The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1910-06-09
JAMES c. RICE
QUITS The JOB

b 8 3 ~ - - 2N
,
whole of the two days that Milton has
been spending each week in Chatta-
nooga is employed by the force in ex-
planning to him what has been done
and not done during his absence. Such
policy, with offensive suspicion at the
bottom of it, has destroyed individual
effort on the part of the nomipal head
of the departments and filled the office
with dyrret from bottom to top.
"The business office, the press-rooms
and the editorial department have all
suffered from this meddling from
Knoxville, and once prosperous
newspaper has been butchered in an
effort to make Chattanooga as small
and good as Knoxville.
"People who have been reading the
News have observed that nothing is
rightSwith a Chattanooga institution.
This Knoxville reformer processes to
know that every arm of the municipal
government in honey-combed with
fraud and administered upon graft
basis. The public administrative sys-
tenn is costly, the police department
rnd the fire department are gtaft-rid-
den, contractors have been robbing
the taxpayers and the official family
is living by levying blackmail upon
vice-in the opinion of this reformer
from Knoxville. Everything is held
in suspicion until it proves itself inno-
cent and bows down to statewide. The
city has been maligned and befouled
! by this reformeT, and its official or
ganization impeached and its good
name hurt abroad. After more than
years study Of George Fort Milton as
newspaper publisher, | am thor
oughly convinced that he will set back
the growth and prosperity of any COM
munity in which he may locate. He
aqs and he insInutes, fuses and fumes,
scents couspicracy here and sees
bad purpose there; complains that
Chattanooga does not do this and that
Knoxville does it; impresses his men
day in and day out that his aim, de-
sire and purpose are to make of Chat
! tanooga the same kind of town that
Knoxville is, and to proclaim himself
a modern Briaieus, with one foot on
| Knoxville and the other on Chatta-
nooga, seeing, knowing and doing all
"My name was hoisted at the mast
head of the News as its editor This
honor was paid me without my knowl-
edge or consent. 1t had been done a
month before | knew 1t. 1t was done
for the purpose of creating the impress
sion locally that the policy of the pa
per as to certain things was being die
tated by me. Really | have not been
the editor of the News under this
Knoxville ownership. That much OF
their policy at least was glaring false
pretense.
/ 81 absolutely refuse to longer suffer
myself to be identified with newspa-
per in an editorial capacity, or other
wise, that daily befouls the nest in
which it is published. If there really
was any corruption worth attention In
our city government l would be
among the first men to denounce 1T.
| believe that the people of Chatta-
nooga who know me best will accept
this as true. During the dozen years
that | have live in Chattanooga |
have seen nothing very wrong in a
public official.
81 believe that we have one of the
best governed cities in the south. 1t is
my unqualified judgement that we
1have better government here, more
satisfactory public service and better
town than George f. Milton has made
for and of Knoxville. / believe that
Chattanooga is better town than it
would have been if this Knoxville re-
former had been the chief architect. j
| am an optimist; the Knoxville end of
the combination is a mudraker and
pessimist. 1t has been impossible for
me to descend TO his pessimism; inn
possible for me to lift him to my con-
ception of an optimistic editorial
writer
nThe News has lost all of its influ-
ence it ever had in local affairs. This
Knoxville meddling in Chattanooga
interests is we'll known to the reader.