Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-07-17
GOVERNOR PORTER AND A CALLED
SESSION.

Wv ElAAOA AMI a CALLED
SESSION.
We publish on another page a very
significant letter from Gov. Porter to
Gen. Marcus J. Wright on the fnan-
cial condition Of the State. He says:
81 do not believe the present General
Assembly would provide any additional
means to pay the interest on
the State debt, or enlarge
the power of the Comptroller
of the Treasury to borrow money, and
1 cannot therefore see any good result
from an extra session of the Legisla-
ture." In the opinion thus distinctly
enunciated the press of the State, as
far as we have observed any utteranees
on the subject, almost unanimously
concur with the Governor. For exam
pie, the MurtreesbOro Ne.es, Just at
hand, has the following:
ga called session of the Legislature
is agitated by some of the press Of the
State, TO take into consideration
the failure Of the Finance Board to
meet the July interest. We vote no..
The credit of Tennessee is at a low
ebb, and we see no hope of improve
ment so long as a lot of small fry
would-be politicians form public
opinion and mould it for their benefit
and success In getting positions. We
have had se7enty-fve days deings Of
the present set, and know exactly what
to expect Of them, and we say for Gods
sake never give thtm another turn at
it, or there will be no State, much less
credit, left"
And the GqIIatiR Examiner:
1--WE do protest against such folly.
We have had enough Of the tinkering
of legislatures. As bodies, wehave lost
what little respect we ever had for them.
We esteem a number of individual
members for their enlightened IN
telligence, but for the mass Of the mem
bers we have the most profound con-
tempt, as Legislators. They have
about.as much conception of the re-
spcnsible duties appertaining to the
position as a drove of drOmedaTies, and
are not Of half their practical useful
ness, for the latter may be available for
show purposes. By all means, let us
have no special session. We hope to
be delivered from that stumbling-block
IN the way of prosperity. 1t would be
well, If IL could be so, to have noses
sion Of the Legislature for the next ten
years"
Gov. Porter's own experience with
the present General Assembly would
naturally lead him to form the opinion
which he has expressed. But there is
no telling what the near future viii de-
velop. 1t is probable that the Legisla-
ture does not stand exactly where it
did during the last session on the
finance question. We have heard Of
members making a change Of base in
favor Of high credit as against low
taxes. The cry Of famine, too, is nee
essarily over, and the VIII of the peo-
pie on the public faith question pre-
sumably better understood than it was
when the Legislature was In session.
On this point the Columbia Herald and
Mail Of yesterday remarks with much
eaTnestness:
If the remark made by DR.. Morrow,
State Treasurer, to a reporter of the
Banner, expresses the views of the
State Fiscal Board, then the necessity
for an extra session of the Legislature
becomes imperative. For in his state
ment we have the humihating admis-
sion that as matters now stand this ad-
ministration is unequal to the task of
protecting and preserving the honor Of
the State. To whom then are a highly
sensitive and deeply mortified people
to look to relieve their State from the
disgraceful attitude in which it stands
In the eyes Of the world? Certainly to
their immediate Representatives, and
notwithstanding much of the present
embarrassment may be ascribed to the
unwise legislation OF last winter, we
are not without hope that an extra
session Of that body would
result In much good. At the last
session Of the Legislature, the relief of
a drOuth-stricken people was the alb
sOrbing idea-to afford the needed re-
lief and at the same time preserve the
honor of the State, was q problem
that would have puzzled the brains of
more experienced statesmen. In this
strait, with a single exception, all ex-
pressed an earnest desire to protect
the credit Of the State. Now that a
kind Providence has brought
relief to the people by causing the earth
to smile with plenty, and that the
measures adopted to preserve the faith
Of the State have signally failed-as
must be evident to any member who is
not an idiot-may we not look with con-
fnence IF their professions we're not
hollow and dishonesty to their action, if
an opportunity were afforded them.