Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-02-19


drawn our circulation, and rendered the
whole people helpless for want Of employ
ment and lack Of confidence, can they pay
heavy taxes2 Can people IN such Imam
! cial distress as is now seen, pay anything
| beyond current expenses? Government
must furnish the people something n be
used as money. If the Government does
not do it, the people cannot keep their en-
| gagements. This is an evil which can only
be remedied by the Government.
We are constantly told there would be
money if there was anything to give for it,
but this is not true; for We have fine lands,
but they have no value. Farmers ind 1t
impossible to raise money to pay for labor,
and labOrers can't work without pay.
Those who own real estate can't make i'm
provements for the want Of money. Our
mechanics are all idle. Many Of them
have families who are suffering. Children
are taken from school because they cannot
be clad and fed. Our mineral lands even,
fail TO command money; not a factory or
furnace can be erected for the want Of
money. This state Of things has mani
testify been brought about by a cold-blOod-
ed and deliberate purpose on the part Of
holders Of public Understanding securi-
ties, who saw that every dollar Of eircula-
ton withdrawn increased the purchasing
capacity Of their securities. No sane man
can doubt that this combined money pow
er has controlled our legislation, so as to
prevent the people from having local bank
ing facilities, and that i has been
the power behind the throne by which
a thousand millions Of circulation
has been withdrawn in a few years, leaving
US with less money than any commercial
people On the globe. Until a reasonable
circulation is furnished the people they can
not pay heavy taxes. The cly is often made
that the owners Of large property don't pay
their taxes, and this is true, and they are
the very men who cannot pay taxes; they
can neither sell nor mortgage anything for
money, and the State viii not take pay in
kind, except by a sale imposing great bur
dens in the way of costs. But notwith-
standing the penalties fixed for not paying
taxes, l remember to have seen in the last
few months, one morning, two extra
sheets, containing near fifty columns Of
your paper, taken up in advertising prop
erty for taxes.
Turning back to the criticisms of the
UNION AND AMERICAN on my first letter,
l have to say: That with all due re-
spect, the 18th Of August platform, deelar-
ing that We will sustain the credit of the
State at all hazards, and that we will not
increase the burdens of the people by tax
alton, is as logical as the defense Of a liti-
CANT before a magistrate, when sued for
breaking q borrowed skillet, tO-Wit: That
be didn't borrow the skillet; that it was
broke when he got il, and sound when he
returned it.
Retrenchment ought to be the word
but reStructment and equalization can't
overcome the necessary loss by taking off
double taxes when they exist, and
correcting the privilege taX-list.
To my enquiry, wherein are the whole
people affected by the price Of bonds? it is
ansWeTed-by keeping capital away; but l
reply that people who want 70 move look
into the facts, and that burdensOme and
never ending taxes, keep ten men away
where the price Of bonds in New York
keeps one away. 4 main reason why am
so anxious to compromise our debt, is that
we may Get immigration.
Il has never been argued by me that Ten
nessee ought to run her bonds down and
then buy them in. In answer to an argu-
ment made | insisted that it was of no
benefit to the people to have State credit
high, and that in truth the contrary
might be shown. For State or individ-
ual TO deliberately" debauch its or his
credit to buy in paper, would be a great
wrong. But falling to pay for want Of
ability has never been considered a crime.
I did not ask an example Of a nation
that had ''paid a big debt without COM
promising it, I asked to be pointed 10 a
nation that had long existed and made bur
loans without in some way COM
them. The Geman-FTench
debt was not a loan but forced levy, and
was practically paid at the point Of the
bayOnet. 1t was paid by making a new
loan, which is not old enough TO be
an example. But how stands the
real question with France. At one time
she owed a public debt of several billion
francs in misunderstanding unable to re-
deem the asSignates, they became worth
less. a part only Of the amount was re-
deemed by issuing mandates at the rate of
IS Tor one, and these were repudiated.
Upon the question Of buying in our bonds.
l repeat, if the United States Government
can afford to buy in It's due paper at a large
may not a Slate, almost bank
mpted by war, GO the same thing, at least
as to paper not due? Il is asked, how
would the act Of an individual buying in
his own paper affect his credit? I answer,
help it, IS 1 can prove 10y fifty merchants in /
Nashville who have tried it.
The Revolutionary debt, with which 1
linked the name Of Washington, was about
E357, 100000, and it is true that the loss
fell upon the people, instead Of bondhold-
ers-that is-such people as happened to
have Government scrip; but 1 cannot see
the difference in principle between failing
10 pay such a debt as that and the debt Of
bondholders. a. S. COLYAR.