Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-11-15

a |
here were few vaporing heroes at
hat day who claimed that the
bonds should never be
paid, and the same men claimed
hat slavery must be re-enacted and
The Confederate soldiers pensioned,
anda hundred otherabsurds schemes.
These were the men who boosted
that they were not whipped, if the
Confederacy was, and in truth they
were not, for. while the war ragged
they were fai from the scene of
strife, and ate their fire out of rife
range; but the Democratic party |
was eminently conservative and
only noticed with contempt the |
vaporings of these pot-valiant !
heroes. There were among them,
however, men who mingled the
wisdom of the serpent with their
rawlings and saw that the instructive
aversion of the human species to
taxation could be calculated upon
to give vitality TO one of their cries
at least. Reputation hoped to be-
come respectable under the pseu-
d0nym of Iow-tax. In this guise it
worked in the dark till about four
years ago, when the leaders of the
Democratic party took the alarm.
Some tests were applied and it was
found that the reputation element
had become much stronger than had
been supposed, and suddenly politi-
clans discovered that some COM
promise must be adopted or our
candidates, Gubernatorial, Senate
rial, Congressional, etc., could not
be elected. So at the next Demo
cratic Convention all the old pro-
tests against reputation were re-
newed; the old resolutions for
upholding the credit of the State
were polished up till they looked as
good as new-6M it was provided
that taxation must on no considera-
ton be carried above forty cents on
the dollar, which those who knew
and told the truth admitted could
not pay the interest on the debt.
But even the forty cents compro-
mise did not last the canvass
through; it was killed by another
"6ta." Your "6,tt'' is a great peace
maker, better than Touchstone's If.
This time it came in thus: ave are
pledged to raise forty cents on the
hundred if it can be done and if it
will pay the debt; bit" (here comes
in the peace-Inaker) eff you can't
be induced to raise that much, or il
that much should on examination
be found insufficient to pay the
interest on the debt" 1--WE knew that
it was insufficient), "then we are in
favor of reducing taxation to the
very lowest estimate at which the
ordinary expenses of the State can
be paid" in short, we will raise nc
funds at all for paying interest on
the debt. And the Legislature
elected at that canvass fixed the tax
at ten cents on the hundred dollars,
and of course nothing has since
been done towards raising money
for interest on any part of the debt
1t would be foreign to our present
purpose to follow out the easy down.
hill road, fdciLiS deScenSuS AUerRi
by which we came down to the dis.
cussiOn of a compromise at sixty
cents on the dollar with six pei
cent. interest, and then at fifty cents
with four per cent interest and the
miserable failure at tee latter esti
mate; our purpose is to call atten
ton to the action of the State credit
Democrats, our own party, in the
matter and the motives alleged for it
Whenever political action ha:
been called for, this debt question
has come up. The low-taX party
without openly demanding repudi
alton, has simply set itself agains
every proposition for settlement
of it or any part of it. The policy
of the State credit party, on the
other hand, has been a series o
concessions to the lOw-taX party
the latter refusing to make any
By these concessions we have come
down, as has been seen, from thu
forty cents tax to the ten cents tax
and from the sixty at six compro
mise to the fifty at four; and wha
will be the next proposition we d.
: not venture to conjecture, but thi
| is what we notice, that State credi
; men on principle have at every steI
? demurred to further concession ant
5 have been overruled by considera
lions bearing on Federal policy
At one time a President has to b.
= elected, at another time a United
States Senator and always severa
: candidates for Congress, and tn
election of "Our men" must not b
: imperilled by divisions on the deb
l question. When the Presidentia
? election was on hand and tw
= United States Senators were to b
: appointed by the incoming Stat
= Legislature, the word was, "Surel.
e the vast questions at issue in Con
t gress are of a more widely-sprea
D interest than the single question {
e our State debt. Why not wait 70
4 two years, when no President O
: Senators are before the people; wal
5 for an off gear, in short, when W
e have nothing before US but our dc
e nestle affairs?' Well, reluctant
: the State credit men obey thei
e leaders and wait for the OF yeGl
e What then happens? Why, tn
t political leaders who held off til
e question before, now stand aloe
/ altogether. 1t is impossible to &c
h up anything like an active intere,
e in the election of State Legi:
lature; of course a most incompC
y tent Assembly is elected, and tn
It down-hill path makes a very stee