Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1873-09-17
ArALsE AND MEAN CHARGE.

IL Is ullIOIiunult lOl bAO IlSD9 VI
country thai some of its writers are 50
quick to publish false and cruel stories
against the character of men in public
life. Newspapers are powerful just III pro-
norton as they are truthful. When men
in public STATEN are corrupt or neglectiul
of their duties, they should be exposed
The attacks should, however, always be
truthful. But there are adventures con-
neeted with widely circulated newspapers
who would tell lie any day to make .
sensational item. Some of these fellows
live at Washington and make some noto-
riety through the meanness and aegree OF
their lying. We find the following dis
patch credited to the special correspondent
of the Cincinnati Commercial, at WASH
ington. Uuder date of 10th he telegraphs
as follows: "
Horace Maynard, who has about given
up all hopes for the Speakership OF the
| Forty-third Congress, is now using his IN
| fluence to induce the Quartermaster zen
| eral to order the new soldiers headstones
| to be made of Tennessee marble, in several
ouarries of which material he has large
| interests. ,u1
In Tennessee, where Horace Maynard
| is best known and especiallyin this COM
munity where the facts concerning the
marble business are we'll understood, the
above paragraph will be treated with the
indignation it deserves. Few men in pub
lie life have been more persistently and
atrociously abused than Mr.. Maynard has
been by his political enemies in Tennessee.
| And although for near twenty years in Of
flee, his bitterest opponents have never
yet been able to prove single corrupt act
against him.
The charge now trumped up has no
foundation whatever. 1t has been known
here for months that two bids for head
stones for soldiers graves would be pro-
posed by Knoxville gentlemen. In both
cases bidders largely interested are
wounded and crippled soldiers IN
the late war. We have about
Knoxville immense beds of durable
and beautiful marble, which can be work
ed into any form cheaper than anywhere
else. The parties interested in the quarries-
that proposed to do the work are well known
here. 1t is equally well known that Meth
err Horace Maynard nor Senator Brown
low, or any Of their kin, have any interest
of any kind in the quarries or in the bids
referred to. The marble to be used by
either of the bidders is of the best in Ten
! nessee, and we believe equal to any in the
country. 1t was quite as important to
Knoxville and her interests as to the bid
ders themselves that the work should, if
possible, be done here. 1t would give EN-
ployment to hundreds Of men and involve
the expenditure of large sums of
money. At the solicitation, not only
of the bidders, but of other citizens,
Mr.. Maynard went to Washington after
the bids were opened and because it was
understood efforts were being made to ex-
clude Knoxville marble on account of some
of it not being pure white. He went, as
he had right to do, to look after the mat
ter because it was of Importance not only
to the bidders but to our people. 1t was a
perfectly legitimate mission on his part
and one which his constituents appreciate
and commend. Senator Brownlow, physi-
calIy unable to travel to Washington, sent
q dispatch to do what he could for his con-
F stltuents in the same matter. 1t is Won
der that he has not been charged with cor
ruption in the matter. The charge is false
as everybody here knows and the corre-
spondent who sent it had no reason to be-
lieve it to be true. Mr.. Maynard has no
interest in any of the quarries and his only
object in going to Washington was to do
what he could to secure for his constituents
the benefits to flow from the contract re-
ferred to. 1t was just as legitimate and
proper for him to do that as it was to Sc
cure an appropriation for the Custom
House now being built in Knoxville, or as
it was to secure a just and still unpaid
+ claim to our University for damages done
+ during the war. 1t was just as proper for
, Mr.. Maynard to try to secure the head
stone contract for his constituents when
, the price bid and quality of stone offered
q entitled them to it--as it was for Cincin-
cnuati Congressman to work for their
= new Custom House or the bridge over the
3 Ohio. We hope the Commercial and other
= papers publishing the SANDER will see that
e Justice is done by promptly retraoting it,
+ WE had the pleasure of a short interview
,,.i,b Canatnr RrownlOW Yesterday. He