Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-08-07
THE WORK OF THE CONEEN-
TEOB.

OdIe@S at the approaching SldtC cASC-
ton. Never were these duties So
important, for the question of the
state debt will come up for final set
tlement, and it must be settled at
once. The day Of concession is past
we have learned now from bitter
experience that concession is one
sided thing, and that its only effect
is to create demand for more con-
cession. Who has ever heard of
concession being yielded by the
so-calIed low-tax men! 1t has
scarcely even been asked of them
if concession is talked of, it is taken
for granted that something is to be
yielded by the state-credit party in
the direction of reputation. It is
time for this thing to stop; it ought
never to have been commenceds
This article is written for state
credit men; we know that it will be
listened to by no one else. 1t has
been cheering news to us to read of
one county after another sending
state-credit delegations to the con-
vention, and we are confident that
the majority will be of that COM
plexior. But whether majority or
minority, what we urge upon our
friends is not to fritter away their
principles by conceding here little
and there a little in vain hopes of
conciliating adversaries, but to de-
termine what is their position, and
stand or fall on it without swerving
an inch from it.
And what should that position
be? Nothing short of this should
satisfy any state-credit man who
really believes his principles, name
~, that the legislature be instructed
to settle the debt on the best possible
terms without further delay, with
out further subterfuge or reference
to the people. In the name of hon.
esty and common sense, what can
be a more complete reference of this
question to the people than will be
made at the approaching election ?
The question will be discussed in all
its bearings. Whatever the views
of a constituency, they can elect
men who hold those views and who
will carry them out. There can be
no new point mooted; the matter
has been too long under controversy
for that. The men who clamor for
further reference are men who want
the question never settled but kept
ranking in our state politics for the
benefit of demagogues and political
adventures. Consider how easy it
is to defeat any measure in popu-
lar vote of the sort proposed. A
bill complicated in its details is
made the subject of a heated canvass
the whole length and breadth of the
state. 1t is not within the limits of
probability that every item in such
a bill can be made acceptable to
every elector, and there will be ire
cOncilables in plenty on the stump
to make the most of all difficulties
sighting the main provisions of the
bill, and so procuring an adverse
vote grounded on minor objections.
In a legislature, which is a delibe-
ratiVe assembly, these minor Objec-
tiOnS would be made the subject of
discussion and amendment, and
finally of compromise; but the peo-
pie of the state voting on such bill
are not and cannot be deliberative
assembly; they can only give
plain "yea" or "nay" to the meas
ure as a whole, and thus the objec-
ton to a single item in the bill be-
comes fatal to it as a whole.
The history OF the rejected 80 and
4 project last year is good illustra-
ton of the impracticability of such
a vote. There is no doubt that the
majority of the people desired set
Element Of the question and consid-
cred the proposed measure more
than reasonable in its terms, but the
impracticable nature of a popular
vote facilitated all sorts of intrigues
against it. Some men honestly
voted against it because they be-
lieveG that it was unjust to the
bOnd-holders; many radicals who
openly advocated it intrigued in
secret against it; low-tax men, who
had acknowledged the reasonable
ness of bills giving better terms to
the bond-hOlders, worked against it,
and both the former and the latter
class acted on the same motive; they
desired to keep the matter unsettled
that it might be an embarrassment
to the regular democracy; and the
secrecy of the ballot enabled them
to intrigue in secret. 81
No more reference to the people,
then, except that constitutional ref
erence which is alone consistent
with the principles Of representative
government, the election of legis-
lature with this question thoroughly
canvassed beforehand. Every state
credit man should be prepared to
put his foot down on this position
and hold it there to the death. I'm
less he is prepared to do 50 he had
better abandon the cause of the low
tax men and the repudiators.
Nor let any man be deferred from
a firm and consistent course by the
unworthy apprehension that they |
viii imperiI the election of their
friends to congress and state legisla-
ture by pursuing firm and consist