Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-10-18


Nashville. Thomas II. Galloway and Geo.
p. Branner, of the East Tennessee, Vir-
ginia and Georgia road, were given some Of
these bonds. We have never heard either
of these gentlemen accused Of being Re
publicans. Charles j. Mckinney had
$4,000 to aid the Rogersvile road, but the
fact is, q e Legislature didn't stop to ask
whether man was Radical or a Demo-
Gat, they were trying to build up the State.
When the Republicans went out OF
power, after the election Of 1869, and the
affairs of state went into the hands of our
opponents, they found debt amounting 10,
all told, about S55,000,000, and we had
every railroad in the State bound for pOr-
ton of this debt, except the Louisville and
Nashville. and that road had been released
because ithad paid every dollar il was owing
the State.
John c. Brown had been in Office two
years, and the Comptroller makes another
report, showing that the State debt had in
creased from S3S,000,000 to nearly S44,-
100000. with assets on hand leaving it
$50, $4,000. THUS, within that two years,
our State debt had increased nearly $5,0OO.-
0O0 And this is the administration we are
called upon to admire and indoTse.
THE FUNDING BILL.
We have had a funding operation.
There was an immense pressure brought
TO bear to pass the funding bin. have in
my hand copy of the UNION AND ASIERI
CAN containing an editorial which says
thai the GoEeEnsf and financial officers of
the State desired that this measure should
pass, aud tlenouncing anybody opposed to
it. Ii did pass, and now what is the de-
Tense? Why, that some Republicans voted
for it, That is true, as the Republicans
were in hopeless minority; but the differ
ence between the Democratic and Repub-
licah parties with regard TO this measure
is, that the former indoTses it, while the
latter repudiates il.
PUBLIC PRINTING.
What else is charged ? Il used 10 be said
that under Brownlow's administration there
was grand fraud in the public printing.
When the Democrats came in they found
hat Geo. L. Grisham had just been elect
ed Public Printer, (pOOr fellow. he went his
way, and was stricken down like a martyr
at the bedside of the sick and dying.) He
came i'm, but the Democrats said, sit won't
do, this man is a miserable Radical, a Fed
eral soldier, contemplate character" and
they swept him aside. They said 'we are
going TO have honesty, we are going to have
things right" SO they went to work and
elected = whom do you think, Public
Printer9 Jones, Purvis & CO." They
might as well have said Shocks, Thompson
& Co., as far as the people were concerned.
Whom did they mean by Jones, Puryis &
Co? They really meant the two Demo
cratic papers of Nashville-the UNION AND
AMERICAN and Bonner.
They had the printing, and they got
along glorioJisly. By and by some one
began to suggest that they were making it
profitable affair. 1t was charged and
proven to the satisfaction of every one but
the Democrats, that these men charged
three times for doing the work once; t5at
they charged for paper they never used,
and for work they never did. Ii was
charged that in this way they had pOcketed
not less than $4,000. The charge was
Endorsed by authority that my competitor
will not call in question l suppose, Mr..
John Baxter, Of Knoxville.
In the spring of 1899, Mr.. Polk brought
with him from Washington two young men,
Mr.. E. G. Eastman, of New Hampshire,
and Mr.. ]. George Harris, of Mass. Mr..
Eastman started paper at Knoxville, and
MI hdIIlS oldltCu OAlC -NdonNAAACs MI
EaStman's venture was not successful one,
and ne came to this city, whereupOn he and
his friend, Mr.. Harris, started the UNION
AND AMERICAN. That's the history ofthe
paper which says you must not support MIR.
Maynard, because he is a carpet-bagger.
GLaughter.1 OF the other paper-the
Nashville Bonner, l cannot find it in my
heart TO say hard things, because in the old
days, under the management of ZOllicoffer
& Allen A. Hall, it used TO say kind things
of the Wings, and we often took sweet
counsel together. Since the war it has not
had the courage to come out and be indie
pendent, or to advocate any decided policy.
But it has not done us any harm. Laugh
teri
THE PENITENTIARY.
Gov. Brown SAYS that during the RrOwn-
low administration, the average eX-
penses Of the penitentiary were $4,000 a
year. Ward Il Briggs had leased the peni-
Tertiary for a term of years, but the Dem
ocratic Legislature which came in in 1865
turned them out quick. Mr.. JnO. Z.
Blown tells us in his Pulaski speech that
it cost $4,000 to get these two men out.
That is his statement. What were the
facts? When these men found that they
were going out, they had great lot of
property on hand in the shape Of tools, ma
chinery etc, which they had been COM
PEELED to purchase to carry out
their lease, and they thought their property
was worth this sum Of SI63, 600, and the
Legislature directed the Comptroller of
the Treasury TO pay it. Then he says, in
the same speech, that it took the sharpeSt
kind of management TO keep Ward X
Briggs from getting $4,000 more before
the courts. These men claim that they
were entitled TO something for breaking up
their contract, and l supposed it did take
all the management of good Democratic
LAWYERS to prevent a Democratic court from
doing Justice TO these men.
They got the penitentiary out of the
hands of Radicals, and these Democrats
came together and passed law giving the
management of the institution TO Board
of Inspect rs. That was in 1870. When
the Legislature met in 1S7 these inspectors
reported they had made clear profit to the
State during the year of $4,000. This re-
port was made on the lst of October, 1871,
and looked very handsome-it was an i'm
prOvement on the Radicals, you know.
Laughter
vi the Vi NOktlnbCif W mn W a.
on Saturday, Gov. Brown astOnished every
body by sending a special message TO the
Legislature, saying that on the previous
day the Inspectors had leased that eStab-
lishment TO two men named Tom O'Con-
nor and Mr.. Looney, and he sent III the
lease for the Legislature TO ratifE. Why
did they send this in, if the Inspectors had
a right to make lease? Because the law
authorized them to make no cOntrat, and
Gov. Brown knew it. The agreement was
made on Friday, the 18th day of Noyem-
Der, 1871, and sent in next day with mes
sage recommending its adoption.
Nothing was done with the matter until
Monday, the 10Th, and then it was put right
through the Senate under whip and spur,
and sent into the House the next day
| Wednesday it was taken up, and let me
read what was done:
ssMr. Enloe, chairman of the COMMITTEES
| on Pententiary, submitted report, ano
said the committee believed this propo-
sition the best to be done under the circum
stances, and recommended it be adopted.
"Mr. Vaughn, of Davidson, presented a
bid from MessIs. Newsom, Horton 4 Co.
of Nashville, proposing to lease the peni
teutiary on the same terms offered by
O'Conner & LOOney, at $4,000 per an
| num-"
This, you see, is $4,000 more than wa
offered BY O'Conner q Looney, or, for five
years, $4,000; yet this bid was not con
| sidered at all.