Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-09-08
THE HOwARDS.
"A few Pointed Remarks
What Their Acting President, Gen
W. ]. Smith, has to Say.

the Howard Association had com
planned hat this journals statement
regarding its ministrations among the
sick was erroneous, its representative
called at their headquarters to learn
wherein any error had been made.
The news gatherer was politely re-
ferred to the acting president, Mr..
W. J. Smith, who was found seated at
a desk near the center of the room
holding a copy of the PUBLIC LEDGER
in his hand. The general had evil
IDENTIFY been considering and digesting
the paper, for upon being asked if any
error had appeared concerning the
Towards, he replied rather excitedly /:
"A gross error, sir, a very gross
error"
In what has there been any error,
sir2 1t will afford me pleasure to
acknowledge it and set you right, sir,
or any other person or thing that by
any accident or oversight may have
been improperly ventilated. The
figures were taken from the morning
Journals, in which your own accounts
appeared. Are they correct ?"
Yes, there is nothing wrong in
them" said the general.
After careful research the general
admitted that the figures printed in
the LEDGER of Saturday are correct
as far as they go. There was no in
t%ention in making the publication Of
letting them go farther. The only
wrong is that instead of having ad-
ministered to the wants Of 2103 sick
they claim to have treated that many
The entire object of the paragraph
was to show the public without com-
menting thereon that the Towards
have since the 10th of July found
1927 persons to treat, sick with
other disorders than yellow fe-
yer, and have treated 631 vel
low fever sufferers besides, making
a total of cases treated by them of
1923. The various orders fer supplies
and other items of their labors was
not referred to for a variety of reasons
too numerous to mention. 1t may
as well be announced that an idea is
abroad that the Towards have
been using the fund ~intrusted
to them in a lavish, in fact,
an e%xtravagant manner; that
they have found a more numerous
sick list outside of yellow fever than
they should have done and that proper
vigilance is not exercised in the dis
bursement of the fund they have
handled. They have sent an appeal
to the world for money which many
here are inclined to believe was pre-
mature and unnecessary, and they place
the entire community in the attitude
of public beggars, when in the iudg-
ment of others, outside of their own
consulting rooms, there was no actual
necessity for it. Be this as it may,
General Smith, in his remarks at the
interview, claimed that as president
of the Howard Association he had a
right to demand fair treatment BY the
press. He shall have it. AT the
same time he defes criticism upon his
acts, Of course speaking in behalf Of
the Towards and as their leader tenn
porarily. He complained of the
LEDGER's statement saying the How
ards had expended S25, 900 and owed
S4447, claiming that but $4,000 was
the amount as shown in their state
ment in the morning papers. Upon
being informed that they had a few
days since printed a statement that
nearly $4,000 had been added to their
fund by subscription, and that they
began operations this season with
over $4,000, the general again ad-
mitted the accuracy of the LEDGER's
statement.
General Smith next complained Of
a paragraph concerning the improper
use Of ice tickets issued by benevolent
associations, and considered the para
graph entirely uncalled for. As
the Objectionable matter made no
more reference to the How
ards than to other organizations, the
news mar failed to see any Just
grounds for complaint, but it caused
him TO go on a tour Of Investigation
soon after. In this peregrination il
was ascertained that a beer saloon
man on Main street, whose usual
habit is to buy . dimes worth of ice
each morning, had, on one occasion.
got the ice chunk in his basket, after
which he rendered a sick ice ticket
The ice dealer was compelled to ac.
cept it, though he said they were
9 tickets issued only for the benefit O
the sick, and he would not hav,
redeemed the ticket had he seen i
/, before the ice was put in the basket
! The dealer had also given out ice ant
redeemed ice tickets, on several occa.
sions, sent from one Of the soldiers
= armOries and also from otbor ,loaa,