Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-04-22
AMUsEsrENTs.

troupe OF the equentrihnt, hcfope'o NV
| tumblers who will appear with Lake.
hippo-olympiad in this city, on the sou
inst, may be mentioned Hi. Marks, thu
famous clown, late Of Howe's circus
aud the marvel Of the ring-Little Min
uie-the smallest and youngest rider In
the world. A rare treat may therefore b'
looked forward to. Hf tfa
ODD FELLOWS PIoYIc.-On the occa'
sion of the picnic of the l. o. o. +. IN
celebration Of the forty-ninth anniver
sary Of the order, on the S0th inst, q
special car will be chartered to carry al
baskets from the hall, opposite Court
Square, to the grove on Vance street
1t is slso proposed to run additional cars
on the Beal street line for the accommo
dation Of those DESTROYS Of visiting the
grounds during the day.
The VARIETIES The Green Monster
and the burlesque Of the x. x. x. are
drawing immensely at this resort. They
will both be repeated tonight, together
with other novelties in which the entire
company will appear, principal among
whom may be mentioned Misses DeVere,
Kent, Wallace, Jackson and Rowland
The house will, of course, be crowded.
MAY DAY BALL.-The grand opening
ball at Forest Hill, on the evening oil
the lst of May, promises to be attended
by many from this city. We learn of
large party of ladies and gentlemen
being made up who will honor the occa.
sion with their presence The affair
promises to be an exceedingly pleasant
one. r....I ..r,a..ss ~,
The WHARFAGE QUEsTIoN.-In the
progress of the war inaugurated by the
city government against the wharfboats,
we see at length on the part of all who
have taken the trouble to investigate the
subject, disposition to draw the line OF
distinction between the boats which are
depots to the local packets and those
which are the storage and commission
houses of middlemen, or scalpers.
SO to to speak, where freight is accumu-
lated, to be distributed among the high
est bidders of the transient or through
boats. This is as it should be, and we
trust the Council may. make the dis
tinction as clearly and decidedly as the
merchants and the community generally
have done, as indicated by the petition OF
the former. 1t must appear that what
ever may be advanced in favor of the
local packet wharfage system, is just SO
much against the wharfage system as
conducted in the interests of the through
lines. Consequently, no legislation on
the part of the Council can be just or
equitable which links the one class Of
boats to the other, and causes both to
answer for the sins of the one. We think
we have already shown in former allu-
sion to the subject, that the local packets
wharf boat is an advantage and a benefit,
both to the commercial interests Of the
city and to the packet company, which it
is the interest of the city to support, and
necessarily, in doing this, we have
shown wherein the other wharves
at the landing are q damage and
q drawback to every local interest
but that of their proprietors. We might
have added that every port on the Mis-
sissippi and Ohio has experienced ex-
actly what we are experiencing at the
present time--a conflict between the two
classes of wharfboats named-and the re-
suit has been precisely what we hope to
see it in Memphis. Cincinnati, St.
Louis and Louisville ell permit special
wharfage privileges to their lines oflocal
packets, but to none others, and thereby
they have fostered an interest which has
rendered them the great distributing
points of the West. Freights have been
necessitated to break bulk at their
landing and they have reaped the
benefits which have accrued there
from. And then, again, one line
of local packets, properly supported
and fostered, necessarily begets other
lines, and becomes the fruitful mother
of multifarious benefits. If it is the
desire of Memphis in future to run
packets into White, Arkansas and st.
Francis rivers which shall run out of a
trade, properly ours, packets from
st. Louis and Cincinnati, then it be-
hooves us to nurture those enterprises
plying in the river above and terminate
ing here, which are the great feeders OF
our own enterprises running below.
This certainly must seem plain to those
who have taken the pains to ascertain
to what extent the Memphis and White
river boats have been benefited by the
Memphis and st. Louis boats, and risd
versa. These are the higher grounds
which we have taken as against the re-
moval of the wharf of the packet com
papy, and only in this light would we
view the subject. We do moi believe,
nor would descend to the discussion Of
the mischievous charge that the packet
company has in any instance diserim-
mated in its freight tariff against Mem
phis no more than the hundred and one
other charges which have been manu-
featured for the occasion, and to serve
selfish ends. Our sole purpose has been