The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1879-01-29

4 WOnAO D6 dsCSEbalueuB duu buc COuA -
opened for the safe Of the roads, and
that so much of the proceeds as
arose from the roads built by the
postwar bonds would be paid on
those bonds. and nothing more, and
the remainder applied to the ante
war bonds. vt.
When the election Of 1869 demon.
strated that the right to vote and to
hold Office was about to be restored
to the whole people, the interest OF
the solvent railroad companies and
the holders of the postwar bonds
concurring, they made q joint effort
to procure legislation allowing the
solvent railroad companies to buy
the postwar bonds and deliver them
to the State, and for every bond de-
livered to have the tax payers as
sumo one Of theirs.
At the beginning Of the session OF
1869-70 a bill was introduced upon
this subject and passed the House.
La the Senate there was an able aud
unanimous report rejecting the bill.
and by decided vote the Senate
concurred in the report. Suisse
quently, by some means, the bill be
came law. But the bill that was
passed was not all that was desired.
Although there had been no investi-
CATION, it was believed that the post
war bonds had been illegally issued
and sold, and frauduIenlly used, and
therefore the act restricted the right
of exchange to bonds legally is
sued" .-.. e. ... 4
The postwar bonds, BY reason of
their inarmitiss, were greatly depre-
ciated. and although there wsr> ,vvo
grave question: in the way Of the
solvent railroad companies. yet the
speculation was so tempting, they
determined to take the chances.
The frst difficulty was that as the
act restricted the right of exchange
to bonds illegally issued" and as
there had been no investigation or
determination Of that question, it
was uncertain what bonds had been
illegally issued.' The other diff
Guilty was that the holders of the
bonds Issued 10 the several solvent
roads had lien upon all the proper
ty and it's usufruct Of the respective
roads for the payment of the bonds,
and it was doubtful whether the
State could defeat their lien by leg.
islation. The first question the solv-
ent railroad companies determined
to decide for themselves and they
decided that all the bonds were 'le-
gally issued" and the report of the
Comptroller shows they bought aud
paid in the most Objectionable bonds
first, as they were the cheapest, and
this was done in great part before
au investigation was had.
This preoipitate action upon the
part of the solvent railroad compa-
nies seriously embarrassed the ac-
tion of the Legislature, and that EN-.
barrassment was augmented by a
threatened military government,
which was then asked for by the
members iu the Lower House of
Congress from Tennessee.
The question as to the lien of the
bondholders is now pending in the
courts.
In 1869 the just debt for which
the taxpayers had TO provide was
comparatively small, while the debt
of the solvent roads was large, but
by manipulation the solvent rail.
roads undertook to transfer their
debt to the tax payers and relieve
themselves.
Under duress from the threatened
overthrow Of the State Government
by Federal interference, and believ.
ing They had the ability to provide
for the payment OF the entire debt,
the taxpayers submitted to the
grave wrongs which had been done
them, rather than imperil their libeF- |
ties, and subject themselves to ~
=, -,
friendly criticisms Bn, q doh, dic
Ra.IA ~
--uIG to bear in the beginning, and
constantly augumentiug by fraud
and funding, while all values we're
rapidly depreciating, became at last
loo great for them TO bear, and they
went down in the hopeless effort.
At no time since the FIRST funding
act have the taxpayers been able to
pay the interest upon the nominal
public debt. An examination will
disclose the fact that there was no
legitimate payment of interest be.
fore 1870. The interest," was paid
by borrowing money, by appropriat-
ing the assets Of the Bank of Ten.
nessee, by selling bonds to raise
money, and partly by taxation.
In 1873, when the payment of in
terest was resumed, it was estimat-
ed that the taxable property of the
=