TENNESSEE. 



721 



persons belonging to this Association was held 

 at Nashville, on October 13, 1871, when an 



The system of convict-labor, as it had been oper- 

 ated, had proven very detrimental to the interests 

 and to the prosperity of the mechanics and manu- 

 facturers of the State, with whom it had been brought addr . ess > previously signed by a large number 

 into direct competition, destroying and monopolizing of citizens of all parties and sections," was 

 their trade, and driving many of them to the extrem- 

 ity of withdrawing from the State, even after they 

 had partially established themselves in business. 

 Those who had remained here had been very mate- 



rially crippled and depressed in consequence of the 

 competition of forced labor employed in manufac- 

 turing, at a lower rate, the same articles which the 

 individual manufacturer could not make without 

 paying his employe's much higher wages, rendering 

 it exceeding difficult to sustain himself. 



In the course of the conference they suggest- 

 ed that the convicts should be employed on 

 public works and in coal-mines. The Gov- 

 ernor assured the committee that their views 

 were his own. In his annual message, sent to 

 the Legislature shortly afterward, he said: "I 

 cannot too earnestly recommend that your 

 committees charged with the duty of consider- 

 ing the legislation necessary for the State-pris- 

 on be directed to familiarize themselves with 

 the result of experiments designed to make the 

 prison self-sustaining, and at the same time 

 to divert convict-labor from mechanical pur- 

 suits." 



Some changes in the work of convicts had 

 been effected in accordance with directions 

 given by the General Assembly at the previous 

 session, and others seemed to be in contempla- 

 tion. The policy indicated by that body for 

 the management of the prison and its convicts 

 has been pursued by the present officers. 

 More than one-half the labor has been with- 

 drawn from mechanical pursuits, and much of 

 it that is retained in this department is em- 

 ployed in branches not so much in conflict with 

 well-established mechanical pursuits as under 

 previous management. 



The prosecution of criminals cost the State 

 $150,000 or $200,000 per annum, and more 

 than one-third of the inmates of the State- 

 prison are there serving their time of punish- 

 ment for crimes of petit larceny. The estab- 

 lishment of a system of workhouses in each 

 county was suggested, and it was proposed 

 that the criminal laws be so amended as to 

 provide for the punishment of that offence and 

 others of the same grade, as well as all cases of 

 misdemeanor, by confinement and labor in the 

 several counties where the law may have been 

 violated ; the cost of conviction in the first in- 

 stance to be paid out of the county revenue. 

 By this system the State would be " relieved 

 of the greater part " of the said yearly expense 

 for the prosecution of criminals, while each 

 county might make those offenders reimburse 

 it for the expense of their confinement and 

 the cost of conviction, by employing them to 

 work upon the public roads, bridges, and build- 

 ings. 



The preliminary organization of a "Re- 

 union and Eeform Association," composed of 

 moderate men of all parties, was effected in Ten- 

 nessee. A numerously-attended meeting of 

 VOL. xi. 46 A 



adopted, introducing and supporting a dec- 

 laration of the principles and objects of the 

 Association, which are intended "as a basis 

 of organization for a thorough social and po- 

 litical reform," and constitute "a compact of 

 alliance." The tenor of the compact was as 

 follows: 



Sincerely believing that the time has come when 

 the liberal, public-spirited, and progressive men of 

 the South, as well as of the whole country, irrespec- 

 tive of former party divisions, should unite for the 

 promotion of great common interests j and, believing 

 further, that the extreme partisan spirit fostered by 

 the political parties at present existing is calculated 

 to impede the return of that fraternal feeling which 

 is necessary to our national peace and prosperity, we 

 hereby resolve that we form ourselves into a Reunion 

 and Eeform Association, and mutually pledge our- 

 selves to cooperate together in furtherance of the 

 following objects : 



1. The protection of the rights of every citizen, in 

 accordance with the Constitution as it is. 



2. The discountenance of useless agitation of past 



3. The restoration of fraternal feelings and rela- 

 tions with the people of the North. 



4. The dissemination of constitutional principles, 

 and the inculcation of an earnest, abiding faith, in 

 the genius of free institutions, and their eventual 

 success in all quarters of the globe. 



5. The maintenance of law and order. 



6. The promotion and encouragement of immigra 

 tion. 



7. The establishment of an efficient system of gen- 

 eral education. 



8. The exposition of, and strict adherence to, the 

 principks of local self-government, and the promo- 

 tion among the people of those feelings and convic- 

 tions which will cause them, through the operation 

 of local self-government, to establish a state of 

 things which will no longer furnish a reason or a 

 pretext for the interference of the central Govern- 

 ment in local affairs. 



9. General amnesty. 



10. Opposition to repudiation in every form. 



11. The modification of the present tariff system 

 to revenue basis. 



12. Reduction of taxation by the General Govern- 

 ment. 



13. Civil-service reform ; and, finally 



We pledge ourselves, from this time forward, to 

 give our support to men of uprightness, merit, and 

 liberality, regardless of political antecedents, believ- 

 ing that the time has come for all men of progress to 

 turn their back upon the past, and to grasp manfully 

 the duties and possibilities of the future. 



The members of the Democratic State Com- 

 mittee held a meeting on October 31, 1871, for 

 the purpose of devising means looking to the 

 more perfect and permanent organization of 

 the party in the State. A series of resolutions 

 was adopted importing that the State Com- 

 mittee recognizes all county committees al- 

 ready organized ; that, in each county where 

 no committee exists, the State Committee shall 

 appoint one, composed of five members, and 

 take other steps for a complete organization. 



In the following table are given full details of 

 the census of 1870, together with the assessed 

 value of property, and taxation : 



