The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1880-06-03
J. n. BIS Reply to Major
Eaugii.
Editor Home Journal !

Editor Home Journal
The Major seems to have been n little
excited because we questioned the power
of the Board of Aldermen to enforce the
collection of special tax at this time,
and under the influence Of this excite
ment he exclaimed, owe tell you, sir,
this thing of not paying debts is Il
mighty popular thing However, it
may be desire on the part of some to
obtain votes by advocating this policy"
Now, it seems that this remark was in
tended us Il reflection on fhe, and if 50,
it was unkind, ungenerous and unjust.
No man can truly say that | ever advo-
Gated the reputation Of Just debt,
either public or private. So far as the
interest-bearing debt Of our corporation
is concerned, it amounts to only two or
three hundred dollars. A large por-
ton, if not all, Of the unpaid tax for
1879 will be paid by the first Monday
in September, and the interest on $500
for three months is only $3.50. Why,
then, should the Board of Aldermen be
in such Il hurry? 1t would be better
for these gentlemen to display their wis
dom in avoiding the creation Of an inter
est-bearing Corporation debt for any
purpose. No one can convert Comp
troller's warrants into judgments and
get interest out Of the State, and we do
not believe any one has the legal right
to convert county or corporation war
rants into judgments and get interest
out Of the county or corporation. If
they can, then every warrant that is is
sued should have written or printed on
its face the words, "This warrant bears
no interest" 1t appears that we pay
our Town Constable $500 year, Mayor
$50, and four Aldermen 500 each, ma
king $3.50 in the aggregate. And it
further appears that a former constable
was paid portion Of his salary in treas
ury warrants, which he transferred to
those gentlemen who obtained judy
ments against the corporation. But
these warrants should not have been Is
sued. The Board of Aldermen knew
there was no money in the Treasury,
and they were under no obligation to
issue them. 1t was the duty Of the
Town Constable to wait until the taxes
were collected before he had the right to
demand the payment Of his salary. But
if he was in necesSitous circumstances
and the Board was willing to do some
thing to relieve him, why didn't it pay
him in corporation scrip Of small dcnom-
nations, with the words written or
printed on the face Of each note that
"This note bears no interest, and is re-
deemable only in taxes" This policy
would have enabled the Town Constable
to have gotten his money by selling the
scrip to taxpayers, and it would have
answered the purpose Of circulating
medium to some extent. The scrip is
sued to improve the sidewalks has been
" gobblcd up" by few men for about
fifty or sixty cents in the dollar, and
cannot be had for less than ninety or
ninetv-fvc. These men are unwilling
for any more scrip to be issued at the
present time, Notwithstanding the fact
that poor men have worked for it here
tofore and are willing to work for ii
again. But it seems to me that we have
had work enough done for the present.
Winchester is one Of the most highly
favored places upon the globe, and the
evils of which some of our citizens COM
plain are more imaginary than roal.
Our four saloons pay in the aggregate II
corporation privilege tax Of S42O,
which is only ten dollars less than the
cost of our municipal government, and
we have all the rest Of our taxes to APP
ply toward the improvement Of the
streets and sidewalks. There is no
good reason, therefore, why the people
Of this corporation should be annoyed
with special taxes and lawsuits; and
they will think more kindly Of our
Board of Aldermen if it does not I'M
necessarily and illegally Cypress them.
J. II. b.