New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-07-12

bonds being delivered upon such conditions as
the State might impose, one OF which shouid
be that the State should tax such town, clty
or borough in sufficient amounts to meet the
annual interest, and within definite period
cancel the entire obligation. This was
the proposition in crude form offered
by the projectors Of the movement. II
was, to state it briefly a simple pro-
posal that the Legislature should be
asked to help ont the municipalities by lend
ing them the credit of the State, which Is OF
the best. and would It is believed, float four
per cent bond without ditiiculty-to refund
the whole body OF municipal Indebtedness at
the lower igure-so as to save from two TO
three per cent per annum in the item OF IN
terest Ii was urged in support Of 1t that Id
addition to this saving IL would give to the
holders of the bonds a better security and
mike il obligatory upon the corporations Tor
whose benefit they were issued to provide not
only for the annual interest, but for the pay
ment at a determined time, of the whole
principal. II involved no breach OF faith
with creditors, contained no feature that so
much as squinted at a possibility OF eyading
payment of "a single penny, and seemed upon
the face of it plausible and rather attractive
economical scheme to give the debt-burdened
municipalities the benefit OF lower rates OF
interest, without taking advantage in the
slightest degree OF the creditor.
Now, what we want to commend TO the at
tention of other communities similarly circum-
stanced financially, is the noteworthy fact
that at the meeting called for the purpose
above set forth, and at which some forty
towns and cities were represented, there was
such scnsitiyeness felt with reference to the
public credit of the municipalities as well as OF
the State and such general anxiety to avoid
any action that could in the remOtest degree
affect it. that after a discussion at considera-
HE length of the whole matter and Of the pro-
posed plan in all its bearings, every PROPOSE
ton was voted down by a large majority, and
the meeting adjourned without taking any
action Whatever. 1t was said, IN the first
place, that the credit OF the towns and
cities and the value OF their securities
would be liable to be unfavOraby affected by
the fact Of asking State aid; and IN the
second, that the credit Of the State and the
value of its own securities might be affected
by such an increase of It's bonded debt. One
suggested with great pcrtinency that the
change from local to State bonds would not
actually improve but rather weaken the Sc
curity, since the local bonds had the property
Of all the inhabitants behind them IN addition
70 the public faith, which is the sole security
offered by the State. To bin the movement
had "A smack of reputation, and he regretted
that the meeting had been called. His view Of
il was that those who danced must pay the
fiddler, and if towns and cities had been
cxtIayagint and had run in debt, they must
learn in the hard school Of experience the
lesson that debts must be paid By those who
contract them. This was the sentiment APP
paientiy Of a large majority of those present.
II strikes Us as being a very honorable and
credtable thing. The mysteries of finance are
to those Connecticut gentlemen no very great
mysteries after all. Their notion is that the
best thing, and the only thing to do with a
debt, is to pay it, without even seeming to
try to wriggIe out of a single penny of it,.
They know that debts are cumbersome and
taxes unpleasant, but all the same they pay,
and out of hard-eamed money pay without
whining.
And upon the whole, State that raises
citizens who walk M to a debt without dodg-
ing. or a tax without whining and pay one
hundred cent osn the dollar every time, is do
ing about rs much for universal progress as
the State whose citizens have the high sense
of honor that blows the top Of a mans head
off for a difference OF opinion, and never pay
a debt if they can dodge it.