Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-03-14


violation of law, or the man that issued them.
When you make such grave charges as these,
be specific, or no one will have any confidence
in what you say. You cannot do SO, because
there is no proof to sustain the assertion.
The committee say:
I'm fact, the internal Improvement laws OF
the State, enacted before the toar, evince, in
their terms and guards, that evasions and
frauds have been practiced, and they were
still apprehended, and that it was necessary
to use exceeding great Lrecautlon In the use
of terms to prevent them. Still, despite all
the hedges of the laws, they opened field
for the action of the prevalent notion that it
is right or excusable to SOiIdte the State, and
it tOGS exercised.
This is very grave charge to make against
such men as the people of Tennessee have
been electing to Office for thirty years or
longer. Where is the proof? The fact that
the legislature threw around these acts
guards and hedges, as they call them, is
taken as evidence of fraud. Strange reason
ing this, lut about such as we might expect
from the authors of such a report Who
were the men that swlndled the State2
Who ever heard in those days that it was
Fright or excusable to swindle the State?"
Bribery and corruption In legislative bodies
was then unknown and unheard of, and is
the outgrowth of later days, and, with a
spirit of reputation, Is a symptom of the de-
caying virtue of the times. Men who charge
others with fraud, corruption and swindling,
should be prepared to make good the charge
or stand before the world in no enviable
light These remarks of the committee ap-
ply to ante-war transactions. They do not
confne themselves to railroad bonds only,
which were issued mostly by Johnson and
Harris, but they include nearly all of our
governors in one full swoop. They say:
Take, for instance, turnpike companies.
Stock was taken IN them before the acdr,
under laws, the conditions and restrictions of
which, if rigldly and faithfully fulfilled,
would have protected the State from all loss.
The State issued bonds to them to the
amount of 1,366,000. The conditions and
restrictions Of the ial0 fCere not fully OBJ
Se1Ued. The burden of the bonds and the
interest thereon since 1861 have been upon
the people, and the State has received since
the war, $106, 900 in deprecated bonds and
coupons. The facts with referenc to the in
vestments IN banks are known. They re-
suited in heavy losses 10 the people,"
This was before the war Who escapes
them? Have there never been any honest
men, pure patriots and enlightened states
men in Tennessee before this committee?
1t seems to me | have read somewhere about
a noble bird being hawked at by the NOUS
ing owl. Railroad presidents, governors of
States and members of the legislature all
fall under the terrible ban. How stupid the
people of Tennessee must have been never to
have discovered all these things before.
Again they say:
fEFLe ee---lAittao of the n,soinr -
view of the foregoing position, which is well
sustained by reason and authority, and in
view of the fact that the first purchasers
bought the bonds, and all subsequent pur-
cbasers knew that they were bought at less
than par, and in violation Of the law author
iziDg their sale; and as to the post-war bonds
issued prior to 1873, in view of the political
surround ngs and the disfranchisement of the
majority of the people of the State at the
time of their issue, that the question of in
nocent bondholders, in the legal sense of
that phrase, cannot be seriously urged by any
one at this day"
Now, If this be go, why are they not willing
to leave these questions to our own courts,
composed of able, learned and pure judges,
whom the people have elected? But, If they
knew any law, they must know that not a
singleErespectable authority, ancient or mod
ern, State or Federal, can be produced to
ci0ed otherwise on several occasions, and SO
has the court of every other State where the
question has been presented. They say that
Judge Clapp's report is an argument; that is
more than can be said for the report of the
majority 1t is an attempt at an argument,
but it completely fails In all the essentials of
an argument, either legal or otherwise. 1t is
nothing more nor less than an attempted ap-
peal to popular passions and prejudices, but
even In that respect It Is a failure. No man
dare stand before a Tennessee audience and
defend that report. All this talk about hard
times is intended to cover up the real de-
signs, which mean Reputation or a forced
adjustment, which is the same thing. Let
US not deceive ourselves; we may repudiate
but we cannot force an adjustment. We
may, when 1t is too late, regret that we had
not made an acceptable settlement, for nom
payment of the debt is not its liquidation,
and 1t may yet come upon us in terrible force.
The bondholders cannot, will not ard shnnld
not accept anything but fair settlement.
It must be that or attempted reputation.
Which will we take?
".
EDIToRs APPEAL-Tne committee have
divided the bonds into the classes ante-war
and postwar, and they say there are now out
standing ten million three hundred and
twenty thousand dollars of the postwar
bonds All of the bonds, both ante-war and
postwar, have been time and again recog-
nized as binding by all the departments OF
our State government-executive, Legislative
| and judicial. They were recognized by the
act passed ON the twentieth of January, 1870,
which now remains upon our statute book
They were recognized by ali our governors IL
| receiving postwar as well as ante-war bonds
| Thy were recognized by our courts in order
| ing u sale OF Gne RAILROADS. 10 DC DalQ In post
war as well as ante-war bonds, and oaI
present governor said in 1876 they were rec
| ognized by the free rOice of the people.
| What then is the use of discussing whether
| they were properly issued. We are pre-
| cluded from doing so by our own action
! What the people do through their representa-
| tiYes and through their public officers during
| G series of years they do by themselves. Any
| other doctrine destroys representative gov
erDment. Much of the testimony taken by
| this committee has as little to do with the
| question at issue as the history of Stanley:
( travels and discoveries in Africa. The bond:
| which they attempt to show were Improperly
| issued are paid and cancelled. The out
| standing postwar bonds Issued to railroad
companies amount to 81, 9S9 900. OF these,
| $493, 0O0 were issued to now solvent railroad
| companies, and their validity never coulC
have been impeached, and many of then
were issued to such roads as the Nashville
and Northwestern, the Memphis, GAINESVILLE
| and Louisville, and the Memphis and Ohio
roads which received and used them proper
ly. OF the bonds issued to the Knoxville anC
| Kentucky road, with which Joseph A Mabry
was connected, only 1856, 900 are outstand
| ing, and these are IN the hands of third par
ties, with the recognition Of the State. o
the bonds issued to the Tennessee and Pa
ci6c railroad company, of which Georg
Nancy was president, Only $4,000 are out
| sLdDuiDRs dDu lucSCI wv nave DCCu NCSoB
nized. OF the bonds issued to the Alabama
and Winchester road since the war, onl!
$182, 900 are outstanding. OF the post-wa
bonds issued to the NJ 'Minnville and Man
chester road, only 100000 are outstanding
making the amount of the doubtful tond
now outstanding less than million dollars
and, as before stated, all of these bonds hav
been recognized as valid by the people of tn
State through their representatives. If TIL
committee think these facts are correct, an
they are sustained, as they say they are. b
principles and authority, in their view {
4 the law WHY do they not advocate submit