742 



TENNESSEE. 



agricultural products, which are arranged in a 

 room set apart for the purpose in the Capitol, 

 besides a large number not yet classified and 

 arranged. In submitting his report to the 

 Governor, in the latter part of December, the 

 commissioner says : 



The great end for which I have labored has been 

 to induce capital to fill our unoccupied fields of in- 

 dustry. I have believed, and slill believe, that our 

 people need relief from taxation ; not that taxes arc 

 iiigher than in other States, but because they are 

 harder to pay, the margin between their necessary 

 expenses and income being very small. This want 

 of ability on the part of our people does not arise 

 from a scarcity of agricultural products, but from 

 the want of home-markets. There is to-day more 

 wheat, corn, and cotton grown than can find a re- 

 munerative market. There is too great a proportion 

 of our people engaged in agriculture compared with 

 the aggregate population of the State. I believe 

 that the industrial history of every country will fail 

 to show a prosperous people where such a 1 urge num- 

 ber proportionally are engaged in agricultural pur- 

 suits. Every farmer in the State, if asked, will say 

 that the price brought for what he has to sell is too 

 low compared with the cost of production. The la- 

 borer will say, truthfully, that he cannot live on less 

 than he is receiving. What the agriculture of the 

 State needs is productive consumers labor engaged 

 in other departments of business creating what the 

 farmer needs, and taking in exchange therefor what 

 the farmer produces. . . . 



The time is propitious for making the value and 

 abundance of our mineral wealth known. Stagna- 

 tion reigns throughout the iron-world, and iron-mas- 

 ters are looking the world over to secure better lo- 

 calities for the prosecution of their manufacturing 

 enterprises, where all the raw material may be found 

 close together, and where the investment required 

 will be less. We have in the State of Tennessee a 

 happy combination of all these advantages, and it 

 can be demonstrated that we can mnke a ton of pig- 

 iron anywhere along the line of the Cincinnati South- 

 ern, Knoxville & Ohio, and Nashville & Chatta- 

 nooga Railroads, at about what the ore costs per ton 

 in Pittsburg. This fact is well established; and to 

 make it known, to prove the cheapness of our iron 

 and coal-fields, to show the means of transportation 

 by river and by rail in course of construction and 

 already completed, have been the chief objects of 

 my labor. . . . 



Capitalists from Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, 

 and from many of the States north, are daily inquir- 

 ing into our capabilities. Companies are now form- 

 ing, and negotiations pending, which will add many 

 millions of capital to the State. Agents are now 

 selecting lands in various portions of the State. 

 The publications, or selections therefrom, which I 

 have made, have to some extent been republished 

 in Pittsburg, New York, England, Germany, and 

 Switzerland. A growing inquiry for information is 

 evidenced by nearly every mail. During the twen- 

 ty-one months just passed more than 3,700 letters 

 have passed through my office. The States of Vir- 

 ginia, Alabama, and Kentucky, seeing the effects of 

 such advertising, have applied for copies of the act 

 creating this department. Kentucky has already 

 established a similar bureau, which is now in active 

 operation ; and the friends of the movement in Vir- 

 ginia and Alabama expect to have the acts before 

 their respective Legislatures at present carried, hav- 

 ing the same object in view. 



A geodetic survey of the State has been be- 

 gun, under the authority of the Superintendent 

 of the United States Coast Survey, and at the 

 expense of the Federal Government. It is to 

 be executed by Prof. A. H. Buchanan, under 



the general direction of Dr. J. M. Safford, the 

 State Geologist, who has been mainly instru- 

 mental in securing the survey. 



The finances of the State are not in an alto- 

 gether satisfactory condition. Default has been. 

 made in the payment of interest due on the 

 State's bonds since July 1, 1875. In June of 

 that year an attempt was made to provide for 

 the interest coming due, by the issue of bonds ; 

 but such harsh terms were demanded in order 

 to negotiate the new bonds, that the plan was 

 abandoned, and no interest has since been 

 paid, though a considerable amount fell due 

 July 1, 1875, January 1, 1876, and January 1, 

 1877. The present indebtedness of the State 

 is as follows : Funded and registered bonds 

 outstanding, $22,812,400 ; bonds belonging to 

 the East Tennessee University, not required 

 to be registered, $396,000 ; fundable bonds 

 and coupons not presented, $1,021,000 ; past- 

 due interest, $2,088,756: total, $26,318,156. 

 Deducting from this $1,671,916 loaned to the 

 Memphis & Charleston Railroad, $1,199,180 

 loaned to the Mississippi Central Railroad, 

 $316,744 loaned to the Mississippi & Tennes- 

 see Railroad, $14,150 due from the purchasers 

 of the Tennessee & Pacific Railroad, $51,125 

 due from the purchasers of the Knoxville & 

 Charleston Railroad, $204,000 due from the 

 purchasers of the McMinnville & Manchester 

 Railroad, and $95,636.10 interest due from 

 solvent railroads, we have as the debt to be 

 provided for, $22,765,404.90. In December 

 Governor Porter received from several of the 

 largest creditors of the State the following 

 communication : 



The undersigned holders of bonds of the State of 

 Tennessee, believing that the best interests of Ten~ 

 nessee and of her public creditors will be served by 

 an early permanent adjustment of the claims of such 

 creditors, on a basis honorable to the State and 

 equitable to them, respectfully ask your Excellency, 

 in the full belief that such a settlement is practica- 

 ble, to recommend that the Legislature of Tennes- 

 see, as early as may be possible at its ensuing ses- 

 sion, appoint a commission to come to this city and 

 confer with the holders of bonds of the State of Ten- 

 nessee, for the purpose mentioned herein. 



Early in 1877 the Board of Arbitration ap- 

 pointed to make a fair adjustment of the ob- 

 ligations of defaulting Southern States, after a 

 prolonged conference and consultation in New 

 York with a delegation of five prominent citi- 

 zens of Tennessee appointed for the purpose, 

 made an award proposing that, " after adding 

 all the arrears of interest up to July 1, 1877, 

 the then aggregate of the State debt should be 

 readjusted by the issue of new bonds at the 

 rate of sixty per cent, of the total amount. 

 This was left to be ratified by the Legislature 

 of the State, which was then in session. In 

 the report of the Board of Arbitration in mak- 

 ing the award, the following statement of rea- 

 sons was made : 



In the conclusion to which this committee have, 

 with much deliberation, arrived, they have not lost 

 sight of the fact that a sovereign State, although be- 



