The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1876-03-18
The Radical Legacy ofshe Bonded
Debt-A Grave Problem

the State under the Radical regime.
We may lament as much as we may that
there Was no occasion for this debt; that
when Federal bayonets put adventures
IN possession of our State Government
the debt on account of current expendi-
lures was but s211, 600; that instead OF
this debt, at the enormous rate of tax
fation imposed, there ought to be large
balance TO the credit of the State that
there is nothing to show for these heavy
liabilities which have been incurred to
enrich the adventures whose only object
was the acquisition of pelf at the cost
Of the impoverished taxpayers; that
the debt was not incurred to carry
out any of the legitimate ends of govern
ment. Indulge these bitter reflections as
we may ,despise in our hearts the profit ga
cy and corruption that have entailed this
curse upon Us, still the problem remains
to be solved, what is to be done with it
Gen. Chalmers resolutions in another
| column set forth the facts as they exist.
They show the utter imposibilitY in the
present pecuniary embarrassments of the
people, the shrinkage of values, and the
low price of their chief staple, for them
to comply with the arbitrary terms of
the law of 1874. At the present rate OF
taxation for State purposes, in conse-
quene of the decrease of values under
Radical mismanagement, the yield Of
revenues to the State, under the four mill
tax, for current expenditures will amount
to $521, 900, whereas, nearly double that
sum will be required to meet them,
and to pay the interest, and the
bonded debt that will fall due on
the 1st of January next. 1t cannot be
done. There must be an extension OF
time If the present Legislature is
pledged to anything on earth, it is to re-
duce expenditures and taxation. The
people expect and demand it.
The law of 1874 provides that the
bonds shall be divided into six series and
payable annually in as many years from
the 1st of January, 1877. Section 6
provides that for. the payment of the
interest and principal of said bonds, a
special tax of three-quarters of one mill
on the dollar should be levied for the
year 1874; land all subsequent years,
"until and including the year 1881 and
an additional tax sof one and three.
.quarters mills on the dollar on the tax
cable property in the State, is hereby
g levied for the year 1876 and all subse-
"quent years up to and inclusive of the
"year 1881, or until the interest and prin-
"cipal of the said bonds are paid" This
section ought to be repealed. Section 8
of the same law will still remain in force,
of one mill which can be applied to the
payment of the interest of the debt; and
| the Legislature when it meets In January
next, with full knowledge of the effect
of the reform measures which it will
have instituted, will be enabled to de-.
eide what, future action should be
taken with reference to this accursed
legacy left on their hands by the
mercenaries who have had possession of
the State government. 1t was a usur-
patton on the part of the Legislature of
1874 to prescribe what the rate of TAX
alton should be for the year 1876 and the
subsequent years mentioned In the law,
and was denounced as such by us at the
time, and the men who perpetrated the
act were given due notice that the Leg
islatures which the people would there
after elect to serve them would not be
bound by their action In nothing that
We have said is reputation dreamed of.
We are not prepared to say that it would
be even proper to scale the debt as Lou
isiana and other States have done. We
do not even advocate reduction of the
rate of interest, notwithstanding the cir
cumstances attending the creation of the
debt; but with full knowledge of the
pecuniary distress and impoverishment of
the people and their utter inability to
comply with the 9th section of the act of
1874, we insist that it should be
repealed. Rs@
oTICE.-The firm of Davis, Packer
d CO., pardon brokers, having suspended, |
the business will be conducted in future
at the same stand by Parsons, Packer q
Co. Terms cash. Remember the place