Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1879-04-02
THE STATE DEBT.
Interview with a PrOmInenI Demo-
crat.

Int NrEieW with Prom inent DemOA
crat.
Maj. w. J. Sykes, OF Columbia, was
at Nashville attending a meeting OF
State credit Democrats last week and
the editor OF the CHRONICLE, who was
there at the time, had a long inter-
view with him on the subject of the
State debt, which is here given
Question-What do you think,
Major, said we, of the probability
of an adjustment by the Legislature at
its present session?
Answer-I can not say. 1t is very
doubtful whether they will pass the
fifty cents bill through both houses,
as the session is near its close.
Q.-"Suppose they do, will the Gov
ernor approve it, and will the bond
holders accept it?
Al think the Governor will glad
ly approve it. What the bOndhOlders
will do, | do not like to venture an
opinion. If the new bonds were made
secure in any manner, by apprOpria-
ting a portion of the revenue of the
State to the payment of the interests,
L think they might accept it, if APP
preached in the proper manner by the
uTOper men. | do not think that
State Government should be paid in
anything but money. There should
be a special tax to pay the interest on
the State debt, and in payment of this
tax the coupons might be made receiv-
able the very year they become due.
can not zee the necessity of collect
ing money to pay coupons, where the
coupon itself might be used in pay
ment. This would make the coupons
useful in trsnsacting the ordinary
business of the country if the bonds
were made of a small denomination,
and even if they were five hundred
dollar bonds. the coupons might be
used in large transactions.
Q.-SuppOse the Legislature fails to
make q settlement, what then?
A.-The people must and Will take
it in hand. A settlement must be had
during the present year. The people
demand it. If there is no settlement
and no prospect of one, then the suits
against the railroad comp anies will be
pressed with vigOT, and suits will be
Instituted directly against the State
upon all bonds issued during the time
when by her own act, the State al
lowed herself TO be sued, and these
amount, as | learn, to eight or ten mil
lions of dollars, principal and interest.
Mr.. Eugene Kelley told me he had said
to Gov. Marks, that if no settlement
were effected, il was the intention of
the bondbOlders to sue the State direct
ly. Mr.. Kelly said the same thing to
me in letter which 1 showed you.
Gov. Marks told him they could do
nothing in such suit and Mr.. Kelly
said to him that some very good law
yers thought they could. If a suit
were brought against the State, we
could not and would not plead, as the
lawyers say RH debit, non est tactttn1,
fraud or failure of consideration, but
merely the plea TO the jurisdiction of
the court or that State could not be
sued. 1t would be like man pleading
infancy upon q contract. Such q suit
would be TuinOus, even il we eventu-
ally gained it. IL would be disastrous
also to the bODdhOlder; and, there
fore, he should, and / believe would,
prefer fair, honorable settlement.
Q-HOw does il happen that go
many men in your section OF the
State, who pay no State tax, object to
paying the debt?
A.-This / never could understand,
except upon the ground that they are
misin formed Many of them believe
tie poll tax goes to the bondholder,
Wher, as you know, it goes to the
common schools. They are made to
believe that the taxes paid by them
OUT Of their labor, when, in fact, they
get as much fer their labor when
taxes are high as when they are low.
II there were no tax at
ali they would be paid no
more than when lakes were high.
The taxes are paid, as every
man of sense knows, out of that por.
ton of the products belonging to the
owner of the land. 1.-THE labOrer gets
twO-thirds of what is made, the land
owner has to pay the tax out of the
other third, which he gets as rent.
When he rents his land to the tenant,
he never puts on the tax, because, if he
did, the tenant would rent of some one
else. But, if he did, the tax on one
acre OF land assessed at twenty dol
lars, wOul1 only be eight cents, if the
tax was only forty cents on the hun
dred dollars. Our State tax is now
only ten cents on the hundred dollars,
and yet the poor man is suffering more
than he ever did, not from taxation, but
from the effects produced by our
regulating, or non-tax paying policy,
Credit is reduced, confidence is de.
strOyed, public and private enterprises
are stopped, labOrers are thrown ont
OF employment, wages are reduced and
the poor, honest working men, who
have been persuaded to advocate prac-
teal reputation are nursing the SER
pent that is singing them to death.
No man sympathizes more deeply
with those who are really in want
than l do. No one. has felt the want
of money more than 1 have. am
opposed TO a policy which 10 not only
running the reputation of the State,
but is destroying its honest, hard
working citizens who pay very lit
tie if any taxes. In States that
pay their debts and meet
their obligations, where taxes
are four, five and in some instances
ten times as high as they are in Ten
nessee, labor is better rewarded and
the working men more prosperous.
The demagOgue who persuades the
working man to favor Reputation is