The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1879-04-04
THE STATE DEBT.
The Consent of Public Creattoss Not
Necessary for an Adjustment.
New Orleans Bee.1

pretend that their rights are un 9S6alla-[
BILE; that the contract OF 1874 irrevoca-
bly, binds the people Of the State. to
The end Of centuries, and that the
right of the creditors is authentic, adj +
mitted, ratified, fndofsed, without pre-
When II Is then mentioned to them
that It is Impossible for the State to
meet Its obligations, as they cannot
deny the evidence, they admit the
fact, but see no further remedy than to
beg Of the creditors to consent to, a re-
duction OF Interest. The voluntary
consent Of the creditors is, Therefore,
according to these champions Of the
debt, a condition indispensable to am
adjustment. But, nsthe right Of thed
creditors is as, unassailabfe as It Is pre-
tended, we ask why the creditors
should consent to a reduction, even of
interest? It would therefore be from
purely generous m olives. We do not
believe insthis style OF tender feelings.
In transactions between individuals a.
creditor can remit to his rde4tor q por-
the means Of working to pay the other
portion. It Is not generally through
motives of generosity that a creditor
acts thus 1t is through interested mo.
tives, because he may fear 10 lose,
everything, either by the nkruptcy
or the death Of his debtor, the law
having wisely permitted to the heirs
to liberate themselves by renuncia-.
ton. "a 80 A+s1tl 80 9...,ll
But If the state cannot go into bank
ruptcy, If neither the present nor iu-,
ture generations can thrust from their
shoulders the weight which It has
pleased the governments imposed by
! bayonets to load them with, the pub
lie creditors would be simple and art.
less indeed to renOunce their rights
and not to patiently walt till an inn
provement in the Situation should
make it possible that they be paid In
full.
The public creditor, considered as an
impersonal being, never consents to a
| conversion or reduction. He sub
mits only when he sees that he cannot
do otherwise, or when he believes that
it is profitable for him to accept. .sri
il When Kellogg made his famous con-
! version at GO per cent for the purpose
of funding vast amount of illegal
and fraudulent bonds and warrants
!, did he ask for the voluntary consent O
the holders either of legal or illega
bonds? .T4s.,.,.5 ssFf,zti. - q si5g
We still have before us the protests
) printed in pamphlet form, OF the Eng
} lish creditors, who organized them
! selves into an association to resist, ane
= who later, realizing the ilnpossibilit,
f of forcing the State to pay them,a re
: signedly accepted the conversion. Die
! not the holders of ante-bellum bond
: possess as solid if not stronger titles, a
q the holders of the bonds of 1874
: Why, therefore, consider the bond
: of 1874 as more sacred and inviolabl
= than ordinary evidences of public in
I'll Indebtedness Is it not clear that thi
n only tends to encourage the creditor
g to reject all propositions of adjustment
I'll Happily for our State, all the argU
n ments which are used in favor OF tn
n linviolability of the contract of 1877
d rest only on false premises, as we wi
e show, in speaking of the State debt j
IF our studies on the convention.
n When we will have established tn
e fact that the origin of the consolids
p ted bonds is tainted with suspicion
n that fraudulent and illegal, as we'll {
le legal debts, have been converted undo
IS the funding act, and that from tt
r standpoint of political law of the Ian
70 the public creditors, have no means
c. legal coercion to obtain payment, v
Of have no doubt that the creditors wi
err he more willing to accept the new az
e. justment which will be proposed
" them. : F5s.s f.. ,e- -sf5,,.-.l
al Their lawyers and advocates wi
at put forward all the arguments whi'
lis are generally invoked against repudi
is ton, and we will join them in sustai
ing that It is right to give to the pa
st ment of the debt all the resourc
ne which will be left after the necessiti
~, of the government will have been pl
O. vided for. 1t will be but a Sing
r. matter. OF a figure to discuss, in taki
~ as u basis the present and future sta
n, Of the resources of the. budget, the !
ne lief due to the Taxpayers, who ha
OF been oppressed for so many years Al
We the equities due to the creditors. ).