Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1875-11-20

enee betwsep Col. Trousdale and my
self unsil i ssw it I'm print and that
[ had not even received his reply to
my letter when saw the partial cor
respondence published in the Ameri-
can. A correct copy of Col. Trous
dale's letter. Is herewith transmitted to
you for publication, which will make
the correspondence complete. 1t has
been withheld simply because the COR
respondence was private one. My let
ter to Col. Trousdale was written in no
hostile spirit, but with the view to OBJ
tanning advice ard instructions from
him, my superior, In matter whose
bearing on the public school interests
of this county is vitality significant.
My letter to him which was published
in your last issue elected the following
reply:
IN L. Whitfield, ca. Snpt.
DEAN SIR Yours of the 18th ult.
only reached me yesterday and hasten
to reply. have taken the opinion OF
the Governor upon the question, and
he agrees with me that the County
Court has no authority to apply any
portion of the present school fund to
payment of the class of claims referred
to, that is claims accruing previous to
the passage of the present school law,
and that tits your duty to take imme-
date steps to prevent the misappliea-
ton of the fund collected or tecied by
the State or Cdm,fy for school purposes.
This you will do if necessary by in
junction. You are authorized to call
upon the District Attorney of your
district to act in this matter The last
Legislature made provisions for the
payment of these old claims out of the
unappOrtioned school money in the
Treasury and prescribed the mode and
order in which they should be audited
and paid. See Acts 1875. chap. l3S,
sec. 3. So soon as the Comptroller
ascertains the amount to be apportion-
ed to each county, warrants will be is
sued to the County Trustees, aud then
these old claims will be audited and
paid as directed in the act. | will dc
whatever | can to hasten this apportion-
ment, but until it is made the holders
of these old claims will have to exer-
else PATIENCE Keep me advised Of any
action You may take in the premises
Any instruction can give, or aid |
can furnish, you can command at any
time. c.
Respectfully and truly,
LEON TROUsDALE, State S apt"
Why Col. Trousdale saw fit to pub
lish this correspondence is question
L am unable to answer | presume
Gf | may be allowed TO give an opinion
without provoking a charge of AN alb.
surd fondness for seeing my opinions
in print, } that similar cases existed
in several counties in the State, and
the correspondence between himself
and your humble servant, perhaps
giving more complete insight into
the actual condition of things, answer.
ed his purpose better than any other
therefore he used it, as he certainly
had Alright to do.
He certainly did not intend to wan
tonly provoke the wrath of our irate
Judge. nor did the printers devil and
at the fearful risk of again passing the
terrible ordeal of his Honor's censor
ship, l humbly intercede for them
Aud yet not for the State Superintend.
ent either, but as he merely gives the
opinion of his Excellency, Governor
Porter, his Excellency is the man upon
whom his Honor pours out the vials
of his wrath. For him, therefore, ]
humbly intercede.
But Judge Tyler does me the honor
to state that in my "Bill of Complaints
lit is as near right as Superintendent
Whitfield was ever known to be. y
Now | know that his Honor, Judge
Tyler, does not mean any thing wrong
By this, for Judging his feelings by ms
own, [ hold it beneath the dignity Of
nv Office to throw mud. If lie does
mean it, he surely does not mean to say
that the Governor. and the State Super
intendent and the printers devil to
boot are in the same awful fix.
Again, he says that my ways, like
those of Providence. are past finding
out" Now this looks like more mud
and if it is. there is no way to dodge
and give the Devil the benefit of it
unless he mealR, she surely does, that
some remarkably Unforeseen calamity
has so tangled up the streets of Ne,e
Providence that the ways are hard
to find. If so. again at the risk of be-
ing charged with being absurdly fond,
&C." earnestly warn the citizens Of
that misguided town that they are
GOING TOO FAST, and that they
must repent and dc their first work
over again, OF some of these bright
beautiful mornings they will awake to
find that the Governor, the State Super
intendent and the Printers Devil (note
the State Superintendent, he is afraid,
and don't want to do anything if he
knew how, have at the witching hour
of midnight come on broomsticks and
taken their charter away. Then will
his Honor come with Bosom and 60
through that town in twinkling.
But in regard to the assertion ut is
as near right as Superintendent Whit
field was ever known to be, let US ex-
anime the history of the past, aud see
which has adhered more closely to the
right, his Honor, or myself. About
the latter part of February, 1874, the
first order for money under the present
system was presented to the Trustee in
the form prescribed under the old law,
to be paid by the Trustee to The teach
er on an order from his district board.
The Trustee core city informed the
holder of the order that under the pre-
sent law he could not pay his order,
but referred him to Judge Tyler. Ills
Honor, in the capacity of financial
agent for the county. claimed the right
to order or withhold the apportion-
ment of the school money as he might
choose, and as this old indebtedness
existed then as now, he at once closed
his judicial grasp upon the school
money, thereby staying the progress
of a school system then in its infancy,
but opening with the brightest promise
ever known to an infant cause. | at
once protested against this usurpatiOn
of authority by his Honor. told him
then, as | tell him now, that he had
no control over the school fund Of this
county. A Teachers Institute, then
in session, invited him to visitits meet
ing, and give his opinion in full on