Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-01-17
ESTABLISHED 1910.

the contract, and court of equity will enforc
their collection and appro Priation In the event tn
or in the event their collection and appropriatioi
| were oDsructed in any way. This we think i
better secured and win command a higher pric
| In tne market than ordinary municipal bonds
Weatherford & Estes say:
The act creating the board being constitutional
| and the bonds having been issued in accordance
ana the law providing for taT Of "afty cents Or
the tlO0 on AL taxable property, including mer
chants capital and other property and privi
year 1882 and shall coafiaue from ,%'iI year "
year until 4 eztin0uishes SAID fsdebted
for the benefit OF said Indebtedness. and SkaH no
oeapplied to any other object" There is, then
no ground Tor litigation suits; to reduce them K
1 judgment would be unnecessary: they could b.
collected as well without. The statute OF limita
tons could not be pleaded as the taxes have al
tax being uniform and payments regular il Is d M
cult 10 see why they should be considered bette
municipal securities The public credit GWEN y
municipal indebtedness rests exclusively on the
power Of taxation, that being the only method O
enforcing payment; this power rests with the law
making or legislative authority directly or BY
delegation. TO appropriate agencies When legal
this case. their rights become vested and are IRE
pealable, but, until exercised, are dependent upon
tne WI y, q tne iawmeklng power either TO lay OIL
| agency.
c. w. Heiskell says:
Experience teaches the unwisdom of delesatins
the power and so, in the act under consi ration
| the legislature has exercised the power directly
ana exercised IT in such manner as to give al
| who accept its benefits the most ample security
The Legslsture levies the tax for each and every
Had the taxing power been delegated to munich
pslity, it would have been subject to the
Ricips gSvernment. ana also 20 com no olcat %g
thai would arise ifythe Legislature should repeai
th he m taq ehsss But under the present acl
compromise debts are fully paid, no matter what
lesis;iatlynei chan e; may be attempted If the
10 haeitants turned into the body Of the
county thi: tax viii stiil be collected BY
| should be abolished, the tax will be col.
| lectsd and the courts will appoint a trustee "a
administer 1t for the benefit Of those compr D
missed DEBTS. And II the act Itself should be re.
pesled, or attempted to be, it would not avail.
The tax would still be collected and applied and
II the trustee should fail to collect, the courts
would, by mandamus. compel him to collect and
apply IT, This all results from the fact that the
is fully pad It may hs be saes
said that no better security could be provided
security could be offered for public debt.
j. B. Heiskell says:
On the question of the security afforded. INV
view Is that no municipal corporation bond can
afford any better security far legal obligation
properly issued and valid, and the provision for
their payment is made by the law in tax, the
collection OF which the courts will enforce and
not be repealed. Any repeating statute viii in
evitably be held Intellectual and void by our own
courts or the courts OF the United States, as in
violation OF the contract impairment clause found
in both constitutions.
We adopt the words Of Craft & Cooper
and say these vieus are sound and are sus.
famed BY The authorities" And we will add,
that no better authorities can be had here
sbouts than those of the lawyers who express
these views. That the public may realize this
as plainly as the APPEAL does, we will recall
the official positions some of them have
filled. Archibald Wright was one of the
Supreme Court justices OF this State cotem-
porsneous with the ablest iurists Tennessee
has yet produced; Henry T. Elicit was for
years a Justice of the Supreme Court of
Mississippi; J. w. CIapp was a circuit
judge ia Mississippi; w. M. Smith was
chancellor Of this district for years; G. w.
Heiskell was Circuit Court Judge of this
circuit for years, was city attorney
and is now Taxing District attorney
Luke E. Wright was attorney. general
of the Shelby county Criminal Court for
years, and J. B. Hei.kell was attorney
general OF the Slste and Supreme Court re-
porter for as many years as he desired. All
OF these, as we'll as the other gentlemen
named, are among the first lawyers at the
Memphis bar.
From the above testimony Of nineteen o I
our ablest lawyers, it will be seen then,
that
~ The Tears Of the very respectable COM
mittee, that the courts may compel the
Taxing government to levy tax 10
pay the debt of the city OF Memphis, are
wholly and altogether groundless.
a. That the creditors of the city of Mem :
phi are unreasonable in dem anding that the
Taxing-District government shall issne the
compromise bonds, since the bonds issued by
commission specially created by
the Legislature for that purpose
would be equally as strong, be-
cause the act creating such commission
would be part of the contract, and the
tax levied to pay interest and create a
sinking fund would be perpetual until the
debt was paid; and neither could be an
nulied, even though the act creating the
commission was subsequently, for any rea-
son, or under any pretext, repealed.
The people Of the Taxing District will not,
therefore, as the APPEAL believes, consent to
the Taxing District government having any
thing TO do with the debt of the city Of
Memphis. 1t was created TO avoid that
debt, and for it to recognise it in any shape,
way or manrer, would be TO do what it was
especially created not to do, and open the
door to its speedy decay and ultimate death.
The people will insist upon our legislators
letting well-enough alone. The Taxing Dis
trict is free from all debt complications.
Let it forever remain SO. The debt can he
settled at fifty.and.si1 by special commits.
.lon. &fstt VIZ -s