Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-02-19
TENNEssEE's ABILITY 70 aEEE
HER DIES

--S--' --e-D-- "a SfN-J 49, $500
and information ought not to be de.
spised from any source which may as
sist IN arriving at correct conclusions
The question to be discussed is not
the policy Of mourning public debts fol
any purpose, but what shall We do with
the debt as it exists? There are but
two plans to be pursued either pay Of
repudiate, aud between these there ca1
be no middle ground. The Reputation
of any debt can only be excused on tht
ground Of utter inability to pay, and
this is the excuse offered by the gentle.
men who .are advocating partial re.
pudiation Of the obligations of Tennes
see. If their premises are shown to be
false, their conclusion cannot stand
TheIe is no room for argument on this
point. 1t is a question Of fact.
The public debt of Tennessee as
reported by the Comptroller Dec
I9, 1874, was SO, sos, 400, on which the
semi-annual interest is $685., $50, less
the amount paid by solvent railroads,
SOS, 666.88, LEAVING a net semi annual
interest to be met by. theIsState Of
S58S, 58312.
The taxable property of the State, as
reported by the Comptroller, is valued
at S308, OS9, 73S. This is exclusive of
the railroads, Of which there are 1854
miles in the State. Estimating these
at an average Of $1,000 per mile, which
is about two-thirds Of their value, we
have additional taxable property Of
$50, $50, 900, which, added to the other
property now assessed, gives q total of
$40, 769, 738.
The annual expenses of the State
government, including interest on the
school fund, are not exceeding $500, 900,
which, added to the interest, gives
total expenditure Of Sl,777, 1864. a
forty cent tax upon, the basis Of the
assessment given above would yield
81, 363, 078.93. Add to this the amount
Of privilege tax collected in 1874,
which was S32I, 1852, and we have a
total revenue of S1,634. 557.47, which
would leave a deficit of only 92.629.7
as a very modest figure for the work of
reuenehment. Besides this, we had
Jan. 1 an excess of uncollected taxes
over all liabilities, January interest,
loan account and outstanding warrants
Of 81, 22O, 1876.
As to the propriety of taxing the
railroads there can be no question.
The debt was created for their con-
struction. OF the entire registered
debt, SIS, 500, 900 were originally issued
to aid in the construction Of railroads
under the act Of 1852. OF the remain
der, SI29 600 were issued for the Capt.
tol improvement, $4,000 for the Agri-
cultural Bureau in 1856, $4,000 for
the Hermitage purchase, and $685.
900 were old funding bonds.
Having thus shown the adequacy Of
a 10 cent tax, with a proper assessment,
to meet all the liabilities of the State,
the only point left the regulators is to
claim that the people cannot afford to
pay a tax Of 70 cents on the hundred
dollars. This Is absurd. There is
scarcely a State in the Union which
does not pay a higher rate Of taxation.
In our neighboring State Of Kentucky,
which has no public debt, the rate Is
IS cents on the hundred dollars, and
there is no complaint Of high taxes.
Her condition is in all respects similar
to ours and her assessments, like ougs,
range far below true value. There can
be no doubt that the people Of Tennes-
see, IN common with those of the en-
tire country, find themselves. less pros
porous to-day tLan they have been, but
their distress Is by no means imminent.
Crops have been short, money Is tight,
and business has not yet revived from
the effects of the panic, but there is
still work Of some kind for all who viii
work; and certainly to a man who owns
a farm worth $1,000, which is a fair
average, a tax Of So year, or 40 cents
on the hundred dollals, cannot mean
ruin and distress, whileS4 or 20cents on
the hundred is to insure his temporal
salvation. To a rich man who pays a
tax Of several thousand dollars yearly,
the difference would be important, es-
pecialiy if he could also aid in depre-
ciating the credit of the State SO as to |
get a further discount on his taxes.
And right here is where the present |
Legislature, whose members are all |
anxious to discharge their duty to |
their constituents in accordance with |
the will Of the majority, are liable to |
be misled. 1t is not the great mass Of
the people, the farmers and 'labOrers,
and the men Of moderate means, who
are clam0r0us for low taxes. The cry
for low taxes and 'the proposition to
suspend the payment of interest on the
bonds, and all other efforts to depreci-
ate the credit Of the State, come from
the heavy tax PAYERS who are largely
in arrears, men who number their acres
by the thousand, and whose taxes are
in hundreds-the men who
own large blocks of buildings and
whole streets in cities, and whose
wealth is counted in hundreds Of thou
sands; stockholders and directors in
railroads which the State bonds built,
who wish to sink the credit of the
State to its lowest point, so that
hey can buy bonds and discharge the
debt they owe the State at a heavy dis.
count, or else, as they did before, sell
out their bonds at an advance, and
pocket the profits.
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