Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-04-29
The Ipso,euce of once.

Years ago, before the atmosphere here
abouis had grown rank with the corrup-
tions Of these degenerate days, men who
were fortunate enough to obtain official |
station, whether as agentsof the city. coun-
ty or State government, were prudent
enough to live and dress and deport them
selves in ali respects pretty much as did
their fellow-citizens in private life, in
stead of stfutiing through their "hours Of
brief authority" with staggering mien
that announced themselves vastly superior
to the balance OF Code creation. The
ofice-holders of the better time to which
we have referred were, almost without ex-
cepliOn, content to live and act in that
solid old style of republican simplicity
which made them readily accessible to the
humblest of their constituents, the hight
Of their official ambition existing only in
a faithful performance Of the duties COM
mitted to their charge by the confidence
of their fellow. citizens. They knew the
people and the people knew them, and the
| intercourse between them, even when it
sometimes involved the performance Of
| unpleasant duties, was generally cordial
and unrestrained. Then the officers of the
county were personally known to nearly
every citizen of the county. The same
was true of officers in the city government.
| At that time public officers were elected
by the people, and were usually controlled
in their official action and personal deport-
ment by sense Of direct responsibility
to the bona fds citizens whose work they
performed and by whose money their sala-
ries we're paid. The public officials Of
that time were not easily seduced by the
whims of fashionable folly or carried to q
more certain destruction by the glittering
temptations Of painted vice. The amuse'
ments in which they INDUCED were fol
the most part of rational character, and
such as were participated in by their fell
low-eizeHs generally. The garments they
wore were neither gaudy nor extrava
CANT, but plain enough to be within
the reach OF men receiving less sala
ries than themselves, and never Cu
and made in such foppish style as to give
the wearer more the appearance of dress
ed monkey than that of properly attiret
MAN. The accounts they. rendered wers
plain, direct and straight forward, snt
never interpreted with a mysterious lis
of official expenses under the comprehen
sive head Of miscellaneous" about which
the people knew as little as would b.
told them by the man in the moon. The
answers they gave when applied TO fol
information, or addressed on business con
nected with their Offices we've uniformly
polite and respectful, and thereto re
never in manner so rude, or tone
80 gruf as TO indicate thai
their powers and attributes we're more like
those Of an Eastern autocrat than the lin.
tied official capacity of public servant
Then this community knew but little, il
anything, of "the insolence of Office" but
they have learned rapidly through bitter
experience since that time. The contrast
between this and the better time is marked
aud its contemplation painful. The only
relief suggested by thought on the subject
is found in the hope that the evils of the
present will work good for the future. A
disfranchised and oppressed people, who
have once lived under a republican
form of government and lswa, admin
istered by responsible agents Of their
own choosing, are not yet deprived the
privilege of at least hoping that the time
ia not very remote when in the selection
of public officers the consideration of hon.
esty and capacity shall again rise above
the qualification of League membership
OF previous residence on the other side
of the Ohio river. Until the coming OF
that period the people cannot reasonably
expect any material relief from oppres-
sive taxation and the insulting insolence
of incompetent and irresponsible officials.