The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-04-13
Jew ORLEANS AND THE HOLDERS
OF HEB BONDS.

1t is scarcely necessary to say that in az
ranging with her creditors the city, through
her Mayor and Council, should exercise no ar
bi.rsry and dictatorial authority. Having
reached the point where it becomes impossl
BILE to levy and collect tax sufficient to pa!
the interest on her bonded debt and at tn
same time pay expenses that are absolutei!
necessary, and also pay heavy State tax, ]
is her duty to call the attention CT the hold
era Of her bonds to this vital fact and en-
deavor, with them, to make some arrange
ment in which such fact shall be PRACTICAL.
| recognized. The preference of one class o
creditors over others, the employment Of un
Just discrimination among classes of bonds
warrants and certificates, dictation as *
terms of settlement, threats Of repudiatine
the municipal debt or any part Of it or of the
accruipg interest, or any willful Withholding
Of available means for paying portion of the
debt, will be immoral, unjust and unbe'
coming
The city's bonds are based upon the good
faith Of the people Of New Orleans and Of the
people of the State of Louisiana, by the au-
thority Of whose representatives in the Gen.
eral Assembly these bonds we're emitted.
Were it unquestionsbly competent for the
holder of the city's bonds to collect interest
and principal from the city by suit at law,
this ability would not be considered as giving
real value to such bonds. The purchaser OF
bonds first sees that they are genuine, and
actually issued in pursuance of valid law by
proper authority; he next asks if the city is
able to pay interest as it accrues, and princi-
pal at maturity; then he requires to know
that the will of the people corresponds with
their ability, but he seldom looks for security
to the holders power to compel payment OF
interest or principal by suit at law.
Financiers, brokers and capitalists are not
inclined to buy law suits. Bonds whose in
terest is to be forced by law from the maker
will not command favor in any market at any
price. Municipal evidences of debt depend
upon the good faith Of the city's agents and
of the property owners. Hence there is no
other proper way to deal with those who hold
these evidences except it be in the strictest
good faith. The golden rule of contracts de-
mands that they be consummated in the spirit
in which they were made Half an average
lifetime has passed since the elder bonds of
the city were issued They are held by new
generation of creditors, and their obligation
bears upon new generation of debtors, but
those who took the consolidated bonds
Of 1852, as we'll as those who issued them,
acted in full mutual faith that their descend
ants would carry out their will and contract.
In like manner the bonds issued in and since
1866 will not mature until three-fourths of
those then voters are gone, but the bonds
were issued and taken with the concurrent
understanding and belief that the citizens of
New Orleans and their representatives in 1910
will fulfill their obligations to the heirs and
assigns Of the bondholders Of this era. The
good faith, which is the basis and vitality of
all time transactions between man and man,
should be most especially and religiously OBJ
served in the dealings between municipal
government and its creditors.
Dut tuc uSOAGo VI tA0 PCOpACp oOAAO dP-
pointed as such and some elected by the peo-
pie, by authorization or compulsion Of the
State government, have entered into bonded
to such extent that the city now
finds herself unable to pay what has been
promised in her name, whether it falls due
rs interest or as maturing bonds. The rule
Of good faith now requires that the holders
of the city's bonds should consider the
condition OF her resources and .
situation widely different from that which
prevailed when her bonded debt was less than
sixteen millions It is not profitable to dis
cuss the necessity or the wisdom of incur
ing the newer debts, nor to consider which
were made by elected agents and which by
appointees of the Governor, nor to look into
The nature of the consideration for which
The bonds were issued, nor to raise the ques-
lion as to which were issued voluntarily by the
citys agents and which we're issued under the
Of the Legislature. All the bonds
issued to this date are treated alike as legal,
and interest on all has been duly paid as long
as receipts from the city debt tax we're suf-
6cient The faith of the city is involved in
all of them. The question now to be met is
not concerning the will nor the duty of the
city, but respecting her ability to do what has
been promised by her or in her name. The
creditors of New Orleans must not demand
what is impossible. Their demands must
never degenerate into persecution. They
must meet the representatives in the spirit of
honorable and friendly courtesy and forbear-
snce. An arrangement must be found that
will do neither debtor nor creditors any wan
ton or needless damage.
THE CONSERVATIVE SPEAKER.
1t is reported that in the Conservative eau
Gus Yesterday the subject Of the Speakership