Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-12-08
EX-GOVERNOR NELL :. BROWN
ON THE STATE DEBT.

Ilemen: i received on last evenin
ID your communication requesting M
ID opinion on the subject whether til
70 State should accept the propositio
of her creditors, ito receive so cent
{. on thesdollar of their claims. hav,
1, felt some hesitationIin obtrudinI
d any views of mine upon the public
y after so much has been saidsand s.
muchisEknown; notShaving thevan
l. ity to believe that anything woult
d say could produce Xmuch effect.
It have, however, svery.. earnest con
i victiOns on the question, and M
graver question fever came befor,
. the people of Tennessee for legisla
9 tive action. / never saw the houl
Y since this Indebtedness commenced
, (now more than generation ago
that did not believe the State was
morally and legally bound to pay il
g Il mean theiwholes debt.
!, While was originally in favor OF
the construction of railroads to place
the State in communication with
> other sections of the Union, and
without which we would to-day be
isolated, never did favor the vast
) extent to which the system was car
ried. i protested against and voted
against many of these projects, as
: the journal of the Legislature will
} show. But that is neither here nor
there. / was bound, and am still
bound, by the acts of the constituted
authorities of the State, and have
shared in the benefits that have re-
suited. And as every variety of ap-
peal is being made calculated to ex-
cite prejudice and suspicion, may
say also, that l am not a bond-hold-
er, and not kin, so far as know, to
any one that is; do not represent the
bOndholders as agent or attorney or
factor, and have no special interest
in the question in any shape or form.
But am taxpayer and Tennes-
Seean. | have shared in the hOnors
of the State. / have drank in from
my youth the story of her gallant
deeds and glorious memories, and
"may my right hand forget its cum
ming and my tongue cleave to the
roof of my mouth" if / should do
any act or utter a sentiment tending
to tarnish the unsullied escutcheon
of Tennessee!
/ assume that the debt was legal
/
| though much of it may have been
not court in the Union, from the
Supreme Court of the United States
down to a Justice of the Peace, that |
would not, upon fair argument, sus-
tain its validity. / have not time |
or patience to argue this point. But |
it has been argued that many of |
these bonds were sold at less than |
par. That may be, but what is that |
to the question: Innocent holders |
have purchased them, and we are |
bound. But / assert without the |
fear of contradiction, that none of
the bonds now held against us were |
ever sold by the State at less than |
ninety cents, whatever they may
have sold for since. 1t has been |
urged also that the bulk of these |
bonds are now held by men in the
Northern States. Assuming this to |
be so, and what of it? They had |
right to buy them at the market |
rates, as / would, and had a right to |
suppose that the State would do |
what she promised on the face. The |
civil war through which we have |
gone is over. WeWent into it with |
our eyes open, and if we have lost |
our slaves, it was one of the for
tunes of the contest. But who |
knows that even these Northern
holders were our enemies, or con-
CURED in the harsh policy of which
we complain? These Northern
holders are not the sole owners of
our bonds. Many of them are held
in feoreign countries, and many /
more are held by our own people. |
Widows and orphans, scattered all
over the State, have their pittance
invested in these bonds by order of
the courts under the laws of the
State. Many children need this lit
tie inheritance to clothe and educate
them, and decrepid old age needs it,
to prop and sustain declining years.
OF course, ! am not able to give
these instances of extreme hardship;
but 1 know they exist, and they APP
peal, to-day, to the justice of the
State and the magnanimity of the
Legislature in silent, but mournful,
eIoquence for relief.
/ have no patience with the clap
trap argument | have often heard,
that much of this debt is held
abroad. Suppose it is, it is as sacred
with me as if it were held in the
town / live in. 1t bears the seal of
the State-it is the note of the State,
and this is enough for me.
But further, the State sold her
bonds to build railroads, and they
have been built; the trains run upon
them to-day, and are the hourly me-
dunn of transportation to and from
all sections of the Union. We travel
on them, and we send and receive
on and by them the interchangeS of
our labor. What would we take
for them and go back into the Wild
erneSS?
But the building of these roads is
not all. We have built our capitol
"a magnificent structure which
towers in majestic grandeur, and
would seem by its massive proper
tions to vie in duration with the
pyramids of Egypt. 1t is the man
siOn-hOuse of the State, where the
Legislature meets-where the SUI
preme Court holds its sittings-
where the public archieves are kept,
and where all the officers of State
reside. All strangers who visit our
city admire the structure, How did
we pay for it? By issuing State
bonds, and they are still out and un-
paid. 1t is enough to mantle the
cheek of any proud Tennessean
with shame, as he gazes upon that
splendid structure, and remember
that the money which reared it was
obtained from other people by as
surances which we are every day
falsifying, and which is in immi-
nent danger of being utterly lost.
So far as the bonds issued to build
the capitol are concerned, / presume
they are held mostly by our own
people, and no question of foreigner
or Yankee can enter into the prob
lem of their payment, nor can the
point be made on this class of bonds
that they were sold under par. They
were sold at par and over it. The
bonds issued to purchase the Her
mitage estate are owned, i pre-
sumo, mostly by our own citizens,
but at what rate they were sold /
have not the data to show. That
transaction was prompted by no.
I.Io o,1I IopHah hIa canft mont. ~ x,,oa |