Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1873-06-25
FORCED TO SPEAK.
aging.

AL last the ItlTut sun mas Deen IOTCeu W
speak. 1t found public Indignation too
great to be appeased with silence on its
part And what defense! 1t substanti-
ally admits all we have charged. 1t ad-
mits that Killebrew is paid $4,000 as Secre-
tary of the Agricultural Bureau. 1t adj
mits that Dr. Stafford gets $1,000. 1t ad-
mits that Mr.. Charlton gets $1,000. 1t ad-
mits that the West Tennessee agent gets
81, 900. 1t admits that four of the six Com
missioners who fix these salaries are stock
holders of the Rurdl Sun. 1t claims, how
ever, that there is no connection between
the Sun and the Bureau, and accuses the
CHRONICLE of great injustice in
charging it. Mr.. Killebrew defends
the Commissioners for paying him $4,000
and claims that he earns it. He claims to
pay his travelling expenses out of it. We
venture that he travels on a dead head
pass on the railroads aud boards free with
the "dear farmers" His expenses are
probably two hundred dollars. What
does he do for the balance?
The admission that six of the ten thou
sand dollars appropriated for the farmers
is used in paying salaries is enough. How
muc CHI more is expended in the same way
we do not know. The Memphis 1ppcaL
charges that outside of the one thousand
dollars paid as salary to the West Tennessee
agent, it has thus far been unable to hear of
any other money expended for agriculture
in West Tennessee. In East Tennessee we
get the salary paid to Mr.. Charlton. He
organizes the Farmers Clubs, canyasses
for the Sun as business matter to help
him earn living-does all the work and
the Nashville gentlemen draw the fat
salary.
1t may be that all this is right and just
and the best for the farmers, but it will be
hard to so convince the tax payers. 1t may
be that it is all an accident, that these sal
aries go to RttrdI San men, and that four
of the six Commissioners who fix the sal
aries are stockholders of the same paper,
but it is asking too much of people to be-
lieve it so. 1t may be that there is no
connection between the Commissioners
who fix the salaries and the Sun men who
draw them, but it is presuming somewhat
upon the ignorance of the people to ask
them to believe it.
The Sun says the Agricultural Bureau
has not helped the paper any. Have not
| the editors of the Sun reduced their own
salaries since they got their lift from the
Bureau? Has not the printing of the Blu
reau been given to the Sun office We
said at the outset that we suspected that
was:the secret of providing fort print
ing outside of the $4,000. This the Sun
does not notice
But after admitting all we have charged
the Sun goes on in a long article and
charges that the secret of the CHRONICLES
attacks is that it is jealous of the Sun and
"opposed to farmers" We dismiss the
first charge as too ridiculous for attention.
| The CHRONICLE has about as much cause
to be jealous of the Days DOings as the Sun.
The one comes in competition with it about
as much as the other.
The second charge is equally ridiculous.
The farmers of East Tennessee know full
well whether the CHRONICLE is a friend
or an enemy. We are content to leave
them to pass verdict, without
argument. We have done all we
could to build up East Tennessee-not
the farmers alone, but every other interest
If the Rural Sun would help us by ex-
pending in some sensible way a part of
the ten thousand dollars appropriated for
the farmers, we would be glad of it. AS
long as two thirds of the fund goes for
salaries the farmers will get poor pay back
for their taxes. Other features Of the
Suns answer we will notice hereafter.
-e~%
THE loss ofvaluable sheep by good far