Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1879-03-08

as this monstrous debt necessities, operates as
perpetual NOR gage upon the properly lives and tot
yeTts them into practical slaves slaves of specu
ators and plunderers who oonspired with thieves Il
an honest debt. Our State. during the present cen
tnTy, by grinding taxation, may be able TO pay wha
she honestly owes, after Which II will be time
enough TO contemplate debt which Is the hideouS
product or unwhipt knavery and OF plumber pa ron
founded In fraud Will be sSent from existence h,
the breath OF an outraged and indignant people
who are unwilling TO sweat and toll for the benefit Of
hands polluted with corruption, venality and fraud
are ready to talk about honor and the duty of pre-
serving the credit OF the State!!
Such were the utterances of the APPEAL
on the fourth of June, 1870. This war upon
the fraudulent bonds was continued in 1871
In September, 1871, Major NJ. J. Wicks met
one of the editors of this paper, and IN
formed him of fact about which we knew
the APPEAL had pursued for nearly two
years was of immense service to the Mem
phis and Charleston railroad, which, under
an act of the legislature, was permitted to
pay its Indebtedness in State bonds; and,
without any solicitation on our part, Major
Wicks, in an honest desire to promote the
interest of the road over which he presided,
proposed that we should still further extend
our efforts in this matter and devote more
time and space to its discussion. To do this
required money. 1t is easy to read editori-
ais, but it takes money to set them in type.
And as a fair remuneration for the work, both
of brain, of hand and of capital, Major Wicks
voluntarily proposed to pay the OIoners Of the
APPEAL, then stock company, the sum of
seven thousand FIVE hundred dollars. The
managers of the APPEAL had no right to re-
fuse this and defraud the stockholders-and
besides would have been idiots to refuse pay
for honest labor IN an honest cause.
There is not newspaper in the
world that would not have gladly
accepted such contract A few years ago
the press of the city were united IN advocat-
ing the extension of the Memphis and
Charleston railroad along Washington street
to the river, a work which was necessary and
Just. If the officers of this road had volun-
tarly offered these journals from two to FIVE
hundred dollars for their services, it is not too
much to say none would have refused it.
For twenty years we have been advocating a
Southern Pacific railroad, and We shall con-
tinue to do so; but. if any person specially
desires the special use of our columns in adj
vocating it, he must pay for It. We think
should be elected, and we support them;
but if the friends of any candidate wish to
fill our columns with his praises, they must
pay foi. it. This is but fair. We acquit our
selves of our moral obligation as the
teachers of public opinion when we declare
the true general course. Bat i0ithn these
limits are a thousand currents of varying
private interests, and to specially advertise
these we are entitled to pay. In the
case in hand the APPEAL had denounced the
fraudulent bonds, gbbeted their authors,
held the whole nefarious scheme up to public
scorn for nearly two years. This was done as
a general duty to the State and to society.
But to put extra forces to the traces to help a
private corporation out of difficulty entitled
US to compensation from them-GHd they
paid for it, To honest men, to fair judges,
this is enough. To the yelping crowd Of
miserable ours, who for years have skunk
around the heels of the editors OF this paper
we say nothing. For forty years we have
engaged in the tolls and drudgery of oul
profession. The dust and labors of a hum
dred political campaigns have beat into our
brain and settled upon our hearts, and, alas,
bat little else has rested there to soothe, to
cherish or to reward As partisans, we have
spent the yigor of youth and the strength Of
manhood in the advancement of hundreds
whose first effort amid the spoils OF Office has
been to kick over the ladder by which they
climbed. We have been the victims OF
calumny, of perfdy, and worse than all, OF
base ingratitude, but never once have we re-
ceived aught than the legitimate pay of our
profession or tagged in our devotion to prin-
ciple. Had we acted differently, we might
now have had more to show for zeal more
honest than profitable. Had we held snake
like course among the dirty debris of all par
ties; had we turned pen, dipped by stealth
into Radical moneybags, against our old com
rades and principles; had we exhibited the
hate OF the renegade and the malice of the
poltroon against all that was honorable anc
southern and chivaIric; had We speered a
everything pure, at everything good, at every
thing reasonable, and, with the wages Of liei
in our pockets, vociierated our indie
pendence with the slip-shod effrontery of tn
brazen harlot; had we done all this, w
might now have been the chief sorehead
among the lazzareth-we might have tn
contempt of all parties aud the respect o
none-a speGie congressman or greeEbac.
governor. But We thank God that lonE
lives spent in ali the fury of politics, and al
honest independence that made US ezhibl
open hearts and frank principles to the world
severest gaze, has produced no act and bu
one charge of wrong, and 70 our courade
we leave our regulations, confident that as VIZ
have never betrayed them, they will neYe
desert US.