Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-10-13

| ths face, and know whereof / speak. 'CWo
| years ago l was elected, and tonight am
here TO give you an sccoun OF my administra
! ton. At the time OF my Inauguration l was
| snvtrOned by o}fEi culties of the graves char
arter. No governor Of Tenn-esee was ever so
q Desst by circumstances Of so much EN- barrass-
nent. Busintssoi every character was in
state OF prostration; there o gsnsr i
failure Cf the agricultural productions of the
s'ate, snd for the first time in the history of
Tennessee, the prCdDcer was reduced to bare
subsistence. He had 10 money, and nothing
70 exchange for it-confdence gone,
and universal bankruptcy seemed inevitable.
when the democratic party secured con-
troll OF tire state governm ent, what was its
condition? 1he pubic debt had been
doubled; the Gu rent exp pses OF tn tate
government, amouBting in 1850 to s39l, ,7O2 was
| Increased 1857 to S9sS 89 in 1865 TO 1914 O9l
| In five years OF Republican adm L ist alton
the state prison hsd cost the taxpayers of the
state s459,736 81, or slls 97 81 per annum. The
| bad blood and bad passions OF the war were
| kept olive BY the enactment Of odious and
| oppressive acts of acknowledgements; TO this
was added the new embarrassment created
| nv the decision Of the suprems court II the
| United states, making the oid issue OF the
Bank OF Tennessee receivable for taxes. The
school-iund, amounting 10 t6o5,19O accotdlns
| to the Iepo { of Ire 5surer Rust, had ell, ex-
cept $4,000, disappeared, and the Repub leans
surrendered the state government with / s
revenues consumed, and left the taX-pa ers in
a state of fnapcial exhaustion from which |
the present generation Will not recover. What
has been done under
| DEMO Ratio ADMINISTRATION?
| The public debt has been reduced to less than |
| half; the cure L expenses of the state gov |
| ernment b IS been reduced more than one
| third; the state prison, inste9d of being a |
burden upon the iax-pay ers, yields a rental of |
| $4,000 per annum; more Than two mi lion !
| of dollars in tae oio issue of the Bank |
| into the treasury and Cancelled, the railroads /
have been made to bear their share OF the |
| public burden. A permanent scnooI fund, l
| amounting to S25l2 500, has been provided, 1
| with semi-annual interest of s75 375. since
| this provision made not one cent of the
| fund has been lost or misappied The aver
| age attendance upon the public schools, il
/ proportion to scholastic population
| in Tennessee tha "a 1t Is in ~ later |
/ ca t. w~-- sc ESSipressntstive States of the |
! and south-while the cost of the ad.
mtn1stration of the school, system In these /
States is greatly in exoss> OK thai of Tennessee
the SUN o. $40 res 81 pet Srnum is pa I'd d To-
! county supeTant6ndontS, while in Tennessee
they are raid for the same service SI3 6S4 64
The prot ection OF our laws has been secured to
/ every citizen; splrt. OF concord and frater-
nIts has been created; immigration has been |
iostered ana encouraged, and under recent
legislation burdens amounting TO nearly |
haif million of dollars have been take b from |
ines sne shoulders sf the tax payers. The kepub-
usan party OF Tennessee, feeling the influence
or tHis wholesome legislation, as abaL doned |
the con est IN Tepncs5se, aDd does not chal-
lenge sing act OF the present administra-
ton Every demand against the g. ate is now
& RaId on presentation, 1 except tne iaterect on
are past due. Before the ma urit. of the
nrsS 9Ds tfs comptroller, rursuance
OF what was tnen the settled policy
New York to negotiate a Ian, but harsh
terms were demanded, and the executive Off |
questionable. Events have uer,onstratsd TIE |
proprlety of their action, hate Been ctifl. |
cisco Ior eonsentlng W All atteIh 1t to, borrow |
money. mere recognized the existence of |
4 policy; have been criticised, TOO, for NV |
veto OF the Dill repeating the, act giving au. |
tnor1ty to the comptroller to borrow money |
1t was Ihe unanimous sentiment Of members |
OF the tsgi lature that the collection of the |
revenue must postpsned for a Y ar This |
made nf M |
borrowing power necessity. But few dsys
aLter L my veto a Dill was passed authorizing I
this agency the treasurer wgs enabled 10 meet {
current expenses until the revenues OF the !
sage referred 10; c
EXECUTIVE OFF CE,
NASHVILLE Tenn, MarcD Is, 1875. I c
GENTLEMEN OF THE SENATE-I cannot ap-
prQTe nate bill No. 100, entitled an act to re-
peal section 81 OF an act passed March g. 1889 |
entitled an acL to amend the revenue laws of | :
the State. The section herein rectsd confers |
authority on the comptroller OF the treasury I
"to boi row such amounts as may ue necEssa- l
treasury OF The State > it is presumed that 7
he passage of this bi was secured under the | 4
beli,t that the exercise of this power would :
not again be necess iry. But the very general J.
failure of the productions of Tennessee, fal-
10" ed naturally by an extraordinary dimuni v
ton In the volume OF the currency of the | &
country. with a corresponding dimunition in | h
the collection OF the revenues of the state, | /
wi pre- We IL the financial Off GERS of The State q
from paying, with any degree OF promptness, \
the usual approprta ttOns for the benefit of the II
asS Ium. for the sane, the blind and deaf .
and dumb, and other ordinary expenses OF IT
The State government, If deprived of the au- /
thori,y t. make temporary loan. The loan G
in December last for the purpose of 81
mt citing the January interest on the pubic | n
debt wss made at q moderate rate of interest, q
and 1t is believed that future loans can be n
made at from five to seven per cent. All par G.
ties 10 Tennessee are pledged to the mainte- | a
nance OF the credit ofthe state; this cannot be G
done II TINS bill becomes law. IL is lmma- a
terial at what the rate of taxation be fixed IL Is
at hundred cents; under our system CT col !"
Letting tn revenue, 1t cannot be made avail
able in time to meet the obligations of the
state. Earnestly rec 1mmend r considera | q
ton OF the action of the general assembly in r,
JAMES D. PORTER, Governor. "
When this message was sent to the senate, ID
the reason for it was acquiesced ip, and no II
effort was made to pass IL again. You all re- II
that under our Jaw a Veto on The part c'
Of the governor amounts simply 10 recon- IL
slderauon OF a bill, and IL can be passed over ~
his veto Uy bare majority. In this message | aC
assumed that "all parties in Tennessee are d,
pledged TO the maintenance of the credit of | sc
the state" To this assumption there W. S no | a.
legislative protest, anu not word of dissent | 1
uttered by the press or people; and when the "
policy OF borrowing money was abandoned, 1 | dI
said 10 all the creditors of the State who APP +
preached me, and they were numerous: "You | sa
rated. You viii not be paid except from Gne u
revenues oI the state, but whenever money "
lne tnstalmenG of interest 1t will be pald." M
There was no secrecy about this. l an 81
bounced this policy in a letter published gen. re
rally by the press of Ten esSee, and by many Ii
Japers of the east. No exception was made to pl
his letter except by certsfn high-tax men, re
Ind three or four high-tax newspapers and / |
cit therefore that the executive officers of the
State were under instructions to make amin
rest payment whenever IL could BE- done. -,
'lnally, when the tine Of payment was III
ixed, and objections were made TO it IN this ~
Ocaltty, the legality cf the payment was re- ra
ion had been adverse to it, the payment re
gould not have been made even after 4I
he publisher announcement. We were d'
,lseharglng our duty, as We understood W W
[, and there was no one connected %
With the executive departments OF the I.
state VINO had any interest in the question p'
nat is not common 10 every citizeo OF the q,
state. know that the action of the execu- p'
i've Officers has been criticised, bee 4use 1t is cO
nststed that the legislature made no appro- as
,ristton Of morey 10 pay interest on the pub SC
ION was made: none are eyer mads in 81
'enneSsee except for legislative expenses. But Xt
ne construction of our constitution by the -
resent supreme court, "tlat an inde btedDesl IN
4 the State, nXed and recOgn zed by law, te
vas payable out OF the treasury without b.
nent," mas been the uniform legislative con te
truction. made an effort to change this "
ule of construction. In my message to the VI
egislAture made this recommendation: W
APPROPRIATIONS. IN II,
The comptroller, in Lis report to my prede- al
essor, calls attention to the requirements of m
rawn from the treasury in consequence of Ht
ppropriRtions made by law: Constitution, t.
rttcle 2, section "a; and so to the require | 10
lent in the code that the com ptroller shall, | W!
{ stated times, report 1.-THE uneXpended nal | eV
noes Of the several appropriations" Not
this Provision in the consJIUu- A
ion, IL is believed that specific appropriations
re the exceptions, and that IoT many years "J
he puofc moneys have been Apended with
ut the authority contemplated by the conStl- |
Qtion. II that instrument IS obeysd, ana es. co
Imates required from the executive offices, | Fl
he legislature is enaoied to see what amounts
hay be necessary, and can place a check
pom expenditures by prescribing limit be- on
ond which toey shall noS go. The mere fact do
nat an appropriation is to be made require reI
1vestig alton of the amOuot necessary 10 be tiV
st apart for the purpose, and promotes in pc
uiry into former as well as plEseDt eXpendt- IN
IIes, " bile the system now prac decd does sci
othing to insure a faithful performance of on
MS important duty. Under the present sys- lal
am, tine comptroller Complains OF the extent 4
the discretion practically left to him. 6
Bat no action was taken, and the Legislature tn
cquiesced in the rule announced by the su- 81
RENE court and left the comptroller in the eir
xercise OF a discretion that he was anxious az
} avoid. The effect of the payment of inter- 4
st has been a good one, the creditors Of tie fir
taIe now believe that 1t is only d question OF ~
bility. The largest holder of our bonds resid-
lg In the Sta e, in a communication adj l
ressed to me, says; "This payment will go an