Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-02-17
THE STATE DEBT.
Are We Morally or Legally
Bound to Pay 1t?
Our Bonds Now Worth Only Thirty
CeBts-HOW the State Can Profit
by ShreWd Speculation
Washington as
RepudiatiOnist.
To the Union and American;

| NASHVILLE req. 10, 1Sl0.-1De gen
! eral interest felt in the question Of taxa
| tion, is perhaps a sufficient excuse for this,
and the two other letters which will APP
| pear, and which you have been kind
enough to agree might be published in
your paper, notwithstanding your knOwl-
! edge that differed entirely with the views
expressed in some of your leading edi
! torials recently.
| The friends of low taxes have uniformly
rested their case upon the inability Of tie
| people to meet all the demands upon them,
| including tn. interest upon the bonded
/ debt; but, instead of meeting the issue and
| discussing this question, those who insist
on paying the interest promptly, talk OF
the honor Of the State and the odium Of
Reputation; and, in your last article, you
present, in addition, the great loss which
will follow if our State credit is seriously
impaired by the faint Of reputation.
You viii pardon me for diSpOsiDg Of this
! last question first. l do not wish to dis
! cuss It in connection with the honor of the
State and the odium Of Reputation; these
viii play their part when l come to
! present the results which will necessarily
/ follow from declining now to pay the in
| terest on the public debt; but discussing il
as YOU presented it, as a question Of actual
| loss to the State, ask wherein?
If there is anything settled in the public
mind in reference to our financial policy,
| it is, that, as a State, we shall cease to Dor
row money This in spirit at least has
been incorporated into the organic law Of
the State by the following provision:
Article II, section 81. "The credit OF
| this State shall not be hereafter loaned OF
given to OF in aid of any person, associa-
ton, company, corporation or municipal
! ity," etc.
The spirit Of this provision being that
we shall pay as we go, there certainly
ought TO be 20 implied authority 70 any
/ State officer to borrow money.
Then how are the people-the whole
people-afected by high or low credit.
| Bonds are now down to IS cents; suppose
they could be advanced to 90 cents, would
the people be benefted-wOuld anybody
make one single dollar except the gamblers
il stocks: and they, it must be admitted,
would grow rich by unloading. The Ten
nessee gamblers, who were on the ground
and saw the eat jump, all unlOaded in
New York, when the State funded, and
through its accommodating State officers,
in violation Of at least the spirit Of the
Constitution, borrowed money and paid
the interest. These gentlemen knew that
practically the proposition to pay current
/ expenses and the interest on tee public
debt, with 40 cents on the one hundred dol
/ lars Of property, was deception; and they
1 wise unlOaded; and they are to-day as
! cOmplaceut and serene and cOmfOItab e
| over the great fight between high and low
| taxes as Jews at a Christian festival.
| They stand ready if bonds 20 up or
| down to trade, and then lobby future legis-
laLion into an ally in putting bonds up or
/ down as their interest may demand. In
| the present distressed condition Of the peO-
/ pc of Tennessee, and until their condition
IS greatly improved 10y their becoming a
manufacturing people, no power can pre-
| vent Tennessee bonds from being anything
/ but dice or the boards Of stock gamblers
| all over the country. Then if the State
| has decided to pay as we 60, and borrow
no more money, how are the whole people
/ iucerg Sled in the question whether bonds
/ are 30 o. 30 cents?
i may be en- honor to the State 10 have
| gamblers make money by trading on a
| rising instead Of a falling market, but Ger
.aiuly the State no more gets q part Of the
! on the question of interest it would not be
| Difficult. 70 show that the very opposite of
| what you contend for is true. As
suming for the present what 1 shall
undertake 10 show in a subsequent
lester t1-wit: That though able to do
nothing now but pay current expenses,
with good crops, the people would cheer
| fully do something more, If by even extra
and thai this want Of cheerful effort will
| remain until the people can see the way
| for a fair sCOmprJmise, upon the principle
/ that sweeping away one half the property
| owned by q people when they contracted a
public debt by war, is calamity which
ought 20 fail alike on the debtor and Credi-
tor classes. l repeat, assuming this for the
present, / insist that the State is directly
interested in seeing bonds 60 down to
their true value, which 1 shall undertake
to show is not exceeding 30 cents on the
dollar. So that with improved crops the
State may buy in its own bonds. Dir. Edi-
tor, just keep your seat; 1 mean what
say-tDT tie State, when it gets able,
to buy in its own bonds. Who is
hurt by tie State becoming bidder ia the
market for its own bonds? The e is just
one more purchaser. The newspaper price
Of State bonds (eX-coupOus) to-day is -
cents, but Tot q day passes WitEOu. some
holder Of Q Tennessee bond going to
broker in Nashville hunting a purchaser at
this price without finding him, and now
where would be the wrong in the State
taking the bond at his price, when no
broker can be found who viii do it? And
is not the bCnd-holder in such case just
brought down TO the same financial plat
form of all other owners Of property, that
is, If forced to sell, accept the situation and
Share his part Of the loss by the general
shrinkage III values.
Who can stand up and say eE equO ct
bono, the loss TO a country by either war or
bad legislation should fall exclusively on
tire debtor class? Will any one deny, that
war, since our public debt was principally
made, has totally changed the condition of
the people, changed so tar rs to make a
prosperous and productive people, desti-
tUte and dependent people. VIII any one
deny that in addition to the natural con
sequences Of the war, including the COM
plete overthrow Of the system Of labor, and
the consequent depreciation Of our lands
until it can truly be said they have no cash
value, corrupt legislation by both the pO-
lItical parties at Washington (under the in
Euence Of rings and mOnOpOlieS, with from
eighty to one hundred members directly in
terested in perpetuating the system Of
banking adopted in war times if not as a
war measure) has UT. ught the entire people,
except the fortunate holders Of public Sc
curiies, TO the verge Of bank uptcy, and all
the labOving classes to absolute restitution,
a. least as TO all that portion Of the cOun-
try which has not recovered from the effects
OF the war. Shall the calamities of war
and bad legislation fall exclusively on the
debtor class is the question? And the cry
Of "honOr," State credit and 'gOod faith"
mean simply that the laboring classes shall
bear all the burdens, and alone suffer by
the general wreck.
Combinations Of the money power con
stantly keep men on the hOuse-tOps warn
ing the people against the disgrace Of repu-
diatiOn-Of course, the purpose simply is to
keep the people from bringing upon them
selves a great public sclndal-and in the
estimation of these puUe-mindsd stock
gamblers for a Sale to engage in buying
ia its own paper would scandaiizs the chill
dTen yet unborn. For the State to buy in
lis own paper before due is q legitimate
transaction, aud would be between Nan
and man in the most f3sddiOus CONNER
cial communities. To buy it in after due,
IS but afairmeans OF forcing compromise,