The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-06-16
THE STATE DEBT.
M Morahouse Dlarion.1

THE STATE DEBT.
Morehouse Olarton.l
The Convention has not YET acted upon t 4,
wbt,t1 the reports do come up, we expect th
,myht hatwesn tho two factions will be- lont
md bitter. And right here we desire g
record our vote against the majority re a,. ],
reducing the State debt we are not willing u
ir1dorse the wholesale Republication, % c ,1
tnlnpiated BY this committee. Should thlf
report 20 adopted Y would not only rum t
adnntioI, nj tho new constitution, rs oil the
waalth and capital I'll tho State would by or.
rayed solldly against II, and II defeated. gil
tho trouble and expense Incurred ~ framing
beilof that this report will DO rejected by tho
Convention and some plan proposed which
viii satisfy All the parties interested. This
nsrl be done Ii the Convention will show y dis.
the State. IL ID true some Of the debt y I'M
Just and should not BIO paid, but this 10 no
reason why tho valid portion should be r.
puaiatsd. 49,.
creditors Of the State. II any of the bonds
are fraudulent. and they eail be detected, we
say repudiate them; but where debt ig hon.
oct, Just and correct, II should 20 paid. II
will nQt Do to say ths state y nnahe to psay
ii,r an, economical form Of government
aboliehlng useless offices and reducing, the
salaries 81 an btate offlelals.,.-a low rate Of
taxation, say seven Of eight mills will BE- an
terest Oh the debt, and create sinking fund
that will wIpe out tho entire debt, And, more,
over, we believe the people pf Louisiana would
Mny pay n thu ts sx Ea eeee n y g 1nS
sale Reputation.
f1laat Feliaiann Watchmau1
wv take II FOR granted TINT no honest man
Iii iii favor OF repudintiIg the debt, IL ID can
be shown that the State has received y, ts
equivalent lii work on money value. The
sSe Impression that oil ths debt was im-
e sfsneas p q he They think
they onn delude the people into this or
roous belief there thas ~. w % on e hat Q.
our opprassors will carry the measure
through, I'D the heat of passion and Without
sober reflection. We, however, believe that
the people will not bo migled into %, Inn
III lid obligations 81 the State, Without first
satisfying themselves, that there. are good
and valid reasons for such action, such
reasons, LII fact, as would justify an honest
citizen ln refusing to pay bis own debts.
The majority report does not, W our mind,
furnish such reasons.
The majority Of the debt committee Ignore
the fact that the Supreme Court Of the State
has declared q great many q these bonds
Democratic Legislature thoughtso highly Of
their safety and binding force, as To authorize
tutors to invest Ii th6m the sacred trust funds
of their minors. They Ignore the fact that the
Democratic party, TO which they claim 20 owe
merit OF all the isgal obligations Of the State
pf Louisiana, both In the platform OF 1870 and
ID that OF 1878. They ignore al these facts,
and simply say: We have 9 sufficient pretoxit,
take advantage OF the legal bubble, no matter
who ID ruined Or who Ii hurt we have this
power to do II and we will do y. In other
words, they say: We shall because we can.
md that Id reason enough.
does not satisfy our mind. 10 Justify repu-
aiatlon, IN our eyes, more potent reasols must
Be that spggested ey the Ne .s or en- DEMO
wbat are known as .baby bonds of % and
$40 denomination, drawing per cent interest,
mad lot these bonds circulate as money
throughout the State. The plan has been
rably. They would pass current as money.
and thus increase the volume of our medium
of exchange This increase ofcurrency would
~ fur toward relieving the scarcity OF
debt would then be changed from public
burden Into d public blessing
TThiboaux Sentinel
The discussion on the two reports OF the
Committee ON the State Debit Is still quite
warm, The report Of the majority, which
proposes 10 repudiate d large part Of the pub
Tic debt, seems to be one Of the weakest re-
ports TINT has yet been presented to the Con-
Tention on any subject. Whether there are
enough delegates In that Convention to pass
such an ordinance will shortly be determined.
TO do 30 will simply leave the State precisely
where she was when the Convention was
tailed, for the people Of Louisiana will not
sustain any such wholesale Reputation as
shat contemplated by said report.
Tho times are hard, money - difficult to
earn, and taxes are onerpus, but the people OF
Louisiana have not 30 far fallen from virtue
as to sanction any such means OF settling Just
liabilities.
The Interest should be reduced to at least
per cent, and Ii any specified bonds can be
shown to have been obtained through fraud,
deception or theft, they should be repudlated
when the facts are exposed to view, but to
deny indebtedness on such tlimsy pertexts as
the report OF the majority OF the committee
on the debt OF the State Is something that
will never be consummated by the honest
ooss.ai.aseHs ef Louisiana unless they have fallen
u long ways from the standard Of honor they
were formerly accustomed to follow.