Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-01-25
A RUINED CITY.

1t is not Babylon or Nineveh, Tad
NOR in the desert or Memphis on
the Nile whose departed glories our
readers are called upon to contem-
plate; it is another Memphis, on
river greater than the Nile-our
unhappy, bankrupt, plague-snitten
Memphis in Tennessee.
1t is in no spirit of unkindness for
the citizens of that unhappy place
that we make its troubles the sub
ject of our this weeks writing, but
in that of the deepest cOmmisera-
ton. We would abstain altogether,
knowing how repulsive it is to
mems feelings to see their troubles
used as a topic
To point p moral or sdorn q tale;
but the causes of ruin at Memphis
are sources of mischief which pre-
vail moreO less in almost every city
in the land, and the duty of holding
up her case as Il warning to others,
ourselves included, becomes lmper-
atiYe and sacred.
The pregnant fact which brings
the case of Memphis before men's
eyes at this moment is the presenta-
ton of bill TO the present Legisla-
ture of the State to repeal the char
ter which constitutes Memphis a
city. It is not an enemy which has
done this; the bill is offered by
citizen of Memphis, and it is backed
by a petition signed by a large
number of her most influential citi-
zens. This transaction is, we be-
Iieve, unique in the history of cities
ancient or modern. We read in
history of the charters Of cities being
wrested from them by tyrannical
princes, and of rebellions, wars,
nnassacres and woes unnumbered as
the result, but for the first time, as
far as we are informed, we now
witness the spectacle of 2 city pray
ing for permission to resign her own
charter, to cease to be a corporation
and to become an undistinguishable
portion of the territory of the State
Of Tennessee.
Men naturally desire TO learn the
sntecedents Of so unprecedented
transaction Us this, and it is to sat
isfy their iustifable enquiries that
this article Il written. The petition
Of Memphis above alluded to is sub
stantially a petition in bankruptcy.
The city has fallen into condition
of hopeless embarrassment in which
she is unable to pay the principal or
interest upon her debts or even to
raise the funds for h9S necessary
current expenses.
1t is our purpose in this paper
briefly to show how this deplorahle
state of things came about.
THE CARPET-BAG PERIOD.
Memphis came out of the war
deep in debt, consisting of debt
which her citizens had no voice in
contracting, but imposed upon her
during the war, added to a consid-
cradle ante-bellum debt incurred
with the reckless extravaganza
which prevailed all over the State
in those days. Her citizens were
both ruined and DISTINGUISHED, and
they were utterly destitute Of the
means of liquidation. OF course the
city's credit was very low, its scrip
in the market passing for less than
One-thiTd of its face. This scrip was
bought up by the brokers and spec
uiaturs for from twenty-fOur to
thirty-three cents on the dollar.
Then, through the influence of these
speculators, a funding ordinance
was passed. The prOperty-hOlders
and the taxpayers as a body were
DISTINGUISHED; the bonding Orli-
nance was carried by the votes OF
the negroes and carpet-baggers, who
would take no part in paying for ii,
and if anyone came up to vote
against it the irOnclad oath was
rendered him and he had to retire
from the polls. The spectators
who now held the scrip were to
take this III sixty cents on the dol
lar, which was more than double
what they paid for it. On the
authority of this ordinance one hun
bred and thirty-five thousand dol
lars worth Of bonds more than the
million were issued. Ofcourse these
were void morally and legally.
During this time an enormous
expenditure WAS forced upon the
DISTINGUISHED citizens for metropOli-
tan police, for school fund which
the schools never got, etc. More
over, Just before the carpet-bag
period terminated in 1868 the Mich
olson pavement contracts were
made, contracts issued by carpet
haggers to carpet-baggers and faint
ed with all the fraud and rapacity
characteristic of men who are dis
posing of other peoples money f;
and nine hundred thousand in paw
ing bonds were aided to the bonded
debt of the city. This issue of paw
ing bonds was carried in the same
way as the other, and, besides being
enacted without the consent of the
taxpayers, was passed in the teeth
of city law still in force, that no
bonds for paving should be issued
over five hundred thousand. All
these bonds have since been funded,
both the valid and the invalid.
SINCE 1868.
In 1865 the carpet-bag government
in this State came To an end, and
the right of taxation came into the
hands Of tho men who paid the
taxes. For three or four years we
had flush times in Tennessee. The
paper circulation, which is now
treated by the Radicals as a public
anemv to be kicked out of the mar