Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-05-22
APPEAL
WEDNESDAY MORNING., MAY e, 1879.
TASKS OF THE REFORM AssOCIA-
TTQN.

AAHN6 Va n
TON.
Why may not some statistician, who
won partial Immortality as a member Of
the late ilustrious Grand jury, tell us
the sum total Of costs TO taxpayers Incl
dent to the maintenance Of the four and
half governments which rest upon one
another, and finally upon the "mud-
sill" Of society with such fearful weight
The public schools of the city have a
separate tax-gathering charter Of their
own; the hydra-headed monstrous mu-
nicipal machine which costs, aside from
its interest account, vastly more than in
the days of republican simplicity
when officers were not equity, and
money was not abundant and
hack hire bills might nave been ques-
tioned-this frightfnl governmental ma
ehinery requires the earnest attention Of
the Citizens Reform Association. A
member Of this body accuses the press
of want Of pluck. Has he the nerve
10 enter the municipal Augean stables,
spade and pick in hand? The foulest
stencil that ever shocked the moral nos
trils of a grand jury might be evoked
from beneath the Accommodations Of dis
orders fastened on this body corporate,
when, some years ago, il was a mass Of
pollution. There is next above this old
cellar, so fullo cObwebs that no one can
penetrate its mysteries, the basement of
all free governments-the perfect Illus
tration of pEre Democracy in its prime
val shape. It is the county court, the
substratum of our system, as it was i'm
good old days, when honesty was the
best policy, and straightforward truth
fulness and simplicity Of conduct and
character transcribed in value, in the
worlds eyes, all the ~trappings of militia
" rule, of regal forms, of aristOcratic,
gift-taking, bull-pup snobbery in high
places. The ieonoclastic hand ofreform
proposes to tear down this temple of le-
gal antiquarians. We are told that it
is an unwieldy court, that il has even
lost respect for Nicholson and Caruth-
ers,n the only book, save the New Test
ament, to which the attention of their
ilustri0us reverenees was ever directed.
The RefOrmers' COMMITTEES would de-
stroy even this relic Of boar antiquity,
LLlH MdEASLIAlES CJuIAr VIII AZ u luU1c-
covered knots and gnarled branches
which Swallowed our homes and those of
our fathers through all the history of
Tennessee. There is nothing sacred in
the eyes of these reformers. They count
the cost, and think that five men would
cost the county less than forty, and
that ten or twelve magistrates and as
many constables would lessen litigation
and give the country peace, and save it
a hundred or two t-honsandnow annually
wasted in trifing suits, begotten by
people whose interest it is to
beget litigation among the ignor-
ant, the idle and the depraved. 1t
was not the theory of Barbour Lew
ISIS Commissioners Court that was alb
hOrred, but its viIlainous practices.
Whenever this court is mentioned, the
sassive county jail, gilded with stolen
gold and papered within with county
warrants rises up before the startled
vision of taxpayers like fame's temple
in the "voyage of life,n as painted on
the old theatrical drop-cWtsin. 1t is
this which makes Taxpayers shHdder, 4
and in bated breath they approve the
Commissioners Court as a proper sub ]
stitute for the sanctiied but unwieldy {
old institution, the product n repre-
sentative of a forgotten age in morals
and legislation. Old as it is, and hall 9
lowed by antiquity and redolent of c
associations and memories that we '
venerate, the unholy hand of Re I
form is thrust forth, and gathers I
many rotten limbs that disigure, and $
poisonous fungi and parasites that Irvine .
about the body Of the gnarled old oak. 7
We are told that il, too, must fall-EI
that nothing il sacred in the eyes Of !
Reform. 1t reduces every inquiry to a Q
dollar and cent standard. The State 4
government win first attract the atten- q
ton and evoke the active efforts of the 9
Reformers. Not satisfied with the little I
tasks presented in the condition Of local
institutions, the potent body, into which
a Grand Jury breathed sudden vigor and
ambitious intelligence, at once compass
es the States fortunes, and embraces the 7
Governor, Legislature and the Capitol,
and the countless courts, within its mag /
nihcent scheme Of thorough reform.
Grand conceptions distinguish these Re '
formers. No pent-up Utica contracts d
their powers, and with a promptness that u
distinguishes the four thousand Greeley b
Republicans of Tennessee in seizing 10 J
cal as well as Federal hOnors, the Re
formers viii extend their excellent as t"
ISOLATION into every city, county, village D
and hamlet Of Tennessee. The good v
achieved viii be illimitable. Every n
candidate for every Office viii seek to a
distinguish himself by protestations in
behalf Of reform. The Legislature viii %
be composed of the best men of the 4
State; politicians, as such, viii be prae- a
tically di~sfranehised, and merchants !.
and farmers win control the State Leg !
~islature. There is no denying that much z
good may be accomplished, and
we only counsel moderation and
temperate action, such as has hith- =
ertO characterized the conduct of
these Reformers, and the association =
now organized may not only become u
financially most useful to the city and a
State, but prOmotive Of a higher stand d
ard Of public morals than of late years
has pervaded the country. In order to &C
achieve all these benehceHt purposes lie
there must be gathered the statistical Il
facts TO which we refer. The relative th
cost Of courts and governments now and oc
before the war must be ascertained and al
the extent to which this additional ex-
penditure by the government and peo- q
pie is made necessary by the overthrow pr
Of old social systems must be thorough ID
Iy Investigated. he
en
WHAT A TENNESSEE CONGRESsMAN he
Saw SAYS. ne
When Mr.. Garrett, NJ. c. from Ten
nessee, was in Cincinnati during the nj,
session eff the Convention, be had little ri