Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-01-28
LOsr RACE.
Items Picked Up Around the city
Hall by Our special Reporter.

Whlcn the philosophical newspaper man
commences ADMINISTRATION by indulgng
in both processes OF reasoning-the in
ductive system OF Aristotle BY which be
descends from some whole so as to in
clude some part, and the deductive sys-
TEN of Bacon, by which he ascends from
the parts so as to include the whole.
The former is the a priori method and
the latter the q posteriori. Our philo-
Sophical reporter, on visiting the Mayors
office yesterday, saw IN top Of the safe
which is situated Immediately in rear of
the mayoralty chair, that leaden statuette
Of q negro who bears in his arms a
shield on which is the device, Il want no
Office. Calling the attention Of his
Honor to the curious ~statuette and the
motto, u reporter asked casually Of the
figure, What manner Of man art thou?
You do not certainly belong to the nine
teenth century, NO" replied Mayor
Flippin, 'he does not; he is the descend.
ant and only living representative of a
noble bat extinct race Of people who had
their origin in a~ntediluviaD, or, proba-
bly,, pre-Adamic days. He can say, /
stand like Adams recollections before
the fail, aloue Our reporter, over
come BY this weight of ages, bowed be
fore the idol as be would have done BE-
fore a mysterious representative Of one
OF those fabulous races Of people whose
history is hidden in the long ago Of the
worlds history. he. repeated the motto
on the shield-"I want no ofice"-and
addressed the image, saying: "0ld relic
Of departed worth and greatness lost to
us in the womb of the past, we hail thee
as q harbinger Of promise for the pre-
sent and futurel' But the s~tatuette re-
NAMED as %unconcerned as the Egyptian
Sphinx, of which a drawing hangs on
the wall of the Comptroller Office. The
old fellow wouldn't do for these office
seeking days; he would be out Of place,
and would announce that old musty
proverb, Let the Office seek the man and
not the mar the office" He would not
say, II worked for your election, I
spent my small change in electing you,
and | demand a ready return Of these
efforts at your hands. Nominate me for
=" Nor wouldhe 6end Councilmen
and Aldermen, button.hole them on street
corners, and go over the same old story
of %unappreciated patriotism, so as to ex
cite the indignation of the City Father,
and cause him TO exclaim frantieally, II
will vote for you" OF the So 900 inhabi'
tapts of Memphis there are 1900 voters,
and Of these 5000 voted for Flippin, and
of these 500 want some office; but, un-
fortunately, there are only twenty-five
Offices to be filled, and 500 will not 90
into twenty-five by any rule Of arithmetic
that we know Of; consequently, there is
wisdom in the motto, 81 want no office"
WHAT A MAYOR is. FOR.
But few outside Of the City Hall have
any idea of the iRdia-rubber complexion
of the Mayors Office. 1t is regsred by
manJ as a kind Of ~Procrustean bed, by
which many things a be Topped of,
aud others stretched out. There
is a traditionary relief department
connected with the office by
which small warrants have been
issued by the Comptroller on the order of
the Mayor to INDECENT persons, beggars,
etc., seeking assistance. The records
Of this department of generosity, as to
other peoples money, exists in a printed
book containing blank warrants and a
lot Of stubs" and, by the inductive
or a priori process Of reasoning~we de-
scend to the conclusion that such war
rants have been issued in the past.
There is also a transportation depart
ment, through which wanderers we're
sent home to other States by mean of
railroads and steamboats,, and of this
q big record Of blank orders and stubs
exists, showing that this department also
had been in complete working order in
the past. 1t was a dead.head sys-
TEN called into existence by tradition.
ALI these things were, but are not at
present. People had been in the habit
of applying at the Mayors Office for all
kinds Of things-for money, for provi-
sions, for orders for supplies, for trans
portation to all portions Of the United
States, for all kinds of relief. This may
have had its origin with the citizens Of
our city, who usually got rid Of appli-
cants for relief by the stereotyped re.
mark, go to the Mayors ofice-that's
the place to apply"
The Mayors Office was a kind Of in
telligence office, a vast commisssry and
quartermaster's establishment, wherein
all things were and where almost any
thing could be obtained. But all this is
over; the new regime has wiped it out,
and all you can get up there now, unless
you are clearly entitled to it, you can
put in your eye. These are facts and
fancies which our reporter picked up in
his wauderings through the old tin.
headed rookery known as the City Hall.
He ~eudeayored to find out who would be
the nominees and the elect, but this was