The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1879-08-30
BOND.DEBT OF TENNESSEE.

| BOND-DEBT OF TENNESSEE. -
l. The decided refusal Of the people of
Tennessee to ratify the proposed compro
mise of the bonded bebt by reducing the
| principal one half and the rate of interest
to four per cent, shifting great part of
the, burden on posterty, has caused much
surprise in many circles, it being consid-
cred everywhere as virtual reputation
Of the debt. Nearly all the public jour
nails in the State, and nearly all the prom
inent men of all parties, favored the adjust
ment, and yet it was rejected at the polls by
a large majority. The people, the mass
es, and especially the agricultural masses,
| have learned to think for themselves, and
the Occupation of the leaders of public
opinion, like that of Othello, "is gone
The people of Tennessee have done
right No legal or moral obligation rests
| on them to pay these bonds. 1t is beyond
the just powers of government to fasten
a debt on its citizens, except when the
debt is unavoidably incurred in the dis
charge of its legitimate function-the pro-
I lection of the lives, liberties and property
| of its citizens. Still less has government
the right to impose such burdens on flu
| ture generations of citizens. Except in
| the discharge of its normal duties, the act
! of a government is not the act of its citi-
zens: still less is it the act of a generation
of citizens yet unborn.
The right of revolution, recognized by
every nation in christendom, is a potent
remedy in the hands of every people for
laws and forms of governments that be-
come intolerably oppressive. So, the
right of reputation, recognized by the
Constitution of the United States, in that
it declares that a State cannot be sued in
the Federal Courts by citizen of another
State, or of foreign nation, is potent
remedy in the hands Of the people of ev-
cry State against debts unjustly imposed
by their governments, and intolerably op-
pressive.
The Tennessee bonds were, for the
most part, issued in aid of abroad cor
porations. They were without any con
sideration inuring to the benefit of the
State or her people, the State holding no
stock in the roads, and having no valuable
interest therein. They were of the nature
of what is called accommodation paper
in commercial transactions. Had the gov
ernment either legal or a moral right to
issue accommodation securities for the
benefit of corporations, binding the cit-
zens Of Tennessee, the citizens then in be-
ing, and those afterward to come into be-
ing, for the payment of these securities?
The state. government took lien on
the earning of the roadst to secure the pay
ment of the interest on the bonds as it ac-
crued, and on the roads themselves to Sc
cure the payment of the principal as the
bonds matured. We shall see presently
Z how conspiracy was afterwards formed
and carried into execution, to abate this
the only protection the people had, and
to fasten absolutely, the whole railroad
debt on the shoulders of the people.
Up to the war the interest was prompt
ly paid out of the earnings of the roads
and both bondholders and people came to
look on the State government as mere
fiduciary that undertook to see that the
earnings of the roads were properly ap
piled to the payment ofthe interest on the
bonds, the debt being in fact the debt o.
the roads, and not that the State. Du
ring the war there were, of course, nc
earnings and no payments ofinterest
lataA After the war, when the bulk of the
people of Tennessee were deprived of any
voice,in. their State government, huge
bonded debt, mostly fraudulent and al
ways extravagant, and contracted by tht
. malignant and corrupt majority in th'
: legislature-the vultures that for year
tore, mangled, and deyoured the bleeding
PROSTATE body of their Mother State. Th'
disfranchised people declared that they
would never pay this fraudulent debt
that they would repudiate it when th'
E reins of government. should again come
5 | into their hands Then the conspirac,
was formed to defraud the people, to saw