The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1916-08-18
REMNANT OF THE ORIGINAL
MEETING DECLARES FOR
Resembling ACT.
STRONG ARGUMENTS ARt HEARD
Supporters OF The Action OF The
County Court Clearly Have the Best
Of The Proposition, Speakers Being
Strong and Clear. /


remnant of the anti-turnpike meetini
on Monday afternoon adopted resolu
ton requesting or instructing the coun
ty court of Maury county to rescin'
its action in purchasing the toll roadi
Of the county.
The meeting was a remarkable on'
In more respects than one. 1t wa
characterized by the longest flow O
oratory heard at any convention II
Maury county in many years. The
people stayed for nearly three hour:
| in the sweltering heat and listened
with marked attention to the speeches
for and against the purchase Of the
pixies and each side was vigorous In
applause.
The advocates Of the purchase OF
the toll roads had clearly the best OF
the argument. They had the best
speakers and more of them. They
had a reason for the faith that was in
them. On the other hand, the oppo'
nents of free pixies we're whipped at
the outset when they declared that
they we're in favor of county owned
roads The fact that every speaker
for the opposition to the purchase
declared himself in favor Of public
ownership of all highways, reminded
one of the old days Of the prohibition
issue, when every orator, no matter
how hostile he might be to prohibition
or how loyal to the interests, prefaced
his remarks by the declaration that he
was for temperance" And so all
speakers on Monday afternoon were
for public roads.
Called and promoted by the oppo-
nents Of the purchase of the turnpikes,
the crowd was pretty well divided be-
tween the advocates of purchase and
those against. 1t was difficult to tell
from the volume of applause which
really had the majority. The oppoT
nents of pike buying organized the
meeting without opposition by the cleo
ton of w. M. Parham, of Spring Hill,
the owner of one Of the few remaining
toll roads of the county, Mr.. Parham
had an uncomfortable time of it, too,
He had, as he afterward admitted, a
very delicate job. AS the owner OF
probably the poorest pike in the coun.
ty, he presided over meeting that
was apparently hostile to the purchase
of the pixies solely upon the ground
that they were worth less than $1,000
per mile, although Mr. Parham refused
to sell at that price, declaring his pike
worth more than $1,000 per mile. One
speaker declared that after the meet
ing the chairman would be so thor
oughly convinced by his own partisans
that his pike was worth less that they
expected him to give it free of cost to
the county.
No argument was made by DR. e. A.
Timmons, who spoke five times, Jack
Timmons or W. C. Salmon, for the
pike purchase opponents, against the
public highway. All declared in favor
of public ownership and their sole and
only contention was that Mr.. Rainey
had been paid entirely too much for
his pixies.
There were some sinister sugges-
tons during the meeting of FORGETTING
charters, of visiting upon the turnpike
owners the wrath that fell to those in
Kentucky few years ago, but every
speaker deprecated any resort to vio-
lence. The very suggestion that a
failure to acquire the pixies by pur-
chase might lead to anarchy and VIC
lence, moved DR.. McNeal, Presbyte-
rian minister of Spring Hill, to rel
verse his position and withdraw a,
motion that he had made that the
court be requested to rescind the pur-
chase. Mr.. McNeal was Of the opinion
when the meeting began that the court
had paid too much for the pixies. but
after one or two speeches he declared
that he believed the county court had
done right and withdrew his previous
motion. 1t was then left to DR.. Tim
mons to offer the melton finally adopt.
ed by the remnants Of the meeting.
Able and earnest arguments in favor
Of the pike purchase we're made by
DR.: 0tey ]. Porter, Percy Brown. Brice
Martin, Thomas Y. English and D. W.
Shoffner, Of Mt. Pleasant, and Seth W.
Warfield. In answer to the question
whether or not the county would, be
any better on II the sale were rescind-
ed, speakers on the other side were
silent. These speakers showed how
efforts at regulation had failed, how
the trade made by the county court
was the best that could be made and
Aow no opposition had been interposed