Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-03-23


| and my private counsel, Hon. 4. q. Cochran,
who has attended to my law business for the
| last three years, is, or has ever been author
! lied to speak to a menber of the United
| States Senate or the House of Representa-
tives in behalf Of the Ship railway bill
| quote the following from your article:
Captain Eads himself is the most audacious, un-
| principled and successful lobbyist the national
| capita. has ever known. He is now in receipt OF
ai ail enamel of hrty et a thr6ugb tb Sg
etties'' at the mouth Of the Mississippi though it
| is notorious that the depth of water at the head
| of the South Pass is less than twenty-five feet
| probably not more than twenty three feet,
He who is most ready to suspect wrong in
| others is generally least pure himself, but in
| your case this Islander has the additional in
centive arising from an innate love of mis-
representation and abuse. For years your
paper has been the channel through which
nv private character has been grossly as
sailed and my professional labors beliJtled
and misrepresented. You well know (for YOU
were one of my most INSCRIPTIONS opposers
at the time) that the House of Representa-
tives, in 1874, passed a bill appropriating
IS 100000 to begin the construction of the
Fort ST. Phillips canal, and that | saved the
government from this bllnder By undertake
ing, at my own risk and cost, to deepen the
South Pass bar to thirty feet for 3, 250 900.
A reference to the report of the secretary of
war for 1874 and 1875, vol. H. part !, page
canal was S13,000,000. 1t is safe 10 say that
this canal would not have been completed in
fifteen years, and that it would not have cost
less than 800 900. / defeated the canal
by agreeing to construct the jetties, the
largest national improvement yet authorized,
on the severest terms the government ever
imposed. / offered to secure twenty feet
through them before the government was
to pay anything whatever. The act of
Congress accepting this proposition was
passed in the House by an overwhelming
vote and with but little opposition in the
Senate, yet you would make your readers
believe that congressman are so corrupt that
such a proposition required "audacious and
unprincipled lobbying" You know, and the
intelligent public will remember, that l
asked no relief from the great pecuniary
burdens imposed upon me by the terms of
the act, until the channel had been deepened |
from eight feet to twenty-five feet, and the |
commerce OF the Mississippi river had been
relieved from a thraldOm which every effort |
of the government, during thirty-seven |
years, had been pOwerless to overcome. The |
next two acts OF congress land the only ones |
have ever had anything to do With were |
likewise passed by overwhelming maj1rities |
in both Houses. One of these acts author |
lied the payment to me of 100000, and |
the other S750,0O0 more; both sums being in |
advance Of the terms of the original act, |
but the total compensation being in no wise |
increased. The passage OF these two amend |
atory acts was most conspicuous mark of the |
confidence which congress had in me- aud |
substantial acknowledgement OF my perfect |
good faith toward the government Through |
the wisdom of congress and the confidence of |
capitalists, l succeeded in saving to the gov
eminent at least S7,750,000, being the differ
ence between the cost OF the ietties and the |
estimated cost OF the canal.
The commerce OF the valley was at the
same time relieved at least ten years sooner
than would have been possible by the canal.
The success Of the jetties has resulted in
reducing the rates Of transportation on all
the products OF the vast region tributary to
the river, whether they take the lefty
route to market or not. This saving to the
producers is not less than S25,000,000 an
nually, and probably much more.
While | was dsvotipg myself to the labor
OF accomplishing this great result, encour-
aged by generous public sentiment, and an
enlightened press, you were publishing every
indecent assault that few disappointed and
malicious persons could devise. You busted
yourself in predicting and frequently an
nouncing the utter failure OF the jetties, and
filled your columns with absurd theories in |
regard TO the phenomena OF the river, con-
ceived in ignorance, and advocated with the
sole purpose of preventing the successful
contamination of the work at the jetties.
You signally failed to accomplish your pur-
pose, but have not ceased to publish the
most Untruthful statements concerning the
jetty channel
Your declaration that | am receiving half
a million dollars annually for maintaining
thirty feet depth of water through the ietties
Is a gross misstatement. | receive only
100000 per annum for it, and last year |
expended nearly that entire amount upon
the jetty works. You characterize this as "a
shameful and indefensible bargain" The
L. H.. l.
the United States shall elect to undertake
the maintenance of the channel it can do so
and at once stop the payment to me of this
annual amount. Your statement therefore
is shameful and indeiensible" untruth.
Your declaration that the depth of water
at the head Of the pass is less than twenty
FIVE feet is also untrue. Through the iettles,
and at the head OF the pass, the depth is no.
where less than thirty feet The limiting
depth is in the pass itself, which I am not
required by law to maintain; it is, however
at least twenty-seven or twenty-eight feet
The fact that vessels of greater draft than
twenty five and half feet have not yet gone
through the jettIes is largely due to the IN
true statements continually published about
he channel in your paper, and in one or two
others equally unreliable.
l again quote from your article as follows:
The dinner ostensibly given by Stillson Hutch
rs, OF the Washington Post, to the entire news
bdptT press represented at the capital Is com |
ain Eads
| knew nothing about Mr.. Hutchins's din
Ter until | had the honor of an invitation to
t. To assert that | paid any part of the
,Ost of it, directly or indirectly, is untrue.
4 was elegant affair, and as. it was given :
n honor Of the press, your attempt TO dis
,arage it makes the homely adsge of "the
lirty bird" peculiarly applicable to you.
Again you say: :
The dinner given to the retiring minister from ,
ieXicO by Ex-senator Nipple Mitchell, Of Ore /
on. may not have been an entertainment OF the
here also, and had several influential senators {
nd representatives among his auditors.
This statement is also untrue. / was not ,
It the dinner given by the honorable ex- +
enatOr from Oregon, and hence could not I
lave been "a conspicuous orator there also" :
Your oft-repeated ISLANDERS and abuse con-
erning me, during the last few years, have }
marked you as one devoid Of every senti- !
nent OF truth and honor. Without further 3
omment, l leave you to enjoy, best You
nay, the public contempt which your con-
uct merits. JAS. &. EADs.
of ihe Tennessee River.
The improvements at the Tennessee river
re going on. There will be sixteen miles of
anal; it will contain eleven locks, and an
Gueduct equal to two locks. A channel had
o be cut partially through solid rock in the :
liver Tor about two and quarter miles, and /
bed must be built through woods, over hills, =
alleys, etc, for about fifteen miles. OF the \
leven locks, Nos. l, >, 3, +, . and are COM Q
,leted and ready for gates. No. is three :
ourths done; No. 9 is one-half done, and q