Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1883-01-25
WASHINGTON.
Southern Republication How Congress
men talk about ii.
The Republican Members from East
Tennessee.
Poverty Of Forming Populations Effects
Of Federal Modes Of Taxation.
The Proposition 70 Amend the Constitution
Of the United States.


dicted Of late 10 the habit Of denuunc-
ing bitterly the dishonesty of Ten
nessee As well as Of Virginia. Two
congressional representatives of Ten
nesscc have been a. fierce In ohjurgu-
tory speeches ON this subject IS those
Eastern newspapers. Therefore your
correspondent mas gathered a few facts
affecting this subject Of Reputation,
a. ii is termed, ana
especially ~ these relate to
TENNESSEE. HER BoNDHoLDEEs ASD
CoNGRESsMEN.
II is customary in the adjustment of
accounts between individuals, one
having failed TO take an account
Of stock. - This is turned over to cred
itors aud the debtor having given up
everything. il sct free 10 begin life
anew. such is the practical, just
bankrupt law among merchants
every where. Southern states, at the
end Of the interstate war, found them
selves bankrupt. and those that were
not 80 were 10 plucked by cXtravagant
aud thieVing carpet-bag governments,
instituted by the imperial party in
power, and by its projects made mas
tiers OF counties aud towns, more
ished than states they upheld
that these common wealths were ut
feriy impotent. The victorious Union
had extnguished onc-half the taxable
property of these states by the eStinc-
ton of slavery. Rates of state taxa
ton in these Southern States had been
commonly ten and fifteen cents on
each 500 Of property.
IL, 70 ~
m.nted by carpet-bagism six-fold and
sixty cents on each hundred dollars
were imposed. Impoverished farming
( populations, a. are those OF Tennessee,
4 taxed in everything and protected
/ in nothing, found focal burdens intol-
/ cradle Noicelcss in Federal legisla-
/ ton, there was no recourse, when
/ public burdens, including those fast
{ cncd on them by the central govern
ment, were twelve-fuld greater than
/ ever before, and resources, when slav-
cry was no more, one half less 1t be-
came palpubly impossible to meet pub
! lie obligations, quudrupled in amount
/ by the carpet-baggers. Such were the
! fortunes OF the people of Tennessee.
/ Contemplating their own condition
/ and Indebtedness as that of bankrupt
:
/ misc. The say to their eastern cred
itors that, to crafty generous seuti-
ment, "you wisely or unwisely des-
troyed at n single stroke of your agent,
Lincoln's pen, one half of our tax
able wealth. We do not regret the
fact Of itself. We would not on any
terms reproduce negro slavery, bought
from you and transmitted to Us by our
fathers, but think, In view of all the
facts and with due reference to rob
/ berries and wrongs inflicted by govern
ments set over us by your reconstruc-
/ ton committees, that you should sus-
tain half the losses incident to the
qualification of your agents greed on
the one hand and of your ncgrophily
on the other. We will willingly
| double burdens of state governments
IA these substituted prior to 1860 and
willingly submit to exactiOns imposed
| by Federal whisky and tobacco and
! tariff codes that weigh us down and
! return us nothing; but we cannot dc
/ more than live. Our farms, if taxed
! one per cent, ms proposed by those
| who would'have MS pay the whole OF
| the carpet bag debts, would be utterly
! valueless, and, practically, we would
ho expelled from our homes. Farms
would steadily lose taxable and real
value, the per centage oi
taxation would be steadily aud neces
sarily augmented, and at last til,
state government, cooperating with
pick-pockets and sneak-thief tariff
systems, would practically contiscatt
the little wealth of the people,
Therefore do these people insist thai
terms of compromise and adjustment
be made with the state, which the,
constitute, such as would be mad,
with themselves under the same un-
fortunate circumstances us individ-
uals.
i PHYSICAL ASPECT OF THE SOUTH.
! Tho hondholders of Tennessee would
80 through the state, having its rail,
ways and multiplied impoverished
towns and villages and see for them.
selves how very poor the people have
been made by agencies Of leyal roll
berry and taxation, To which we have
adverted, infinitely less would be said
by the HcratR and Times and ri
6Wae and other organs of the plutoe,
racy of the east in derogalion of Tho
honesty and good faith of Tonnes
seeans. While TennessecanS them,
selves We're their own masters and
veritable statehood subsisted
Tenncssee's bonds were nj
a premium and the frs,
sense of public faith and private homo,
Is rs strongly operative today as when
the riches OF the people was twice as
great as to-day. Statistics mislead the
exterior world rs 10 the condition and
wealth Of farming populations OF those
/, portions OF the South that constituted
the seat ot war That of cities and
villages and of districts along railways
has been multiplied and augmented.
bur tho resources ot the great body of
the tolling people have been urley.
ously impaired. Plantations have
been sub+iiyided and sold. and thp
number Of inhabitants Increased, I'M
these individuals are barely able "a
live. More cotton is produced. but the
cost OF production and not the price
has been doubled.
SOUTHERN REPuniJcANS IN coY.
Z CRfaSS
! Therefore do the people OF Tennes-
see, whether held morally and poiit.
I ically responsible for woes Of inter.
state war; and for the loss of chattel
{ serIdom, aud for the greater griefs OF
( earpetbagiSm or not, propose to com.
( promise with their creditors. Hon.