Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-11-12
q REPLY TO CARD"

In last Sundays APPEAL appears . card
from several officers OF home companies,
Rnimedverting in severe terms upon
q "dodger," as they term II, cir
culated g short time since, and
protesting ignorance as to IFS Eu-
thor, IS also charging that 1t was at
tempted to be enveloped in "sscrecy."
How little foundation there is for these
statements may readily be seen, when L
state this the "nsndbill {" was printed in
enc of our largest job. printing offices,
where there are from six to eight work
men constantly employed; was sent to our
office openly and laid theIe for several
days, exposed 70 the sight of snyone
coming in; Was distributed in broad day.
light up and down the sErests by q pubic
distributor, without any Limitations
placed upon him as to where it should be
sent; and above all, was openly and I'M
hesitRtingly acknowledged to al least W
officers of the home companies before tbs
publication of their card, besides to many
others, from whom tbs information might
easily have BEEN obtained. The true rea-
son for its not being signed were: l. Be-
! cause IL was 8 "hsndbill," and 1t is not
usual to append signatures TO such docu-
ments. 2. Because il was not q plea in
behalf of my companies only, but in bs-
half of all eastern agency companies,
though no other gen was knowing to II
or in snY wise connected with It. lis said
thst the BEST of men are liable 70 make
mistakes, and I am inclined to think that
the circulation of b "hsndbil" was
one, since 1t has been SO severely CEN
sured; and yet, at the time 1t did not &C.
chr to me as being at all out OF the way.
II was hastily conceived and written, and
under strong provocation. Some one (end
We mean u words just SIS We write
them, freely exculpattng the majority of
hes igners to the " card y connected with
the home companies circulated extensive
ly, a day or two after the great fire, PEN
cilled slips with the names of the agency
companies in Memphis, and set opposite
them the moun st nsk in the whole
State of Illinois, conveying the impression
th6t said amounts were the losses sus-
tanned by said companies in the Chicago
fire. Next day the Avalanche reproduced
the same list, and reached the positive
and unqualified conclusion that all the
agency companies were ruined absolutely,
and recommending the public to procure
their insurance from the nome companies
In addition TO all this, incorrect lists of
losses, taken from eastern papers,, were
inserted in The Press, and in the
APPRAL, after official information had
bssn published In all the papers by the
agents themselves. In return for all this,
and as a retalistory measure only, the
'hsndbiII" was gotten up and distributed,
and as the only allusion, by name, in is to
Memphis locals, Is the question, Are
tley prepared TO meet a large c3nf1Rgra-
TOM" We submit If the published misrep-
rssentstions are not fsr more censurahle
than the hsndbil7 Especially, too, in
view of the fact that, SO far SIS we are sd-
vised, the handful induced no change of
enc single policy, whilst the pencilled
slips, published piece and lists, created a
widespread panic and distrust as TO
agency compsnies-doing them a great
and serious iDiury-which Is not yet fully
all8yed. But, notwithstSndinE the great
grievances, 1 am satisfied, upon cooler re-
Fiction. that il would have been better
not to have noticed these misrepresenta-
tions, wilful or ignorant as they may have
been, but to have left to time and more
complete information the return OF oonf-
oence 20 the agency companies. Had the
gentlemen, therefore, publishing the
''cardn confined their remarks 20 stric-
lures on the hsndbiu alone, I should have
passed them silently by, as in some re-
spects deserved for my departure from
the usual amenities and oourtssies of the
profession, hoWsoeYer severe the provoos-
ton for such departure may have besn.
But when they pass beyond structures on
the handful, TO asssii the private charsc-
ter of the individual, IL would seem as IL
they themselves were guilty of just such
violation OF professional proprieties rs
they have been oondemning in me. II, by
the language they employ, they mean to
convey TO the public the Impression that
] am in the habit of resOrtinE TO dishonor-
able ussges Or practices, other than the
one in question, in order to secure bust
ness, or tointimRte that the non-signsture
to the hsndbil was owing to q slack of
courage so to sign, then they are making
q statement and trying TO convey an i'm
preston that are wholly u~ntenable and
untre. Il, A. LITTLEpON.
Memphis, November IL, 1871.
LONDON Dressing Cases and Toilet Ar