Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1878-03-14
Col. John 81. Savage.

the subject Of the State debt.
The three general propositions
which he lays down as reasons
why the State debt is void are il
substance as follows:
Iirst-The Bonds are Spills OF
Credit" and the Federal Constitu
ton expressly prohibits the issu-
ance Of Bills Of Credit"
.Second-The Bonds are void
because there is nothing in the
Constitution of tie State Of Ten
nessee authorizing the Legislature
to issue bonds for any purpose.
Third--The Bonds are void be
cause, inasmuch as the act OF
Che Legislature authorizing the is
suance of the Bonds, contained a
clause which provided that none
of the Bonds should be sold for
less than their face valie, and in
Us much az these Bonds We're sold
For less than their face value, the
bond holder can demand nothing,
having purchased them below par
aud in violation of law.
Col. Savage elaborated these
points for nearly three hours in
his peculiar vein. lie repeated the
substance of the entire play of
ShaKespear = the Merchant Of
Yen.ce comparing he bond hold
er to Shylock aud the State TO
Antonius, while he, Savage, "the
fair Portia,''' the "people'O lawyer
standing between them aud the
bloody demands Of Shylock, the
bond holder.
Col. Savage concluded with
proposition to pay the bond holder
333 cents on the dollar, provided
the bond.Lo der would behave
himself" He threatened If they
didn't accept bis proposition that
be would have a kill passed the
Legislature to pay them sin the
negroes freed by the war"
We understand the State credit
men absolutely deny the correct
ness of every proposition laid down
by Col. Savage.
First = They say the Bonds are
not Bills of Credlt" -tbat the
Supreme Court ofthe United States
has decided, to constitute an evil
dence of debt issued by State,
"Bill OF Credit" within the mean.
ing of the prohibition of the Fed
eral Constitution, it "must be is
sued for the purpose and with the
intent that it shall circulate as
money"--tbat Bonds have never
been issued with such intent and
never have circulated as money
that the same court il express
language has, in Number OF ca
ses, decided that State Bonds are
not Bills Of Credit F."
AS to Col. Savages second prop
osition, the State credit men say
Il is fall Of absurdity--that by the
the same line of reasoning at least
1000 of the 5000 and odd sections
OF our Code are void, as there is
nothing an TIE Constitution az
thorisimg the Legislature to pass
them. They say that the Legisla-
ture can pass any actnot prohibited
by the Constitution--that if Col.
Savage's theory of our State Con-
were correct no murderer
could be punished. no action Of
ejectment or debt brought, nor n
other things permitted by
the Code and Statutes to be done,
because there is nothing IN the
Constitution authorizing the Leg
islature to pass acts permitting
them to be done.
AS to Col Savage'S third propo
sition, they say in the first place
that the clause in the Act of 1852
which forbids the sale of the Bonds
for less than their face value, is
only directorg,and, while lis viola
ton may have subjected the of
fcers of rail roads who sold Bonds
ia violation of this clause to pun
isbment for its violation. 1t did
not make the Bonds void. Second,
that in point of fact, the Bonds
nov outstanding, or at least nine
tenths of them, were sold between
the years 1850 and 1860, and
brought in the markets of the
world an average OF more than