Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1872-09-13

road folly it into agreeing to the most stu
pendouaud in the history Of Tennessee. You
will renber that about two years before the
sale, tltate leased the Northwestern road to
large bit was confidently expected to accrue
to the te. But before the sale was made the
Chattpga road presented a claim against the
State ich covered all the rent money ana
amoun to S597, 600 besides And SO instead
of the ito getting large rent from this yalua-
BILE 70, as was promised and expected, she
was cad on to pay over half a million dollars;
Now t was a mere trick, a mere game OF plum
on thert of the Chattanooga road. And YET |
the BROAD Commissioners, Democrats All, |
agreed give 100000 in State bonds IN settle
ment this monstrous claim, and actually
gave Q Chattanooga road credit OF
5000 on its purchase: Now, Wna5
of 1.-THE first place the lessees of the North
westeiRoad employed supernumerary hands
and ants and charged their pay to the state.
In I'll second place the lesSees charged the
State til all losses incurred by the road, losses
arisingenerally from the negligence OF the
lesseQr their employees. In the third place
the ate was charged with loss of about
$50. arising from the falling in of a bridge
over arpeth river, this loss being made up OF
DANES for passengers injured, goods destroy,
cd ;uries to cars, &C., &C. In the fourth
nlscdthe Northwestern Road, had over one
huncd freight cars and fats yet these were
turn on side tracks to rot, while the IesseeS
usedheir own cars in lieu and charged tne
Stateix dollars per car, | am told, for every
AZ vet the Railroad Commissioners deduct
cd $4,000 from the price of the road IN pay
menbf this $685., 600 claim. Now, gentlemen,
l as you, as business men, how could the
Nastille and Chattanooga Road afford to pay
So, 1900 for road which ran them ~ 0eot Us
iessts O. thousand dollars net euery day thsy
rant The whole thing shows fraud upon Its
face Here was Tennessee deliberately swlndleo
ortf one million dollars, at the lowest posi-,
obstinate. And yet, though / presented all
thee facts to the State Senate, in the OF
thePresident of the Chattanooga Road, ana ms
supporters and stipendaries, still the Legslsture
RATED the sale, and approved the acts OF tne
Commissioners. And while l was pleading Tor
yoltax payers and demanding an investigation,
the, gents of the Chattanooga Road were loD-
bvi,e with the Senators in open session against
me. And here now declare unto you that the
Railroad Ring was omnipotent master over
vo,r last Legislature, and your members like
Serile tools did as their master commanded.
AMI rejoice to know that not only did SPEAK
and vote against this outrage, but entered my
sohmn protest against in on the Journsi.
.- soUTHwEsTERN ROAD.
Ihad almost forgotten this road but there Il
fact connected with it l want you to know
This road owed the State $554, OOO, and yet wa
sold OF nriyate sale to its own self for ---Fc.
hundred dollars! Don't this whole railroad
business sound like grand GIN, enterprlssi
where you are certain to draw rall5oau WI :! =
anywhere between FIVE hundred and hVe mn
lion dollars The Commissioners IN. tneI
own report tpage 81 state that "a solvent party
offered $40, coo for' this road and yet they TURF
their backs on this outside purchaser and SCI
the road to its own self at private sale lot paw
This is called Democratic inanciering.H .
And these Democrats rub their hands and rol
their eyes and smile to the roots Of their hail
and say, "See how loe'ue reduced the Stat
Debt" Yes, we see. They have reduced the deb
on the same principle that man sells his farn
to pay one of the purchase notes, and Drag
that be don't owe half as much as he did Yer.
true, he does not o,ce half as much; but VIVA
does he olcp? Nothing. And so the State sell
seventeen millions of valuable property for 81
millions Can you be bamboozled by sue
humbug statemanship as that? And all the:
sales were made in secret -
E THE PENITENTIARY LEASE.
Now, gentlemen, in what 1 have to say abou
the Penitentiary Lease, l wish it understoo
that l cast no reflections on Messrs., OCOnno
and Looney. These gentleman are not to b
blamed for getting a good bargain; but tn
Democratic Government is to be blamed for lei
ting them get such bargain. This lease wa
made with the utmost secrecy. L was q men
Der of the Penitentiary Committee, but we
not consulted. The chairmen of the two Pen
Tertiary Committees were in secret conferenc
with the Governor on the subject; but nevt
intimated to their committees what was up, an
l have reason to believe that the Governor II
quested these chairmen to keep the matter 81
81 A ,hnv, fha fOr SQ0
finally presented to the Legislature, it was rusf
ed through in most unseem1y haste, althoug
other solvent parties offered ten thousand do
lars more, and although it was alleged by men
bers of the Legislature that by delay OF onl
few days. at least, $4,000 more could be Of
tanned. Therefore quoting the words OF 'Jl
MUS in the Nashville Banner, l ask: 81
why so much privacy?
Why such haste to ratify the contract
Why not invite othor proposals?
Who constitutes the ring?
Who are their hackers
Who are interested -.
| Has any bonus been, paid to any person II
| their influenced" sa5 e
At the time this lease was made there we
| 74O penitentiary convicts, 5I7 of these, compo
| ing the unskilled labor, were already under Co
tract, as follows: f -.E,.
40 Convicts to McGrath and Morgan
| and Scott and Son, at 43 cents per
| day ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Sl.Z
| 100 Convicts to Gen. Forest at 40 cents, l2O
| III Convicts to Sewanee Coal Mines
| at 40 cents. III, z
| GO Convicts to Battle Creek Coal
! Mines at 40 cents...................:... 80
| q Conyicts to the Nashville i N. w.
| r. IL. at 40 cents......... ,........ ....... 81
so Convicts on the Capitol grounds
. at 40 cents '.-...".''''." ~
517 Unskilled convicts $64,9
223 Skilled conyicts, at say 20 cents. 4o
Total net income per year "........SlOo,C
| uo,or ,-o,, -4sao n. M ;roou,o coming