Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-02-28

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page.
At 2:20 P. N. the Senate adjourned unit
10 o'clock Monday morning.
HOUSE or REPRESENTATIVES,
SATURDAY, Feb. 2T.-The House me
at o'clock A. NJ, Speaker Bond in tn
chair and siXty-nine members present.
CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION.
BY Mr.. AnderSOu-ErOm q large humble
# citizens of Davidson county, praying tina
a constitutional convention be called 70
the purpose Of removing the restriction
which now prevent financial relief for tn,
people.
NEW BILLS.
BY Mr.. Myers-To amend the law incor
porating the town of Galloway, Fayett,
county.
By Mr.. Orr-To regulate the business O.
fire and all other except life insurance com
panies.
By Mr.. CoOper-TO pay off the publ,
debt.
HOUSE BILLS on SECOND HEADING.
To regulate and organize municipal cor
pOrations, and for the increase and dimi
mutton of these powers. Passed, and made
the special order for II o'clock next Tues
day.
To amend the law concerning the lOca
ton Of turnpike gates. Passed.
To amend the charter of cambridge, il
Jefferson county. Passed.
To establish a court, to be called the
Common Law and Chancery Court o.
Madison county. Passed, and made the
special order for next Thursday, at three
o'clock p. n.
RELIEF OF DESTITUTE CITIZENS.
House bill to authorize counties to issue
bonds to provide supplies for the suffering
people, was called up on its third reading
and rejected, for want Of a constitutional
majority, the vote standing yeas34, nays
20.
Mr.. LcdgerwOod moved to reconsider the
vote rejecting the bill, and that il be placed
upon the calendar Carried.
RATE OF TAXATION.
The consideration Of the twenty-fye-cen,
tax resolutions was resumed, Mr.. Ledger
wood having the floor. He said that II
was the duty Of the Legislature to 90 tC
work in the business Of curtailing the ex-
peuses Of the State Government. He be-
leved that by a temporary suspension of
interest payment the people could have an
opportunity to build up their broken for
tunes.
Mr.. Gibson was the next speaker. He
held up a circular which he said was the
first lie had ever issued, and al
Wrought it was issued one year before the
meeting Of the last Constitutional COuyen.
ton, yet it was prophetic Of exactly what
the Convention accomplished. The title Of
the circular was chow to reduce taxation
and its first recommendation was to make
the cOlOred man liable to q poll tax, the
next was to sell defaulJing railroads fol
bonds; the third was to put a stop to the
passage Of special acts for private corpora
tiOns; the fourth was to limit the sessions
Of the Legislature to seTenty-f7e DAYS; the
fifth was 70 make the penitentiary selfsus-
tanning by leasing it out; the sixth was to
reduce the cost Of State prosecutions in
various ways; the seventh was to change
the method Of assessing property for taxa
Jion and the last was more order and less
MALTA.
Allofthese recommendation were adopt
ed by theCOnVentiOn. While was a mem
Der Of the State Senate, tWenty-three Of his
bills passed, and twelve of them unani-
mOusiy. He referred to these things to
show that his course had been nOn-pOlitical,
notwithstanding the fact that be had been
Classed as a Republican by the newspapers.
In this financial question there was no more
politics than there was in arithmetic. he
then referred at length to the creation OF
the debt and its legality, quoting frequently
from The laws of the State and country 10
show that the State was legally bound to
liquidate the debt. 1t had been created
and ratified by both political parties. Tn
pleasant as il was to recognize this debt, It
stood like the ghost Of BaHquO and
would not down at their bidding. lie be-
lieved that the State, regardless Of party,
from one end to the other, was bound in
morals and IN law to pay that debt. But,
while he recognized the validity Of the debt,
he did not recognize the ability Of the peO-
pie to pay it. If the State persisted in
compelling Taxpayers to make bricks with
out straw, OF, in other words, to pay taxes
without money, the angel Of Reputation
would come over the land in the midnight
and the voice of the bOndhOlder would be
heard all over the country. They should
render unto the bOn5 holder the things that
were his, and render unto the people the
things that were theirs-justice TO the bond
holder and justice TO the bOnd-payer-but
they could not do justice to the bOndhOlder
by paying him in rags and chips.
He strongly advocated the passage Of his
bill to make the bonded Indebtedness Of
the State convertible into tax coupons, ar
guIng that more currency was an indispen-
sible need. They might as well attempt
10 talk blood out Of a turnip as to compel
the people 10 pay this debt without money.
The people were crying out all over the
State for currency, currency, currency.
Give L Othem, and they would pay their
taxes promptly, but without currency it
was impossible for them to pay.
Hr. Hurt offered the following resolution
in lieu;
Resolved, that the resolution now under
discussion, with all other resolutions and
bills on the subject, be referred to the joint
committee Of the two houses on Finance,
Wavs and Means, and that said committee
is hereby directed to report at an early day,
by bill or otherwise, some plan by which
relief may be given to the people Of Ten
nesse, now soTely oppressed by the extern
sive and destructive droUth Of the past
year, and at the same time assure the cred
uors Of the State of Tennessee that the
bIighting and indelible stain Of repudia.
ton has no friends or advocates in this
General Assembly.
Mr.. Hurt remarked that he offered the
above as his speech on this question.
On motion Of Mr.. CumminS further de
bate was postponed until Monday at 2:3C
p. NJ, which prevailed.
THE STATE INDEBTEDNESS.
House Joint resolution appointing a Sc
lect committee to whom shall be referred
all the bills now pending before the Gene
raj Assembly, looking either to a cOmprO
mise or funding Of the bonded indebted
ness of the State, said committee TO report
a bin in lieu Of all Others before the lOtf
Of March, was read.
Mr.. Cooper moved to strike out tht
10th Of March aud insert Wednesday
March 5. Adopted.