Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-04-18

a state are very different" whether
things" or not, but evidently in a
different way. l infer he exalts the
Individual above the sovereign. [ do
not. 1t is for a state to speak like a
sovereign.
But "T.'s' little piece of history"
like a great deal of other so. called his
tory. is considerably mixed, and my
answer to it will supply the other diff
ference referred to above as having
been omitted in my readjustment ar
ticle. | have been told in Virginia
by gentlemen, both funders and read
justers, hat the passage of the first
funding act, with the tax receivable
coupon provision, was procured by
open, public and shameless purchase
OF Legislators by the broker ring, and
that it aroused and excited such a
storm of Indignation throughout the
state that alarmed the venal and cor
rupt r~ascals, and it was repealed be-
fore one-third of the debt was funded
under it, fast as the brokers refund
ed. From that time in Virginia, as
here in Tennessee until recently,
/ nothing was done with the debt,
though the conservative party" stood
\ pledged ito readjust it, till the pas
sage of the infamous McCullough bill.
That portion of the debt funded before
the repeal is under the control of the
Mccullough syndicate of brokers, and
| Mccullough so framed his bill that
there can be no refunding under it
but through him. That. is, it makes
three kinds of the state debt, and a
man, say, in Halifax county with a
$1,000 bond, in order to refund it un-
der the Mccullough law, must buy
from one of his syndicate another
$1,000 of the second sort and still an.
other $1,000 OF the third kind at their
own price to get his original $1,000 re-
funded, or il unable or unwilling to
do this, he must then loose his $1,000
or sell the bond to one of the syndicate
at their own price. This is funder
legislation under Wall street dicta-
ton. The readjusters, on the con-
trary, promise to make the law so
that the man in Halifax can send his
old bond to the state treasurer by
mail or express and receive
back in lieu of it a new
one in the same way as one may now
do with a called United States bond.
1t is thus seen the first act with tax
receivable coupons was not passed
with the consent of everybody" as
Florence would say, "by a large ma
jority;"" that it was repealed before
one-third executed, and that the con
sentative party" stood pledged to war
on its principle, yet betrayed its trust
and the people by enacting a meauer
measure, eyen-the Mccullough bill.
IT" charges the r~eadjusters with
insincerity, and declares, what they
want is utter reputation, upon what
authority | do not know, except his
suspicion that they will, like tie fund
ers, break their promises and betray
the people. Better wait, 1T" and
first give them a trial, before denounc-
ing them for a crime they
reprobate in their opponents, and
which gave birth to their party.
But they want MORE" says 1T"
or rather their leaders do, and that is
political preferment." Now, this in
them is a very grave offense We
know the funders do not want politi-
cal preferment," or public offices.
John w. Daniel, for example, would
not hold any Office, though John S.
Wise has sla~nderously charged him
with having been a candidate for
every Office IN the state. Then, there
is johnson in the U. S. Senate. We
know the people actually hold him in
his seat by main force and also his
relatives in their little places. 1t re.
CURED all the negroes in Goodies and
H%unton's districts to bodily carry
them, as they had to do, to their seats
in congress and hold them there. |
know this fact myself an avouch it.
IT'D wants to know, too, very badly
who is the gentleman-the fuDder or
the readjuster ?" and even, " which is
the conference.-the funder or the re-
adjuster? p Well, one could not be
long in Virginia without discovering
that it is a popularity of the "iunder,"
distinguishing him everywhere from
the readjuster, to proclaim himself "a
gentleman" and to declare his own
Responsibility" and [ always thought
of such as | do of women who are
constantly asserting their own chastity.
l have had some of these tell me
themselves they were gentlemen, of
whom l thought if they were that l
was not Of their sort! This re-
minds me of a little story John Ran
dOlph once met on the street an irate
fellow, who exclaimed to him, Il
never get out Of the way of a DID
scoundrel," to which Randolph an
swered, Il always do" and steppiDg
aside, went On his way. Another
popularity Of the average funder is
that many who talk most loudly about
the great dishonor of state reputation
are men who owe everybody they pos
sibly can, and never pay anything. 1t
is really astonishing how very unselfsh
and patriotic these funders be, what
perfect gentlemen they all are, and
how very respectable, if you believe
them.
All the talk that the readjuster
party is chiefly composed of negroes
is bosh. For example: Hunton's
district, Henrico county, carpet-bag
%Jorgenson's district. etc, are almo-tl
unanimously funder," while the
valley Of Virginia and regions where
the negroes are fewest are strongly
r~eadjuster.
| frankly confess my obtuseness by
declaring l car neither understand