TENNESSEE. 



Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of 

 Tennessee, That the action of his Excellency the 

 President of the United States, in this extraordinary 

 license of arbitrary power, deserves and receives the 

 hearty condemnation of the body of liberty-lovine 

 people throughout the entire country. 



Be it further resolved, That we deprecate all Fed- 

 eral Executive interference in State elections for par- 

 tisan purposes, and invoke the law-abiding spirit of 

 a free people to correct the evils complained of as 

 well as to effectuate the will of the people as ex- 

 pressed in the late elections, State and national. 



Among the acts passed was one authorizing 

 municipal corporations to compromise or settle 

 their indebtedness; one creating the new 

 county of Haines out of portions of Benton, 

 Carroll, Henderson, and Decatur ; one repeal- 

 ing the 10 per cent, interest law ; one pro- 

 hibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors near 

 institutions of learning ; one depriving the Stato 



711 



of the power to borrow money ; one repealing 

 the act of 1875, establishing an Immigration 

 Bureau ; and one creating a State Board of 

 Health. Bills reducing the rate of taxation 

 from 40 to 10 cents on a hundred dollars, and 

 amending the assessment laws, were vetoed by 

 the Governor and passed in spite of his ob- 

 jections. The amendment* to the Constitution 

 proposed by the previous (u-neral Assembly 

 were defeated, failing to receive the necessary 

 two-thirds vote in the House. 



A litigation of long standing, involving the 

 conflicting claims of the depositors and note- 

 holders of the old Bank of Tennessee to the re- 

 maining assets of that institution, was decided 

 in January in favor of the note-holders. The 

 bank, which was located in Nashville, sus- 

 pended on the approach of the Federal army, 



in 1862 ; its assets were carried south and after- 

 ward captured by General Sherman at Atlanta, 

 Ga., and delivered to the State authorities. A 

 large portion of them consisted of Confederate 

 bonds, Tennessee war bonds, and bills and 

 notes which became worthless. A part of the 

 balance was wasted or lost while nominally in 

 custody of the State authorities, so that only 

 $275,850 remained of what nominally footed 

 up at $10,325,000. There was $1,500,000 due 

 to depositors, and about the same amount out- 

 standing in notes. According to the decision 

 of the Supreme Court of the State, the holders 

 of the notes are entitled to receive what is left 

 of the assets, after the payment of various 

 costs and expenses. 



A case was decided by the Supreme Court in 

 February, which involved the validity of the 

 act of 1876, declaring the keeping of dogs a 

 "privilege," and imposing a tax upon it as 

 such. The Constitution requires all taxation 



upon property to be uniform ' according to 

 value, and authorizes the taxing of ' mer- 

 chants, peddlers, and privileges." The court 

 held, substantially, that dogs were property, 

 and the keeping of thorn could not by legiftla- 

 tive action be made a privilege in any proper 

 legal sense. Neither could the taxing of these 

 animals, under the provisions of the law in 

 question, be regarded as a police measure for 

 the restriction of their number, as it was 

 clearly intended as a measure for obtaining 

 revenue. Accordingly the act was declared 

 null and void. The judge, in concluding a long 

 opinion on the subject, said : 



The result is, that the law before tu roost be held 

 void as a revenue tnessuro or Ux impowd in viola- 



of the limitations of our Constitution, and not 

 sustainable under the police power of t 

 cause not so purposed in the firvt place, and, second, 

 because not using the appropriate remedies for the 

 exercise of such power. However Uirhtljr we may 

 esteem the animal subject to this tar, the Cooatito- 



