The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1883-11-28
L LEGISLATION THAT DOESN'T
PAN OUT

come. were to mark it, par excellence
-"the best legislative body that
ever met in the State" So proclaim
ed the State organ and SO echoed all
the little organs. These were the
bills 10 settle the State debt, TO ere
ate a Railroad Commission, and to
establish a Court of Referees as an
adjunct to the Supreme Court. Well,
we have been patiently awaiting de-
velopments, ready to make record
of the vast benefits sccruing to the
people of the State from any or all
of these statesman-like measures.
We are now growing little impa-
tent. The grand results do not
seom to materialize as promised.
In the first place, the debt settle
ment doesn't seem to settle. The
amount of indebtednesst to be refund
cd was SOS, 900, 900. OF this amount,
the readjusters graciously allowed
something over $4,000, 600 as estate
debt proper" bonds, to berefunded at
100 cents to the dollar and at per
cent. interest-the remainder to be
refunded at 80 cents and 3per cent.
interest. Now, up to November IL,
according to the latest report from
the funding board, there had been
refunded only little more than 81
SOC, 900, and, of this sum, over sSOO,-
900 was Estate debt proper" bonds,
showing less than s., 900, 600 refund
ed into 5O-3 bonds. Altogether, not
one tenth of the entire debt has been
reached by the great settlement
act" and the prospect is not very
encouraging that another tenth will
bereached. So, when the people shall
come to elect another legislature,
they will find the un-re-funded debt
about the same as last year, the re-
funding having hardly kept pace
with the accumulation of interest.
So much for that grand measure
In the next place, having passed
a Railroad Commission bill, by the
most questionable of methods, the
people of Tennessee were assured
that a sovereign remedy had been
provided for all the ills inflicted upon
the public through the unjust and
ruinous determinations and Oppres-
sions of the heartless railroads. The
giant monopoly was about to be
throttled and the long-cherished
dreams of Grangerism about to be
realized for a fact Soon the giant
killers, Savage, Turley and Gordon,
were on the war-path, fitting hith-
er and thither along our highways -
now here in grave consultation, now
there propounding interrogatories
by the furlong-dropping cheering
meanwhile, to the mer-
camille, agricultural and mining in
terests, that all would go we'll and
the dawn of the promised day of de-
liverance soon be ushered in. Well,
have succeeded months, and
still the Commission trayaileth in
vain. When We great Savage was
last heard from, it seemed to be a
of the case of Paddy and
the ground hog: Have you got
him, Pat?' No, be jabers, he's
got met
Again, the Board, or Court, of
Referees was a discovery that was
to bring immediate relief to our
overloaded Supreme Court and to
the hundreds of long delayed liti-
giants, who, from year to year, have
had to bide their time in the Court
of last resort. 1t was it'll unfor-
tunate for the grand discovery that
it proved to have provided salaries
for nine moro judges, when only three
had been designed by the legisla-
ture. But even the nine Referees
have failed utterly to accomplish
the purpose of the act. The exper-
iment has been fairly tried and the
almost universal professional yer;
diet is that the system, or plan, ra-
Their, is a failure-increasing the la
Dor and expense of litigation, with
out facilitating materially the ends
of Justice. The Referees have dis
charged their duties well enough,
but they can pronounce no judg-
ments, their decisions are open to
exceptions, and an exception re-
opens tho whole case in the Supreme
Court. The next legislature will
consume much less time in abolish
ing the whole business, than the last
one did in establishing it.
So much for the three grand pill
lars upon which the fame of the last
was TO rest for all time
IN Us;f,Iar.a v-iobao Fill ha aon