The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1869-10-02
HRe Just aud Fear Not"

representatives Oh tNe people are more
imaginary than real.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
"Re just aud Fear Not"
The following is from the Courier of
last Saturday, and has reference to the
Police Jury, composed. as u readers
know, of gentlemen of high character
and standing in the community
Let the comtented reRecting portion OF
the community. and our rich denizens,
who have contributed so largely and
resigmedty to the wasted revenue OF the
Parish, heretofore reported as the sup
porters of such bare-faced wrongs, now
come forward and feast and revel upon
the gigantic proportions and h~ideousness
exhibited. Let them take in a view Of
its bloated condition by degrees, in
broken portions. lest they turn away in
disgust. Let them take a sober second
thought if they eve held the opinion
imputed to them by the "JournaP', and
draw their breath and rest, and reflect
upon this first and leading development:
that out of one hundred and one Moas-
and fire hundred and ninety-mine dollars
cleaned from assessments of the last tour
years, amounting to One hundred and
ainetyfre thousand foe Hundred and
serenty-one dollars, ONLY FIFTEEN THOU
SAND DoLLARs, Ono doubt the generous
tribute of that same class of patriots
who have been and are now so magnanl-
mously sustaining the rang,) were appro-
priated during that period to purposes
Of internal improvement.
What has become of the heavy balance
of upwards of eighty-six thousand dollars!
Examine the Statements of your Account
ants in the first Report, (which we again
republished last week. and if there be
in truth any who can look upon this
record of fagrancy and waste with salts
faction Or Indifference, let them examine
themselves and answer whether they
have not profted directly or indirectly
in this lavish distribution ofgratulf'es.
The details of the disbursement and
distribution of so large a proportion OF
the taxes collected as to amount to
$S6, 500, to the exclusion of objects OF
general interest, betray the extreme
tenacity with which they cling each to
his share of the pile. No outsider is
shown ever to have participated in the
bounties reserved for them and their
adherents.
Our venerable neighbo- is evidently
under the influence of some exhilerating
gas. Under no other supposition can
we account for the delirium exhibited in
the foregoing paragraphs.
In all the articles put forth by the
Courier, on the subject Of p~arochial
expenses, no referance is ever made to
the cost of administering criminal justice
in the parish, when it is very generally
known that, by far the largest portion of
the taxes are appropriated for this pur-
pose. Why ignore this subject? The
readers of the usual diatribes of our
neighbor, know as we'll as he does, of
this drain upon the parish treasury.
Where so many persons have received
their certificates from. the clerk of the
court to be paid by the parish, it is i'm
possible to delude them and their neigh
bors into the belief that the money has
been fraudulel lily appropriated by the
Jury. At some of our terms of the
District court, the expense to the parish
has been at the rate Of five hundred
dollars per day, as long Us the criminal
business was pending. Jurors were paid
three dollars per day, and sometimes, as
our citizens know, we have had W
or three panels in attendance, all draw
ing their mileage and per.diem. Wit
nesses we've paid in a similar tanner on
the certificate of the clerk and District
Judge. All the expenses, besides this,
for criminal proceedings before the
respective Justices ofthe peace, through
out the parish, composing some twenty
one in number, arc also required to be
paid out Of the parish treasury. Super
added to this. the expenses Of the par
ish Jail, the keeping Of prisoners, their
arrest, and their transportation to the
~penitentiary. have been a like drain
upon the parish. AT least two thirds OF
the revenue are required for these en-
penses, while the Police jury have nc
discretion in the matter. They are re-
quired by law to levy a tax for this
purpose, and to pay according to the
certificates presented. They did not
make the law, are not responsible for the
expenses, and are compelled, by an
authority which they cannot disregard,
to impose the tax. All of u citizens,
who have sufficient intelligence to read a
newspaper, and some of them who have
not, know these facts. And yet the
Courier, in the above article, after
stating hat ".only fifteen thousand dol
lars have been appropriated for purposes
Of internal Improvement" ian estimate
is incorrectly asks What has
become Of the heavy balance of eighty
six thousand dollars" during a period
Of four years. These studied and per-
sistent efforts Of the Courier, to delude
those who are familiar with the facts, for
the purpose of gratifying its malevolenee
towards the. men whom the people have