Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1878-12-11
THE NEW ISSUE" AGAIN.


bune raises his virtuous hands in
holy horror in view of the charge
made by the CHRONICLE of Sunday
morning, to the effect that the
Democratic party is responsible for
the outrage perpetrated upon the
people of Tennessee by which they
have saddled upon them debt of one
million dollars, or thereabouts,
growing out of what is known as
the "new issues" of the Bank of
Tennessee. We insist that they
were issued in aid of the rebellion,
and in the editorial complained
summarized as follows:
This additional debt is part Of
the price We pay for the luxury of 3
Democratic State Government. The
Democratic party of the State squan-
dered the assets of the Bank of Ten
nes-ee, Tecklessly, Issued notes that
ought never IL have been issued. is
sued them in support of the rebellion,
and now a Democratic administration
has suffered the courts TO decide upon
their validity without sufficient proof.
The result j., the people must pay
them and a few spectators grow rich.
Words are inadequate 40 express the
true character of ihe outrage"
The editor of the Tribune, with
one sweep of his powerful pen,
brushes this all out of the way, as if
it were a mere cob-web, in the fol
lowing paragraph:
ut is not always thought necessary
by Republican journalists To thoroughly
investigate a subject, especially If the
Democratic party Is To be injured, be-
fore presenting 1t to the public, but we
would suggest that q partial acquain-
ttnce with the facts would be best
before such sweeping charges are made
affecting the discharge of official
duties by legal officer"
Let US see about this. We
charged that the Democratic party
of the State 'squandered the assets
of the Bank of Tennessee. The
Tribune modestly intimates that we
are unacquainted with the facts.
What are the facts? We presume
no one will question the truth
of the assertion that the Ten
nessee State Government on
the LIST of January, 1862, was
Democratic. If such an one is
found We will not charge him with
even a partial acquaintance with
the facts" At that time the official
reports showed that the assets of
the Bank of Tennessee amounted
to S11,632,O37.23. In February
following, about six weeks after the
date of the official reports alluded
to, these assets were all taken by
leading Democrats, and carried
away. The books, papers, bank
notes, ETC., were nailed up in strong
wooden boxes. The coin was placed
in kegs and boxes and each keg and
box sealed with sealing wax. In
this condition the movable assets
travelled by rail, by boat, by dray,
etc., over the Southern Confeder-
acy, attended by bank presidents,
cashiers, clerks and their friends. In
Nov, 1866, the Board of Directors
of the bank made report of its as
sets and they amounted to $3,023,-
660.93. OF the assets thus &C
counted for, more than one-half was
uncurrent money or notes on insol-
vent debtors, making a net loss of
over ten millions to the people of
the State. After counting the I'M
current money and the notes on in
solvent parties, there was still I'M
accounted for S8,6O8, 1860. Now
what became of it?
These facts make further argu-
ment unnecessary. We admitted
in our editorial of Sunday morning
that it may have been difficult, not