The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1879-01-23

| The geographical position of Tennes-
see made her soil the theater OF active
military operations from the beginning
to the close of the war. The blight of war
! which fell upon Tennessee is without
parallel in modern times. For years
her courts were closed her laws abrO-
| gated; her people left without protec-
| ton; the arts of peace abandoned; and
her accumulated wealth, banking capt.
tai and currency NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
murder, arson, ROBBERY and pillage filled
the land with terror, want and suffering.
| The General Government seized and
| appropriated to its use the crops and
| stock of nOn-com Blatant citizens without
compensation. 1t occupied and used all
the property belonging to the State and
| allupOn which it had a lien for the secur-
| ity of public creditors. 1t made the
State Capitol a military fortress. 1t
| converted the Asylum and University
| buildings into military hospitals and
| barracks, and wantonly destroying =
part OF them, it seriously damaged them
all. 1t filled the penitentiary with il
| prisoners. 1t destroyed the turnpike
and plank roads in its military use. Ii
| stripped the branch roads of their iron
and appropriated it to its own use. Il
operated the main lines of railroads
from the beginning of 1862 to the close
| of 1865, and appropriated all of the
profits. 1t took from the State the
| banking power which had been so
profitable to it, and bestowed it upon its
\ own bondhOlder.s
With a debt 70 provide for at the close
of the war, and every source of revenue
| destroyed save that of direct tax upon
| the impoverished citizens of the State,
| the situation was perpIexing, but by no
means desperate.
The annual interest for which the tax
payer had to provide upon the State
| debt proper, Tor bonds loaned the Agri-
cultural Bureau and turnpike and plank
road companies was $2ll ,456. The coin
| assets of the Bank of Tennessee, con-
verted into national bonds, yielded all
| annual interest of $40, 1925, which re-
| duced the amount TO be raised by taxa
ton to $166, 324.75. In addition to this
Indebtedness the State had issued bonds
to eight railroads, which ultimately
proved insolvent, amounting to 81 ,42S,-
| 600. All of these roads which had not
been stripped of their iron were worth
| the amount of the bonds issued them,
as the iron was low when purchased,
and had largely enhanced i'm price. Ii
| these roads had then been sold, and the
proceeds turned over to the holders OF
| the bonds issued to them, with the claim
on the Government for iron apprOpTia-
| ted, it is clear that these bonds could
have been thus fully paid. But if it be
| assumed that the insolvent roads were
worth no more chan One-half the debt,
the annual interest for which the tax
payers would have been required to
make provision would not have exceed
ed 100000, an amount which they
could have met without serious diff
Guilty.
All of the balance of the public debt,
was the primary debt of solvent COmpa-
MES, then and now able to meet it.
But unfortunately, with the return OF
peace the government of Tennessee was not
| restored TO the tax-Payers- The first utter
ances of the Governor and Comptroller IN
| 1865 exhibited clearly that the rights of the
| tax. payers and the obligations II the general
| government were appreciated In discussing
| the duty of the general government to pay
the interest which had accumulated during
| the war upon TIE railroad bonds, the Govern
or said "a S the war If tor the benefit of the
whole nation. it is not believed that the gen
! eral government intends that Tennessee shall
| pay more than her just proportion of the war
| debt" The Comptroller, after recitng the
| fact that the general s overnment 10 1862 took
| possession of and was still using the roads Of
| the State, except the Louisville IL Nashville
said: That the general government will
pay the State for the use of the roads sum
adequate to meet the interest on the bonds
we cannot doubt" The Governor recon-
mended but two measures of relief. The first
was to repudiate all bonds held by Rebels
and the last to have the general government
to pay its debt to the State. The one was
found impracticable, and the other refused.
The war interest was then funded. To de-
mand it under the circumstances was cruel
and to corcede it was a crime. There was a
precedent directly in point. By the treaty
which concluded the Revolutionary war,
there was "A stipulation that the debts due to
British subjects before the war from citizens
OF the United States should be deemed valid
and tho courts of the States should be open
for their collection. All the Sta es declined
to allow interest. The British Minister call
ed Mr., Jetlerson's attention to it, and upon
this point, among other things, he said:
land we may add once for all tina: there IL
no instrument CT titlesof debt so formal and
sacred as to give right to interest on it un-
der all possible circumstances. If
then, there is no instrument OF title of debt
SO formal and sacred as to give the right to
interest under all possible circumstances, and
if circumstances of exemption, stronger than |
in the present case cannot possibly be found, |
then no instrument OF title of debt however
formal or sacred, can give the right to inter |
est under the circumstances of our case. = =
General calamity then prevented profit, |
and consequently stopped interest, which is
in lieu of profit II need not be affirmed |
that the general calamity" then is not com |
parable to the general calamity of Tennessee |
resulting from the late war.
The next fatal step was the Issue of addi- |
tionsl bonds to the insolvent roads. Il was /
done under the pretense that it was necessary /
to enable those roads to meet the interest up /
on their ante-war bonds and thus protect the |
taxpayer. All of hese bonds were pretend |
ed to be issued under various amendments to !
the Act of 1912. The amount issued was |
&lO,6s3,Q00 There were honest men in the |
legislative bodies which authorized this fraud |
but their efforts to protect the State were una
vailing. But their manly protests exhibit
the shameful methods employed in tie per
petration of this vast fraud. The facts sub
seQuently officially developed, in connection
with the journals of the two houses, show
that appropriations were refused unless the
members were paid to make them. 1t ap-
pears that bonds were sold at a large dis
count to raise money to pay N, mbers to vote
further appropriations. It appears that with
the proceeds of bonds so sold a minister of
the gospel was employed to manipulate mem
bers of the legislature, and that when he
reached the capitol, IA bill authorizing the
issuance of bonds had been rejected by a de-
cided majority. In the morning he opened
the proceedings with pray er: before night
the vote was reconsidered, and the next day
the bill passed with but two dissenting votes
This bill appropriated 5000 600 dollars to
the iusolvent roads.
1t appears that relatives of high officials
were paid money, the proceeds of bonds, to
induce favorable action in the further issu-
ance Of bonds. Il appears that bonds were
sold at large discount to pay interest in
order to oonseal deiinquenoles. That the
proceeds were used to pay high salaries to
railroad officials; to pay excrbitant lawyers
fees; to pay old debts, and, in short, applied
to an in infinite variety of other unlawful pur-
poses. IL appears that the Governor, who
was clothed with the power to decide when
the law was complied with, delegated his
power to issue bonds, and that many of them
were signed and issued by one Of his subordi-
mates in the city of New York. The prodigal
waste of this vast can be appreciated
W hen it is stated that before the war the
State had appropriated bonds to Ike insolvent
reads OF East Tennessee TO the a.uoant Of ,
S47l,OCO. That after the war, for the al
legged purpose Of protecting the tax payers
from paying interest on the s47l .OOC there
were issued TO the insolVent roads of East {
"a, SAT 900. That hen they were
sold they brought, in deprecated bonds, I
$76S, 600. worth not more than 1850 900 in |
The same disastrous policy was
pursued in dealing with the delinquent roads l
Of Middle and West Tennessee
BY an examination Of the unanimous re- 1 {
port of the JOINT Judiciary Comm ittee of !
both houses OF the legislature Of lS69-70,
OF some of the best lawyers in the {
STATE, in relation to the validity of the bonds 1
sSued to the Tennessee n Pacific road il will 7