Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1879-09-12

tnolr SpoeCheS assert. IhaJ jney uenle
and polute their States, their acts for
ten years have proved.
The record is long, but 1t is worth
reading and preserving. 1t proves that
the solid South, though it has been
getting rich by successful industry since
the war, has repudiateG State and
Municipal debts amounting to more
than $500, 100000. It proves that the
excuses given are false; that debts of
unquestioned validity and honesty Of
origin have been repudiated quite as
wantonly as debts of corrupt origin or
doubtful validity. 1t proves that Che
South has not only repudiated debts
contracted under Republican Govern
ments, but debts which existed long be-
fore there was Republican party at
the South, and which were contracted
by Democratic Governments. Debts
old and new, debts honest and dishon-
est, debts large and small, debts bur-
densome and insignificant, have alike
fallen before the spirit of Reputation,
as grain and weeds alike go down be-
fore the scythe of the mower. Nor can
it be claimed that the burdens of the re-
pudiating communities were really
heavy. Many Northern communities
carry honorably and without difficulty
much larger debts, In proportion to the
assessed valuation of property, and it
nlust also be remembered that as rule
the property at the Soiith has been dis
honestly undervalued in assessuieut, for
the purpose of robbing public creditors.
The exhibition would not be of Ma
tirY,a1 if tbn in nf
repudiation We're relatively few. The
trouble is that they are very numerous,
so that the whole population of the
solid South, whether in one State or
another, in city or country, seems to be
infected with this moral plague of dis
honesty. At the North, we find here
and there a disgraced city, or State
with a stained flag and dishonored
name. But such cases here are partic-
ularlS noted because they are excep-
tional. At the South, there would be
particular cause for SURPRISE and reioic-
ing If any political community should
even try to pay debt which it had
power to repudiate. The spirit is al
most co-extensive with the r5Cetit fei
bellion, and it might be said with
truth that, whenever the broken
fetters Uf an emancipated slave
had fallen, there reptdiatiOh had sprung
indigenous from the soil. The plea Is
indeed raised that vindictive feeling Is
at tho bottom of the refusal to pay
debts, in many cases. In Tennessee,
for example, men say that "the North
destroyed their property in slaves, and
may now stand its share of the loss in
the destruction Of bonds chiefly held at
the North. But this, too, is only a pre-
| text. 1t is estimated that bonds amount
ing to $4,000, 900, which have been
held by Southern leaders, have been
repudiated. Nor is there any honesty
in the plea that property owners can
not make money any longer because
they own no slaves, because It hes been
abundantly demonstrated that the free
colored man produces more by his la
Dor, and yields larger return to his
employer, than the slave ever did. The
trouble lies further back. Wherever
slavery existed, there the moral sehst
was so blunted and benumbed, by the
wholesale robbery of the earnings oi
labor, that the white population as g
whole is to this day incapable of that
sense of honor which prevails else
where.
1t is not to be said, with regret il
must be admitted, that all repudiators
are Southerners. But the statement is
not far from the truth, that all South
erners are repudiators. They have NJ
comprehension of the simplest prinGi
Piles of financial integrity, this slave
holding and slave driving people. They
show it as well in their relations witt
the Federal Government as in their 10
cal affairs. Some consideration has beel
felt for them, in respect to the United
States debt, because that debt was In
CURED in putting down their rebellion
But it may well be doubted whether mer
who repudiate almost every legal deb
ever could have been faithful to Ma
tional obligation of any sort. They love
their States and do not love the Nation
Their love for their States does not re
strain their polluting hands when ther
is chance to make money by robbin;
the creditors of those States. Thei
want of love for the Union only lend
zeSt and boldness to repudlatlng splrl
which would exist in any case.
For the Northern people there is on
question: Can we afford to trust tn
honor and prosperity of the Union Il
to this generation of repudiators know
as the solid South.-N. Y. Tribune.