Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-12-08
GENERAL ASSEMBLY,.
Opening i'm Extra Session On the 9TH
fnst-FOrmai Business-NeVg
Menlbers-GOVernO
NIeSSRge,


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Message.
The extra session of the Legisla-
ture OF Tennessee commenced in
due form on Wednesday, the 5th |
inst. In the absence of Speaker
the Senate was callel To |
order by Senator Trousdale; at the
same time the House of Represent
atives was called to order by its reg
ular Speaker, Taliaferro.
On roll-call the absentees were:
Senators-Ragland and McAdoo;
Observation-Disclosures, Douglas,
Hill, Kindrick, Leech, Oliver,
Quarles and Rogers.
The following gentlemen were
sworn in as new members of the
House, having been elected to fill
vacancies occasioned by the resig-
nation of certain members: o. Alex
ander, of Haywood; A. S. Colyar,
of Davidson; ]. F. Tillman, of Mar
shall; John T. Gleaves, of Wilson,
and G. r. Phelan, of Shelby.
The business was purely formal
throughout and need not be record
ed beyond the reception of the
Governors Message, which was
presented at the bar of the House
by Charles ID. Porter, private secre-
tary to his excellency.
THE MESSAGE.
The Governor briefly states the
purpose for which the extra session
was called, which is well known to
our readers, and proceeds in bust
ness-like manner to recount the
items of the State debt and the au-
thorities under which they were in
Cured. He shows that all the out
standing bonds were issued on the
authority of acts passed before the
war, except those issued for past due
interest under the funding bills of
1866 and 1868; that the legality of
all Of them is indisputable except a
small amount issued to the Mineral
Home Railroad, which has been
thrown out as fraudulent and is not
included in this schedule. He then
speaks of the bondhOlders' offer TO
relinquish twO-fifths of the debt as
liberal in the extreme, and one
which it would be fatal blunder to
reject. We think it best here to
give his own words, which arepreg-
nant and to the point:
! 1 transmit the proposition of the bond
| holders. The terms are liberal to the State,
/ the creditors voluntarily make the sugges-
| ton, and il is consistent with the dignity OF
/ the State to accept the abatement. The
/ financial condition of the state Is the only
| barrier to Immediate prosperity. Its great
est want is capital and immigration. Both
| will avoid us unless the public debt is pro-
| vided for. Men do not buy where the ten
| ure of property is insecure, or where public
| obligations are disregarded. One OF the
| highest duties of the citizen is the malnten-
| ance OF the public credit; without it little is
/ left worthy of public preservation.
! He then discusses the ability of
the State to pay its obligations, The
value of the principal crops of Ten
nessee is given as over forty-seven
million, One-third of which at least
is surplus. The productions of Ken
lucky for the same year were quot
ed at two millions and half less
than ours, and in reference to other
States he says:
| Tennessee produced seventeen millions
i more than Virginia, three millions more
than Georgia, more than Maryland and
| South Carolina combined, more than Ala
| bama and Florida, and seventeen millions
more than North Carolina, while the differ
/ ence in population is in favor of Kentucky
| and Georgia, and Maryland and South Caro-
| lima combined. The productions of the
state for the year 1877 amount to over 3d.
| 100000, with an increased surplus of cotton,
| wheat and tobacco, and the value of farm
! products is greater per capita in Tennessee
! than it is in the rich States of New York,
| PENNSYLVANIA and Missouri. There are other
productions of the State, cattle, mules,
/ horses, sheep, bacon, fruit, marble, iron
| from which large revenues are derived, with
an increasing area and capacity for prOduc-
! ton.
His message concludes with en-
forcing on the wisdom of the AS
sembly the gravity of the occasion.
1t will be seen that Gov. Porter
does not, as the President does in
his message to Congress, descend
into the arena of parliamentary de-
bate and argue questions with the
Legislature; he estates the facts with
in his official cOgnizance which rem
der legislation necessary and leaves
the argument to the Senate and Re-
personalities, to be conducted as
their discretion may dictate. And
so we leave it too. Our readers have
long known our views on this ques-
ton, and have nothing to say OF
them now except that they are I'M
changed. We await the action OF
the Legislature, not without sOlici.
tude, but with the earnest hope that
the honor of the State will come un-
sullied from their hands. Were al
the Legislators like our own re
preventative, Hon. c.. G. Smith
our hope would rise to the level o.
undOubting confidence.
zEz