Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-02-16
WHAT THE PRESS SAYS.

St. Louis Globe-DemOcrat:' "Tbe decision
has been discounted on Wall street for some
weeks, and the State bonds have fallen &C.
| cordingly. 1t, however, does not prevent the
! people of Tennessee from paying their just
debts if they want to, and as they are able to-
New Orleans Picaylae: at very rarely
happens that a single decision of a State
Supreme Court is so fraught with misfortune
for the commonwealth as is the opinion of
the Supreme Court OF Tennessee. The people
of that State who desire to pursue the policy
OF financial honesty must now renew the
fight against dishonor, and the State will be
rent in pieces on the subject for long time
to come. Tennessee is abundantly able to
pay her debts; but for the present the out
look is tempestuous, and unless the matter is
settled before the next election, the ugly
picture of Virginia's shame will probably be
caricatured in Tennessee"
New York Graphic: mo plea can be put
forth in the case of the Tennessee bonds;
they can only be repudiated under the shell
ter of a legal bubble which it is disgraceful
on Inc part of the State TO put forth. Ten
nessee is a large and prosperous State, quite
able to pay all its debts in full, and the eff
forts of portion of its citizens to avoid the
payment of these bonds, while it will not
succeed in the end, will so long as it is con-
tinued, and perhaps for some time longer
:
credit of the State and retard its progress.
The debt is certain to be funded and paid,
sooner or later, and the longer an adjust
ment acceptable to the debt-helders is de-
layed the worse it will be for Tennessee"
New York Tribune: eugene Kelly, who
Is chairman OF the bondholders' committee,
said last night that he knew nothing more
about the decision than was made known in
the general dispatches. He added: Il am
Il fhe.A 80 r.
The committee felt confident that it would
be in favor of the bondholders. The suit
brought by the committee against the rail-
road companies is pending in the United
States Supreme Court, and now, of course,
the committee will press that suit to final
hearing. OF course the purport Of the de-
cision was known by some people in Wall
street several days ago. The decline in the
bonds was the result of knowledge, and not
of mere fear. The Tennessee men have beaten
us for the third time. They knew, undoubt-
eddy, that the decision was to be against US,
and used their knowledge to their advan-
tagei"
Louisville Courier: "In all our political
history there are few chapters so covered
with shame as that in which is recorded the
progress of reputation in Tennessee. Ten
nessee has been made the victim OF the DEM
sgogue; of the political adventurer; of the
VI tue DElUt-SlfGT anu lIC
bribe-taker. She has been betrayed-not by
carpet-baggers and interlopers-but by her
owh honored sons, and now even her highest
court surrenders to the mob, stabs the public
credit, descends TO legal, jugglery, makes in
stead OF interpreting the law, subsequently
bows to what it is told is the demand of the
people. Several days ago the repudiators in
politics and the shorts in speculation knew
the character Of this decision. In all the course
of these proceedings nothing more humiliat-
ing, nothing more alarming, has been deyel-
oped. This fact outweighs in Importance
that of the decision itself. The courts de-
cisiop, with all due Difference to that body,
does not yindicate itself. This decision
strikes at the foundation of all credits. 1t
forever shuts Tennessee out Of the money
markets of the world. The sooner this ques-
ton is settled the less will be the cost. In
1879 the proposition was 50-4; in 1881 it was
1908; in 1882 it will be 1905"