The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1880-06-04
GENERAL, eORDON,s RESIGNATION.

Georgia, and the immediate appointment OF
Ex. Goyernor Joe Brown to succeed him, has
occasioned no little gossip and surmislng
throughout the South Had any one else
than Ex-Governor Brown been appointed MS
Senator Gordons successor, 1t is probable
that but little would have been said about
the matter further than universal expression
of regret that Senator Gordon found II nece :
sary to retire from public life. Ex-Governor
Brown has not been held in much esteem by
the people of his own State, nor of the South
generally, since the latter months OF the late
war, when he, as Governor, showed tuch SYM
pathy for the Federal cause and went so
FAR as, il is said, to make over
lures tor the return OF Georgia to the
Union. La 1871 he said in public interview
that he was Republican and had.bec since
1868, and it is still believed that he is Re
publican. 1t has been stated that Senator
Gordon resigned his seat to accept the attor'
neyship, at salary of $4,000 per annum, of
che Atlantic & Western railroad, of which
ox-Governor Brown is president This is
mere rumpR and is on u par thus far with
other rumors OF other positions he hSd
resigned to accept. General Gordon, accord
ing to Washington correspondent OF the
Atlanta Constitution, resigned for the follow
ipg reasons: an the first place his resigna-
til was not sudden or unexpected to his
friends. He said to me six months ago that
100 thought he should resign his seat in the
Senate, and gave as his reason the fact that
his private affairs needed his attention. lie
said that he had had offers from business
friends that would give him competency IN
a few years, and that he felt it to be his duty
to his family to resign and give his attention
TO the welfare of his wife and children.
Rrom then until now he has be On discussing
the matter of resignation with. his friends.
He has resigned his seat in the Senate at
East, simply because he was too poor to hold
it Ho has no income outside of his salary,
aud his salary has not been sufficient for him
70 live in Washington as 4 Senator must live,
and at tho same time provide for the proper
education and maintenance of his children.
He has two daughters now at school, and the
boy, who bears his name, is ready for college,
These claims, and others that he holds quite
as sacred, exhausted every dollar Of his SAL
airy above what was needed for the actual eX-
penses of himself and wife. He found him.
self at the az when most men have accumu-
lated competency, with nothing but an inad-
equate salary and no hope Of anything else
as long as he continued in public life. He
has said time aud time again to me that the
thought of dying and leaving his family UNI
provided for, had given him the inteusest
concern. He has always had the greatest
confidence in the large coal ssmine property
owned by himself and brothers in AMbau {
This mine ia situated along the line. .of the
Memphis Il Charleston railroad, and is the
only property OF the kind between Memphis
and Chattanooga. The coal is Of superior
quality, the facilities are excellent,
and General Gordon believed that by giving
his personal attehuon to it he could
develop it into a. lucrative prop
erty that would yield large and steady in
come he has great hopes in his Clinch
county sheep rancho, but felt that it d
personal attention. He therefore decided to
resign and take his private business in hand.
His sheep rancho is not paying expenses; his
coal mine was yieldirg profit. which, how
ever, was liquidating its debts, and his salary
was heavily encroached upon by the de-
mands of his properties. 1t must not be
Imagined that General Gordon stood alone in
being unable to wesr Senatorial powers -asily.
Almost every Southern Senator holds
his scat at the sacrifice of
his peace of mind, and i'll
he were to die would leave his family scanti'
ly cared for. Mr.. Lamar is poor man in the
literal sense of the word. Mr.. Ransom is
quite as poor. Senator Hamilton is hardly
ableto maintain himself; and General Butler is
hardly so easy as General Hampton. Senator
Garland has little else but his salary andVance
H,rris and Margan are in the same fx
Senator Davis, Of West Virginia, and
Beck, of Kentucky, are the only
Southern Senators who may be called
independent in circumstances. The
Northern Senators, on the contrary are rich
almost without exception. They made
money rather than lost it during the war;
and did not suffer from the results of the
war. The Southerners, on the other hand,
saw their princely fortunes swept out of ex-
istence as il by magic. 1t is fair to say, too,
chat thoy have as a rule not availed them
selves of the opportunities of money-makirg
that are offered to Senators so easily as the
Northern Senators, as, for instance, Mr..
Blaineis said to have just made large for
tune through the mauipulstions of certain
stocks made for his benefit by some of bis
New York rr;ands -