Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-05-14
HARRIS SPEECH.

On motion, Mr.. Harris, representative
from Shelby county, got leave to adj
dress the meeting. He said he had
come into the hall with the intention of
remaining a silent spectator. He would
not have said a word had not hints been
thrown'out, the evil tendency Of which
he felt bound to eounteract. He agreed,
with the citizens Of Memphis generally,
that the burden of taxation was too
heavy. No one was better aware of that
fact than himself. He had labOred long
in the legislature to remedy the evil, but
failed to accomplish all he desired. The
taxes, however, that were up to sixty
cents had been reduced to forty in the
face of a very strong and determined OPP
position. His fellOw-citiZens still claimed
it was too high. They cannot blame us
for it. We did all in our power; it must
be remembered that we had too grand
divisions of the State to fight in our eff
forts to bring about the reform. They
had TO coneiliate those sections; to swap
votes and to resort to various expedi-
ents in order to have the tax reduced
from sixty to forty cents. Mr.. Harris
then proceeded to show that no reform
could be worked in the way of eurtail-
ing the fees of county officers, as they
were constitutiOnally fixed, and in some
counties were quite small in amount.
The aggregate pay was regulated by the
amount of work done.
LIVELY TIMES.
He then uttered an excruciating phil
lipic against William r. Moore, in the
course OF which, the Chairman ruled
him out of order. The audience
cried out-"gO on, go on" The
clamOr was very great. The
chair brought down his gavel with great
vim and the crowd shouted. AT length
Major Busby stood up and said that Mr..
Harris should be heard. When atlength
quiet was restored Mr.. Harris proceeded
with his speech. He said: HIn defer
erence to the chairman of this assem-
blage and in Difference to this mobr-
the Kisses at this time were immense.
Cries of ego on" ''put him out" fbul.
ly for you" mingled with the kissing
and drowned the voice of the speaker.
Every time he attempted to proceed
with his speech the kissing became more
violent, until the chairman rose up and
said: Gentlemen I'll take a vote as to
whether Mr.. Harris be permitted to pro-
coed or not. He has characterized this
meeting as a mob and l will take a vote
as to whether he will be permitted to
continue" He put the vote. Several
faye" "aye," were heard over the
house. When the other side of the
question vas put, there was a prolonged
"nO-nO-nO, nO-o-O-O,n and the chair
decided that Mr.. Harris should not
speak.
Loud cries for "Estesw "Estesw
"Estesu
That gentleman stood up and said
that he was too well acquainted with
Mr.. Harris to think for a moment that
he used the word "mob" in any often
sive sense; it was uttered in a moment
of unguarded impulse.
Mr.. Harris attempted to offer an ex-
PLANTATION, but was promptly ruled down
by the chair, who said impressively,
"Mr. Harris, you can't be heard by this
meeting"
1t was at this juncture he read out the
names of the committee above given.
A motion was made to adjourn to the
Greenlaw Opera-hOuse, to meet again
on Thursday, when
MR.. MAGEvNEY
obtained a hearing. He told the chair
man to scratch out his name. He said,
"if this is a meeting of the respectable
taxpayers of Memphis, then heaven
save us! 1t is more like a gathering of
Communists in Paris in the days of the
great horror than a meeting of respecta-
bic, cool citizens gathered to consider
needed refOrms.n He wanted his name
scratched of, because they went off half
cooked. The whole proceeding, as far
as he could see, was based upon a report
of the Grand Jury. 1t would be
only proper to verify the statements
and allegations before going into any
further business. (Raps by the Chair
mans gavel.) When you call this a tax
payers meeting you will never find me
among them again. If they are all tax
payers / know you will neve have so
many of them here again. 1t is wrongtO
base all thisupon the report of the Grand
Jury without having that report first
Investigated and proved. You ought to
have recommended the reduction of
officers as well as salaries. With these
remarksI have done, and request again,
said Mr.. Magevney, that my name be
left out Ofthe committee.
Mr.. n. Hill followed, and objected to
having Mr.. Magevney's named erased
from the committee.
The Chairman said, as temporary
officer, | have to say that this meeting
and the whole proceedings here, are
but preliminary, and we could not do
better; we had to make a move some
way. He had no doubt but order would
be evolved out of chaos, and that things
would move harmoniOusly along after
the committee got to work.
The committee of fifteen were then
notified to meet in Greenlaw's Office, at
ten o'clock this morning, after which,
the great gathering broke up.