The Monticellonian., 1898-05-06
STATE SETTLEMENT BILL.
Passed Both Houses of Congress and Approved By President
 Mckinley.
COMPREHENSIVE STATEMENT OF THE CASE.
Senator Berry and Hon T. (. McRea Re- view the Terms of the Bill What It Means to the state Claim of the United States Dates Back to 1858.

States Dates Back to 1858.
 The Arkansas debt settlement bill passed both houses of congress witl the Meikeljohn amendment and is now a law
 Under the terms of the contract it is provided that upon the payment by the state of Arkansas into the treasury of the United States of the sum of S572 she shall receive from the United States government the surrender and cancel lation of state bonds, coupons and in- terest obligations tsome of which have been running 60 years), aggregating at this date about s GAG, 900, leaving in the hands of the United States s16O, ,000 of the bond issue of 1874, which, under the contract, the state agrees to pay in the year 1900.
 It should be understood that the pay ment of the S572 secures the release, surrender and cancellation of all the states indebtedness to the government tS2, 500 0O0l, save and excepting s16O 900 before referred to. which natures in 1900, and which constitutes the only obligation then due the United States.
 The claim of the United States dates back to the year 1s3s, and is for money borrowed, and interest. For upwards of 22 years the state officials and our senators and representatives in con gress have been trying to get passed
 through congress some measure author iziug a settlement between the state and the government, but up to the present time no compromise bill could
 be agreed upon which could be passed through both houses.
 One of the first bills introduced into
 congress was by Senator Garland in
 the year 1876 L22 years ago., and ccn-
 tinuously since that date and during
 all these years our representatives have
 kept the subject before the depart
 ments in Washington and the congress
 of the United States, urging and de-
 manding action upon this very import ant measure.
 Quoting from the recent speech of Senator Berry upon this subject:
 @The controversy has existed for 50 years
 This settlement will quiet the title Of thousands of OUT citizens to their homes. It relieves the state from debt amounting principal and in terest if you count the interest to this date Of | about g. 500 CO.,"
 T would greatly have preferred that the 1 house of representatives should have passed 1 the senate bill without amendment but the | effort was made both in the last congress and l in this to pass the senate bill and have be- come firmly convinced that 1t is absolutely inn | possible to have the senate bill even consid- | cred by the house of representatives and to | have it passed there without amendment. The i delegation from the state have made every pos l Sihle effort to pass the bill without the amend meHt, and they agree with me that we must l take the amendment or have no bill. And they agree with me also that it k best for the state that this controversy should be settled" T want to state further that the amendment which has been proposed by the house of repre- | sentatives was during the winter of 1sS7 pre- sented to the legislature Of the state of Ar kansas After contest q majority of that
 legislature agreed to accept the amendment, which Is now proposed by the house of repre- | o~nt.
 Mr. McRea, in a speech in the house of representatives April II, upon the subject of the claims of the United States, said:
 "1he United States invested S53s. 900 of the Smithsonian fund and Sg0 000 of the Chickasaw fund in these bonds The United States also invested S3000 of the Chickasaw orphan fund in per cent bonds As of the date of .Ianu- ary 1. lsii. the 800 00o of Chiekasaw bonds and
 interest were funded into s252 GOO new per cent bonds, due January 1, 1900 The principal ot all the bonds amounts to S193 ,000 and in the
 pending compromise the state is charged with that, and in addition the interest thereon to the
 time of maturity, which is 8siss03, making in | all the sum Of Sl,6ll ,s03 6l. No interest is charged against the state after the maturity of
 the bonds, although upon their face they bear interest until the payment of the principal. If interest should be added to this date, the amount Is nearly 8 GOO GOO.
 From time to time. as the state defaulted in the paymantS congress appropriated money to protect the trust funds invested in the bouds and the United States now own in their own right all of the bonds and the Smithsonian and Indian funds have nothing to do with them. When the bonds matured in 1861 the state had seeded from the Union and was engaged in eEort to sustain the Confectionery, The whole country was then in state Of cruel war, which, after four years left the state peopled principally with widows and orphans aged men and maimed soldiers without any organ izea state government her relations to the general government uncertain and new and ignorant citizenship to deal with, and aliens as rulers.
 With this condition of affairs it is unneces- | sary for me 10 say that nothing was or could be | done to pay the debt to the United States. | From then until now the people who survived | the wreck and ruin of that sad conflict of the | sections and the more disastrous effects of the | reconstruction period that followed it. have 1 labored with all their energies to rebuilc their l lost fortunes, but the high taxes. hard times | floods and droughts have made it almost i'm | possible to do more than support the state government. With the present tow price of
 cotton, our great farm product, the probabi- | ities of the state ever being able to pay the principal and interest of these real estate | bonds in money very slight even fl willing 1 to do so.
 Il do not hesitate to say that do not believe | she can pay the full amount of them by taxa l ton and for that reason have sought to effect | a compromise With these bonds settled the l state will he u condition 10 pay or adjust | upon honorable terms the remainder of her debt The state is improving u many wafs and with this menace removed l shall expect such an influx of immigration and capital as will astonish the world. "
 Sentenced to Be Hanged. Lee Mills was convicted of the muf-
 der of Hugh S Patterson near Clinton 1 and sentenced to hang June F. Ihe