The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1905-10-26

cars for the protection of motor
men,
6, AS Member of the Senate in 1908,
he voted against the Baxter bill to
regulate railroads.
4 In 1905 Mr., Cox was Speaker OF
the Senate, and had the appointment
of committees. There was no general
corporation legislation Of any charac-
ter enacted.
Is it any wonder with this record,
that Gov. Cox has declared his purpose
to stay at the Capitol and not go before
the people?
GOVERNOR cox AS REVENUE AGENT.
Let me assure you and Governor Cox
himself thatin giving his public record,
am animated by no sort of ill will.
| believe Gov. Cox to be man of
capacity and do not underrate his abil-
ity or criticise him except on his official
record. This is a subject of legitimate
comment, just as mine is. He made
this-I did not. / take it as l find it
open to public inspection on public
records. 1 do not stand before this
audience as witness against Gov.Cox
nor as his accuser. His record is the
witness and the accuser.
Under the assessment law of 1897
Mr.. Cox was appointed one of the Rev
enue Agents for Tennessee by James
A. Harris, then Comptroller of the
State. Under previous assessment laws
he had acted as Back Tax Attorney
and Revenue Agent. Complaint being
made of the conduct of certain of these
agents, and especially of Mr.. Cox,:
1899 joint committee of the Senate
and House was appointed to make an
investigation and report
| The Committee met, took proof, and
its report appears in the Appendix to
the House and Senate Journals for
1890.
would read the whole report if it
were possible to do SO, but l call atten-
tion to it so that it may be read by any
one who may wish to read it.
Under the assessment law of 1897
Mr., Cox collected both State and coun-
ty revenues, and in addition had power
to make back assessments and to col
! lect revenue from this source.
The committee reported that owing
to limited time, it was impossible to
make general report" but it must
be content in ''giving details in some
! cases only" 1t further reported that,
while not limited in it's Investigations
with County Trustees only, yet the
committees work was "almost alto.
gether confined thereto"
Under the act of 1897, maximum
fee of Is per cent. was allowed the Rev.
enue Agent for collections from delin.
quents, and it further provided as fol,
lows: '"They (Revenue Agents. shall
make report of each investigation al
. close Of same under oath to the Comp.
troller for State revenue and costs, and
Q to County Judge or Chairman fol
county revenue and COSTS"
9 On these subjects the report is at
follows:
''In the opinion Of your committee
Q in all cases Of collections from delin
: quents the Revenue Agent should have
: added to the sum collected his fee il
+ order that, as between the State and
the delinquent, the loss of the commits
0 sion should not fall on the State.
S "This course has not been followed
Q except in few cases, and hence tht
;, principle item of loss to the State, ant
g yet in each case the Trustee was giyer
a receipt by the agent for the full
amount collected. Substantial servic,
;. must have been rendered in complianc,
d with the statute in each case to entitl,
q the Revenue Agent to deduct tron
r moneys collected for the State com
q mission of Is per cent. 1t appears tina
4 no detailed and sworn reports Of thes
,f Investigations and collections wer
filed by the agents as required by th
10 statute, and it further appears that th
st Investigations we're, in a number G
cases, hurriedly and perfunctorily mad
le only"
20 / cannot read all Of the cases reporte
Of on by the the committee referring t
r Mr.. Cox, but will read three and sha
I'd read the others at some future time
in They are as follows, and are quote
literally from the report:
in SIN re. @. G. Poindexter:
i'll AS to the controversy between G. {
no Poindexter, Trustee Of Upton Count,
IS, and John /. Cox, number OF witness,
r. were examined and depositions wei
ed taken, and we report as follows;
"On September 95, 1897, John 1. O.
an was at Covington, and went into Il
ch Office of e. G. Poindexter, and told hi
es that he was a Revenue Agent, al
would bring to the Comptroller al
L money which Mr.. Poindexter mig
have ready to send, and that he wou
ID receipt Poindexter for the same; ther
ne upon Mr.. Poindexter paid Mr.. G,
~ ~ $3.50 on State revenues for 1896,
,e~ which amount Mr.. Cox executed to hi