Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1878-06-27
Late State Comptroller and Editor OF the
Nashville American, upon the Issues
Likely to Come Up
In the Approaching State Canvass-The
Mutterings of Discomfort and Suffer.
ing that are Heard in Every
State.
The Remedies for Them to be Found in
Tennessee in the establishment Of
State IBank-What'.CO congress
Should Do.
NASHVILLE, June 25, 1878.

| DEAR OIR-l Gnank you lot your very COM
| plimentary letter. You request my ''Views
| upon the political issues which will be under
| consideration in the approaching State can
vass, and especially what / think the De-
mocracy should do about the State debt an6
State finances in these hard tunes. | reply
at my earliest convenience.
THE GENERAL DISTRESS.
| Upon al! sides we hear the cry of distress
| 1t is not confined to our own State. Wher
| ever, in this Union, the actual needs of life
are obtained by labor; wherever our fellow.
citizens eat bread in the sweat of the face, the
same narrowing cry OF want goes up from the
| people. 1t is not confined to any one voca
| ton. All who labor are weary and heavy
/ laden, whether In the field, in the shop, III
the NINE, at the forge, behind the counter, al
| the DESK or in the Office, toilers by day OF
| tollers at night, every trade and every pro
fessIon, all feel the severest prlvatlons OF the
present, and look with inteusest anxiety tc
| the future. The mutterings of discomfort
and OF suffering are heard In the land. The
voice of waiing is being maddened into the
cry for bread. The petition Tor work
| Is being tuned into the demand fol
| food, and raiment, and shelter. Every
| debtor fears irretrievable ruin. And all this
| in our boasted republic; this land of the
| free and home of the brave" where you have
but to tickle the soil with the pillow and it
| laughs with the harvest, where every mineral
may be abundantly found, where manufac-
lures and commerce have unlimited range,
where the air is pure and the waters are
llmpid, where health is the general rule and
disease the rare exception. Why IN such a
country should there be such distress? a dis
tress whose voice is too deep, too loud, too
universal, to be other than sincere-as genu-
inc as it is agonizing. 1t is the duty, the
high, bounden duty of every citizen, and es-
pecially of every one who takes any part IN
public affairs, to endeavor to learn the cause
and provide the remedy for this alarming par
alysis of all our Industries and this pauper-
izlng stagnatIon in all our business. | am
glad to see that these matters are beginning
to be discussed in our State preliminary to the
political canvass which we are to have this
fall. So far we have had bnt two views pre-
sented, and with due Difference to both,
neither, in my humble judgment, comes up
to the elevated standard of broad statesman
ship. One informs you only that the faith
and credit OF the State must be
preserved, that the public q ebt must be paid
or honorably compromised. The sole cry of
the other is that the high tax party must be
put down, that the State tax must be low
cred, or at any rate must not be increased.
Thus in every county and from every stump
you hear nothing but high tax and low tax,
State debt and State taxation, a compromise
at fifty cents, forty cents, thirty-three and
third cents, Or total reputation. Thus are
the citizens Of Tennessee who look to their
public speakers and writers for information
upon matters of public concern being taught
that the cause of all our woes, of all our
hardships, Of all our poverty, and all our
distress is to be found in these subjects which
are occupying exclusively the time and the
attention Of our local politicians. Permit
me to say, that we are taking too marrow
and contracted view of the difficulties
which surround us. We see as through
glass darkly. We prefer to grope in the
dark rather than walk In the sunlight. | do
not hesitate to assert that if every dollar of
the State debt was paid off to day, it would
not give bread to the starving; it would
not give employment to the idle; it would
not give prosperity to the people and
the State. On the contrary, | do NOT
hesitate to assert that if the State tax
was reduced to nothing, that would not give
bread to the starving nor employment to the
idle, nor plenty and prosperity to the people
of the State. Have we not tried it? Have not
our State taxes for the past two years been as
low as the lowest have asked that they should
be? Is it not fact that more than ma
jority Of the citizens Of the State are not re-
quired by law to pay any tax for State pIlr-
poses? And yet when have we ever had
harder times? When have there been more
men seeking employment? When have there
been more men with families dependent upon
them for support living in enforced idleness,
willing to take any employment to earn their
daily bread for their wives and little ones !?
When have those who do not have any tax to
pay suffered more than now? The low State
taxes have not brought us relief. No; the
question of State taxation has not brought US
our hardships, and will not bring US reilef.
Am | not right In saying that we are looking
in the dirt for glow-worm to give us light
to guide our steps when we should be looking
into the heavens for the sun to lend us his
rays to direct our going to and fro
L s-lL 1t,Cx, Nu,lI oln
every member to the legislature whose
hobby was high tax, employment would not
thereby be given to the idle. | say to the
low tax men, if you were to elect every mem
Der to the legislature whose hoppy was low
tax, you would not bring relief to the suffer
ing people. | do not mean to underrate the
Importance of State taxation, even though
there is a majority of our citizens who are
not required to and do not pay any State tax.
In Tennessee the citizen must have real es-
tate or be owner of over one thousand dollars
OF personal property before he has to pay
State tax. Unfortunately majority OF our
citizens are not owners OF real estate, nor
owners of over one thousand dollars OF per-
sonal property; hence they are not required to
pay State tax and are not directly affected
by it whether the rate be ten cents or forty
cents.
THE STATE DEBT.
We have before us now no proposition to
compromise the State debt-nor do l antlcl-
pate another soon. There was proposition
made to compromise at sixty cents on the
dollar and SIX per cent. interest That was
not accepted, and another proposition to COM
promise at fifty cents was offered, as we I'M
derstood 1t. That was not accepted. Since
the adjournment of the legislature large
majority in amount of the bondholders have
met in New York and formally announced
that they. will accept nothing less than the
hxy{ ha
committee to our legislative committee. The
Baltimore Sun, which may be regarded in
some degree as the exponent of the majority
of the holders of our bonds, said:
The discussion of the State finances is waxing
No the nrdmneSf ss anG rue caD1ss inst onenna
Fifty cents the dollar, however, is not what the
party offered that The genuine bOndhoiders have
declared their willingness TO accept sixty cents-not
less.
As there is no possibility of any such prop
osition being accepted, while the bondhold-
ers hold their present attitude We will have
no proposal for the compromise OF the State
debt before US. And yet it must be compro
missed in some way The interest Is incceas-
ing at the rate of one million five hundred
thousand dollars per annum. We cannot at
ford to repudiate, nor can we afford to en-
tlrely suspend payment on our Stale debt q
day longer than we can devise some means
to escape from the difficulties under which
we now labor l think it wonld have been
better to the State and to her citizens, and
less expensive, to have compromised the debt
at the last session of the legislature than to
have permitted it to continue to run undi-
mlnished in principal and undiminished in
the rate of interest. Twenty-Five million of
dollars is a large amount to owe, and six per
cent. is heavy interest to pay on so large an
amount But it is useless to grumble over
the past; let US look to the future. As DEM
ocrats who wish to act in harmony, we must
consent to give and take from each other a
little abuse. Admit that each was partly
right and partly wrong. If pride of opin-
ion, or q stubborn love Of consistency, shall
interfere, let US remember what the great
English statesman, Lord Granville, said
when he made bold change of sentiment
upon an important financial measure pend
ing before the British parliament:
When politicians tell US OF the unvaried unIformI-
ty OF their opinions and conduct, one is tempted
sometimes TO ask by what supernatural power tire
were gifted in their cradle with infallibility To
fallible men small would be the praise of having