Fair play., 1892-09-10

prove 70 You that the sun shines ct MIDI
day as to prove to you or to any MS
sourian who really loves HI state that
il has gone forward, and is now going
forward. with luSty and IorGiy step /
will not attempt 10 prove a iaciso SELF
evident as that.
BONDED DEBT,
turn from this to the consideration
OF some achievements OF the democrats
party in the practical affairs OF the
state since its asccudeucy i'll the gov
crnnent When that party was e!e-
waited TO power in Is13 the bonded debt
of the state amounted 10 81, $4,000.
That was in the main the remnant OF
the old railroad bond debt imposed
upon the people by reason of the fraud
uleut misInauaremsnt OF the republican
party. rs | have heretofore fully eX-
planned.
Mai. Warner states that at the close
of the war the republicans, then IN
power. found state debt a-gre-ating
about So .uUo, 600. That is true, but
| -. 600, Oeo of that consisted of guaran-
| ,ced railroad bonds secured by mort
( CAGES on the properties of the corpora
/ iions. lie further states with great
! blowing of tru;npetS. that between
| >,i5 and 1871 the republican admins
! tration then in power paid OF about
/ Sli 400 00o Of that debt He congratu-
| late, himself and his party upon that
achievement as phenornenaI imam
ciai fea. On the contrary. Mr.. Chair
man. it was an achievement which de
served positive condemnation in many
of its aspects. because of the means
| employed 10 bring il about. and i'll no
view of the ease does il merit any spe-
| pial condemnation. How was that re-
! duction made? In the first place soon
| after the war the nited States paid in
to the state treasury overs6, O0o. 600 u re-
imbursc the state tor moneys expended
in the prosecution of the war III thus
sum 81, sG3. 92i was applied In the reduc-
ton of the state debt Again, | nave
heretofore shown that over S6,OOO.oOU
was realized from the sale of the rail
roads, bncl interest paid. etc. OF this
sum 81. .006 0sS were applied to the re-
duction Of the debt. Again. the state
At that time held a large amount of
stock in the old state bank Of Missouri
During Gov Fletchers administration
that stock was sold. and of the proceeds
arising therefrom 81. S,635 were ap'
piled to the reduction of the state debt
Again. s.i0.2s5 belonging to the schoo
fund was unlawfully misused and di
vertcd to the payment of the public
debt, greatly to the detriment of the
public schools of the state These sew
eral sums aggregate Sl2,TsS sS2- IL
that way that amount of the publ,
debt was paid. The remainder of tn,
reduction, of which Maj. Warner
boasts. was accomplished by lcvyina
and collecting state interest tax o
forty cents on the 500 valuation, which
added to the revenue tax, aggregated
total tax levied on a people. the ma
iority of whom were disfranchised, o
siytv-tive cents on the 500 valuation
And here, Mr.. Chairman, l am conten
to leave Maj Warmers boasted reduc
ton of the public debt
| As have already stated. on January
|, 1873, the bonded debt of the stat
amornted to SCI ,76s. 900. That deb
then bore interest at the rate of 6and
per cent To-day the bonded deb
!. amounts to ST., $50. 900, which shows /
reduction since 1878 amounting to Sl4.
! a.S, 900. OF the debt now outstanding
! 81 $50, 600 bears 6 per cent. and s., 40,
I, 600 bear 3l@ per cent. interest. Nego
tiations are now being conducted witt
n view to rcfunding the per cent
; bonds into 3 per cents. This reaii'
praiseworthy achievement has beei
wrought. not by any fraud or trick o
infringement of the law, but by a rigi'
economy in administration and legiti
mate methods in financiering.
STATE CREDIT.
Mai. Warner and the republical
, press have much to say about i'm
proving the credit of the state by tn
election Uf a republican administration
Let Us see about that. In his Sedali
speech Mai. Warner spoke of ou
, state bon3s being hawked about tn
a., streets ofiNcw York at 81 cents on tn
, dollar: near the close of his administra
: ton Gov. Brown, in IL message t
the general assembly, referred to tn
.. state bond IS then possessing 4 marlle
value of sofsents on the dollar. Th.s
= | 6 and per cent bonds. which lsold
, | Fletcher's time for 81 cents. asld
Browns time for s. cents, have. bee
nearly AL exchanged for bonds bea
ing 81 per cent. and these low into
csts bearing securities sell to-day aboy
par IN a1l the markets of the world.
" would seem, therefore. that the cred
I of Missouri is in a state of robust an
= blooming health. and can stand alor
" without the supporting hand of Il r
. publican administration.
. THAT INCREASE.
! While on this subject of debt redu
= ton. | might pause in passing to motto
an observation made by Maj. Warn'
:; at Scdalia to the effect that during til
\ administrations of Gov. Brown and Co
= Woodsou the state debt was increased
1t would not have served the major
:; purpose so well, perhaps. if ne ha
= stated the facts with reference to tn;
Lxx 4 do,
' will take the tronble to do it for hin
During Browns administration 81. lol
:. 900 of bonds and certificates of iudebte'
J, ness were issued to repay to Il
! university and to the public scho
y fund moneys belonging to them whic
y Gov. Fletcher had wrongfully take
= and used in paying the public debt ar
= for other purposes. During Woodson
v administration sl04,Ii0 of bonds we
:, issued to repay moneys due from Il
state to shareholders in the / sta
: bank. which had been withheld fro
!, them. This debt also came over rs
:, leracv from the Fletcher administr
> ton. submit it is hardly fair or in
- for Mai. Warner to complain OF this l
n crease in the public debt. when it w
= increased to meet obligations entaii'
~ upon Governors Brown and Woods
by the misconduct of Maj. Warner
own political friends.
NoLASp's pEFALCATIoS.
- Mai. Warner, in his Sedalia speec
=. referring to cx-Treasurer Noland's
:, falcation. insinuatcs that there is pos
# bly, something still hidden from {
~ public view. He intimates that if
~ can only get chance at the book
10 there is no telling what wonderf
,s things he might unearth and divulc
- Can Maj Warner be really sincere VIII
~ he uses language of that descilptio
i Does he no. know that when the \
:, land defalcation occurred Gov Franc
IN appointed committee OF expert bu
rs ness men to prosecute thorough
n vestigation. and to ascertain the tr
q condition of the treasury? This W
10 done IN order that the extent of I
~, liability of the treasurer's bondsm
a might be known. as we'll as to ascerta
=. the condition of the treasury itse
lr Hon. Chas. Parsons, OF St Louis, "
On appointed at the head of that comm
=. tee. Mr.. Parsons is distinguish