Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-06-07

Where :. Cap. AIIen's1 Economy Comes
Tn-RadIcaI vs. Democratic BuIe in
NnshviIIe-A Peep Bellind She scenes
When the present bogus city government
was foisted upon our people, there was an
intense feeling against the usurping admin
istration among white men generally, and
that Joe Blsckburn's dirty militia we're not
duly spanked and sent home, was owing
more to the contempt and pity entertained
by the pOpulace than TO any other cause.
With this feeling existing, the new CITY
Council at the time felt il incumbent upon
them not emily TO appease our Justly indig-
nant propersy-holders, but 10 make for
themselves record that should stand oct
as the mark Of an honest. economical ad-
ministratiOn. Never was there better
opportunity for a new administration to se-
cure the popular favor. The Treasury was
bankrupt. The old City Council had be-
gun system Of retrenchment, and conf
IDENTIFY expecting their Successors would be
Of their own party, and that the new Boards
would be anxious for reputation, left to the
consideration Of the Incoming Council a
bill cutting down the salaries Of corpora
ton officers, a. its passage would hardly
have been proper under theorller Of things
inaugurated at the opening OF the munici-
pal years Of l8GG-67.
The first step of the last Democratic adj
ministratiOn upon its induction into Office,
was to abolish the detective police system,
souEce OF great expense to the city, and
It was determined that other retrenchment
should follow, whenever the exigencies Of
the times should demand them. Taking
up the cue Of the Democratic Council, the
Radicals seemed at first really DESTROYS of
retrenchment, and a number Of salaries
were reduced, but not an Office was abol-
ished save in the dismissal of several
Deputy Marshals, the expense of whose
maintenance was far oVerbalanced by that
OF the introduction Of the Metropolitan
Police system.
The glory Of self-sacriGce and economy
has worn off now, and there is no saving
unless it be in the neglect Of our streets,
and the keeping aloof from all enterprises
whatsoever. Alderman Allen quite re-
Gently boasted in the City Council Of the
economy with which he said the city govern
ment was being carried on, and yet, under
his very nose lay ia glaring contradiction.
AAo ~ Otle Va TIC W OIkhouse COL0tnlLLeB, anu
should have known that under the present
administration, the wOrkhouse has cost the
city tlOO thousand two hundred and tlUenty
dollars and seventeen cents more during
The first four months of 1868 than it cost
during the same period of time in 1867,
under the old administration. During the
first four months Of 1867, Gen. Robert @.
Foster was Recorder Of Nashville. While
be held the gavel, men who are now re-
leased on paying a trihing fine of So or SIS
were imprisoned in the workhouse seventy
two days, and at times the Workhouse held
over a hundred prisoners. Since the adj
vent Of the Police Commissioners, the
average number of prisoners remaining in
the woTkhouse at the end Of each month
has not exceeded thirty. At the end of
April, only thirteen were reported. The
expenses of the workhOuse since the Me-
tropolitan Police system was inangurated,
should have been at least one-third less
than when Gen. Foster wasin Office. Some
times the whole police docket was but a roll
Of work house prisoners when "Old Fifty"
held sway, and yet the expenses of the
workhouse have increased under the new
dispensation The official records have the
following figures, showing the cost Of the
Workhouse for four months under each ad
ministraiion