The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1869-11-06

To its officers the Police Jury has
allowed over and above, what they
ought to have received, an excess Of
1884 81, distributed as follows, to-wit
To +. CAN'T, Col. in 1866, $1,074 sc
" J. G. Barry 1887, 1854 1(
i'm Thompson 1868, 1850 OF
J. d. Richard, Clerk 3,76l 0(
" c. Mayo, g" 124 0(
ct. II. Lewis, Parish Attorney 80 O(
Jas. Ray, Physician 3s1 2;
Excess $9,sS4 81
The above statement is for a perioe
Of four years. The excess therefore
complained of is an excess of S237l ;
year,. among seven officers. Admitting
the statement to be correct, does this
exhibit such wastefulness and prodigal
ity, as to bankrupt the parish, or startIe
its taxpayers? The fund annually
administered is in the neighborhood Of
fifty thousand dollars. But the question
as to what the parish officers fought tc
have received" is INT which depends
upon circumstances, and upon what
their services were worth at the time
The committee assume to be the judges
They make for themselves an estimate
and from that estimate, charge the
Police Jury with extravaganza and
wastefulness. As self constituted iudg
es they did not even state. that the
officers were paid in parish warrants
averaging 10 value, during the fou1
years about fifty cents on the dollar
They have exhibited a want of candol
in not making this statement more
explicit, and no little assurance il
assuming to be the exclusive judges o
the compensation necessary for the off
cial services rendered.
In the report we find the following
The Committee would call your spe
attention to the fact that of the large sun
of money disbursed by the Police Jury,
only SIG, 1O5 IL were applied to the
building Of bridges and general improve
ments.
While the whole report is in the tone
of an indictment throughout, this little
paragraph, more than any other, betrays
the animus of the prosecution. Its in
tention is to convey the idea that the
Police Jury had it in their power tc
disburse out of the taxes collected, a
larger sum for internal improvements
None know better than the committee
that a very large proportion Of the
taxes collected, are required to defray
the expenses Of criminal prosecutions,
In this matter, The Police Jury have nc
discretion. The tax must be assessed
and collected, and the expenses must be
paid, according to the law Of the State,
In these expenses are included the pay
of the Justices Of the Peace, Jurors,
Witnesses, Tailor. C%onstables, District
Attorney &c. They have sometimes
amounted to FIVE hundred dollars a day,
for several weeks at a time. This hea-
Wy draft upon the Treasury, has been
entirely ignored by the committee in
their report. Why so? If they We're
ignorant of the fact, they were not
qualified to discuss the parochial fnan-
css; if they were aware of it, they
would have exhibited more disingeuu-
BUSINESS and manliness by giving the
party they were accusing The benefit Of
10 important a statement.
The report says:
1t appears from the minutes of the
Police jury that on two occasions COIN
were appointed to burn the
Vouchers in the possession of the Treas
lrer, but no report euer uas made Of the
destruction, nor is there any record of
he AMOUNT of these vouchers. .....
The emphasized words, the italics
md small capitals, are just as we find
hem in the published report. They
onvey the covert meaning, that the
variants were not really destroyed, and
he inference follows that they may be
raudulently used by the Police Jury or
theirs. This attempted sensational dis
looses all its force from several
7ell known circumstances. l.. The
,arrants were burnt by the Jury in the
reseuce of a number Of citizens and
ne officers. 2. They would be of no
whatever if they were not destroyed
s they are not registered. 8. The
tie for registering has past, and it is
nown with absolute certainty, as re-
by the committee themselves,
lat there are less than fifteen thousand
ollars' worth of warrants DOW register
l and due, which shows, as far as we
ave been able to learn, a better financial
,ndition than any of the surrounding
L.. ".....
Among several luminous suggestions
the Police Jury, we find the follow
g: ... ....
Sd. That the collection of the Parish
.xes shall be given to the lowest bidder,
no shall furnish good and solvent su-
ties. ..
This shows how accurately the COM
ittee have informed themselves, as to
e parochial ordinances, and the laws