Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-03-23
THE DEBATE ON THE PUBLIC
DEBT.

Last Saturday may be considered
as the opening of the campaign, in
which the public debt is again made
the main issue of the canvass. 1t
had been announced some time be-
fore that the Hon. A. S. COlyar was
to address the citizens upon this
subject, and, somewhat later, it was
made known that the Hon. G. @.
Smith, of this place, had arranged
to divide time with him. 1t is I'M
derstood that Mr.. Colyar is seeking
the nomination for Governor at the
hands of the State Democratic Con-
vention whenever it may meet.
Judge Smith, on the other hand,
announces his settled purpose to ac-
cept no Office or nomination for
Office at the forthcoming election.
The two gentlemen had been antag-
Onists as members of the late Gen.
eral Assembly at its called session
of last winter, and their opinions
were well known beforehand. Mr..
Colyar was known as opposed to
paying any portion of the interest
on the State debt at the present time
and as having combined with the
regulators to defeat all efforts at a
compromise of the debt. He does
not, like the avowed repudiators,
deny the validity of the debt, but
pleads the ruined and impoverished
condition of the country as an argu-
ment that the people are unable to
pay it. Judge Smith, on the other
hand, recognizes the obligation of
the people to pay the whole debt,
principal and interest, and gladly
receives the proposals of compromise
made by the committee of bond
holders at the called session as offer
ing an opportunity to settle the La
bilities Of the State honorably and
without seriously burdening the
people.
The debate was opened by Mr..
Colyar. He began by affirming that
the State debt was only a drop in
the bucket compared with the whole
burden now weighing down the
people, and on this preteXt wandered
into a wide depression on the routine
of Federal politics, arguing on the
subject of the conversion of bonds,
the decentralization of silver, the
resumption of specie payments, etc,
etc., in which he took the same side
as not only all Democrats South
take, but a large portion Of Southern
Republicans also. The connection
of all this with the payment of the
State bonds was not made, very
plain, but, if there was any explicit
position taken as the result of it all,
it was that as the holders in general
of the Federal bonds were trying to
cheat us, we ought to cheat the
holders of our State bonds to make
up for it. If we have misstated his
position we beg his pardon that
was the nearest we could come to
making sense of it. 3d..
He then came to the proceedings
of the called session and admitted
that he and those he worked with
had Intentionally defeated the pro-
posed compromise, giving as his
reason that the question ought to be
referred to the people. He said that
Judge Smith had stultifed himself
by voting against an amendment of
his to the effect that tax should be
raised to pay the creditors of the
Bank of Tennessee and the work
men to whom the State wassindebt-
ed for working on the railroad, etc.,
etc. He was very vehement in de-
nouncing those who would raise a
tax to pay lot of New York bond
holders, but not to pay the honest
workmen and innocent depositors,
who were Tennesseans. He then
closed his argument by declaiming
that the liberties of Great Britain
had been crushed out by debt, and
that our liberties must go too if we
allow ourselves to be bound by the
same chains.
Judge Smith then took the floor.
He began by sweeping away the
mass of irrelevant matter. He said
that all these questions in Federal
politics were matters ON which he
and his antagonist agreed and were
no subject of difference between
them. Doubtlessly the public cred
itors did their best to improve their
original bargain, but on that head
the only conclusion was that we
ought to hold them rigidly to their
original contract and rigidly fulfil
our own. The question: now was
not about five-twenties or ten-forties,
but about repaying the money which