Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-11-13

1
| imposed which makes them reflect that
they are fixtures here; here are not their
] homes; here their children are not born; (;
] here they would not care even to have
honored names. None of these facts az
| feet q gentleman, who, having shouldered
his carpet bag, after stufhng 1t like Bar
bour Lewis, may trudge away to more
| distant cities.
FIRST sTEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.
The legislature Of Tennessee has al
ready recognized the principle involved
in this discussion. 1t hiss declared that
any citizen of Shelby county (why not OF
the State or of other Ststes2) owning real
property within the corporate limits OF
Memphis may vote in any municipal cleo
zion. There was never su eDsctment
more universally approved than this and
not one from which this commercial
community has hoped to derive
grester advantages st the next local
elections. The principle Is this, and
It should be applied to every incOrpo-
rated town: If own property, 1 am will
ing to , taxed by those jointly interested
with me in the corporation; If / do not,
am the more willing to be taxed by these
property owners. They can't wrong me,
in either case, without hsrmin2 them
selves. But suppose own no property,
and you have lot worth $1,000, and
WELD the taxing power2 What security
have you sSsinst outrageous exactions?
Railroad, gas, wsterw0rks, insurance
and other rings may be organized. They
can pay for special municipal legislation,
lose not grost by concedlng all they
ssk. It is only the owner Of the city los
that suffers. On him at last all burdens
fall. AK s1y householder Of Memphis
II be has not felt the truth and wisdom OF
this philosophy deeply down in his pock-
cts until he was driven almost from his
humble home by remorseless tax gather
ers. The rich have felt It till even they
have suffered their property sold for
taxes and costs accumulated, and which
they can only make good by adding to
their rent charges, and these curse the
poor with deepest poverty.
Who then, would not hsve the principle
already asserted in the city charter extend
ed to all incorporated towns and cities?
Towns snd cities are created for CONNER
cisl purposes. They have nothing to do as
such, with governments, State or Federal.
They were not made to be victimized by the
rsbble Of TsmmEny or by Boss Tweed.
When Jew York elects congressman, It
sctrt As congressional districts and not as
sfhunicjpalitv, and so In State elections
Then and only then the property quslih-
cStion should bs inopsrstive. II it be
ssid that the poor citizsn has no security
for his rights in the city, IL mRy be an
swersd that the city is still a part OF the
county and State snSsfsf the Union, and
suhisct to their laws. There Is no loss OF
perfect liberty or of perfect protection Of
person and property. II the transient
inhabitant or property holder assert
that Incorporated cities thus become legal
lied sristocrscies in which special privi-
leges are conferred, IL Is answered, so are
banks, insurance and railroad companies,
in which none can vote unless they be
property or stockholders. NOn-share-
holders might as Justly undertake to con-
troll an election Of officsrs In the street
railway company, IS for property
holders TO ssssrt their right to impose 3
schooI-tax, g Wster-tsx, or street-psving-
tax in Memphis.
MORE POTENT DANGER.
But q new power has besn iniscted into
Stste and federal politicsi 1t is terrible
power. We have sssn it desolsting South
Carolina, and laying wSste the fsirsst dis
tri-ts of Mississippi. II Is not only sep
arated by race features from the great
mass of the people, butt is led and coz
trollsd at will by a mob Of sdventurers sg-
aregsted in these cities and in these
States, simply and solely for the purpose
Of gathering wealth as suddenly as
they leave it when 1t Is acquired.
Bullock, stuffed and surteited, has
departed, More than an hundred thieves
LEFT Memphis within the year that the
negro power was dsthroned. But this
power is still dangerous to the last degree
even hero in Memphis. There are still
White men here whose souls are black
enough to approve comhlnssions with
this black mob, that tax payers
may be plundered, and the nascent for
tunes of the city represssd, and Its pros
perity snnihilated. In view Of the
presence OF this extraordinary force In
municipal elections it especially becomes
the duty of the Legislature, even now,
TO limit the right Of voting "a municipal
elections to property -horders. If the |
legislature hsve not the nerve to do this |
1t has not the courage to save its fsirest |
cities from the fate of New Orleans. |
city civil engineer, and had per-
fected all plans to protect |
New OrleRns from deSolstion by floods. |
The negro power intervened, Bragg was |
elected from cfice, 8 negro substituted, |
and the Crescent City has been subjected |
to calsmities such IS were never borne by |
e commercial emporium, save by Chicago. |
FACE TIE MUSIC.
There need be no cringing snd 70 dodg |
ing. The contest begun in New York for |
the mastery of cities by those who create |
dens of their complex machinery Of local |
administration must bs continued. The |
evils complained of in New York are in |
fnitely greater and mors terrible here. |
'Repesters" there we're TO be hanged, and !
properly. Here repeater" can, by no |
possibility, be recognized. There, the |
people are OF one race; here, we have a |
race that governs only that its agents may
rob and impoverish. If any doubt, let |
them lock into the treasury vaults OF
Tennessee and into that of Memphis, un-
I'll the true people Of the city we're REIN |
vested with supreme local power.
Is there perfees remedy for the great
sst evil that sffi cts cities and have
ci>arly defined il thus hurriediy2
- CINCINNATUS.