New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-04-16

The di.gllc, ful story at >0Iihrru j., ..t'tt-
ton has been told more than once ~ the"
columns. aud j. tolcrlhy familiar. SO may
.ufun-r. 10 the people 81 Tie country. lhr
Southern Democratic Senators az hrhl'.Er.
however. a, if The history of tho dish'ncr' pei
founances Of their STATE. vcr, e'al'd book
thn, bad never been rad 10y any cyr- LDt th'Ir
avn. They daily work thcm-'iv'- INTO a pa
SION about ,hc condGr, OF MJhou" and h- WI
cinia HoAdju-tcIs. and posture Ia Che s"ilril'@
,,. the d,f,nd,f- Of stern and MA honor lh
the management of state finances. >d
nearly all ilcsc m'n nir nrrd with me d0}
silk of population, which h'A Smn bel
u,r regard of every Southern state from
the Potomac 10 thc M,-.~rpl. I!''
Talk about honesty ard nrc shocked t'Ii the
KcpublicanS should allow a man Ia -it "n thrf
.ilc of the senate Chamber who l. 90 favor "i
n,yioc only two-thrl, Of debt but they
rcnrcecnt states which refuse to pay amy thn-
an bonded obligations amoun!ln; 10 many
million, of dolrs The hold .r> of thrc "'ii-
cation. have been robbed Of both their priur-
nal and interest. and informed by statute Law
and constitutional provisions that tlry need
never expect cent Of then money.
is.ippi. which led thc dance of ropud tiou
Let II, uuW look at G""r1I1. the state 81 Zen
Hill. who tuns rcd with yiruouS rrr
every time his cyc falls ON the wicked
Malone. At the close OF the war TIE debt
Of that State amounted 10 T',1oG,ouO. After
the Republicans obtained control oi the GOV
crnmcnt under the Reconstruction act-, M en-
tlusiastr sentiment IN favor OF building rml-
roads took possession of the public mind and
Influenced all parties in the LEGISLATURE.
Nearly onc-half of the counties of the state
were wholly destitute of railway facilities.
Southern Georgia was almost wilderness.
The only way TO secure the speedy construc-
ton of the much Tccdod lines of road seemed
to hc by grants of State aid. The proposed
roads would not pay for many years. and no
body was willing Ia hnild them for chances Of
profit in the distant future. II was seen. how
ever, that the State would gain largely and
Immediately by their construction in the rapid
increase Of population and taxable prop
crty in the sparscly settled regions
they would traverse So there was q
General demand for measures provd-
inc for the issue Of state bonds
70 the new companies. Democrats and Rcpub-
I y
of these measures The bills were passed.
fine bonds were issued, the roads were
built. and the expected advantages to
the counties they traycrscd and indirectly
70 the State at large, were fully realized. The
total amount of debt thus contracted was
sc $50. 900. To this amount should be added
300 600 indorscd by Provisional Governor
Jenkins in 1866. making the amount of in
dorsed railroad debt at the close of the Rcpub-
lcan administration $7,OS3,O0o Besides this,
there had been loaned to the Brunswick and
Albany Railroad State bonds amounting
to $4,000 900, on security amounting to
| $2,25O,000.
A soon as the Democrats came in power
they began an agitation for the reputation Of
the whole body of the railroad debt. To this
end they circulated lying reports about cor
ruption in the passage of the laws authorizing
its contraction and fraud in the issuing of the
bonds. The plain truth about the matter
was that having got tho roads they
| did not mean to pay for them. The
money to build them had been borrowed
in the North and they looked upon the plum
dering of Northern creditors rs spelling the
Philistnes-a sort of morality that was every
where current in the South at the time. "The
"North has robbed us Of our slaves; why
"should We pay back the money her people werC
$50 green as to lend us ~ was the common
way Of putting the case. Ono OF the first act