Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-07-19

one OF the DenefacUOrS OF Ine AMER
lean people. His political influence
survives him, and in the persons of
Voorhees, and Ewing is felt as a
controlling force in Western politics.
The Chronicle and the Water
Works.
A communication in the Tobacco |
Leaf signed zone of the Bored"
gives US an opportunity of explain
ing our position in regard to the
water-works question, which we
have long desired, and we now
propose to make our explanations
extend beyond the scope of that
communication and define our posi-
ton as it has been maintained both
before and after the ordinance was
passed which OccasiOned the con-
struction of the present works. We
must, however, clear up the mis-
conception by which we are made
to appear to have acted with gross
inconsistency in the premises. In
the communication in question
paragraph is quoted from the
CHRONICLE of Nov. 8, 1878, which
not only halls with delight the pas
sage of the ordinance, but approves
in unqualified terms of the contract
made by the Board with the Water
works Company. That paragraph
was not written by us or by anyone
connected with this office; it was
handed to the proprietors for publ
cation the day after the passing OF
the ordinance by gentleman who
had been a very eager promoter of
the scheme, and published in the
local column at his request. At
that time we had nothing whatever
to do with the local column except
occasionally to volunteer a commu-
nicatiOn to il, and the article in
question was never seen by us till
after it was published, nor, to say
the truth, had we read it with any
attention until we saw it quoted to
the disparagement of our consist
ency by the correspondent of the
Tobacco Leaf last Tuesday.
So much for our consistency, but
we wish now to explain our whole
course independently of that COM
munication, so as to preclude all
misunderstanding hereafter. The
ordinance which established the
Water-works Company and defined
the contract between it and the city
was passed on Tuesday, Nov. 9th,
1879; the next number of the
CHRONICLE was printed on Friday,
Nov. Sth, and published on Satur-
day, Nov. 9Th. 1t is true that we
attended the meeting of the City
Council at which that took place,
and that the ordinance was read
before the Board. Its provisions
were numerous and complicated,
and many of them required close
study to comprehend their exact
bearing. 1t was read rapidly and
not very audibly by the Alderman
who moved its adoption, and we
very soon gave up the attempt to
form a definite opinion of its merits
until we could read it in print. 1T
was handed to the printer the next
morning and remained in his hands
till the day of printing our paper
without our having had chance to
peruse it, The approving paragraph
which appeared in that number we
have already seid was not Writtc4
by us. We read the ordinance and
contract for the first time in that
paper, and at once detected, as we
thought and still think, serious de
fects in it. These we pointed out
to the prOprietorS of the paper, who
agreed with us but thought it I'M
desirable, as the ordinance was
passed and the contract signed, to
excite discOrd by starting a contrO-
versy which would be too late to
remedy the defects. III was agreed
therefore to await future develop
ments in silence.
The next occasion on which we
were brought into relations with
the water-Works question was a
sO-called public meeting, 1t will
be soon seen that there was nothing
public about it. We received a note
inviting us to attend a meeting of
citizens after dinner at the Gracey
Warehouse on business of import
anes to the city. Weare of opinion
that there was no signature to this
paper, but will not Vouph for our
recollection in that respect. In any
case, we went to the Gracey Ware
house at the time specified, where
we found an assembly not numer-
Gus but select; in fact, very carefully
selected. 1t consisted entirely, or
very nearly so, of gentlemen whom
we knew to be the original pro-
moters of the water-works scheme.
As we spoke twice in this meeting
we will state as briefly as possibly
what was done. Capt. NJ. II. Clark
explained the purpose of the meet
ing to be that of starting a joint
stock company in GAINESVILLE to
purchase shares in the water-works.
He represented that Mr.. Travers
Daniel, the agent and engineer of
the company, and the stockholders
generally were unwilling to invest
capital in the project dgless the cit
liens manifested sufficient Interest
in it to take the greater portion of
the stock, etc. Now, it occurred to
us FROM this statement that Mr.. ]