Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1879-02-05
Our Nashville Letter.
NASHVILLE, Tenn, Jan. 81.

Mr.. EDITOR The selfconstituted
Committee on Buncombe in the
Legislature is still at work. 1t is
one of the most active of COM
mittees. One of its recent bids for
public favor was a bill introduced
in the House to reduce the per diem
of members to $500. OF course
the author and his supporters well
knew that the compensation of
members is fixed by the COnstitu-
ton, and could not be changed,
even by a bill, much less by a reso-
luton. Like all of the productions
of this grand army of cheap re-
formers and admiration seekers, the
resolution was lost in labyrinth of
of whereases. A cloud of amend
ments covered the Clerks desk as
soon as it was introduced. One
amendment, to strike out $500 and
insert so cents, was adopted. AT
ter about an hour of public time,
at $500 per day, had been spent,
the resolution and the amend
ments was facetiously referred to
the Committee on Charitable In
situations, and the author was happy.
He will appear in the journal as
great patriot, when, in fact, he and
his cO-laborers are very small frauds
and humbugs.
Marks, the great usufruct "
No. 2, does not seem quite happy.
His pretty ways, his winsome
smiles, and his eloquently couched
exhortatiOn to the people to organize
themselves into a huge band of
thieves, has not been fraught with
so great popularity as he had antici-
pated. That pretty rhetorical soap
bubble, of such varied and elegant
hues, has been pricked by the pen
ellis of a goodly number of honest
men of the Republican and Demo-
cratic press, and gentlemen. Albert
finds himself dangling quite un-
comfortably on the ragged edge of
public opinion, with an appalling
prospect of a very considerable
tumble into the abyss of contempt.
A prominent railroad official of this
city, a Democrat too, recently said
that he should no longer follow the
lead of such men as Marks. He
would be Republican, rather.
Another gentleman, an official,
who is well known throughout the
State, who is a Democrat of the
honest type, recently remarked,
with an expletiVe, that there were
only seventeen men in the Legisla>
ture fit to stay there and control the
destinies of the State. He meant,
of course, those who can be relied
upon as sound, regarding the debt.
Probably the legislation of this
week, which will excite most public
interest, is the repeal of the charter
of Memphis and the extension of
time for the County Trustees to hold
tax books. The Memphis measure
was a perplexing one, to many mem
bers. They felt fully in sympathy
with that most unfortunate people,
and desired to do anything which |
they could honorably do to relieve
their distress. Many who had |
doubts gave the benefit of the same
to what they supposed to be the side
of mercy. Others, who could not
support the measure, forbore to
make any active opposition to it.
L am persuaded that the most i'm
mediate friends of the measure
were honest in their advocacy of il.
Almost in despair, they were willing
to resort to the most extreme meas.
urss. But the brazen contempt for |
all appearance of honesty which |
was displayed by a few men who |
had no particular reason for taking
active parts, was disgusting in the |
extreme, and utterly sickened those i
who felt disposed to be as friendly
as their cOnsciences would permit.
A member offered an amendment to
the bill, providing that it should not
be construed as affecting the obliga-
ton of any contract already exist
ing. One of those upstart, small
patriots, whose intellects never grasp
questions of craftsmanship higher
than motions to lay on the table, or