Thibodaux minerva. [volume] (Thibodaux, La.) 18??-1858, 1855-09-29
THIBODAUX LOUISIANA SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 49, 1885,

against those who carrying on an illegal trade,
and may we sir, have your gracious consent to em-
poy distinguished member of the New Orleans
Bar, to aid in prosecuting those who defrauding
the revenues and injuring us ?" why, he has vouch
safed to that then he would have taken the
matter into respectful consideration and spared us
the terrible lash of his rebuke.
| But sir, to be plain and to the point, we want
none of your radical views of political economy.
This is no political question. The gentlemen whom
you have rebuked are engaged in the culture of
sugar, and are all united to on this question.
| They are Wings and Democrats, Young Americans
| and Old Fogies, but none of them are in favor of
free trade They do not think the nation rich
enough yet to raise fifty millions of dollars yearly
by direct taxation. They are engaged in the cu-
tivation of plant that is not indigenous to the soil
It is forced crop. We suffer from early frosts,
| and our ratoons are often entirely destroyed by
the severe freezes while we live in yearly dread Of
overHows. The cane cannot be successfully cul-
tivated on the uplands, while numerous creyasses
occur every year on the lowlands, entailing wide
spread devastation on many unfortunate planter,
whose all is invested in the culture Of sugar. Only
small portion of Texas, one-ffth of Florida, and
one-third of louisiana are adapted to the growth
of cane. 1t is plant that needs all the fostering
care OF the Government, and am truly happy to
find that no administration of this Government has
ever been opposed to tariff on sugar. We raise
no pork, no wheat, no mules We get them all
from the West. New York, and Philadelphia, and
Sprin6eld, and Pttsburg, and Cincinnati, and Louis
vile, send us our machinery. We patronize the
Southern factories and the New England looms for
our cotton and woolen goods. We tan no leather
| we make no wagons, or carts, or poughs, Or hoes,
or axes. We are in its strictest sense, agricul
tural people, and trade lberally with all sister
States. This being the case, we are perfectly
willing to trust ourselves to their generosity, to
their liberality to their sense of common, even
handed justice, knowing that their interest is ours
demand for these articles of commerce, and, our
interests are promoted, so are theirs also.
The present tariff on sugar is about Of cent
per tb, and do you really think, my dear sir, that
there lives a man, woman Or child, in the North
the South, the East or West, who is anxious for
repeal of that small duty? But you say the masses
are opposed to this odious Tariff. Why, sir, the
hard working man, the day laborer in the far west
in Missouri Or Illinos-mmediately under the
nose of the Belchers, can buy ten pounds of Lou
siana sugar for half dollar In the name of
common sense is not this cheap enough, and does
this look like dissatisfaction? 1t strkesme, sir that
all the world is not ennemy, but that we have
many more friends than you would set down to our
credit. The cotton planter is also our friend, for
he knows that in case sugar should get down to
ruinous prices, we will be compelled to go into the
cotton culture, which WILL of course, injure his in
terest by largely increasing the crop Of that great
staple But whether we have friends or enemies,
we shall never appear before Congress as beggars
upon its bounty. We simply ask the same pro-
lection on our sugar that is given to other indus
trial pursuits. We ask no favor, sir-all we want
is justice. And whenever the American people
shall become insane to try direct taxation for
| a revenue the sugar planter will use nothing but
honorable means to prevent it. In this he will be
supported by every American manufacturer in this
broad land, for in his fall they will read their own
doom. But, sir, before we shake hands, and part,
must call the attention of the country to the most
offensive passage of your most offensive letter You
say. "nstead of quietly submitting to evils that
are inseparable to all systems you call public meet
ings, stimulate inquiry, and with most deplorable
| intatuaton, shrek the ruin that awaits you from
| the importation of single house."
| Yes, gentlemen Sugar Planters, fold your arms,
| remain quiet, don't make a fuss, keep dark and
don't for mercys sake, let those terrible consum
ers of sugar" know that there is tariff of 80 per
cent, on the article; for if you do they will play
the very devil with you. But oh, ye foolish simple
tons you have let the cat outr-you have revealed
the secret Nobody but myself knew before that
| there was duty of 80 per cent. on sugar Really
| my dear sir you seem to have as poor an opinion
Of the intelligence of the rest Of the good people Of
| these United States as you have of the genteel
| raising and good breeding of the sugar planters of
Louisiana But the worst of it all is this-you
have virtually acknowledged that the Belchers are
right, and that we are wrong. You say their gross
infraction of the Revenue laws "is evil INSOFAR
able Of the system" You have prejudged this
case, and that against u.s. We can only look upon
you hereafter as our worst enemy. Yes, man
hos ~ tbo T
lature, Of the largest sugar parishes in the State
now, when elevated to power, gives his former
friends and constituents the severest stab that could
possibly be inflicted upon them.
If this matter is to take the course you have seen
proper to indicate, in very short while, instead of
one, there will be one hundred Belchers with their
Concentrating Molasses" kettles all over the
Island Of Cuba. They will buy molasses there at
&C. per gallon, boil it into sugar. and ship it to
| this country, and have it measured as snolasses,
and sell it under very noses at 81 to DC. per H.
As you have already prejudged this case against
| us this must close our correspondence and Danish
all hope of even common justice at your hands.
All we can do is to forward to your Master at
Washington city, the President of the United
States, copy of the entire proceedings, and re-
quest of the Secretary Of the Treasury to see that
justice be done us in the premises .e
Hoping you an easy time in your official career,
began under such favorable auspices, in which
candor, honor, disinterestedness and impariality
stick out" in such bold relief, and that you may
received such "material aid and in time of need
from your good friends the Belchers, for the Off
cial protection you have given their illicit COM
merce. remain, sir, your obedient servant,
H. W. ALLEN
The WORLDS DEAD-Tbere are millions in the
grave where there are hundreds out Of it. Age
has followed age for six thousand years and each
has contributed its quota to swell that bourne
from which no traveller returns"
From extensive calculation, it seems the average
q human births per second since the birth Of
Christ to this time, is about 1856; which gives
80, 600 O0o, 600; and after deducting the present
supposed population Of the world (s6O, 900, ,00o,)
leaves the number Of 31,040, ,OO0, 200, that have