The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1877-04-25
TIE HORRIS40WN GAZETTE
WEDNESDAY, APR. 20, 1877.
PUBLIC OPINION.

=
ZHE STATE DEBT COMPROMISE.
The absorbing question among the
Intelligent people of Tennessee at
present is the bonded debt and the
compromise offered by the bond
holders. We have taken some pains
to ascertain the views and feelings
Of our own people on the subject.
Tie result conyinces us that our peo-
pie are not repudiatiouists-that
they depreeate every step taken in
that direction. But since the prop
osition to compromise at sixty cents
comes from those who hold our
bonds. our people feel that that pro-
position VIRTUALLY an offer to com
promise at less figure,) may be ac-
cepted without dishonor,' and they
are in favor of the compromise.
At a mass meeting of the citizens
Of Stewart county, held at Dover,
resolutions were offered to the effect
that the legislature should accept
the proposition of the bondholders
to compromise the State debt at so
cents on the dollar. The resolutions
were adopted by the unanimous vote
Of the whole assembly, everybody
voting. Representatives Brandon
aud Smith were present and advo-
Gated in speeches the acceptance by
the legislature Of the proposition Of
the bondholders to compromise the
State debt at 60 cents on the dollar.
vs. @- A correspondent Of the Gallatin
Tenae8sean has been talking with
number of the people of Summer
county, and majority of them fav
ored thirty cents compromise of
the debt.
We extract the expressions of a
few of our contemporaries on this
important question. that our readers
may form some idea of the drift Of
public opinion throughout the State
From the Lebanon Herald.
The proposition of the New York
holders Of Tennessee bonds to cOmpro-
mise the debt upon the basis OF Sky
cents on the dollar, which will engage
.a the attention of the Legislature at the
session to be called especially for its
consideration, is subject OF moment
tOus importance, not only to US but to
our posterity; and it behooves us to act
cautiously, carefully and discreetly, not
only that we may preserve our own hon
or untarnished, but that we may leave
no heritage of dishOnOr to those who
shall come after us. The proposition TO |
settle our Indebtedness at sixty cents is |
one which the State is amply able to !
Il, rI,~, " a(a-
cented 1t is more than we could rea- |
sonably have expected from the holders
of our bonds, and it seems plain to US
that if we desire to pay our honest |
debts at all, we ought not to await or
anticipate an easier or fairer mode DIDO
ing so.
From the Nashville Banner
The Legislature adjourned sine de. !
Its action the closing hours Of the ses-
sion, in passing the ten cent tax bill over
the Governors veto, was not at all cred I
liable. The creditors of the State made |
--a4a generous proposition, to which the
Legislature paid but blunt and curt at
tentiou The State debt must be adjust
ed in some way, but how or when 1t Is /
difficult to see. Tennessee is able, am
ply able to pay sixty cents on the dollar /
of her Indebtedness. That she don't do |
it, nor make provisions for paying even
one cent on the dollar, is nothing short |
of q disgrace to the State There.
From the CIarksvine Chronicle.
We have published on our first page
an editorial on the financial policy or |
rather impOlicy of the Tennessee Legis-
lature of 1877, taken from The NORRIS
TOWN GAZETTE. We are glad to find |
that at least one of our contemporaries |
looks with the same thoughts we do
on the experiment of reducing the taxa
ton of the State far below its necessary I
expenditures as one of the most eXpen- /
sive experiments which political char
latauS ever attempted.
As to a settlement with the bOndhOld- /
ers it is true that that question is not
necessarily shut out by the Legislation /
in question, but the legislators who did /
all this are not going to do well for the /
credit of the State unless the force of /
public opinion is brought to bear upon |
Them We differ from the GAZETTE in |
only one point; the present or future
market value of the bond has nothing |
whatever to do with the moral obliga-
lions Of the State-theiT depressed value 1
is the result of the failure of the State
TO nav interest upon them, and the State /
has no right to claim advantage for
depression which is the result of her
Etown failure to meet her engagements. {
We consider the offer of the bondhold-
ers q very liberal one.
From the Wartburg Dispatch.
We think it highly fitting and proper,
in the present juncture of affairs, for
meetings to be held in the several cOun-
ties Ter the purpose of manifesting dis
appreciation OfIne course OF the Legs
lature upon this subject, and endorsing
the action and position of Gov. Porter.
-' Let the public speak out. We believe
that a policy Of silence is the policy of
ruin. The honest patriotic men of Ten
nessee cannot afford to remain silent and
inactive in this hour of impending dis
honor We owe it to ourselves and to
posterity to put on record our opposition
10 the dishonest, disgraceful and foul
dogma of epudiatiOn-Tennessee, free
from this stain, is the proudest of proud
States; cover it with the dark shame of
republication and no honest man will live
in it.
From the Franklin Review
We are decidedly Of the opinion that
Gov. Porter should call the General As
sembly in extra session and have the
State debt settled and taken out of poll
tics It is the height of folly to let this
question remain unsettled. It is up now
for settlement. Let it be settled.
a s4Issa From the DIurfreesboro News
The course of the Legislature in refus-
ing to pay any interest on the State
bonds and reducing the tax to 10 cents