Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-04-11
THE IOO-s LAW.
Opinions ola Low Tax Lender
MOn. j. II. BeasIey.

Nashville Herald, 1O.l
Reporter-What is your opinion Of
the present situation Of public affairs
in the state ofTennessee?
Beasley-I think it is the result OF
bargain, intrigue and corruption.
Reporter-Detween whom?
Beasley-Railroad officials and
prominent men in the republican and
high tax democratic parts.
Reporter-What was the object Of
this intrigued
Beasley-To procure the dismissal
of the suit AGAINST the railroads now
pending in the supreme court of the
United States.
RepOrter-When did this intrigue
begin?
|, B~easley-It began, in nv opinion,
before the meeting of the democratic
convention last August, and the split
IN that convention was forced upon
the low tax wing for the purpose of
swing the legislature to the republi-
cans, making coupons receivable for
taxes, and pIundering the people for
the payment OF interest upon q debt
amounting to twenty-four million
dollars, which is a railroad debt un-
der the very terms of the law.
Reporter-Now that the 1908 bill
has been passed, will not the people
quietly submit to it?
Beasley-NO sir. 1t will be the
leading question in the next anyas
and we will have the 6ercest political
storm which was ever seen in Tonnes
see. Our greatest trouble is a lack of
circulating medium. France pros
pers under immense burdens, because
her circulating medium is immense,
but in Tennessee we have only about
three million dollars, while we need
about fifteen million.
Reporter-What effect will the pas.
sage Of the 1908 bill have upon the
high tax wing ofthe democratic party?
Beasley-It will make it a stencil in
the nostrIls Of heaven, and send it to
the grave of eternal disgrace.
Reporter-lf the next legislature
has a majority Of low tax men what
viii they do?
Beasley-Repeal everything the
present legislature has done in relation
to the bond question, and make no ap-
preparation for the payment of inter
est.
. Reporter-Would this prevent cou-
pons from being receivable for taxes?
Beasley-No, sir; this would not;
but anotler bill could be passed pro
hibiting tax collectors rom receiving
them, and thus an issue would be made
up to be tried by the supreme court of
the United States.
Reporter-But has not that court
decided in the Virginia case that the
COUPON bill was a contract, and no law
could be made that impaired il?
Beasley-lt is a common thing for
supreme courts to overrule their own
decisions. Greenleaf published a large
book containing cases which had been
overruled. The provisions in the con
stitution Of the United States which
prohibits the impairment of con-
tracts does not apply to such a case
as this. The idea is absurd. To say
that it does is to say that the people of
any state in the union may be per-
petually enslaved by a combination
between thieves in the legislature
and thieves out of il. But if the
court should say that the passage of
such a bill creates a contract, then it
must be governed by the rules appli.
cable to contracts, and one of these
rules is that fraud vitiates everything.
The court must have lost sight of this
point in the Virginia case. Every.
body believes that the 1908 bill was
passed by fraud, and for the supreme
court of the United States to sustain
such a bill as this is TO do all that it
can to destroy republican institutions.
The ablest modern legal writers upon
this subject, as well as some of the
most eminent judges of the supreme
court, have set their faces s~ternly
against such a monstrous doctrine.
and insist that a legislature has no
power to do anything which destroys
the sovereignty of the state. We must
fight it if we would win. Those who
tamely submit to oppression can ex-
pect nothing but slavery. Give us a
low tax legislature and the people
will be free. The means of destroying
the effect Of the 1903 bill has been
already discovered.