The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1876-08-03
CORRESPONDENTS.
OUR POCAHONTAs CORRESPON,
DENCE.
State Debt. How it Stands. The
Cry OF Reputation. Fund
ing Law. What
to do.
POCAHoNTAs Tenn, July %, 1876.


HeS8r8. Editors.
! see from the action of the District
| Convention and other sources that the
! bonded indebtedness of our State is des-
| tined to enter largely into the approach
! ing canvass.
This as it now stands is a very com,
plicated question, and one that should
be acted upon by the Bexb Legislature
with much deh beratiOn and prudence
is hanging ove.- the heads of our
tax paving people Ike Is bosom of de.
struction, ready to swallow up their
hard earnings as fast as accumulated. 1t
will be remem bered that al this bonded
debt, about which there is any cOntrO-
versy, was created by the Rr0wHI1w
government, while the great body o. the
tax payers was DISTINGUISHED and with
out any voice in the matter, but when
we got from under that government AID
the people sent up their own represen to.
tives to the Legislature, we found that
the bonded Indebtedness of tie State
had been run up to the enormous sum
of S43, 600 600.
This really looked frightfuI and Leg
islqtors thought it their duty to institute
an investigation as to how so large q
debt had been contracted in so short a
time, and appointed Il committee for
that purpose. This committee perform
ed its duty at the expense of more
labor and inves iEation than ever
were performed by any Legislative Com
mittee since Tennessee has been a State;
and reported to the Legislature fully up
on every lot Of bonds that had been L.
sued and as to the law under which
thev purpOrted to have been issued and
for what purpose and as to how they
had been apPrOpria 81, together with
all the testimony taken in each par5iGu
lar case. This report the Legislature
ordered to be printed, a COX called the
Appendix to the journal Of lS7O-7I,
which has been open to the inspection
Of every body from that day to this. In
that report it will be found IN maUy ia
stances that the bonds had been issue d
without authority of law or the mos.
LIBERAL Interpretation Of any law applica-'
bic to them and that in most instances tn: Y
had been appropriated to purposes
9th er than he law authorized. This Is
the characie Of the Indebtedness that
til reatens our destruction now.
That Legislature took action on that
report and passed a law directing the
Attorney General to file a bill in the
III
these parties form any further improper
use of the bonds and save all he could
to the State out of the wreck, and stop
these parties form hawking and ped
ding them over the country, selling them
for anything they could get on any mar
ket, and thereby destroying the faith
and credit of the State. This law had
the direct effect at the time and brought
these bond holders and bond peddlers to
a stop in their wild career of speculation
and fraud upon the State.
Then it was that the howl about re-
| pudiation and bad faith of tho State
! that we hear go much about was started.
| Then it was that bond holders and bond
| spectators and bond peddleTs and their
| friends became all at once 50 solicitous
! for the good name and fame Of the good
! old State of Tennessee, ana then it was
! that they, their friends, their agents,
| their attorneys and their employees be-
! gan to squeal reputation at every mem
/ bar of that Legislature who thought it
! his duty to protect the State from fraud.
| This howl of reputation was kept up BY
| these interested parties and their frie nds
/ without much opposition, but unfOrtun-
ately, with the sanction and support of
many prominent newspapers and poll
ticians of the State until it finally cul.
minated in the passage by subsequent
Legislature, of what is known as the
Funding law. And this they regard as
having legalized all the fraud and cor
ruption behind it. And this is the con
dition it will present itself to our next
Legislature for action. Now the uues-
tion very naturally forces itself on our
mind as to what is best to be done under
| the circumstances. And without ex.
pressing any opinion as to the legal
| question involved in a successful resist,
ance to the ultimate payment of these
! fraudulent bonds after the short-sighted
and unfoI tunate legislation that has
been had upon them.
There Is one thing that, in my
judgement the Legislature can do and
should do, and that Is to say to the hold,
ers OF those bonds: Gentlemen, you mus
hold on, because we are unable to com
mence the payment of interest now, Which
can only be done by an increased rate Of
taxation, And you see from the delin
quent tax list advertised all over thil
State, the distress, trouble, eXpenss-cOsi
and charges that have been heaped upon
our people because the we're unable Z
pay the present rate of taxation. AnC
you see from the Report of the Comp.
troller anu Treasurer of the State, tina
it will require at least double the pres
eHt rate of taxation to meet the interes