New-York tribune., 1879-02-04
me S0UTu And ITS CREDIroRS.

"The bird that can sing and wont sing
"mu>t be made to sing" But Southern re-
pudIators are not birds end the prospect of
being forced to pay any debt whatever seems
to gricve them exceedingly. Louisiana has
nearly ruined the commerce and trade Of
NcV-Oileans by the stubborn refusal of prop
erty-0wncrs outside of the city to pay their
tair share OF the States burdens. The pros
pect Is that the finishing touch will come be-
fore long, IN the form OF naked Reputation,
for the much-concia!cd Democracy of that
STATE proposes to hold State Convention, and
10 get rid oi the Radical" Constitution
which now forms the only barrier between
the State debt and complete rcpudatlon.
1t is not polite to murder a man
with a mcat-aXc, and the hlgh-toned
and gcntlcmany Democrats of Louisiana have
very delicate phrases III which to express
their intentions. They assure the world tlat
ut is an unjust imputatiOn npOn the people
of Louisiana 10 say that they think Of re-
pudaling; " the utmost that the convention
will do will be 10 IedUce the rate Of interest
"to , or 4 per cent When the convention
assemblies in April, it viii probably appear
that ga proud people Spurn the imputation >
to hold them TO the lryying Of taxes sufficient
10 meet any fixed rate of interest. and there
fore propose to leave each Legislature to i'm
pose such a tax may IN its judgment be
sufficient The rest, bondholders can easily
fOTCScc.
Memphis. also. had large debt 1t amounted
TO more than -. j.OOO, 900. As usual. there was
ono disposition whatever among the people 70
I. -. L i,
Guilty was that "paymrnt had become utterly
"impo,sible.' SO this hlgh-mindcd people pro-
ceedcd to invent a new trick for the plunder
of creditors. The Legislature, having keen
sympathy for any people WHO preferred not
to pay debts proceeded to repeal the charter
Of tnc City of Memphis; and now the people,
who have spent sundry millions of the money
Of others in paving streets and building rail-
roads, rejoice that they are beyond the reach
of "a mindamns. For they had refused to pay
interest since 1878, and had offered, very
kindly, 500 OF new g per cent hOlrl, for
~ 900 OF old > per cent bonds. But man
dilnus came from the United States Court
ana according 10 the report o! the Auditor,
"unScrupulaus bondholdors succeeded in
grinding ont Of the poverty of our people
"the satisfaction of their CLAIMS Not to be Il
city at ali is better than to be a city that has
| to pay borrowed money, III Southern cstima-
| tion. But does Memphis fancy this is tLc
! end Of its troubles
tennessee has 6ecn somewhat rudcly
awakened To the fact that there are United
States courts III the land. Thus State, paying
! lighter taxes than any other at the South
has been pretending 10 DE too poor to pay It's
debts. No otner State has treated its crcd-
tOr9 more impudcntly or shamclessly. The
excuses set mp were as false as the prctcncc
of inability; 1t was alleged that the debt was
mainly created by Brownlow's government,
whereas IN fact nearly the entire debt was
| incurred in the building Of railroads, under
the Act OF 1892. Having forced the railroads
TO settlement, the State calmly pocAetcd
whatever 1t could get out of them. gave them