The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-07-05
THE DEBT QUESTION.

The DEBI QUEaIlUN.
Record Of the Natchitoches Vindieator From
July, 1875 to the Present Time.
July IA. 1881
1--WE have repeatedly called attention to the
fact that the advocates for constitutional
Convention have never tntimAted purpose
to repudiate the State debt. This charge has
come twice from the same source, the New
Orleans Times, and fs calculated not to fniure
the cause Of the Constitutional Convention,
but the credit Of the State. The basis Of q
debt which cannot stand an honest Constttu-
of the wretch who would charge the majority
OF Democrats In Louisiana with being dis
honest regulators; for the assertion that q
Constitutional Convention is fatal to our
State credit can be constructed In no other
''shame upon the outcast that would utter
such q falsehood! !"
July 81. 1881
"As sweet morsel," these people who op--
pose an honest constitution, continually roll
under their tongues the stale guild that the
tconventfOnists' favor the reputation OF the
State debt and destruction Of the State
credit.
"Such charge as that made against honest
and honorable men only shows to what
desperate straits these people are reduced In
their loyalty to bad In order to meet our ar
guments In order that this charge may not
have longer the semblance Of contemptuous
silence which 1t deserves, we desire to state
most emphatically that we are In favor Of the
most rigorous payment OF every dollar Of our
State Indebtedness. We accepted the sealing
we intend to insist that 1t shall be maintained
to the payment Of the utmost farthing This,
too, is the sentiment Of our people, and we
call upon all our co,afreres In favor OF q con-
stitutional convention to give the lie, for once
and all, to this stale charge of our being re-
pudiationists.
February %. 1901
Much has been said In this State Of repudi-
alton, and some Of our city contemporaries
have gone so far as to Insist that the country
Of the State debt. We heard more Of that
kind Of talk from the Times and Picayauae
than from the Country people," and we will
only believe that they desire to dishonor them
selves when it 10 attempted, not upon the
vile charges Of the paid journals we have
named.
March IS, 1871
It Is the settled purpose Of the taxpayer to
adjust the State debt Of this there can be
no doubt whatever, and they cannot, will not
be shaken from that purpose.
The bondholder seems equally determined
not to yield o point in his demand for his
pound Of flesh, blood and all.
The people have never yet considered nor
advocated population as charged against
them. The rawlings Of some few demagogues
to that end has been taken Tor their utter
ances, but no honorable nor honest citizen has
ever entertained such fatal, dishonest idea.
IJune Z, 1891
In all the years preceding 1861 Loufsiana's
paper on the market was the commercial in
sigma OF her honor; no man dare ask whether
its principal was secured by contract" or
Its interest made certain by tax, Especially,
al ift1fi pf fyrn
and a half mills" 1t has been left for these
degenerate days-the days when men swear
oaths to observe law and do their duty as
often as they eat their meals-that this
strange doctrine Of Judicial so s
the van of which Is the monster reputation.
And here is where our friends made their
grave mistake in supposing that 1t is neces-
sary, in order to controvert the hideous doc
trine advanced by run-mad creditors, we
should as State tarnish our unsulled honor,
we should take refuge In black disgrace.
We stand upon higher ground than that
1T IL upon the necessitiesof our people, which
are the results OF bad government preceded
by a ruinous war, and which are temporary
They demand q rest that they may recover,
but they ask it not at such fearful price as
degradation.
June I, 1871
In all our arguments on this question we
have stood firmly by the doctrine and we
stand firmly by it to.day-that the only
pledge Louisiana gave for the payment Of
her debt was her plighted honor The ergu-
ment that her debt was q contract and that
she could be dragged before q court and be
made to pay, we will resist to the last extremi-
ty.
June %. 1901
The DEMOCRAT, Times and Vn,dtcator pro-
perly conceived that it was necessary to dis
cuss thoroughly the principle claimed as the
basis OF the debt by its advocates-the prin-
ciple that the debt was contract which the
State was inhibited from violating by the con-
stitution Of the United States, and which she
could compelled to observe through Federal
courts. When this question was under dis
cussion not single one Of these shallow pated
newspapers ever opened their mouths. They
could then only howl 4fraud!' and "yell the
people!" as they have done since.
We resisted that infamous doctrine SO sue
cessfully that we can point to the fact that
delegates to the Convention, with but few ex-
ceptions, boot at the idea of coercing Lou
isiana, and the bondholder himself has been
compelled to rely upon the honor OF this COM
monWealth and its people for the final settle
ment Of his claims.
The point being gained by the DEMOCRAT,
Times and ourself, that public debts are
pledges Of public honor too sacred for law, 1T
was in the very essence OF victory that we
should observe the debt to Its utmost farth-
ing; offering such settlement, WhichEour pow
erty demanded, as would be satisfactory to
our creditors.
This Is all there is in the whole matter, and
Is a terse explanation OF the course OF those
three journals that were born In the revolu-
ton and OF it, and are not the sickening ex-
cresence Of the time of peace-peace won by
loyal hearts and brave arms, and which these
pIgmy sheets, pigmy in brains and character,
enjoy in abusing their betters In every re-
spect.
Had the wild utterances Of these people
found following In and been needed by the
Convention, the Democracy OF Louisiana
would have been disrupted, ruin would have
been carried to our commercial interests and
our prosperity as people would have stood
still for years to come. As it is not accom-
plished, the people who read and reflect must
look to these journals that have been true in
peace and war to their interests and their
honor, as proper opponents Of popular senti-
ment In the State.
How Weston CAIsae TO be u Walker.
INoonsocket tR. r. Patriot
The simple fact that Edward Payson Wes-