The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1870-06-12
The Beef Question.

The Beef Question.
N The week just closed has been remark
II able one in the kitchen history of New Or
d leans. Never before, not even during tn
II times Of scarcity which accompanied tn
# war, was such difficulty experienced il
y getting q supply Of beef for the table
q Throughout the length and breadth of thi
o city all had to submit to this sudden ces
!. sation Of their supplies-the rich and tn,
: poor alike, tho sick and the healthfal. TIL,
q hat had gone forth, mighty voice hai
' spoken, and the aristocrat had to bow hi
o head as humbly as the sturdy son of toll.
8 1t is well to talk of Republicanism, and
to boast that we have no lordly masters t.
) dictate to US, but can any one suppose 70,
moment that the Emperor Napoleon
would have dared to consign his capital
city OF Paris to prolonged fast of several
days, as was done with our good people I
We doubt if the crown would rest securely
on the head of the Russian Car if he
should presume to issue such an order as
that signed between the whiffs of cigar
by the young Judge of the Eighth District
} Court of this parish.
What will come nextf Shall the Water
works be sealed up without a word of
warning by some judicial Nero, who would
like to see city burned to ashesf Will
the Gas Works be notified about shutdown
to shut off their Light Will doctors and
druggists, as soon as the yellow fever be-
comes epidemic again, be served with a
simple notice to stop the business until
further ordersf When young and injudi-
clous persons are vested with such despotic
power there is no telling in what strange
and capricious ways they may not choose
to exhibit it, either through want of reflec-
ton or from mere wanton contempt of the
feelings and interests of their victims.
We, the patient ones, may therefore |
stand by in as resigned an attitude as pos
slole, waiting for the next play in the
game, when we shall be turned over "a
lawful winnings to some other powerful
moneyed corporation. What can we, the
people, dot Our so-called Representatives
IN the Legislature sell us to the highest
bidder, and call that bidder a corporation.
Monopolies are formed by enactment.
These monopolies are rich and powerful.
and when their interests clash it e1eaaee,
war OF the giants. In that war the peo- |
pie are the spoils; they have no rights. I
Governors and judges hold stock on both !
sides or, through their friends, they become r
so much interested in the struggle that the e
suffering public is ignored. An order for t
an injunction, for instance, is given just as u
another move would be made on q chess
board, without consulting the interest, con- v
7enlence or health OF the public any more u
han player would the feelings of his n
,hessmen.
Now it must not be supposed that all
his is the fault of our system or lawa
hat the various writs of mandamus. in r.
JUNCTION, etc., place unreasonable powers
n the hands of the judges. On the con- th
rary, we hold that these troubles arise 10 :"
rom the fault of the judges themselves. d.
rom an abuse of their powers, ~
Our readers will find, by examining the af
of this State that, where sP
'ublic interests are concerned, couats will MI
ot issue injunctiOns upon the ez psrte ~
howing of one side, but will demand T. ex
ear both. In the case of Chatard vs.. New lth'
orleans, reported in the 10th Annual, p. i'm
SO, the doctrine is clearly announced that SO SO
, cases affecting public health OF convent ha
nee, or police regulations generally, appli- tn
ants for an injunction shall, before it is be
ranted, establish contradictory at least alb
'in'a tacie necessity for the writ. M W,
In the present famine case there can be he
o doubt that grave question of public Pc Pc
'nvenience, if not of health, was raised di,
? the prayer for an injunction which an an
lould subject a whole city to an involun- sid
ry fast of several days, enhance materi- ru
ly the price of living, and derange the we we
'mestic economy of a large community. sui
y stretching the same principle to larger I iHt
'plication, this will be seen at once, for tn;
e same litigation which might thus Grip gel
e the supply of fresh meat could also stop n,
% sale of salt meat, then Of vegetables, on,
en- of breadstuffs, of fish and, in fact, of we
'erything but whisky, which is under the me
ecial protection of the bar and the courts. joy
If it become once a question of getting e
'ything at all to eat, men will see at eve
ice the illegality of principle which is pre- pre-
me the less illegal because this time it uni
erely works inconvenience instead of 4
,ath. ba.
By what law the courts can force the of