Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-08-16
VIRTUE IRIS OwN REwARD.

Banners appleciative Republican readers
in the Republican party of Tennessee, hat
our young friends Of the Postoff1ce Depart
ment Of this city have en- organ Of their
own, through whose columns, of course,
their own virtues, once a week, pre-emi-
nently shine, as they should, even if partly
reflected from the light of the virtues of the
National Republican party itself. To such
of our Republican friends, therefore, wfO
do not know the fact, wo will state that the
organ of our official friends is weekly is
SUES nothing if not virtuous-and is
called ssthe Bulletin" and we do so the
more cheerfully, in consideration Of the
following first-class notice Of the great and
good Bonner in their last hebdomsdal
issue:
"From the Banner, however, we had rea-
son to expect something better. Its Der-
sistent prosecutions of Independence, oflib-
erality, and Of purity, have served to in
crease its p3pularit, with the people OF Ten
nessee. But, lol when the TINA arrives that
the ventilation of fraud and corruption be-
comes an actual necessity, the peoples
champion is silent. Is it possible that the
pecunisry interests Of the Banner are in
any way dependent upon the perpetuaLioD,
in power, of such corrupt officials? We
cannot think SOL If not, let the Banner do
one or two things, show its hand, or give
the public fair deal. To whom, but to the
public journals, have the taxpayers Of the
country to look for an expose OF the wrongs
perpetra.ed by political parties and rings
and when they fail to do tneir duty wi
they not receive the condemnation they so
Justly merritt"
From this it would seem that our appre-
ciative official contemporary is snort Of
memory. Had it been in existence q. tie
time, it would, perhaps, have remembered
| that ''the peoples champiOn"-the great and
good BGnner-did most vigorously and viz
| tnously, ventilate the famous or infamous
| School Fund robbery to the best of its vir
! tuous ability, and to the best Of its attsins
bic information; that it charged hot and
| heavy upon the thefls of the municipal
''riDg'' in 1918; so hot and so heavy, in
fact, that its zeal in the cause of virtue vas
mistaken for partisan rsneOr by critics far
more virtuous than itself; that it told all il
knew or could fnd out about the pension
frauds in Middle and East Tennessee; that
| it wasted oceans Of eloquencs and lux in
the futile endeaYor to have investigated the
charges of fraudulent issues of bonds to
railroads-some OF which vera Iever built,
and some not even surveyed; that it ex-
pended its virtuous breath in useless anath-
emas against railroad receivers ard keep
ers; that it made enemies and lost
some few subscribers for ventilsting the
panitensisry lease Of 1866; that it even
wounded the feelings of It's friend, the late
Secretary Of State File; cher, for merely Ie-
producing printed allegations against his
department of the collection of double fees
on Agricultural College scrip, said TO have
been sold under the market quotations for
a private consideration on the part of the
| purchaser; that in the zeal of this viTtuous
crusade ii may possibly have done injustice
to the department of the former State
Treasurer, Rust, for alleged irr gularitles
Ia his department; that it did no. splr' the
worthy trio Of County Commissioners just
preceding the resumption OF the present
County Magistrates; that it has not Iuin"ed
matters with the succeeding Board of Mag
istrates in whatever delinquencies may
have been legitimately laid to their door;
that it demanded and prosecuted to sue
cessful and satisfactory investiga-
ton the alleged public printing
frauds; thai it has even in tee
temerity of its virtue, dared to be irrever-
ent in its criticisms of the Credit MObilier
thieves; that it was almost insolsnt to those
virtuous grabDers Of Daek-pay; that, in
short, without going into needless and te-
Cious details, it cried aloud and spared not,
lolg before our we ky official contempora-
nv was born, and ever since; and if it has
not done as much in the cause Of public vir-
tue as its partisan coDtempoIa les have in
the cause of party, 20 ruin the reputation o.
spotted public functionsries, it has been be-
cause there were no more sinful worlds fol
immaculate virtue to conquer, or else the
reouis te facts were necessary to insure pre-
empsion from libel suits-o. the annoyance
of which it had had already its full share
of experience. This may have dismsyed i
from more candid investigation into the
moral shortcomings of an East Tennessee
member of Congress, charged with leading
10 houses of prostitution two little girls, the
orphan children Of gallant soldier in 1
Union regiment of which ne was the COM
mandeT.
We confess that we do not delight in thi!
particular species of politics, and yet tbs
great and good Banner has striven to do it,
dlty by the public decently, and even il
This issue, regrettuily reprOduees, from the
New York Tribune. a burst of virtuous in
dignation against member Of the Senate o
the nation. When the great and coed Ban
ner touches its virtuous lance for tilt tC
roll away the stone from the sepulchre OF
public virtue, it is prompted by an entirely
different motive, and broader spirit o
charity than that which inspires the virtu
Gus bosoms Bipartisan aspirants or officials
or other exclusive representative organs. Ii
its personality, the Republican party Of Ten
nessee is not entirely representative OF the
spirit of Republican, in the nation. Hos
of respectable Republicans in Tennessee
know this very well, and feel 1t, ard spesl
oft without stint. Bat if We pr0clsimec
for official virtue N arely in the intera-.s q
the Republican party, or Of ar other mar
(which we 90 nos--we do not know
tnaS "e sH0u' eel any more virtuous,
the s-,Arit of the proclamation was that whicl
| finds its inspiration in the jealousy, the am
bition,' the official greed, the worship o
] power for powers profit, the cOmpetitiv
4 rancor of mere factions, or cliques of place
men. AppreciSting this to be the great an
good BdpRer's CHARACTERISTIC, pre-emineni
mayor may not be the justification of ths
pro1d title which its officis
| contemporary accords 70 it as 9Th
peoples champion" and TO this character
t istic, as its weekly official contemporSr
: very correctly and very kindly remarks, ma
[ be ascribed'th the 'ineretse Of its popularity.
J Hence it is ''possible that the pecuniary ia
' terests of the Banner" are in no ws7 "de
pendent upon the pe-petuation, in power,
of any officials wh@tever, whether of th
| financial department of the Safe, or th
[ postal department of the General Govern
r ment. The latter are bound, in law, to d
b the fair thing by it in the distribution of tt
5 mails, and the former are poweress to affeC
i its pecuniary interest in any way, since
? long ago disposed of the few mi lien Of Sta
a bonds it owned, when the quotations wei
s in their healthiest state of appreciation.