The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1882-03-29
MIsslssIppi,s Bonds.
THE CHARACTER OF THOSE DONATED nv
GEORGE PEABODY TO THE PEApo1v
FUND.
the Editor Of The Times-Democrat.1

I To the Editor Of The Times-pemooro,
o The interview Of your representative
: Will tne governor OF Mississippi, published
on FEBRUARY q, contains statements of tbs
nnaucia' condition of that State at variance
0 win tne iaetS as understood by Others and
5 contradlcted s9uarely by an eminent bapk.
er, whose words will be presently given
Governor Lowry answers YOUR On. s $50,
: thus: '''OHs
Of your Sta.e? Ni'ion
Alt is excellent. All evidences of :.
debtedness command par ~
Q-What is the entire amount Of Won,
| bonded debt? ''uI
! "A,-one hundred thousand dollars, which
bears interest at the rate of per 9, nt
~ 100 5 per cent bonds, due Januarvi'
1896, and $4,000 per cent bonds, due jam,
airy l, 1890, We have the money to nav ON
bonds, but cannot get them at any reasonable
price
"o.-Ts the interest on your bonds paid
promptly2 F0''
Il "Q.-Yes."
i When George Peabody founded the trust
which had for its object the promotion Of
\ education in "those portions (these are his
| words) of our beloved and common country
which have suffered from the destructive
raVages, and the not less disastrous conse.
quences of civil war;" he included in his
| gift certain bonds of Mississippi, the validi-
ty of which was undisputed. They were
not Union Bank bonds, which had been re.
pudiated many years before his donation.
He shall tell what they were in his own
| language
The trust was founded February Z, 1867.
when he gave to Is American citizens, Sc
eeted by himself as trustees, 81 900 00O
| invested in interest-paying American
securities, to be by them and their success
sors held in trust, and the income thereof
to be used and applied in their discretion
''for the promotion and encouragement of
intellectual, moral or industrial education
among the young of the more destitute por-
tions of the Southern and Southwestern
States of our Union"
The letteror act of donation then pro-
ceeds:
'In addition to this gift, place in your hands
bonds of the State of Mississippi issued to the
Planters Bank. and commonly known as
Planters Bank bonds amounting with interest,
to about eleven hundred thousand dollars the
amount realized by you from which is to be
added to and used for the purposes of this
trust.
these bonds were originally issued in paw.
ment for stock in that bank held by the State,
and amounted in all to only 81 900 600
For many years the State received large
dividends from that bank, over and above the
interest on these bonds. The State paid the
interest without interruption till 1910, since
which no interest has been paid, except pay
ment of about hundred thousand dollars,
which was found in the treasury applicable to
the payment of the coupons, and paid by a
mandamus of the Supreme Court. The validity
of these bonds has never been questioned,
and they must not be confJunded with another
issue of bonds made by the State to the Union
Bank, the recognition Of which has been a
subject of controversy with a portion Of the
population of Mississippi.
"Various acts of the Legislature, viz, of Feb
ruary %, 1912, February %, 1914, February l6,
lS46, February %, 1876, March A. 1S4S, and the
highest judicial tribunal of the State have con-
hrned their validity; and have no doubt that
at an early day such legislation will be had TO
make these bonds available in increasing the
usefulness of the present Trust Mississippi,
though now depressed, is rich in agricultural
resources, and cannotlong disregard the moral
obligation resting upon her to make provision
for their payment"
I1-..appears that S2,000,000 of the
bob -DSippi was not included
in II r Governor to your
inls the interest on her
promptly" or at all.
1000 the Peabody trus- -