The Daily Texarkanian., 1894-04-28
SENATOR BERRY SPEAKS.
The Gallant Arkansan Refutes the
Calumnious Charges of
His Enemies.

James H. Berry has issued and
sent out from Washington, the
following able an earnest address;
To THE PEOPLE OF ARKANSAS:
For the past three or four weeks
there has been printed in a few
newspapers in the State and in cir
cular letters distributed in every
county so many untrue statements
as to my public acts and my posi-
tion on public'questions, that have
been forced, unwillingly, to the con-
clusion that there is an organized
effort and deliberate purpose on
the part of some to misrepresent
me and lessen me in the esteem of
the people who have 50 long trust
ed me.
at first thought that | would
let them pass without answer, but
my friends at home think that |
should reply and yield to their
wishes.
The first thing to which l wish to
refer is a letter written by l, A.
Jones and printed in a recent issue
of the Little Rock Press. | did not
believe that any man in Arkansas
would have been willing to attach
his name to a statemen SO untrue
a statement so entirely without
foundation in fact and having no
mixture of truth whatever in in it.
He says he never asked favor of
me, and has no i'll will toward me.
In 1885 Mr.. Jones personally urg-
ed me to oppose the appointment
and confirmation of Tom Newton as
Postmaster at Little Rock. / de-
clined to do so and since that time,
as is well known to many of the
best citizens of Boone and Carroll
counties he has been my bitter and
persistent enemy, and has continu-
ally, when I was not present, indul-
ged in all manner of misrepresenta
ton, and vituperation towards me,
more than once attacking me in
the newspapers
l have no recollection of ever
having met Mr.. Jones but once
prior to my Inauguration as govern
or and that was before my election
and we had very short conversas
ton, and | do not pretend to re-
member what the subject of that
conversation was.
Before my election as governor
neither the Iron Mountain Compa-
ny, or the Memphis and Little Rock
railroad Company had ever paid
any taxes to the state. Both claim
ed that they were exempt from tax
alton by their charters, Before
l was inaugurated | came to the
conclusion, not from talking to Mr..
Jones, but because of ruling OF
the Supreme court of the United
States in Florida case, that these
two railroads had forfeited their
exemptions and were liable to taxa
tion, and / determined to allude to
the matter in my inaugural address.
He says that he asked me to speak
of railroad taxation in my inaugu-
raj address, and that | refused
and omitted to do so, The copy OF
the address, which | have no doubt
is on file in the Office of the Secre-
tary of State, will show how untrue
this statement is. In that address
/ referred to the fact that the rail,
roads for the past year had only
paid the sum of 50, 400 as state tax
es, l urged the legislature to in
crease their assessment, and then
used the following language; "Some
of these railroad corporations claim
to be exempt from their charters
This claim should be thoroughly i'll
vestigated and if not proven to be
well founded, should be disregard
ed" This, ] think, without further
comment, will be sufficient to show
the value Of his entire statement.
The Legislature, at my sugges-
ton, thoroughly investigated the
matter and passed a bill requiring
railroads to pay taxes, and ! signed
it as Governor.
The railroads brought suit to en-
Join and prohibit the board, OF
which ! was an ex-ofIicio member
from making an assessment OF then
roads as required by law, | EN-
ployed Judge Rose to assist Maj O.
b. Moore, the Attorney-General IN
defending these suits.
The coses went through the Chan
Gerry court, the Supreme court OF
the state, and the Supreme court
of the United States, and were
eventually decided in our favor, anC
we collected the taxes for the two
years / was Governor, amounting tC
MANY thousands Of dollars. These