New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-12-27
4 CASE IN POINT. :

N>~~N~s~OAA
authorities, signed by nine hundred resi-
dents Of the Third District coupled
with another address to the REPuB-
L1cAN signed by a number of we'll
known residents Of Milneburg. implor-
ing the opening and Smelling Of French
men street, from the main portion of
the city Of New Orleans to Lake Borgne,
IS now before US, and they afford proper
| occasion to point a moral concerning a
matter which has been treated about in
these columns before to-day. This road,
which ought to be opened, will cost the
corporation large sum of money, and
this expenditure, when made, will go to
swell the expenses Of the city beyond the
amount which has been estimated fer in
the annual budget. Since the budget,
which was adopted with the str;c.est regard
for economy, exhibited a deficit with
out any reference to this road to the lake, as
a matter Of course this new expense will
have the direct effect to enlargethis deficit
still further, thus accommodating a yet
greater Indebtedness than -nat which al
ready affrights the community. There are
a score ofreasons why this road should be
built, the main one of which is that the
people Of New Orleans should certainly
have road upon which they can 90 about
their daily business without let or expense
from toll gates and chartered conveyantes
1t is an anomaly in this city that exists no
where else that we know Of, that a citizen
living in one part of the corporate limits
can not proceed to any other part OF the
town in his own conveyance without pay
ing for the privilege of driving over a
private road. And that this evil ought to
be promptly remedied is as clear as that
it now exists. Yet the question arises,
where is the money to come from to effect
the amelioration? And if the authorities
use the credit Of the city to make the
road, will they be praised for their Wis
dom or cursed for their extravaganza?
Will the nine hundred men, even. who
have suggested new expense, assume
the responsibility for its creation, and de-
fend the Administrators from the charge
Of extravaganza that will surely be made
against them when the bill for the work
is presented for payment in the shape of
a new tax?
This road to the lake is but sample
of the many expenses that are urged upon
the Administrators by parties who will be
the first, perhaps, to complain when the city
reports that in order to pay her expenses
she must demand an increase in the rates
of taxation. These gentlemen will not
commit this injustice Intentionally, but
they will do it like thousands of others,
because they do not study the immense
drain which IS put upon the corporation
by their own applications for improve
ment The authorities have reduced ex-
penses in every department to the lowest
limit possible, and yet they are not supplied
with the means to pay as they go for work
which is conceded to be necessary for the
public interest. What are they to do but
go in debt when tie people arise, almost
as one man, and demand other OUTLAWS ?
Not only are the Administrators beset !
with this petition, but their desks are
filled with similar petitions from other |
sections of the city, inn loring this and
that improvement at the public expense.
These applications are signed by response |
BILE gentlemen, who are entitled under the |
law to have their prayers granted and yet |
the city can not comply with one in
twenty of these supplications without ex-
tending her Indebtedness still further
than it is already stretched.
The people will thus see that the blame
for the constantly augmenting appropria-
lions Of the Council do not arise from any
disposition on the part of the
but from the incessant |
appeals of the community itself for help
upon the streets, upon the wbarves, upon
the bridges, upon the drainage depart
ments, and in thousand different ways.
The greatest trouble with the authorities
IS to make the receipts 60 as far as pos
sible, holding back here and spending
little there, mending in one place and
making in another, as every business man
does where resources are insufficient to !