54I ,0900S per
year, it would leave, as the sum needed |
FIR current expenses, 1,259, SO660. !
Multiply this by four, and we have
S5,O39, 2264O. This is a little more
than twice as much as Col Colyar
claims would be needed underthepresent |
system, and since he has told us the |
latter requires tax of sixty cents |
on the 500, his plan would call for
a rate Of Sl4O. It must be
remembered that, on his theory, the tax
certificates would circulate as currency |
at par, and would, OF course, be as hard
to get as 50 many greenbacks, while
the amount Of each mans taxes would
be three times as much as at present.
OF course we have our own opinion
that a currency, which is neither a
legal tender nor promise to pay,
would, in the nature Of things, beworth