Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-05-04

the principle that the mayor Of the
city is allowed to speculate in city
bonds, and what will they be worth?
Who will dare to contest with him in
their purchase. Who could venture to
buy or sell when the mayor may be in
| terested against him, and ready to crush
the intruder with the vast machinery of
! the city finances? And the uncertainty
as to whether he be interested at all, or
which way, will make the matter all the
worse. Men do not risk money on such
contingencies. All competition viii be
driven from the market, and the mayor
shall rule alone, farming out the city's
prosperity to those only who shall be
willing to advance money upon the reli-
able security of his obligation to share a
Ioss-if it occurs!
We have a situation whose natural
advantages surpass those of any city in
the world. Nearly half million miles
of navigable waters float down the
sroducts of the north, west and east to
our doors, while the broad channel of
the Mississippi invites an easy ascent
| from the sea. Our colonies are stretch
ing out into the broad prairies and rich
| forests of the west, while the best citi-
zens of the older States are daily flock
ing to our streets. Our population has
increased thirty thousand in eight years;
our railroads bring trade from all quar-
ters; our people are energetic, sober and
| industrious; our climate delicious, with
| the production of two zones growing to
perfection; and yet with all these, our
city is declining in credit and prosper
| ity. Real estate is drug in the market,
trade languishes or is still, banks are
| tottering and falling-over million
dollars in cash has left the
city lately for investment elsewhere;
taxation is choking all the promise of
our city's hopes; men of business are
collecting all their resources to resist the
pressure of affairs; and in the midst of
it all the mayor lays the foundation of
his new house, and builds O magnificent
mansion on Beale street, to stand to our
people forever as a monument of his
crime-an altar to the god of his honest
appreciation of city securities.n 1t is
nothing to him this mourning of the
people; like the harlot of Jericho, he can
but bind the scarlet of his prostitution
to his window and stay safe in his
own house, his Aceldama is secure, it
has been bought with a price;
the thirty pieces are invested in real-es-
tate, and the despairing widow or bro
| ken merchant that steps within its shad-
oW will shudder at the closed doors,
whose remorseless jaws have swallowed
up their substance and their hope.
/ have finished all / have to say. l
have not dealt leniently with this man,
because he did not deserve it. He has
shuffied and denied while it was possi-
bic, and attempted to brazen the facts
when proved. He has directly injured
the corporation of Memphis and its peO-
pie; he has prostituted his
Office, and pocketed the profits,
while the hard-working employees
of the city have gone in want and un-
paid. ] have made the proof, and now
abandon the matter to the determina-
ton of you and the council. What that
action will be is to me entirely inmate
rial and without interest. The people |
speak for, and to them | address myself.
You judge this man, but they judge you
and all of US. As citizen of this city,
claim that he has proved himself un-
worthy longer to serve the corporation,
and should be at once dismissed.
MR.. JACKsoN's SPEECH.
Mr.. Jackson followed Colonel Phelan,
anu odAu lh1b klNCA ulLEI-
ance to had evidently been spoken from
the deepest feeling, and from the bitterest
enmity. He admired Colonel Phelan for
his independence in pressing the matter
where he thought Mr.. Johnson was
wrong-pressing 1.-THE cared not for
what motive. If Mr.. johnson was guilty
legally or morally, ,itwas Colonel Phelan's
duty, as it was the duty of every good
citizen in the community to have that
question investigated. 1t was true he did
not know as much about the facts as
Colonel Phelan proposed to know; but
he would say with candor and frankness,
from the facts developed there that
morning, and from which they would
make their report, and upon which they
ought to discuss the case in fairness to
Mr.. Johnson-he did pretend to say and
maintain that not q shadow of crime
had been produced, or brought against
Mr.. Johnson. They were told, as q mat
ter of law and of morals, that Mr..
Johnson did not have the right, because
he was mayor, to make purchase of
city bonds that were circulated in the
hands of the community. Now there
were authorities of the very highest
kind ON this question, and Colonel Phe-
Ian was too admirable lawyer not to
know it; and he could not produce a sol
itary case which bore upon this ques-
ton; and showed that a man standing
in Mayor Johnson's position could not
negotiate in the transactions complained
of.
Colonel Phelan-Read that: If any
officer of the city shall purchase or sell
any city scrip or warrants on speeula-
ton, and so on.
Mr.. Jackson-Yes, any city scrip or
warrants. But we are indictfng Mayor
JOhnson for purchasing bonds
viii it be said that pres
ident of bank who issues
bonds cannot buy those bonds? That is
the proposition. That is the crime. Il
it crime? No, my friend; nothing
but your intense feeling in this matter
you'd ever have brought you to that
thought. Shall it be said that a presj-
dent of a railroad, or the director of
railroad, after placing securities upon the
market, and they had gone into the COM
mercial world, that none of those officers
shall be allowed to buy those securities?|
That member of this board shall not
buy city bond? 1 deny that there is
any such law, either upon general prin-
ciples or upon any enactment in the
code or in any book in Tennessee, or in
any ordinances of this city or State.
Colonel Phelan-How about the code
1850?
Mr.. Jackson-Why it is well known
that that did not refer to city matters
particle.
Colonel Phelan-I say it didn't, but it
shows the general rule.
Mr.. Jackson-Yes, i am coming to
the general rule as it applies to specula.
ton. Where / appoint an agent to sell
my property the law says he shall not
be the purchaser of that property which
have appointed him agent to sell. Why?I
Because of that noble rule resting upon
our highest obligations, where his inter-
est and his integrity would come in con-
flict. That is all. You shall not buy
while have appointed you to sell. That
is the whole of the rule. 1t never has
been extended any further than that
never been extended to the point saying
that after the issuance of these bonds,
and when they are in circulation
amongst the community, because a man
is elected to Office that he shall
not buy those securities. Wei
hear of the wailing and moaning
of this community over its distressing
burden, brought upon it by John john
son-brought upon it by John Johnson
buying securities that he had circulated.
We hear now that there is mourning
and wailing going up from this COM
munity because of that purchase. That
wont do. 1t is known toyou that before
the purchase was made, and at the time
of this purchase, that taxes were being
levied for the purpose of buying these
very securities, and paying them to the
holder. and it was immaterial to the city