Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-10-02
PORTER AND MAYNARD.
What the Civil Rights Candidate
Said at JOnesbOro,
A Fierce Assault ON the State Adj
ministratiOn-Judge POr-
ter's RejOinder.

Having already published Judge Porter's
speech at Jonesboro, in full, we take the
following notes of Mr.. Maynard's reply
from the KnoIrilIe Chronicle of Wednes-
day:
am before you the first time in nv life
a candidate for State office in Tennessee.
| have heretofore discussed largely national
affairs. ! shall to-day discuss State affairs.
shall concede at the outset that my CON-
petitOr has the advantage. He reads some
boasting words from some of my friends.
But he has as his hacker and champion
Gov. John c. Brown, who says that the
gifted Porter is to ride triumphant over all
of us. l have no Governor TO act as my
forerunner. BE discOuTseS on South Care
lima and Louisiana, and if that has any
thing TO do with the government of Ten
nessee, could abundantly answer what he
has said. He never cached in his discus
sion that part Of his platform relative to
| State affairs. think that very remarkable.
| l propose TO discuss State affairs. He has
| made the usual Democratic fling at former
Republican administration in the State. l
might 60 back Of all this and find out who
is responsible for leaving us without a
government after the war; eUerybOdy
was invited to come and help reOrgan-
ize the State under President johnson.
| Those who did not come were TO blame.
Those who met did the best they could.
The State Government went on and you
were told that it was very corrupt. By the
Senter and Stokes controversy, my Compel
itOr's associates got control of the State.
They have had it five years. What did
they do? The public printing, under the
Republican administration, was conducted
under Col. George E. Grisham, whom You
all know. He was only "Radical,'
though, and his Office was taken from him.
He came back to your midst and his life
was sacrificed during that fearful scOurge
of cholera. He died while ministering to
your friends and mine, the death of a hero.
Jones, Purvis x Co., were elected in his
place. You do not know who they are,
perhaps. They might be Shocks, Thomp-
son IL Co., as well, but you will know them
when l say they represented the Banner
and the UNION AND AMERICAN newspa-
pers. 4 distinguished citizen of Knox
vile, not "Radicalr-COl. John Baxter,
charged these men with frauds aggregating
$4,000. They abused him like a pick
pocket, but he MANAGED to shut the up,
and now they are as meek as lambs.
Years ago they built a penitentiary
where cOnvicts should be employed for the
use of the State. Ward and Briggs leased
the penitentiary in 1866. When Democ-
racy came into power there was two yeas
of that lease existing. But as Of old, when
it got into power it was denunciatOry and
proscriptive and turned everybody out from
constable to judge. Gov. Brown says it
cost $163, 900 10 get these men out. of the
Il, I,
tools, engines and machinery, etc, and the
State bought them out at Sl6S,00O The
State broke up the contract, and Brown
says it came near costing the State $4,000
to get them out. l suppose it did. The
State was afraidtO let a Democratic court
try their case. But a committee of the
Legislature report that the men who sue
ceeded Ward and Briggs had managed
the penitentiary so that it saved the
State $4,000 a year. On the 18th No
yember, 1870, Gov. Brown sent, unex-
pectedly, a special message to the Leg
islature that he had made a lease the
day before with O'COnner * LO0ney, for
five years Of the penitentiary, tools, en-
giues, grounds, patterns, etc, Chat cost the
State over a million Of DOLLARS and the
labor of all the cOnvictS, numbering near
1000, for $4,000 per year. The admins
tratiOn that made this lease had Just
claimed that they saved to the State
$4,000 per year. No public notice was
given Of this lease. On Wednesday, the
10th, the lease came mp in tie Senate. Mr..
Vaughn, of Davidson, offered bid 10 Lease !
the same penitentiaTy for $4,000 per year. |
What did they do? Wait to see what bet |
ter they could do? No, Gov. Brown sent !
a special message, urging the first lease to !
LOOney X OCOnner. Vaughn asked for /
more time. Nineteen voted to wait, and |
fifty-two voted 10 ratify it. What's the ]
answer 20 all this? Why, niger equality /
and civil rights bill. Brown and his assO-
ciateS sold 10 these lesSees the labor of the 4
cOnyicts at 30 cents day.
But let us see how much of this 10000 4
we get. The Legislature provided that the |
lesseeS might pay for their lease by work 1
on the StatehOuse. At what wages? Thir-
~ cents a DAY. The price for which it was
leased Oh, no, The State paid these
cOnvicts under the lessees Sl.O0 per day for
common labOrerS, and .Sl.j0 for skilled la
bOIers. How many DAYS work Of cOnvicts
would take these men 10 pay the lease?
One hundred labOTinE men one year, or
siXty-seyen skilled lab0rers one year. And
il was provided that if they worked out in
one year more than enough to pay for that
years lease, it might 90 on 10 the next
year.
BROWNS BEGGING JOHNSON FOR PARDON.
II is in connection with this subject that
l ought 10 mention that in a recent speech,
John e. Brown SAID, that if the members
Of the Republican State Convention at
Chattanooga had their deserts, they would
be in this penitentiary, and if SO lie would
not pardon them out. Well. have only 10 !
say, that if, on tie 18th day of January,
1867, had, on my knees, begged a pardon
Of distinguished a man now have in my
eye (ex-PreSident johnson, who was pre-
sent an interested listener,) to save my
neck from halter, l would not be IS free to
talk about not par,lOniBg my peers as John
c. Brown seems to be. His friends say he
was joking in his Pulaski speech. a very
iocose Democracy We have, to be sure.
Loud applause.]
INCREASING PUBLIC TAXES.
My competitor says bis party opposes
paying more taxes. l should think so.
When those miserable Radicals came in
to power they fixed taxes at twenty-five
cents on the hundred dollars. Emerson
fUmed and strobe Overthis cOun-
try in 1867, complaining about these taxes.
When my competitors friends got into
power what did they do? They took the
tax from the merchants and put it down on
farmers from - to 20 cents. Gov. Brown
went about IN 1870 and showed how they
had put down the taxes. Brown got into
power. They had abused BrOwElOw's
bonds, and said they were not going to pay
hem. They paid no interest on the bonds
after Gov. BrownlOw got out of office.
They run them down to 80 cents. When
Brown got INTO power they raised the taxes
from twenty to sixty cents on the hundred
dollars. Then the Democratic papers
raised aUOther tune. The noble old Vol !
lnteer State must pay her debt. Must not
-epudiate. Then bonds went up
and the men who had run
hem down and then bought al
30 cents. sold way up to 50 and above.
Then another election was coming on and
his Democratic party had to 90 before the
people, so they put down taxes from 90
,entS to 10 cents. Then bonds went down
again. Our Democratic friends then passed
he Assessment law. This sis a law as is
aw. Mr. Maynard here showed an As
assment blank and asked the people ifthey
sver saw one. II is enough TO give one the
nightmare. This s Tennessee, Democrat
r TauupSSpp-ib hen * this nartV OppOSed to