Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-02-01

litigation. IheSe parties are, Oil
rectly, the railroad companies to
which the bonds of the State were
issued and the holders of Tennessee
bonds, and indirectly the people of
Tennessee dis committed to the
transaction by their legislative and
executive officers.
First, then, we will give a brief
abstract of the Governors message
so far as it refers to the bonded debt
of the State. He commences by
stating the debt as it stood prior to
the war as follows. First, bonds
for which the State is directly liable:
Turnpike Bonds at . and 81 per
Cent - 100 90
Railroad Stock at and 81 per Il
cent---..-...-.-....------- ...--...-. o01,ZOO W
Bonds Loaned Bank Of Tennessee
Bonds forHermitage at 6 per cent 5000 60
Bonds for State Capitol at per -.
per cent..........-.. ,..--....-....-- o0o'UOO w
Total............................... 500 So
Second, bonds for which the State
is indirectly liable, for bonds loaned
to
Agricultural Bureau at per ,.....
..........2 fp,uOU w
Turnpike and Plank Road Co.'S. $1,000 90
Railroad Companies........-.....--. l5,fSS,Oto w
Total. l3S26,O0O 90
mail .......sI7,59 sos 68
The Governor states that at the
time (prior to 1861 the proceeds
received by the State Government
from its investments as above spec
flied were considerably in excess of
the interest it had to pay out to the
annual amount of over 100000. 1t,
however, was subject to contingent
liabilities as endOrser of. the bonds
of certain railroad companies to the
amount of g, POI 900 90.
He then details the conditions by
which the State was secured from
loss through this extension of her
credit to railroad and other COM
panies as follows:
I. That there was stock subscribed suffi-
cient in amount and sOlvency to grade and
bridge the whole road.
=. That given number OF miles were
completed.
3. That there was no other lien upon the
{. That the bonds were to be exclusively
applied to the purposes prescribed.
,. That the bonds were not TO be sold for
less than their par value.
He then shows how all these pro-
visions were rendered futile by the
crushing effects of the war which
swept away and dried up all the re-
sources relied upon as above for
security to the State, and describes
the position of the State at the close
of the war as embarrassing to a
frightful degree, but not desperate,
contending that the insuperable diff
ticulties were piled up upon her
during the interval between 1865
and 1870 while she was ruled by
Others and in the interest of others
than her own citizens.
The Governor now proceeds to
detail the foul and barefaced frauds
under which the pOst-bellum bonds
were issued to solvent and insolvent
railroads under various Pretexts and
at an enormous discount under
which the deprecated postwar
bonds were paid into the treasury
by the solvent railroads in liquida-
ton of their liabilities, etc, etc.,
and then follows
THE FUNDING PERIOD.
This may be considered as the
transition state of our people during
which they passed from Il condition
of military subiugatiOn to one of
local selfgovernment. The State
Government was indeed regained
by the people in 1868, but that Gov
eminent was subject to the over
bearing influence OF the Federal
Government at Washington, in
which the creatures of the carpet
bag period, such as Arnell and
Horace Maynard, still held place as
the misrepresentation of Tennessee.
These men were enabled to exercise
Il malignant influence over the State
Legislature by holding over it the
constant threat of abolishing the
renascent local government and re-
manding the State TO military
government.
Under duress of these threats, as
the Governor contends, all the bonds
extant under tue seal of the State,
whether legally or illegally issued
including the interest which ac-
crued on the antc-bellum bonds
during the war were summed up in
one indistinguishable mass and re-
funded by the issuance of new bonds
for the aggregate amount. At this
distance of time it is impossible
either wholly to approve or wholly
condemn this action of the State
Legislature. The Governor, if we
understand him, wholly condemns
If: for ourselves, bearing in mind
that the then Legislators acted I'm
der the miserable alternative Of
either complying with all demands
of the creditors, just or unjust, or
else passing under the durance OF
military rule, we find no stone to
fling at them, but acquit them as
acting under OverpOwering con-
straint. But this is not a question
really at issue now; the true issue
now advanced is that, in view OF
the d,uess under which the funding
laws were enacted, these laws are
invalid and ought to be reversed.
Apart from the impossibility of
distinguishing which Of these re-
funding bonds were issued for just
and which for unjust debts, it must