Year: 1877

terest and the purchase of the bonds as herein provided for. And it is provided that all the powers herein conferred upon the Judge of the Cir cult courts of the State and the Chan celers thereof, are hereby vested in any Judge of the Circuit or District courts of the United States and may be SO exercised in the event that any bondholder aforesaid desiring the process of the courts shall be at the time a nonresident of this State, and owning and holding bond not less than one thousand dollars.

 It will be seen that the provisions of this section are very stringent; that it takes the subject matter en- tirely away from the control of any future legislature; it makes an en- violable contract between the State and the bond-holder, and is protect ed by that provision of the Constitu- tion of the United States that forbids any State to pass a law impairing a contract; further, it authorizes any circuit judge, or U. $. judge, in cases of nonresident bond holders to man. damus the State authorities and com pei them to levy the tax however burdensome or grievous it may be to the tax payers of the State, sufficient in amount to pay all the interest an nually, and create a sinking fund for the ultimate payment of the face of the bond. Some there may be who will say, You, sir, voted for this bill, why take the back track nowY" To which 1 answer, 1 did under the peculiar circumstances and exigen- cies that then envlroned our State finances at that period, and it was a matter of public necessity that some thing should be done to place our State on her feet. so to speak, and no very large quantities of the bonds would be out at one time, but l mad many misgivings as to the propriety of the measure, and am now thor oughly convinced, though resulting in temporary good, that the sys- tenn is wrong and vicious, and should not be continued. The right of tax ation is a sovereign power that should be left free to the action of each legislature as the exigencies of the circumstances may require. Mis- fortunes befall States as well as in

 dividuals, and it appears to me to be unwise for one legislature to deprive subsequent one of the power to grant relief in times of great neces

 sity or dire distress. I, for one, will not do It. It is contrary to the spirit and very existence of our political system.

 Many persons have asked me what proposed to do with the debt that hangs over us, and I have invariably replied that I would discard all of the dishonest debt; that would not issue another bond of any sort; that 1 would levy a tax, within the con trol of each legislature to enlarge or diminish, as a sinking fund, and when there were ten, twenty, fifty, or hundred thousand dollars Tn the State treasury, would advertise that the person who would glve the largest amount of the recognized bonds for the currency on hand, should have the same on surrender ing the bonds to the State treasurer. Thisapp ears to me to be the true road out of our financial difficulties. Any other mode means an increase or our interest paying debt. Under the Adams Redfield plan it would be increased very largely-say one- third. I submit the above, as some of my views, on the finance question, to the people. W. F. HICKS.