Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-09-18
THE STATE DEBT.
Col. Bailey on the State DsbI-NefIl
:. Brown Once More HBefOre
the People.

the People.
A very large audience assembled
in Elders Hall on Monday night to
listen to the speech which it had
been announced would be delivered
by Senator Bailey on the state debt.
All classes were represented in this
audience, as all are nearly interested
in the momentous business which
was to be discussed. Business men,
professional men, mechanics, white
and black, old and young, ladies
and children, all desired to hear the
truth in regard to the business which
has now absorbed the attention not
only of politicians but of business
men, as the one question on which
depends the prosperity and interest
of the state. The one question on
everybody's mind was, "Do we owe
this debt ?" The one conviction
was, "If we do, we must settle it,
and that at once; it must no longer
be allowed to embarrass our BUSH
ness, cloud our honor and paralyze
our welfare"
The senator addressed himself to
this enquiry without prelude. He
said at starting: "This is business
meeting and / will discuss it as
business man, speaking TO an audi
ence every one of whom, down to
the youngest child, is intimately
concerned in the business on hand"
To determine the question "do we
owe this debt ?' he gave the history
of its creation he showed that the
issuance of state bonds was necessi-
tated by the land-locked condition
Tennessee, which is the only SOUTH
ern state that has no water commu-
nication the year round. The other
states have all Communication either
with the ocean or with the Missis-
sippi, which is an arm of the ocean;
Tennessee has only a short border
ON the Mississippi on her extreme
west, difficult of access to eastern
and middle Tennessee, and no sea-
coast at all. Her immense mineral
and agricultural resources must
either be excluded from the mar
kets of the world, or she must sup
plement her precarious and INSULT
cient water communications with
first turnpikes and then railroads,
and SO place herself in communica-
ton with the world of commerce.
1t was the decision, not of her
leading men alone of all the parties,
but of her united people, that she
should adopt the latter alternative,
and TODD SO she must support with
her credit the construction of the
roads which were to effect this pur-
pose. Her credit was pledged for
the purpose, her people voted it, her
Legislators decreed it, her governors
signed and sealed it, her judges |
sanctioned it, and if state can be |
pledged to anything, Tennessee is
pledged to the maintenance of that
credit by the fulfiIment of her con-
tracts as expressed in the bonds
which bear her seal and the sigma
ture of her executive officers. s /
1t is impossible for us to do justice
to this splendid argument by any
abstract of it; suffice it to say that
no unprejudieed person left that hall
unconvinced. The universal i'm
preston. was, "We owe the debt
and must settle it.'
But this was not all. To the
agreeable surprise of our people the
venerable ex-Gov. NeiIl S. Brown
was seen occupying the platform
with our senator. As soon as Col.
Bailey had concluded, the governor
was voeiferously called for and
came to the front of the stage. He
is we'll known to be in feeble health,
as well as to be yielding to the adj
vance of years, and the best that
that was hoped for was few words
of greeting and of endorsement for
the policy of state-credit; but to the
surprise of all, including this editor,
and, as we believe, the governor
himself, he gained strength from
the Inspiration of the subject, and
his voice rang out with the vig0r of
thirty years ago, and he delivered
an earnest and eloquent address, in
which he pleaded manfully for the
honor of the Tennessee.
It was as if one of a former genera
ton had risen from the grave to re-
pei the ISLANDERS which have been
heaped upon the men of those days
for their action in promoting the in
ternal improvements which it is
proposed we shall refuse to pay for.
The Foggs and the Ewings, the
Bells and the Campbells might well
rise from their graves and ask who
are the men who brand a whole
of statesmen with fraud
and corruption for carrying out the
peoples viii, and here is one of the
best of them returning from the
very brink of the grave, and shak-
Ing off the burden of his years and
infirmities, to hurl back the calum-
ny In the teeth of these traducers,
and to demand who are they that
presume to put themselves forward
as the first and only men who have
acted honestly in regard to the pub
lie affairs of the state.
It is impossible to describe the
effect of this wonderful effort; it ,
was the triumph of the moral man
over the physical. and il lasted Just