The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-08-14

States and nations In pursuit OF political
and commercial ends have been guilty 81
many breaches Of faith, OF many acts criminal
and disgraceful; but we do not call to mind
any nationality which has ever before legis.
lated itself into an instrument OF money
changers and degraded the character of its
sovereignty by assuming that Of money
| broker.
| If there had been any purpose manifested
| on the parto any OF the States to repudiate
any Of the debts honorably contracted BY
them, and citizens Of New Hampshire were
| among the victims, no one will deny that II
would be the duty Of that commonwealth tx
do all In Its power to protect their rights
But no such issue has been presented
During the past eighteen years corrupt
State administrations, especially In the South
| and reckless spectators have had things
pretty much their own way, and bonds by the
millions were issued for almost every con.
ceivable wildcat scheme. These bonds were
bought up for from twenty-five to fifty cents
on the dollar, and the money passed, not into
the treasures OF the States, but chiefly into
the pockets Of the corrupt officials
the wave Of civil war had carried into all-
thority. With the return OF civil order
the people Of the States who are bur-
dened with these claims, for which they re-
ceiyed little benefit, have thoroughly can
vassed them. And what has been their
conclusion? They have found fraud on every
hand; they have found debt, debt, debt, bear
ing exorbitant interest, and little to show
for it. But they have also found that in many
cases honest bonds and fraudulent bonds
have been funded together, and that mil
lions arc held 10y Innocent third parties,
who, trusting in the faith of the
States became holders Of these securities I'm
der these circumstances the people, in some
instances, have been willing to pay more than
they really owe, but they have insisted that
the bondholders should compromise the in
terest and in some cases the face OF the bonds
In Louisiana the people have consented to
recognize the full face Of the debt but they
require the holders of it to accept lower rate
OF interest From no quarter of consequence
in the South have we heard proposition to
repudiate the debts OF the States. But the
people of Louisiana, and OF some Of the other
States, have demanded, and they are deter
mined to enforce, just and honorable COM
promise with their creditors.
Mr.. Webster, as several times quoted by
the DEMOCRAT, said that the security Of the
public creditors was the good faith OF the
commonwealth and its ability to fuljfl its en-
Gagements." The good faith of the people Of
Louisiana has been demonstrated by the fact
that, since 1866, they have paid to the
holders OF their bonds In interest the
enormous sum of ten millions OF dollars
and during the same period they have had
extorted from them, through an expensive
governmental machinery, set up and worked
by men who were sustained in power by the
spectators who bought the bonds they manu-
featured, over sixty-eight millions of dollars.
That the State has exhausted its resources;
that it has not the ability to pay the seven per
cent interest demanded by the bondholders, Is
explained ia measure by the facts just men
toned and demonstrated by the thousands Of
interest yet unpaid. the general impoverish-
ment Of the people and the depreciation OF
in nearly every parish.
Here, then, we find in this State no desire or
purpose to repudiate. The object of the peo-
pie is to make just compromise with the
bondholder. They exhausted their resources
In the hopeless effort to yield up the five
and a half mills interest tax and pay the
seven per cent interest. Finallyin Convention
they invited the bondholders to discuss com
promise; the bondholders refused and the
Convention adjusted the debt to meet
the ability Of the people to pay
This is what the New Orleans Times de-
nounces as reputation, and proclaims the
shame and disgrace Of Louisiana; and it is
to override this adjustment and force the i'm
poverished people of this State to pay a five
and a half mills interest tax that the State OF
New Hampshire, at the solicitation of dis
reputable lobbyist, named Hume, has de-
graded herself into a broker for the money
sharks. Other States are to be sued Also and
Tennessee seems to have been the State most
directly aimed at But the war will be di- |
'ected with the greatest virulence against
his State if we are to calculate the luminosity
# the organs Of the dissatisfied bondholders
~ the energy Of their abuse. We expect now
% find the New Orleans Times mingling, with |
is abuse Of Tennessee and Louisiana, the |!
most gushing eulogies upon the patriotism |
ind wisdom Of New Hampshire.
But in the end we doubt IL New Hampshire |
las degraded herself to any practical end. 1t
8 not to be supposed that that State pro-
,oses to become the real owner of the bonds
N which it Is proposed to bring suit. She
viii receive them for the fraudulent purpose
y getting into court, and we showed yester-
lay that this fact proved the courts will have
20 jurisdiction; she will be gnominiousIy
licked out Of court, the object Of the
ontempt and ridicule Of the whole
ountry. Very truly the st. Louis Post
Dispatch says that this IS the only case on
ecord where sovereign commonwealth has
deliberately subordinated itself to the schemes
Il spectators, and, continues that paper, sit
several degrees more rascally than the re-
'udiation 1t was designed to correct"
Poor New Hampshire.