New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-10-18

The Bulletin wakes wroth at the extrava-
gance of the City Council on several mat
tiers, commencing with the claim of DR..
Southworth. We opine the city authori-
ties will not object to any amount Of can
vassing and examination of that matter.
No greater care could be exhibited than
was in passing this bill. Dr.M. A. South
worth, the Recorder Of Mortgages, was
charged by the Legislature, with revising
and re~indexing the mortgage records of
this parish from their beginning, say for
the past ninety years. The books and
indexes were becoming worn out; the rec
ords, in many cases, had been imper-
fectly kept, and frequently not indexed.
To 60 over all this was a work requiring
notarial qualifications FORTS performance.
No man, not possessing a knowledge of
notarial business, and of the English,
French and Spanish languages could be
employed upon it. One hundred and
e~igh.y-nine new indexes had to be made.
Every mortgage record, hundreds of
thousands in number, had to be read and
analysed. A single mistake under the
strict laws concerning the responsibility
Of Recorders, would subject DR.. South
worth to all the losses and damages in
volved. These might reach a hundred
thousand dollars if two or three unfortu-
nate errors should occur.
A committee. of notaries, one of them
appointed by Mayor Conway, reported in
favor of paying DR.. Southworth S37, sol.
But the present city government, in its
spirit of, perhaps, over-caution, required
the account, before paying it, to be re-
audited by three Democratic experts.
Messrs. Thomas H. Higginbotham,
Thomas Gilmore and P. c.. Cuvellier.
After a lengthy examination, these ex-
perts certified that the charges were not
excessive, and that no smaller sum would
properly recompense the Recorder of
Mortgages.
A subsequent bill of DR.. Southworth for
inscribing nearly three thousand acts of
minors records, has been cut down by
the Council from $500 to $4,000. 1t may,
perhaps, not be settled without a law suit;
but no one questions the bill as greater
than the most honorable and strict bust
ness man could claim; or the good faith
and purpose of the Council in disputing
it. Republican ofice-holders, as well as
others, are apt to construe law in
their own favor as far as they can
honorably do so; and the Coun-
Gil faithful to its client, the city,
raises such objections as seem to it ten
able. There is nothing in this that re-
quires explanation or apology On either
side. 1t is a legitimate difference of opin-
ion on a purely legal and business mat
ter. We imagine the city government
will not shun a full discussion or exam
nation of any of its proceedings or ex-
penditures any more than that of DR..
Southworth's bills. They will all bear
examination, and while here and there
be furnished an item for reasonable
criticism, there will be found no official
profigacy or corruption, and nothing
which its friends can fear a full exposi-
ton of to the public.
The speech of Colonel Fox upon ''hon-
est Ben Flanders" and upon the tremen-
dous increase of the city debt by an ad-
ministration which has paid off s43O, 900
of the debt of its predecessors, will not
affect the opinion of business men who
examine and think for themselves.