Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-12-14
CaptaIn lanes Lee, ,Tr.

A correspondent, a former resident
Of our city and long connected with its
public affairs, in which he still mani
tests a feeling interest, writing from
an adjoining State, refers in the fol-
lowing complimentary terms to a
prominent and philosophical citizen:
Meeting, on q recent visit to your
city, an old and valued friend, Captain
James Lee, Jr., a social hour was
spent in recalling incidents, personal,
political, and in part municipal, mark
ing its history for the past twenty or
more years, and the mutual r~ecitals
and reciprocal familiarity with events,
toned and added zest to the brief yet
so pleasurable interview. When first
we met, Captain Lee was a young
lawyer, enjoying a fair and remunera-
tive practice, with promise o~fhonorable
success, at a bar distinguished for the
intellectual breadth, and marked pro-
fessional ability fits members.
But recognizing that eminence in his
profession, is only achieved by years
oftoilsome labor, and wear and tear Of
brain. while fortune is the rarely
awarded guerdon, the quick and ner-
vous activities Of his nature, seeking
more ~congenial pursuits, he gradually
drifted from the staid and graver
methods Of the profession to the bar
tiers Of trade and conflicts and entice-
ments ofcommercial venture in which,
if not fortune, yet large returns and
renumeratiye profits have been the re-
allied results. Some Of your large and
imposing buildings on Front street,
and stately and tasteful residences
we're OF his constructions-and while
chiefly combining attention to his per-
sonal interests, and private business,
and quite unambitious of official or
political preferment, yet has not failed
when public interests were at stake to
exhibit a public spirit commensurate
with the occasion, aud when he be-
lieved the veal OF the city involved,
promptly and boldly pushed to the
front, prepared to share and shoulder
whatever responsibility might attach.
He urged that chief of matters of
public nterest-potentially promoting
the prosperity Of the city--was main
tanning a substantial, well-paved, we'll
planned wharf, ample to accommodate
the necessities OF its large and con-
stantly growing commerce. That this
interest had been long and sadly
neglected; that its chartered revenues
had been diverted and expended in
other less material improvements and
current municipal outlays; that a city
largely dependent upon her commerce,
could not thrive with trade blocked
and transportation trammelled through
want of the proper facilities for cheap
and speedy handling and transit Of
the products of the country through
her limits. With these convictions,
he manfully, and not without results,
combated all the antagonisms of ad-
verse or hostile policies. Such being
his record, would it not consist with
sound Judgment, when occasion is
presented in the selection of your
Taxing District officers, to call him to
its Board, and by the investure Of
official authority enable him to pro-
mote policies so full Of promise of
beneficial results.
Should the above suggestion strike
the LEDGER or its readers, as SAVIOUR
ing of unseemly obtrusion in matters OF
local bearing, will not half condone
ment be found in the sincerity of the
convictions Of its author?