Knoxville Daily Chronicle

The Franklin Review and Journal, edited by one of the most rabid repudiationists in the State says:

"To us the signs multiply of a growing determination of the people that the coming Legislature shall not settle the State debt upon any such terms, and in any such manner, as is proposed by the bondholders. Politicians and bondholders will be taught, presently, that the people of Tennessee are not that manly mind which will not submit to dictation and domineering from any quarter. The State debt question they intend to settle according to the equities in the case, and according to their ability to pay. But in this settlement they do not intend to suffer dictation, especially from the Nashville American and Wall street bondholders. The more of such talk as has recently emanated from the bondholders and as is above quoted, the nearer the people of this State are driven to outright repudiation."

This is a pretty fair specimen of the kind of talk we hear from those who are in favor of committing the State to the disgraceful policy of repudiation. They seek to arouse the prejudice of the people against the bondholders. They would have us suppose that a bondholder is as bad as a horse-thief, and that he has no rights that other people are bound to respect.

We never owned a State bond nor any other kind of a bond. But we know that State bonds have been held by widows and orphans, and thousands of them are held by educational institutions. In an editorial published a few days ago, we called attention to a State law which authorizes guardians to invest the funds belonging to their wards in these bonds. So the bondholders, this much abused class, includes many persons who have depended upon their interest for a living. The people of Tennessee are not dishonest enough to be influenced by the insane gabble of such papers as that from which we have quoted.