Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-07-24
STARTLING FIGURES!
THE STATE LOSES AN IMMENSE
SUM OF MONEY THROUGH
GOV. LOWRY'S NEGLECT
OF DUTYI
The Governors Gross carelessness
Runs the State In Debt
MORE

- ES1 49, WV kAS 1SANN
is that its business is Improbable.
Judged by this rule the lease Of the
%penitentiary is a poor Investment.
The existing lease of this institution
began January l, 1881, and expired
January l, 1887. The amount to be
paid the State by the Lessees per annum
according to contract is $39,420.00.
No settlement has been made with the
State since 1882.
The Lessees, are, therefore, indebted
to the State of Mississippi as follows:
For Observation-Disclosures 1920 90
FOR 1881. 3Ji42O w
FOR 1883 ......"...... ............. 39,F1O W
Grand Total $1lS,2GO %
This VS. not based on conjecture, but
upon the record.
Now let us turn from the figures to
Chapter Xxx of the Laws Of 1884, page
%. We call the attention of the State
Ledger, Clarion, and other defenders of
the Governor, to Section 2 of this stat
ute, which is in the following Ian
guage:
Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That if
the lessees of the Mississippi peniten-
tiary shall fail or refuse to promptly
pay into the State Treasury. when the
same becomes due. the amount agreed
to be paid by them to the State on ac-
count of the existing lease Of said pen
itentiary, it shall be the duty Of the
Attorney General, upon being notified
by the Governor Of such failure or re-
fusal to pay amount due, to institute
suit at once, and prosecute the same to
Judgment and satisfaction thereof
against said lessees and the sureties on
their bond for the amount in arrears,
and the amount so collected shall be
paid into the State Treasury; and it is
hereby made the duty of the Governor
to notify the Attorney-G General of such
failure or refusal to pay as soon as the
fact of such default comes to his
knowledge.
We are informed no suit has ever
sG.been instituted. Is it persecution"
to call attention to this matter? We
do not hope to make any impression
on the machine managers. They
are Joined to their idol. But we point
out the figures and the law to all dis
interested members of the party, and
ask in all sincerity, what think ye Of
thisP Probably there wouldhave been
no necessity for the issuance OF State
bonds if the Governor had promptly
enforced the laws which provides for
suing the penitentiary Lessees.
This cunning concoction Of false
hood aad malice vas distributed by
mail over the State in advance of the
regular issue Of the paper, tor the
purpose Of misleading the public
mind and doing injury to others than
the Lessees of the penitentiary.
While it is a matter of deep regret
to us that a charge so false and mali
cious, should have been given to the
public, we deem it duty to make Q
statement in reference to this matter
and to submit the proof of the utter
falsehood Of the whole article.
The motive which could have In
spired so reckless a statement and one
50 damaging to US, is beyond u con
ception. When 1t is considered that
we have given a bond to the STATE
amounting to S116,000.00 for the faith
full performance of our contract, it car
be readily seen how injurious such
statement must be-extending to on
personal relations with u sureties
our standing as citizens, and our inan
cial relations with the business world
1t is true that no suit has ever beeI
instituted by the Attorney Genera
against us for any balance due tn
State, for the reason that settlement
and payments have been made accord
inV to the terms Of our contract wit
the State. We have e~ndeavored, to tn
very best of our ability under TIL
lease, and the former lease, which bt
ran in 1876, to discharge fully an
fairly every obligation imposed upo
the lessees of the Penitentiary unde
their contract, and the laws OF tn
State, and that these obligations hay
been so performed, we are willing t
leave to any fair minded and honori
Bile citizen Of. the State.
On the 1st of December, 1883, W
made a settlement with the proper al
thorities of the State OF all matters e.
listing between the State and the le
sees, and paid the balance due into In
State treasury, and in the same ma
ner in 1884, we made settlement Of q
matters existing between the Sta'
and the l~essees, and paid the balan'
due into the State treasury in Decen
Der Of that year. There is an unse
tied balance now due the State, al
unsettled accounts now due by u
State to us, which settlements will
made as heretofore, and any Dalan.
found due by US to the State upon u
settlement and adjustment of our a
counts under the terms Of u contra
will be paid into the State treasury,
required by law.
Since the present lease began
1881, under the terms Of u contra