Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-11-26
FIERCE AND FUNNY.
An ArEunensun al Hsmfnem-Ths
Salaries ef OmeehsIders.

Editors AppeaS-There appears in th
Wednesdays issus of your paper q pro
duction Of Mr.W. r. Moore's, republisheS
from the Nashville Union and American
The article alluded TO purports 70 be
reply to certain correspondents I'm tn
Union and American, Stsaeking Mr.
Moore's advocacy Of the modincatiOn o
the merchants tax " law.
The arguments Of Mr.. Moore on thu
merchants tax question not only meel
the approval Of your present correspond,
ent, but also the Endorsement of every
person disposed TO do Justice to that
meritorious and powerful clsss of the
community called merchants. In theif
| behalf (as they deserve) is enlisted the
powerful advocacy of the press, backed,
As / believe, by the no less potent in
/ huence of popular feeling. But why,
| Messrs. Editors, should Mr.. Moore travel
out Of the record in his IaOdsble and
ardent advocacy OF the cause OF merchants
70 wage q war against the officers and
Offices of his own county2
In the merchants TAX article, Mr.. Moore
ssys that Sin q previous communication
rs showed how very large sums of money
oollected in this part Of the State went
into the pockets OF few officials, rather
than into the State treasury; that the
county officials Of Shelby county,
enumersting each and every one, receivsd
from 5000 to $50, 900 year" and proposes
to fix the salaries of these officers 10 cer-
tain amount, concluding with the climsc-
tuate that this would probably save
siO0, goo in Shelby county. Multiply this
by all the counties in the State, and see
Whist q splendid sum would be paid into
the State tressuryw
The only way that know Of by which
Mr.. Moore hss Showed" all these things
Is by writing them down over his own
II v,lg IS al. -
Shelby county receive precisely the same
pay for every single item OF official ser
vice performed by them that is received
by similar officials al over the State.
Their pay is fixed by fees established by
law more than quarter of q century ago.
Each ofhcer is paid precisely according to
the labor be performs under the operation
of this general and. d.equitable law.
The clerk Of the court in McNairy
county, where q term of the court only
lasts e week, making three weeks in q
year, gets pay for the services ne per-
forms in thst time.
The clerk in either one of the courts in
Shelby county, where the court sits from
term 20 term, which is all the time, with
corps Of deputies 20 do the business, gets
pay for the labor he performs in that
tims. So with the attorney general,
sheriff, tsx-collector, and every other
It costs the -Sorney-gensral,s sheriff or
clerk In McNairy county, five hundred
dollars year TO live. It costs the same
officer in Shelby county i've Thousand
One thousand dollars, then, would be as
big pay to the McNairy man as ten t'aou-
sand 20 the Shelby county sfhcsr II ia
50 all over the world. The sherif.'s ofice
in the city Of New York IL ysorth ons
hundred thousand dollars, bot who ever
heard of making it the same as thai of an
obscure county? r-r.
Whilst there are some half dozen conn
ties in the State where this large anount
OF business creates this larger amount of
fees-ssy SHELBY, Davidson, Knox, Ham
llton, End few others-thsre are At least
seyenty-hve, the fees ofwhose public OH.
GERS under the present law do not reach
over a$housand dollars, and many mot
that much, =
And yet Mr.. Moore would have the peo-
pie TO believe that the reduction under
his notion would be as one hundred thou
sand multiplied by every county in the
believe Mr.. Moore. in his former srt-
clss alluded to, recommended the total
abolition OF some OF the Offices in Shelby
county, to-wit, that of county trustee.
And am Of the opinion that the only
way that the pay Of any OF the present
Officers OF the State could be affected dur
ing the term for which they were elected u
would be the total abolition of the Office
For they have property and q vested
right In the emoluments OF the Office Ure-
cisely as they were by law at the time of
their election, and 80 remains as
long as the office exists. But TO
return to the tr0steeship: Mr. Moore
that this office be abolished. |
and that the banks be the disbursing
agents OF the county as well. Some |
might be 80 Incharitable as to suppose
that in this MISTER Mr.. Moore was infiu-
encsd IN the interest OF some one Of these |
corporations.
I am not of that number, but put it 10
the credit side Of his already large ae-
count as public bsnefactOr. But failed 4
to discover In this recommendation what
he gentleman would do in those counties
where there were no banks. There are a
lew counties In the State (some seventy
i've or eiRhty) that bsve managed 10 get
along without these eleemosynary insti-
.utions, but have not, for forty years,
lone without county trustees.
But whence comes this newborn zeal of /
Ar. Moore about the administration of
county and 4State-the newly-created
,lsmor concerning the ofhcisls of Shelby
,ountyf Hasit suddenly seized him since
lis party friends have been hurled from
place and poWerf
y hSL AA1 AA1AADcA B4bNnLHn lbnE OOlT 4
lewis, Ed. Shaw, Rad othersl were
upreme in county and State, not a
Ehimper was heard from Mr., Moore. and
lot until (es admitted by himselN the
ficss of the county were never bettsr
Lied (but not by his sort) does his
,rdent patriotism and fierce war against
ne gigSntlc expenditures Of county and
'tste burst forth. From 3 recent able
nd accurate presentation Of our county
eNnTraU nnnacrnfnn The Il 1
litiOn Of the county, see that under the
Irenent administration vast reductions
AVE been made, and are still being made, |
n the expenses of the county. The
ounty credit, from fifty cents on the dol
ar, has run up to almost par. This
howing proudly challenges a comparison
nth those plundering yesn of Radical
idRte for ofice in his party. -
Mr.. Moore is not the only Radical
hampton Of this official revolution he
proposes to put in force throughout the
tate. Mr.. Gibson, the leader Of that fac
ion in the State senAts, paterniNsd bill
0 the same effect. ua..
have written this, Messrs. Editors. in
II kindness to Mr.. Moore, meaning
lothing offensive; for il Is his privilege TO
peak and write Whst he plsasss concern
ng measures Of public policy. He seems
o be gentleman of enlarged patriotism
nd public spirit. For the comparatively
hort period during which he has become
o conspicuous in Memphis, he may be
Justly ranked among our foremost a en-,
not the very foremost. NOT, like
ONE, by slow Eradations has he
cached the present proud position,
nut st one bound has sprung to the very
ront. Not In one thing only but in every
hing. Civilization, commerce, arts,
railroads, matters Of State
egislstion, State and county expeah
ures, all claim him as their chenpioB 4
nd leader. like this-it Is good. Ist 1
/ be looked 70, then, that the hnrdep od1 /
many pOrtentous matters may not opurs al /
i'm, If not, bear him down. -It
OLD CITIZER,