Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-06-24
THE STATE DEBT.
The Proposed Fifty and F0ur Settle
ment-we Can Pay ft and Never
Feel it-ABd 1t Ought to be
Hatfield as the Best Thing
We Can DO.

The leading papers of the State are speak
ing out on the State-debt question, and near
" all are for the fifty and four settlement,
upon which the people will be called upon to
vote In few days. The following are among
the latest opinions of the press:
IT Is THE BEST THING THAT Is OFFERED.
Columbia Herald: 1--WE do not know that
discussion of the proposition submitted to
the people on the seventh of August In re-
gard to the State debt, will have any infiu-
ence or do any good. The presumption is
that the people by this time fully understand
If, and are prepared to say how they will act.
Our own opinion, we have no disposition
either to conceal or to obtrude upon the pub
lie. While In many respects the settlement
does not suit US, yet to give peace and quiet
to the country, TO stop the agitation of a
question which ID dong us 80 much injury IN
a business point of view, we are willing to
support it with the hope that it may result
in a settlement OF the question. The bond
holders think they do not get enough under
this settlement, while some ot the people
think they get too much While in many
respects it is not what it should be, it is much
better than no settlement. If left unsettled,
this debt will hang over us.
We may avoid payment for the
present. but we may cause future burdens to
be placed upon tAe people which will,
indeed, be grievous. In attempting to escape
the payment Vi Jlo UuOie ueOIs NY d
compromise, we may be adopting the means
Of fastening the whole debt upon us ire
vocably In the future. We are paying every
year indirectly, by lost confidence and de-
stroyed credit, large portion of the debt,
and IN few years we will lose In this way
more than the whole debt. We are willing
to try the fifty and four settlement as the
best thing that is offered, hoping and trust
ing that 1t may succeed, and knowing that,
if it does not, the consequences will be disas-
trous to the State and to all her people,
While we express our own opinions freely,
we are willing for others to entertain theirs
without let or hindrance from US.
WE CAN PAY IT AND MEYER FEEL IT.
Purdy Independent: ''We believe the senti-
ment in NJ Marry county is strongly In favor
of the Fifty and four compromise. Some
seem to think we cannot pay the interest on
the new bonds, while others think some of
the bonds are unjust. The latter may be
true to a certain extent, but as we have be-
fore said they have been made legal by the
acts of the Legislature in funding, etc. The
idea that the State of Tennessee cannot pay
the interest on twelve or fourteen million
dollars, and arrange for paying the principal,
is simply a monstrous admission OF poverty
and worthlessness. We can pay it and never
feel it. At the present rate OF tax there has
accumulated in the State treasury a half
million dollars. In ratifying the proposition
we give no better security than the creditor
now has, to-wit.. our honor. We pay one
half the debt by this proposition. We ex-
pect from the people of N Marry a calm con-
clusion and a decisive vote in favor of the
compromise"
1T WILL BE RATIFIED.
Jackson Dispatch: "After very careful
outlook and inquiry, we feel assured in an
nouncing thai we find no formidable opposi-
ton to the pending State debt compromise,
and feel certain that it will be ratified at the
polls the seventh OF August by an oyerwhelm-
ing majority. That there Is some little oppo-
sItion, we admit, but the character, motives
and purposes of the opposition are so PLAIN
that 1t cannot be misunderstood. 1t springs
from two classes of men diametrically OPP
posed to each other, both now add in the
past, on the tax question, as we'll as other
questions of State policy. The first class is
the high-tax men and friends of the bond
holder; the second class is the l0g-tax men
and repudiatiouists, and is made up to a
large extent from the ranks of the Republican
] party and their friends. Both are rank and