The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1880-06-17
Il Live State Issue.
From the Chattanooga Time,

From the Chattanooga limc-.
With the weak and ill-manncrcd or
gains Of reputation We have nothing to
do. Logic and common sense are alike
lost ON them. They have abandoned all
pretcnsc Of principle; they never had
any sense. The demagogucs vino are
roaring over the State--ToIlcy, Savage,
Railroad BcQslcy & Co.. are seeking
their own profit, Their mouthings
about the rights Of the people are the
bascst hypocrisy, and their tears for the
downtroddcn taxpayers are Of the croc-
odile order. Their assumption Of the
name Of low-taX is "A taking bit Of clap.
trap; but at the same time ii is fraud,
lie and u cheat These be plain
words, a, this is II plain subject, and We
desire to be- fully understood. We have
no concern with these Observation-Disclosures,
further than to warn good men against
them and their false theories and pre-.
lenses.
But the good people Of this goodIy
State are amcnablo to reason, They,
unless mislcd, will do the things that are
fair and of good reputc, and to them the
lovers Of state honor should appeal.
The talk that we must play that there
is no State debt question in order to
"hold the party together is both cow
ardly aud siiiy--as silly rs the ostrich
which imagincs its bulky body is hid
%hcn It's bit Of Il head il thrust in the
sand The very men who are shouting
clown to this debt question are there
by agtaiing it. They remind us Of q
drunk fellow VIC once saw ut Il public
meeting who was all the time rearing
"order,' and thereby creating all the
disorder apparent.
One point in all the discussions of the
debt question has not been yet made
sufficiently plain by those who favor a
final settlement of the whole debt be-
tween our Legislature acting for the
people, and the creditors; and that
point is this: If the suits against the
railroads win, as to that part Of the
debt, the State has only acquired a new
set Of creditors. The debt will be shift |
ed but not paid. The subsection of the
railroads Of the State to payment of
bonds issued to them under the various
statutes passed before the war would
ruin thousands Of innocent holders Of
stocks of the road, stocks they owned
because they believed, upon the faith of
lcts of three different Legislatures of
bis State, that the directors of the
Dads had paid the State all the roads
wed it. The success Of these suits will
$50 render worthless the bonds of the
Dads, and ruin the holders of those Sc
urties. What sort of honor is there
Il community that will ruin hundreds
t its citizens to save itself from an obi
alton it assumed through its author
ed agents? Three Legislatures of this
tate provided that the railroad compa-
ies might satisfy the claims of the
iete upon them by turning into the
treasury any issues of the bonds of the
'ate in amounts equal to those they
nd received from the State. The com
lnies have complied with this law, and .
nder il have paid in securities which 9
'st them about sl3 200, 600 and there
7 been released from the States lien.
an the State stand by now and see the
sners of these roads di.possessed and ii
creby beggared without sinking itself C
eper in disgrace than II is now q
'ould State be permitted to quietly OBJ =
rye such result of it, bad faith with 9,
own citizens as long ms an honest in
m was within it, borders n
We pass by the great law argument m
of Savage and the great fraud cry
the fearful Beasley. 1t is sufficient
say of these that Savage's law i
rthless except in faro bank or be