Year: 1875




has, as YOU see, developed much


strength, and ceteris pnribus, it were but


right for the Shelby county representa-
/ tives to vote for him, should Johnson he


dropped. There is a strong West Ten
nessee effort here TO secure the election
! of General Bate. This is beng done IN
4 order to make room for the successor or
! Cooper two wears hence. do not think,
/ and sincerely trust the effort will not


succeed. West Tennessee ia not Obli'
! gated TO vote for any Middle TeDnes-
/ sean any more than for Memphis ger
! tlemsn, and it is neither incumbent as


a duty or wise as s policy for the Shelby
! county representatives to prolong the
/ fight simply to crafty the wishes OF
! ambitious men who are paving the
/ way for the United States senate tv o
/ years hence, of course, so far as the can
| didates and their friends are concerned,
I this endeavOr is fair and customary, but
/ then the Democratic party and the peo-
/ pie of Tennessee have no very positive
! and unanimous interest in any one man;
hence, it is not the duty OF any repre-
sentative to prolong this contest simply
| to accommodate the convenience o. psIi-
ticians, when a good, able and efficient
gentleman may be elected. am salts
fed, however, that in the event of Ohm
son being dropped, the Shelby county
vote will be divided among several of
the candidates.


THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC RAILROAD.
The Southern Pacific railroad is now
arresting public attention, and the sub
| iect will soon be considered by the legis-
| IatuFe, whose members generally favor
the scheme, and will doubtless present
! a memorial to congress favOTing an ap-


preparation. AS q resolution to this ef-
| feet will soon be presented, regret to
/ learn that at least q few Democrats IN
| the legislature will oppose this measure.
| His open opposition will certainly Sc
cure for him a wide. spread reputation;
| but those who could battle against the


"alien bill," embOdying, as it does, ex-


preston of principles upon which the
Democratic party is based, should be
excused from opposing any great meas
ure looking to the development Of the
country, and the support of the citizens
of the south. When the performance
of a good action is retarded, and be-
comes questionable, simply through a
sense of partisan policy, then | am in
clined to ignore the utility, and cannot
recognize the benefit of preserving such


a party, or retaining such members.
Below 1 give you the opinions OF Colo
mel Thomas Claiborne, of Nashville, eX-
pressed in a conversation with me this


afternoon. He is to the point, and pre-
sents interesting facts concerning


PUBLIC GOOD AND POLITICAL POLICY,


Politicians are very useful class OF
men; they have it, however, in their
power in this great republic OF ours to do
much harm to the people, of whom they
are so fond of thinking themselves the
mouth-pieces. They are never more
dangerous to the masses than when
they allow selfish, party considerations
to supervene their real convictions, that
certain measures are in themselves wise
and beneficial to the public. But, letu
see; how will the support Of them affect
the party? There is some abstraction
to be studied; some care taken that the
platforms are not trsversed; and here
lies the danger TO real progress, for the
decision is apt to fall on the side of sup.
posed safety to the politician. But who
ought to be regarded as the friends of
the people? Surely those who, with
profound regard to the fundamental law,
seek to develop industry and reward it;
those who build and know how to build
for all the future. There was time, in the
history OF the south, when public men
wrote and talked interminably on some
philosophical distractions, government
al theories and constitutional neces-
sities, and talked them over and over,
as pleased with their prattle as the child
with its rattle. There was an era of
long, senseless, yapOrous defamation,
then came the "tidal waven that over
whelmed the south, and when its waters


went back to the deep, the south looked
as the dry land may be supposed to have
looked to Noah and his sons when
they descended the sides of the ark.


What does the south need? What does
she ask? To whom does she address
herself? To you southern representa-
tives, and in a language as terse and
concise as it is descriptive. "Or what
man is there Of you, whom if his son
ask bread, will he give him stone"
Are not your constituents your very
children? Do you await their petitions
for aims? Would they not resemble the
wretched man of tatters, who, when
asked why he did not go and beg, re-


piled, regarding himself: "Am l not
begging all over?" Do gentlemen re-
fleet that if the Republican party had


played any other role than that they
have played in the south there would
not have opened the smallest avenue to
success of the Democratic party for
fifty years? They had only to foster
instead of repressing the growth of the
south, Had the Republican party given
as much care and energy to the rehabil-
itation of our PROSTATE industries as it
has done to spread discord between the
white and black races, this day would
have witnessed every vestige Of war re-
moved aud the people contented and
prosperous. Had that party given to the
south what it has right TO have,
backed by pressing urgency to acquire
q great rail highway to the Pacific,
along the thirty second parallel, it
would have won the hearts of the peO


PIE, in giving them bread by thus
throwing open to them large share in
the worlds traffic. What has it advan-
tagged US to have been represented in
congress since '65? Not until Colonel
Tom Scott came and saw and resolved
to strike with the great work OF the
Texas Pacific railway, and engaged to


complete this magnificent and munifi-
cent enterprise, was there a prospect of
its completion. He saw there was ''red
gold for the winning" and as true
southern mall, We heartily wish him the
riches of Solomon, if those depend on
that project, for the multiplication of
his wealth would only prove how incal-
culable would be the increase Of the
peoples riches, for the developm ent of
whose country the road is built.
Gentlemen! You who take care
of US, will you give us stone when we
ask you bread? Do you imagine that a
dreary sermon on the resolutions Of '9S
will fill our bellies which, do you not
see, are collapsed? Look around you,


what interest is there that IS not used
languishiDg? We talk of taxing our
railroads, and il looks to me as if that
was insisted upon at this time we should
cease to hear the snort of the iron horse.
Are farmers, merchants and mechanics
prosperous? Are real real estate men
happy? Are factory men, iron men,
eamboatmen? Is anybody, save ma
tional bank share and untaxed


United States bondholders? You call
for taxes, what do you give us in return?
Can any man deny that one good road,
of any kind, is more valuable than fifty
tones of your ordinary statutes and a
thousand million of party platform plat
itudes? What is the matter with your
farmer constituency? Is it not trans
portation? cheap interchange of the


products of human industry. This is
why the Texas State grange and that
of Mississippi and Kentucky and the
Tennessee councils, as at Clarksville,
the other day, are all deeply interesting
tbaroooIuao IN fbia yaTy aDtarpri-a ~ tba