New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1856-05-22
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A FUNNY ARTICLE.

i IL
Tuesdays morning Courier contained a really
funny very funny article whichin its way,
/ may he Set down as a gem Of the first water. The
article is headed Reduced Taxation y and when we
glanced hurriedy over it, we could not refrain from
laughter, at the half serious, half comic manner, in
which our sedate contemporary sought to depreciate
the ,judcious andeconomic policy of the present
Council simply because it is an American Council
and to make the people believe that
reduction Of aration Of seventy per- cent. is not
matter Of any great Importance after ALL and should
not entitle American Council to the smallest de-
/ gree of credit 35 s$A
The great fact, however, that the rate of taxation
has been decreased seventy per cent. is not denied,
because it could not be denied This fact seemed to
be q terrible stumbling block in the path Of our
5neighbor-in sootf, it made him stumble and halt,
and almost tumble, from the beginning tothe eng q
his lucubration. The ingenuity of the Courier u
making the worse appear the better cause, y wen
known and acknowledg ed bat in this instance y mas
4 signally failed as We shah proceed 70 show.
We wish we had room for the whole article. 1t we
had. We should publish it with much satisfaction
4 Then orr readers would be able to see how plain
trntIfuI tale puts down and brushes the most spe
cious efforts Of special pleading But types, and
n chases and presses stubborn things; and as we
n only have jastso much room, we must fain content
ourselves whit The first paragraph Of the Couliers
article reads as follows It is jewel in its class:
, s s By the n
s No ,sas T Tie s I hays
been II
q he emptiness Of Their For year tie
y n sye rbn ds s
condition called or justified tie
i 70 ntasness Every avenae Of our
committee Of the Council be crying shame the city,
1t comes with a bad grace fromthe Courier, or any
other Democratic organs to talk about g intense
Americanism, when they have sedueed the in
tensestn American ever known III New Orleans, Or
anywhere else, from the paths Of patriotism, appro
priated him to themselves and made him prominent
standard bearer in the First District We consider
such conduct g intensely" selfish, and shall become
intensely excited over the /" intense avaricious-
ness manifested, if they do not put stop to such
proceedings Because they are RICH and their neigh.
bors poor, il does not follow they have any right to
plumber those less fortunately situated. This is a
well established principle in law, and ought to be in
| politics.
| So much by way Of q preliminary. The Courier
thinks, BY the LIST January 1857, it will be easy to
reute the claim Of the Council to credit on account
Of the vast reduction Of taxation spoken Of! The
Courier has certainly put the period for refutation off
very convenient distance. In fact, It'll has put it SO
far off that it has application, whatever, to the
June election. While its hand was in, the Courier
might as well have put off the aforesaid refutaton to
/ lleternity.
The Courier, to accomplish purely partisan pur-
poses states that the streets and public grounds
in :" the most ruinous decay" The editors OF the
Crescent have resided in this city for goody num-
her Of years. and they have never known the .publc
!. grounds y of the corporation to be in as beautiful
condition as at present. In this they will be sus-
tanned by all whose ayocations permit them to enjoy
the luxury of walking abroad, Weare aware there
complaints respecting the condition Of the streets
but, if the Courier point to any in the history
i of New Orleans when similar complaints were not
made, we will agree to yield it all the advantages
that possibly flow from uncontradicted discussion
of the streetquestion. Every public building named
by the Courier is in just as good condition it has
been for years past and the Grand Jury Reports
ferred to have been regularly made for decade.
Besides the present Common Council is not response
BILE for their conditional least not half much as
previous Democratic Common Councils. The Ameri-
can Council has had to reform and retrench to over
come the difficulties entailed upon them by former
Councils. They have not expended the peoples
money exceptwhere twas absolutely necessary; and
by this means have been enabled to reduce floating
debt half million Of dollars to establish the city
credit upon substantial basis and to reduce taxa
ton upon real estate seventy per cent. Would the
/ Courier have had them gone on in career of ex-
travagance.; added to the general debt enriched
contractors, and increased the burthens of the tax
4 payers? 1t would seem so for it condemns, in
directly to be sure yet the less severely, the
economic course that has wrought all the ameliora-
tions we have mentioned
4 The following assertion must have been penned in
i mistake Says the Courier: 'sEvery Avenue to the
Il great line of our wharyes is impossible when it
4 rains" The Courier would do well to inform itself
before it writes SO rashly. If it can point cut one
solitary important commercial avenue to the wlmryes,
, that has been impossible within the last twelve
Il months we are much mstaken Come, neighhor,
4 substantate or retract. And you might well re.
tract with as good face as possible. There is not
drayman cartman, carriage driver, cabman, or pedes
TRAN, in the whole city, that does not know your
statement to be unfounded. Fie fe neighbor; don't
1 "cut it too fat." It won't pay
i The subjoined imputation against the American
Council is too rich to be left out:
The districts of city Inundated by water
Of the miserable drainage that unalatic people
reside there pain turning their houses arks
their gardens into frog ponds II & .45 .--.
Well, who established the system of drainage P?
The American Counci? No! Who made the city
low and swampy, declining toward the lake? The
: American Council? No! Who causes the floods to
!, descend and the foundations to follow? The Ameri
can Council? No! Does the Courier suppose it cal
make intelligent people, such as the community
New Orleans is composed Of believe that the present
: American Common Council irresponsible fora system
of drainage with which they had nothing to do; thai
they are responsible for the structure of the gfone
Z on which New Orleans is built; and that they ar,
responsible for the foundations following the rain
which fall from the clouds Yet its argument bears
no other Interpretation! Why not charge the yellow
fever, small pox, cholera, unreasonable weather AM
: bad crops to the Council? There would be just a
much reason, common sense, ana justice, in the on
case as in the other.
? The Courier complains Of the police The polio
have been and are now, under the control of Demo
cratic authority. So this censure at least atache
to Democrats--not to the American Council! Di
the Courier intend to give Recorders Ramos, Seuze
= neau, jackson and Mayor Lewis, a sly dig under tn
: ribs, by this reference to the police department?
I The remainder Of the article is in about the sam
: strain. The Courier is especially disgruntled be
I cause an American Council has reduced taxation
: made the wharves yield about $4,000 per annul
instead If nothing or worse as was the case before