Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-08-20

: sand ems Of composition, ttUO hundred and
thirteen tokens and forty Tednls Of paper ;
whereas, the same only contains sic huTa-
dred and Sirteen thousand ems, seventy
tokens and-including wastage-scre,atee',
ana q haG redn1s Of paper A similar
: Overcharge was made for the appendix OF
1901, and for all aOork done 6y them.
Such have been the illegal exactions of
these gentlemen on the public treasury,
enough in all conscience to satisfy the ra-
pacity of the most abandoned and inyet-
crate public plunderer. But il was not so
with the parties to the frauds herein pre-
viously enumerated; they have not only
J overcharged for the work done, but they
} have charged and received payment, upon
this exhOrbitant basis, in numerous in
stances, four times for the same work.
Some little explanation is necessary to
make this fact manifest to the reader.
The appendices, to which reference
has been made, are made up Of
documents submitted to and printed by
order of the Legislature during the pro-
gress Of its sittings, as, for instance, the
Governors message, the reports Of the
Deaf and Dumb and Insane Asylums, the
reports from the colleges, from the Trustee
of the Bank of Tennessee, investigating
committees, etc. These were printed by
order of the Legislature as they were pre-
sented to that body; the House ordering,
say from five hundred to thousand cop
les, and the Senate like or less number.
In addition to the copies thus furnished to
the General Assembly for current use,
thousand other copies were printed and
! subsequently bound into Volumes called
the "Appendix." These thousand copies
were printed at the same time and upon
the same type upon which the copies fur
| nished the Legislature were printed. There
was but one composition. The appendices
are precisely alike, letter for letter, in eve
| rything, except on the back five hundred
copies are labeled "House Appendix" and
the others labeled "Senate Appendix"
According to recognised principles Of JUS
| tice as well as the terms of their contract,
the public printers were entitled to but one
"compoSitior" bill. Yet they have made
| out, presented, demanded and received
| four payments, to-wit: lst, for compost
| ton" for the copies furnished the House
and I'd, composition" for the copies fur
| nished the Senate during the sittings of
| the Legislature; and Sd, composition" for
| the Senate appendix; and 4th, compost
! tiOn" for the House appendix, realizing
upon their false and fraudulent basis of
nearly double the work four payments for
the same service, and in this way obtaining
OUer four dollars per thousand ems, instead
Of the sirty seuen and q halt cents author
| izcd 6y ld,O.
BY such means not less than fifty thou
sand dollars have been fraudulently with
drawn from the public treasury, and taken
too, at time when the people were i'm
poverished by war and oppressed by tax
alton at q time when honest bona fide
creditors were being turned away from a
depleted treasury unpaid and unSatisfled.
The amount taken is enough to pay the
suspended interest for two years on the
Agricultural College fund; to maintain
the judiciary of East Tennessee for about
two years. to liquidate the legitimate ex-
penses of the incoming Legislature for the |
seventy-five days, allotted by the new |
Constitution to that honorable body, or |
defray the expenses Of the deaf and dumb |
and insane assylums for period of nearly |
or quite two years.
And permit me to enquire by whom has |
this great fraud been perpetrated? By the |
prOprietOrs of the two central and leading |
newspapers located at the Capitol, and re-
cOgnized organs of the dominant party in |
in the State; men who, in virtue Of their |
positions as party organs, assume quasi |
dctatorial powers in party management /
and who are daily endeavoring to cover
their own pecuLatsOns and defornsiticS by
inveighing, IN q general ,0dy, against the
corruptiOns of others.
Against such hypocrisy and wrong I
most solemnly protest. The pecuniary
wrong and injustice which such raids upon
the treasury imposes, is enough to justify
my protest. But this is the very least evil
which such frauds produce The people
to whom our republican institutions are
confided cannot maintain them unless they
are honest and we'll informed in relation to
men and measures. From necessity they
must depend upon the public press for cor
rect information touching all question of
public interest; and if the press becomes
corrupt to whom can they look for the
facts as to men and measures, essential TO
an enlightened exercise Of their right Of
suffrage, through which this great republic
can alone be preserved. A corrupt press
will sympathize with corrupt public ser
wants. For pecuniary subsidies and other
personal advantages, it will suppress the
truth, propagate falsehood, assail virtue !
and independence, vindicate fraud, encour-
age temerity and exert all its influence to
supercede honesty aud efficiency, wherev-
er it may be found in public positions, with
supple instruments of its own.
Take the two papers referred to as exam
pies. With these exposures of their deib-
crate frauds upon the public treasury, they
could never expect to be elected by all hon.
est legislature, hostile to peculation by par
ty organs upon the public funds. No leg
islature could re-elect them public printers
without making themselves parties to the
frauds which they have perpetrsted. In the
presence of faithful representatives Of the
people, sustain ed by competent and vigil 4
lent executive officers and sound and =
healthy public sentiment, "Othello's oc-
cupatiOn" would be gone. The necessities
Of their situation demand @ serUite tegtsLd- A
turc and corrupt and obSequious country 1,
press. They realize this truth, and of =
course in order to sustain themselves, must Il
do everything to secure the only state or
condition of things that can possibly pro-
tect them from exposure and general retri- u
button. And how can the press be more
easily corrupted and hushed into silence
than by judicious distribution OCCASION
ally of few thousand dollars of spoils
There is no such guaranty Of fidelity as
mutual participation in crime. The press
possess the means Of exposing
fraud. Left untrammeled, it would do it.
But if the great central organs are allowed
IN seize and appropriate the public rowan