TENNESSEE. 



719 



This plan the Governor urges the Legisla- 

 ture to carry into execution, saying : 



I therefore recommend that you provide for the 

 funding of all coupons matured or maturing to 1st of 

 July, 1873, as well us all bonds due or maturing, by 

 authorizing the issuance of bonds, with coupons at- 

 tached, at a rate of interest not greater than six per 

 sent., to mature thirty years afterdate, and that they 

 commence to bear interest from and after the first 

 day of July, 1873, and provide that funding com- 

 mence at once. You will thus declare that the State 

 of Tennessee will resume the payment of interest 

 commencing with the coupons maturing the 1st or 

 January, 1874, for which your successors will pro- 

 vide. 



An unreasonable delay in providing for the debt is 

 practical repudiation, and will reflect its baneful con- 

 sequences, not only upon the credit of the State as a 

 whole, but upon its individual members. 



It seems worthy of notice that the represent- 

 atives of the Republican and Democratic par- 

 ties make very different statements in regard 

 to the amount of the State debt at the close 

 of the late civil war, and more different still 

 in regard to the amount of its increase since 

 that time and the responsibility therefor ; each 

 of those two parties ascribing this increase to 

 the other. Governor Brown said, in his inau- 

 gural address, on the 10th of October, 1871, 

 that, under the late Republican administration 

 of the State, " the public debt, in the short 

 space of four years, swelled from sixteen to for- 

 ty-two millions of dollars ; " on the other side, 

 ex-Governor Brownlow, who saw his own ad- 

 ministration reflected upon by the charge im- 

 plied in that assertion, published a letter in 

 which he characterized Governor Brown's 

 statement as a "perversion of truth," and 

 recites the following facts as of official rec- 

 ord, and calls on the Governor to controvert 

 them: 



Not having before me the official reports of the 

 Comptroller and other State officers, I cannot give 

 the exact figures in dollars and cents, but will give 

 them in round numbers, which are substantially the 

 official reports. Th,e entire State debt at the begin- 

 ning of the war was about $18,000,000, instead of 

 $16,000,000 as the Governor asserts. The interest 

 which accumulated during the war was about $4,500,- 

 000, and the debt that matured during the war was 

 about $500,000. making the State debt at the close of 

 the war about $23,000,000. 



Since then, over $1,000,000 of that debt has ma- 

 tured and been funded by the issuance of new bonds. 

 It will be seen that Governor Brown attributes to 

 the Eepublican party an increase of the debt by 

 85,000,000 that matured during the war and $1,000,- 

 000 since, before there was a Eepublican ^arty in 

 Tennessee. And even upon that assumption his 

 statements are greatly exaggerated. The actual 

 amount of the increase of the debt since the war, for 

 all purposes, does not exceed $14,000,000. The Gov- 

 ernor has it $26,000,000 an error of $12,000,000. 



As to the responsibility for this increase of 

 the debt, ex-Governor Brownlow not only jus- 

 tifies it by reason that it was a matter of neces- 

 sity, so far as the Republican administration of 

 the State may be concerned, but affirms it to 

 have been caused by Democrats alone, and ur- 

 gently demanded by them at the hands of that 

 administration, who only complied with their 

 demand, and did so chiefly to save the prop- 



erty of the State. He avers that, when the 

 Republican party took the administration of 

 the government into their hands, "they found 

 nearly all the railroads in the State in a condi- 

 tion of bankruptcy and ruin," and that from 

 all parts of the State the Confederate officers, 

 stockholders, and directors of these railroads, 

 " flocked to the capital and implored the Re- 

 publican party to lend them the credit of the 

 State by the issuance of bonds for the rebuild- 

 ing of bridges, depots, and trestle-work. The 

 question, therefore, was: 'Shall wo let the 

 State's property in these roads be totally lost, 

 or shall we put them in a good condition to 

 be serviceable to the State and its citizens? ' 

 I used whatever of influence I had to loan 

 them the credit of the State." 



The entire amount of taxable property in 

 Tennessee is set down at $300,000,000, on 

 which the Governor suggests a levy of a State 

 tax for 1872 at the rate of fifty cents for every 

 hundred dollars. Though this is ten cents 

 lower than the rate assessed for the previous 

 year, ^ which is generally complained of as op- 

 pressive, Governor Brown says he formerly 

 hoped that a tax under fifty cents might have 

 been sufficient, but, " after a careful considera- 

 tion of the whole question," regards this rate as 

 necessary to enable the State to meet her ob- 

 ligations. He anticipates a gradual reduction 

 of taxes for the ensuing years, in proportion 

 as the State revenue system will be perfected, 

 and new sources of income opened, several of 

 which he points out. 



A bill to raise revenue was proposed at this 

 session, the most important section of it being 

 that relating to the State tax. This point was 

 warmly discussed, and a variety of conflicting 

 sentiments expressed, some proposing a higher 

 rate than sixty cents, in order to clear the 

 State of her financial embarrassments ; others, 

 a much lower one, even as low as twenty 

 cents, with a view to relieve the people. The 

 opinion finally prevailed among the members 

 of the House of Representatives to fix it at 

 forty cents on the hundred dollars. 



In the railroads and turnpike-roads the State 

 is heavily interested. They differ very widely 

 from each other in regard to the condition of 

 their respective finances. A few among the 

 railroads in Tennessee pay interest on their 

 indebtedness to the State, and are called " sol- 

 vent ; " the largest number are termed " delin- 

 quent." The State seems to have just reason 

 for complaint even against the solvent rail- 

 roads, of which there are four, the whole 

 amount of their indebtedness to her being 

 $5,166,167.49, and its annual interest about 

 $300,000. An existing law permits the com- 

 panies concerned to pay the interest on the 

 bonds issued by the State for their benefit in 

 past-due coupons, which are at no inconsid- 

 erable discount, while the State must pay the 

 interest on the same bonds to the holders in 

 United States currency, and tax the people for 

 the difference. "With a view to diminish the 



