Year: 1877

ally outside of the State, are paving


great deal of attention to our finan.


cial condition. They speak of oul
State officials and citizens in general


in not very complimentary terms.


thieves" ''robbers,6 and other


smooth sounding slang names and
expressions are used without stint


and in rounded poetic periods.


The New York Times calls us


"repudiators, and charges all the


Democracy. The Louisville Com


mercial, in an article sometime


since, uses the same dignified title


both written under the dictatiOn,


evidently, of some holder of our de-


preciated obligations, and without


the full and necessary facts for a


calm and intelligent discussion of


the question. To make Jokes upon


the actual poverty of a people is


only to irritate and incense them,


and to undertake to bluff and bully


them into measures often drives


them rapidly in the opposite direc-


ton. The capitalists who hold Ten


nessee bonds, do not fully under


stand the temper Ofthe times. They


have never felt the actual poverty


of the present holder of the landed


property of this country, nor have
they felt the pangs of hunger and


the frOst's bitter sting, as is now felt


by the labOring classes of the whole


land, and it is wisdom for them, and


all of us to look things squarely in


the face and tide over not alone re-


pudiatiOn in Tennessee, but the


whole nation.


The question of State debt is not


party question. No party in the


State is responsible for the present
condition of public opinion, nor is
either party unit upon it, there are
all shades and degrees of opinion in
both parties. There are really no
repudiators in the State. There are
men, however, who argue-and they
have a reasonably good basis for
their argument-that the whole
debt is invalid; that no Legislature
even had authority under the Con-
stitutiOn to bind the theState to any !
Indebtedness. Others pick out isO- |
lated cases, and propOsetO show that !
certain amounts of the debt are null |
and void by reason of the laws |
granting the loans having been |
openly violated in the sale of the
bonds under par, that part of the
contract upon which the loan was
made; and claim that the holder
has redress alone upon the Violater
or his successor in possession of the /
property. Thus it can be readily
seen that arguments are abundant
in defence of the idea of at least a
partial reputation of the debt.
But there is not in Tennessee the
semblance of party who desire its
total repudiatiOn. There are many
for the full payment of
everything, others who feel grateful
to those capitalists who hold the
debt, and have looked carefully
enough into our affairs to determine
for themselves that we are in bad
and are willing to meet
them atany given price they maySay
within the bounds of what we can
make perfectly secure, and keep the
fully and promptly paid up;
this is the large, and we think the
party.


The committee of the Legislature
to confer with commit
tee of the creditors, did not return
in time to prepare any proper legis-
latiOn looking to an adjustment of
the matter. In six days after their
return the constitutional limitations
of the session expired, and the time
was too short. But Governor Porter
them that he would call an
extra session, and still intends to do
so. AS soon as the assessment are
made, which will not be before No i
the Legislature will re-as-
semble to take into consideration
this grave and important question.
1t behOOveS every honest Tennessee
an to bend all his energy to proper
of the subject, to look
fairly into each and every detail, to (
recOllect that upon the final and
adjustment of this de
pends everything that he should
hold sacred. Its reputation con-
signs us to that endless commercial {
oblivion, to which dishOnOrabIe ac-
ton inevitably leads. If those peo- (
pie, however, who hold the debt, ;
and who know as we do, that Ten
nessee is little responsible for the
wide spread depression consequent (
upon bad and criminal administra- {
ton of the finances of the country, ]
are disposed, with all the facts be- 5
fore them, to accept a partial settle
ment let us meet them, and so thor ]
Dughly secure what we agree to pay, {
that there shall in the future be no
shadow of doubt upon the matter.
In the meantime, the less the press j
in the employ of the creditors say ;
about the matter the better for them, {
md the easier the task for those who {
are disposed to make the best
possible settlement within the
power Of the people to ratify by un-
doubted payment.-NdShUiiie Cotton
T1H TbH0ccO R0cOTT