The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1857-07-17
COL. SMITH AND HIS ORGAN.
The Cleveland Banner of last week con-

The Cleveland Banner of last week con-
tains the following paragraph:
THE editor of the Athens Post is COM
planning of Col. Smith because he voted for
the Compensation Bill. We think this comes
with mighty bad grace from an editor whose
entire party in Congress voted for the same
thing"
We begin to think there must be
something wrong with the Banners type,
and that the continual misstatements and in
accuracies which appear in its columns are
not the result Of persistent determination
to avoid everything like truth and fairness,
but rather of circumstances beyond the con-
troll o: the unfortunate individual who con-
duets that sheet. We can make large al
lowance FOX the sort o: service required from
locoioco editors by their party, and could
paths OF truth, but on the proposition that
the man who sets himself up as a light by
whose reflection others are to be guided,
should really know something whereof he
| writes and speaks, there can be no excuse
for such ignorance TO use no harsher trruI,)
us is embodied in the short paragraph above.
| Speaking of our "compaint" OF COL Smiths
Identification with the passage of the Com
pensation Bill, the Banner says
1--WE think this comes with mighty bad
grace from an editor whose entire party in
('nnnraco tal fo, . o
We have already published the vote on the
Compensation Bill, and 10 show the mrnda-
city and recklessness Of the Ban9er, il is now
only necessary to state tina. of the five Amer
leans in the last House of Representatives
| from Tennessee, but too of them voted for
the Compensation Bll--Messrs. Sneed and
Rivers. Neither of these gentlemen are be-
fore the country for reelection. II they
were, il would be the province Of the people
of the Second and Tenth Districts, of which
they were the Representatives, either to con-
denim or approve that vote. Etheridge and
Ready voted against the bill, and are candi-
dates for reelection. ZoIlicoffer was absent
from the House on business when the vote
was taken. Col. Smith, of this District, voted
for the bill, and he is n candidate for re-elec-
ton, asking the people to endorse his vote
and efforts on the measure under considera-
ton. Not only so, but he is going about
over the District, lauding himself and glor-
flying the act-claiming that but for his eff
forts the bill could not have been passed in
to la", and that he had determined, soon
after entering Congress, that some such.
measure should be adopted, as it was i'm
possible for gentleman to live like gem
tleman at Washington or eight dollars day.
But here is what we look at most. A for
mer Representative of the Third District, in
accordance with usage accepted mileage for
the route generally travelled between his
residence and the Federal Capitol, and which
amounted to a few hundred dollars more
than he would have received il he had struck
through the woods and across the mountains
on an air line. When he presented himself
before the people of his District for re-elpc-
ton, what hue and cry about long mileage
was raised by drmocrats-the Banner man
among the number-many OF them affecting
degree of virtuous honesty and patriotism
on the subject, which any 4ne who knew
them half MS well as we did never for mo-
ment suspected them of possessngl That
candidate was hunted from one end of the Dis
trct TO the other with that cry, and was de.
feated upon It. That man was n Wing
Recolect this as you 90 along. His offence
was in accepting mileage for the route he &C.
tually traveled-an offence committed BY his
immediate predecessor. and of which we srs-
pect both his Successors have since been gull
ty. The sum involved was n few hundred
dollars. Col. Smith, democrat who has
heretofore stood high in the affections of his
party, entered into n contract with the peo-
pie of the Third District TO serve them in the
capacity of Representative for eight dollars
per day. By his own admissions and by the
record, he violated the contract and voted
himself more than three times the amount
specified in it, And the people who con-
demned the smaller offence Gf offence it
was,) are asked and expected to approve and
applaud the greater one. The legitimate in
ference is, from the position of the Banner
and its ndjnncls, that it is great and henous
prong for an opponent Of the Democratic
party to lay the tip of his little finger upon
the public purse, while it is altogether right !
and honest for member of that party to phil
off his coat, roll up his sleeves, and plunge
into the public treasury up to his arm-pits
But il is not altogether the lavish amount |
which Col. Smith voted himself, but the pre-.
pedeni-the violation of principle involved. |
If the men who passed The Compensation |
Bill (and Col. Smith claims that but for his
efforts it could not have become law,) are
nergitted 70 20 '..~- ;--.5s -
Editor Proprietor Of the Naaoual Police Gazette
may str New York City.
T. H Il ID u O n ID
Through Rates of Freight