The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1904-07-07
VINDICATEDl
[Continued from Bird page. !

| lOOutluueu from ora page.
the bid of the Herald and Tribun,
should be accepted; but he, Esquir
Lee, told the trustee that it was a two
sided question and should be left t
the whole committee. He also said tC
the trustee that he doubted the power
OF the committee TO control his, the
trustee. s action in the premises, ant
that if he the trustee, did not intend t
follow the committees recommends
ton, it was useless for the committe,
to act any further. The trustees re
ply was, that he would abide by thu
committees recommendation and be
glad to have the responsibility SHIFTED
from his own shoulders. Esquire Lee
then took the bids and brought them
to Johnson City, having arranged thai
the trustee should notify ESQ. Reeves
to come to the same town, when the
two above named would go with the
papers to the office of Esq. Stuart, al
the Soldiers Home, and decide upon
what recommendation should be made
in a full meeting.
On June 1st 1904. the full committee
met at the office of Esq. Stuart, and
was organized, upon motion of ESQ.
Reeves, by choosing Esquire Lee as
chairman. The bids we're laid before
the committee and discussed in all
their phases. The suggestions by the
trustee of the reasons for giving the
list to the Herald and Tribune were
discussed, and the unanimous finding
OF the committee was, that it had been
appointed to protect the county treas
ury and the interest of those citizeus
who pay their taxes, and not in the in
terest of delinquents. Years of expert
ence in such matters had taught your
committee that the county had, year
after year, paid costs of the same kind,
most of which had not been paid back
nor collected, and what had been paid
back had. been received after years of
waiting. Your committee had inquir-
ed Of the trustee as to what property
was delinquent, and had found that
there was. but little outside of johnson
City, and that the list was made up
mostly of vacant lets in that town, a
class of property that has been the
chief cause of the hundreds of dollars
of costs that the county has had to pay
for several years past, the greater part
of which remains unredeemed to this
day. From all of which the committee
was unable to see any good reason for
burdening those who do pay their
taxes with the costs of the delin quents
on account of any supposed, or eve u
real, benefit to few unfortunate per-
sons, who had not been able to settle
their taxes.
III.
Your committee, therefore, further
and finally reports that, after having
given the matter the consideration in
dlcated above, itrecommended that the
bid of THE COMET should be accepted,
provided the editor would enter into q
contract in writing "to publish said
list in the manner provided by law,
free of charge to Washington County,
the State of Tennessee and any munic-
ipality therein, and to look only to the
amount, or amounts, realized from the
redemption money paid for said delin-
quent property, when and if redeemed,
whether all or any Of said property be
redeemed or not, even though the same
or any part thereof, be illegally adver-
tised," and that, if the editor of THE
COMET would not enter into such con-
tract the list should be given to the
Herald and Tribune at its bid.
On the same day Esquires Reeves
and Lee on behalf of the committee,
called on Cy. Fl. Lyle, editor of THE
COMET, and showed him the commit.
tees recommendation, whereupon Mr..
Lyle appended to his bid in this Ian
guage: 81 have read the recommends
tion of the committee and agree tC
abide thereby and to publish the de
linquent list upon the terms therein
suggested.
OK. Fl. LYLE,
June 1, 1904"
The bid of The COMET, with this ad
dition, and the recommendation of thu
committee, constituted in the eyes o
the committee, sufficient contract t.
bind said Lyle, and are filed herewith
as exhibit A" to this report; but tn
committee has since drawn up NOR
formal contract, dating it back to tn
original contract, and herewith file th
same as exhibit B" hereto. You
committee also files herewith copy O
the order under which it acted, and al
correspondence in its hands regarding
this matter, together with copy 9
the paper containing the delinquen
list as published.
All of which is respectfully sub
mitted to the Court at this, its Jul