Year: 1876

Compromise.


Aishort time since the American
suggested that the Governor, or a
commission, have an interview in
New York, with the holders of Ten
nessee bonds, for the purpose of
ascertaining whether or not some |
arrangement could be made which, /
whilst doing justice to the former,
would afford some relief to the tax
payers of the State. No one, we
presume, can have any objection to
the consummation of such an ar
rangement, but we have no reason
to suppose that bondholders are
more generous than other creditors,
for were it otherwise some indica-
tion would have been given ere this
of a Willingness to compromise
either upon the rate of interest or
the adjustment of the principal on
the basis of the price paid for the
bonds. In the absence of such in
dications, and with knowledge Of
the universal purpose to demand
every cent nominated in the bond, ''
and of the difficulties in the way of
such a conference between the State
and its scattered creditors, we fear
the proposition will have no other
effect than to create expectations
not likely to be realized.


Instead, therefore, of Offering sug-
gestions which are not prompted by
the bondholders, it were wiser per
haps to keep before the people the
plain truth, that the State can and
will pay its debt, because it is able
to do it and honor demands it. The
difficulty lies, not in the amount of
the debt, but in the inefficiency of
legislation and the absence of econ
omy in the whole system of admin
istering the government of the State.
The fault is traceable directly to the
people whose exclusive duty it is to
select competent agents to make
and administer the laws. With
such voting population as we have,
it is no easy matter to discharge
this duty, there being honest differ
ences of opinion and differences
created by designing disorganizers
who rely for success upon ignorance
and observation-disclosures suffl-
ciently strong to defeat, in most
counties, the counsels of the better
class of the population. The only
remedy for this evil is a compact
union of the taxpayers, and an
equally compact purpose to discard
every minor consideration and lool
only to their own and the genera
welfare. Such union could silence
discord and rebuke into inactioI
that spirit OF Reputation which
would dishonor the State in ali tim'
to come; hence the necessity for I
union of the integrity and wealth o
the State in a determined effort K
liquidate its debt and sustain it,
credit unimpeached and unimpaired
If the bondholders, knowing th'
character of the debt and the causes


which make its payment a heayy


burden upon the people, think prop
er TO offer terms of relief it will b
cheerfully accepted; but the sugges
tion that they ought to do it viii
serve no other purpose than to ere
ate dissatisfaction by inviting a con
trast between what is and wha


might be. When it can be truth
fully said that a man who owe


twenty-five dollars and is worth fiv


hundred can't pay the debt, it ma,


be contended, that a State wOrtl


dVe hundred mill1OnS cant pa.


twenty-five millions. To curtai
! expenses by a wise administration


is all that is needed to demohstrat


the ability to pay. The term "wis
administration" as we have used il


means efficient legislation and th


prompt and faithful enforcement Q


the laws by the executive and judi
ciary departments Of the govern
} ment. And.if, with all the eeonom
f that can be practiced and the closes
} collections that can be made, theF
I is still a deficit, then we must prC
? vide for that deficit by an increase
!, rate of taxation-any other polio
! means repudiation and dishonor.-
I CIarksville Chronicle.