The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-07-09
!. OUR j. DEBT.
The Action Of che Constitutional Oonven-
ton and Its Moral.

I'M. VI Commercial and Financial onronleAe',
Whatever may be the final action Of Inc
louisiana Convention, now In session.
inR the State debt, the course q Ins tlIsn
shows Sense OF honor existing at tilat END o.
the State, at least which VIII nsvea pe +, n,,n
fe question to be finally settled except 10 ols
way. In fnct, the remarkaplea. SUCCESS ,,n,
efforts have thus tar lnes reaaons. It viii
NJ .arnambered That when the, majority
report Was made, cutting down tn Is
debt To almost nothing, ~ mau ~ ,ra Il
a 4 Eer,ort has been actually defeated by q
r1st ~ do yeas to SO nays That, OF itself,
! shows !, remarkable change OF opinion, and
! s would be very gratifying victory; and yet
plished. On Tuesday Of this week the Con-
yenfion adopted u substitute for the minority
report, recognizing the entire principal OF the
State debt as constituted under the funainR
act, but reducing the interest to PEI cent 1 tor
fifteen years and to per cent thereafter. We
have nothing at present 10 do with the cues
ton pf the acceptance Of this proposition,
though the very contest which has been 10
progress in New Orleans for some weeks
should. and we have ~ doubt will give the ls
Reputation great influence with the creditors
q But this little piece Of history and the iinal
action illustrate one fact very clearly. Whlcn
W. have often insisted upon and wish poll.
Z
Rreat reliance can be placed ON the average IN
felliuenca and honesty OF any American COM
1nunity, III the necessary steps 70 enligntein ~
will emily be taken. We must remember that
the citizens Of Louisiana are IT, 3ust Inal COL
airy embarrassment which, as calhoun once
expressed Ii, naturally .tblunts every feeling
of honest pride and deadens the sense OF lus-
tice 60 that they were very reaay, 70 % eala
Temporary relief. No part Of our country y
more unfarOrably situated tor the growth OF 9
sentiment favorable to the honest payment 81
debt than that State at the present time EUR
therInpre, small portion Of the debt which
had been funded and Is now undistingnisii-
able. was generally admitted TO be fraudulent
aud nearly nine millions OF the original debt
was contracted under government which
believe was never elected, but forced upon
them. We recall these facts simply to show
\ how many hindrances the development OF a.
honest sentiment met with; the people were
personally embarrassed, and, therefore. theif
sense OF Justice was deadened, and they had
the aembIance OF an excuse which they cotllu
use to Justify their action. When, however,
the question was stripped, OF its immateTlal
ss1es and the people were hrougnt 1aee 10 lace
had been funded through o board OF liquida-
ton, under the acts Of the Legislature Of the
State passed in 1874. ind the bonds regularly
Issued "a every way By the State a and t nra
ceedings had been confirmed BY the Legislative
act Of 1877 and BY the courts, they seem
quickly to have realized that reputation
could only be with dishonor.
IVA dwell thus at length upon this case
because, ss we have stated, 1t il q good Illus.
tration of d great truth, one which 1t would
be wigefor statesmen and for politicians TO
consider well. No party can be built up ID
this country on dishonesty or can afford 70
have Its policy tainted with the least sus-
plcion Of any species Of Reputation.