Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-06-22
Letter from City Attorney HaHs0R-He
Reiterates BIS Rambling Statement
and Figures Of Sunday.
He Sticks TO His Darling Six Million
and Half, Darn the Odd Cents He
Wants None Of'em.
What Comptroller NeWsOme has TO Say
in Defense Of His Figures-NO Back
Down In II m.
The Figures Again Repeated - The
Comptroller Insists Upon His State
ment Being Correct in Every
Particular.

EDITORS APPEAL-I do not think you
or your reporter would do me injustice
knowingly, as both OF you have always
been so very kind in presenting every
thing in the true light. | therefore call
! your attention to one or two errors in the
report of the interview with me on Sat-
urday. In the answer to my third ques-
| ton there is the omission of figure:
the statement should be 81 900, 600 where
! it is 100000, and 81 ,135, 600 where it is
! $l35,OO as the amounts Of bonds au-
! thOriZed and that issued. In the answer
before the last your reporter makes me
! say that should not have said any,
thing to the council had not public Opin-
| ion demanded it. / used the word in
terest instead of opinion. I do not con-
| suit public opinion. In the last answer
l am made to say, 81 have never ad-
vised the city to engerader lawsuits. l
said l had never advised the council to
| so act as to ergelder lawsuits. You also
make me say the committee appointed
Messrs. Humes and EdgiDgton. said
! they approached them. But these are
trifiing corrections. But now, Messrs.
! Editors, for that cOmptrolIer's report,
y
consolation to the poor taxpayers. Did
| you, or the comptroller, or the mayor,
think to put sand in peoples eyes with
that array of figures? l am going to
talk very plainly now, since you assure
| me that all that / can soy
has not a feathers weight. Hereto
fore l have been afraid to do
so, fearing that the truth might hurt. l
have for fifteen years seen these glitter
ing reports from comptrollers who in
strict and servile fidelity have annually
demonstrated that the city was soaring
upon golden wings to the goal of bound
less prosperity.
a. But alas! figures will sometimes
lie, and the people, as well as the comp
trOller, have learned how to make them.
But lei Us analyze this one. The first
five items foot up 1881 ,632 26. How
much interest is there due on thSt bal
ance? One year would make over S19,-
500. But that is a mere bagatelle.
(2) We will pass the $75. coo OF past
due bonds and their interest and take the
next items, past due coup0ns-these
items foot up 1878, $40. They bear in
terest at seven per cent, after due, be-
cause payable in New York, and the in
terest reaches S26, 1873 per annum on that
sum.
(3.) Then, in ten days from this time
there will be due S98, $50 of coupons be-
sides what the sinking fund commits
sioners hold. And to show that interest
is an item, let us look at the
a. Harrington case. He held 609 cou-
pons, making $18, $40. His decree on
them was nearly S2S, 0G0. am not pre-
pared to say whether in the outstanding
coupons the comptroller includes those
that have been reduced to Judgment, but
l do know that the sos held by Earring
ton are not in that list; and if the judg-
ments obtained (S8l, 99l 5l) areintended
to cover those on coupons, that viii not
do either, as the interest judgments 60
beyond those figures, and the judgments
on other accounts will reach fully the
sum stated.
(5.) Then the waterworks claim, now
about $40, 900 from the city. And while
L have some hope of defeating it, the
other side are perfectly confident of
gaining it; and if there was nothing in |
the case but the proof made by the Off |
GERS on the trial, the case would IN
dOubtedly be against us, because the city |
Certainly intended to make valid con- |
tract, if it did not. Then we come to |
the NicOlsOn scrip item.
(6.) l am informed that Mr.. johnson |
issued certificates of the face amount of |
1906, 600, and there are considerable |
sums not taken up of the original re-
ceipts.. Now, the interest for seven
years amounts to $254, 500. Add this to
the $8O6, 600, and we have $3.50 500.
There has been retired perhaps as much
as is out in the original receipts, so that
that the above is about the amount.
az There is in the various courts a
considerable sum of costs due that have
not yet been credited up, and there is a
firm Of attorneys in Washington who
are clamOroUs for three thousand dol
lar fee.
might go on filing your columns
with these items that foot up fearful
balance, tut have given you enough to
show that the cOmptroller's report is the
one that deals in generalities. Why
does not the comptroller respond to
Councilman Moores's resolution, asking
for balance-sheet with interest and
costs added to date?
Then, Messrs. Editors, you come b the
front as lightning calculator and you
deduct the assets from the liabilities and
make pretty showing on paper.
(8.) But why did you not think to
ask the comptroller to tell you how much
Of the past.due taxes are ON property
now outside of the city limits? and how
much is levied on the ninth and tenth
wards for interest, sinking-fund and
NicOlson pavement that is not collect
able? Why did you not find out why
the SIS, 900 Of bonds issued as collateral
in 1869 are kept in the list of assets when
they well know that these bonds were
sold and their proceeds either lost or ac-
counted for? Why do they not tell you
that the mortgage on the Gayoso house
for $685. 600 is not worth the paper it is
written upon?
Why do they not make a showing
worthy Of truth and let the people see
What they have to meet and Iook for
ward to. Mind you, you have asserted
that what l may say cannot have q
feathers weight, and now that Memphis
trade can not ehurt by me.
49, l challenge you to show where are
the IS, 900 people and the SAC, 900 600 of
taxable values that we have to meet this
debt with, of which you write so glibly?
Don't you know, and don't the public
know, that lots and lands, merchants,
bankers, corporations, and everything
else were assessed last year far above
heir value, and that, then, we onIy
reached some SOS, 900, 900?
l suggested in my letter that the CITY
could rid herself Of her debt in the same
way as any bankrupt could do, by SELL
Dg and leasing her property for her pa
per. L said, and l say again, that she
cannot Te0udidte 1t. The proofs will
show that the city realized from these
ponds over fifty cents on the dollar,
,Wenty per cent, more than thew are