New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-11-06
LET TRADE BE FREE,

= society. Wherever an inconvenience pre-
sents itself the individual whose misfor
! tune it is to stumble over it az once con
ceiyes the plan Of law that will ext!rpat'
, the annoyance, Louisiana abounds II
these interferences, twenty or thirty O.
which we might enumerate if the occasion
required such a consumption Of the read
ers time, which all cost money and are
hindrance to the people. Whatever is
absolutely necessary to the protection Of
the public that should be enacted into a
law, but whatever can be attended to by
intelligent people in a legitimate way
should not be fettered by any legal regu-
Iations whatever. The intercourse be
tween men is never subjected to any linn
itatons, and yet that is more dan
gorous to the weak and confding than any
other fact that occurs to our mind at pres
ent because the innocent are never in
danger except when in company with the
wicked. The law-making power has never
sought to set up a supervision over the
good in order to protect them from the
bad, because Of the exceptional necessity
for any such protective legislation. Nine
tenths Of mankind are capable Of taking
care of themselves, and it would be q mon
strous wrong to subject nine men to in
convenience and expense in order to in
sure the protection Of the tenth man in a
matter where ordinary prudence on his
| part would save him.
When SIR. Straight moved in the Cham
Der Of Commerce on Tuesday night to
petition the Legislature for law requir-
ing planters 20 brand their sugar with the
cora ect weight, he asked for legislative
interference with our already over encum-
bere8 commercial relations that should
have been rejected at once, not only be-
cause it was useless, but because no man
should ever suggest bad measures in the
healing Of parties prone TO make them
selves otticious in urging improper schemes
in improper places. Half the bad laws
that now tax the business of the city origi-
ginated with fdgety people who put forth
suggestions that ripened into something
profitable for selfish listeners
1t is singular confession for a sugar |
broker to originate. that be needs the
protection Of law to save him from his
consi6l or. II seems to US that the planter
and the merchant should come as close
together as possible, the one selling fairly
and the other buying with strict mercan-
tile honesty. The planter ships bis sugar
TO the city and sells it to the best advan-
tage. The buyer has the right to see that
the weight is correct, and if he fails in
this through ignorance OF cowardice, he
should quit the business. What protection
would the planter have who shipped twenty
barrels of sugar, branded with their
proper weights, provided levee thief had
levied q toll upon them, as the levee
thieves do? Or suppose it shrunk in
weight or lost by leakage? Are we so
sure Of the trade Of the interior that we
can afford TO make st. Louis a better
market than our own 20 sell in?
We have presented this subject at
ength because the matter is one that
needs q general consideration We have
n abundance of laws that embody the
anne spirit as that contained in Mr..
'traight's suggestion. The city of New !
orleans is overrl1n with men who live by
loing that which is wholly unnecessary to !
'e done. People do not stop to reflect
u this thing. but because it is customary t
hey rush 10 some official to have that s
'erformed which they ought to be able {
nd free to do themselves. For instance, s
be inspection of -four is an expense that /
) entirely unsatisfactory since almost a
very person who buys barrel subjects it a
} his own inspection And this is Just s
ow it would result With Mr.. Straight's il
lotiOn reduced into law. Sugar would :
I branded by the planter as weighing so a
luch, at an expense and trouble amount
g to a considerable tax, and the buyer
ould proceed to reweigh it in case Of
oubt, just as the housewife smells and Il
SITES the -four, no matter what the mark tt
ay declare on the head of the barrel g
Free trade in this matter is the best. a
very suggestion to att1ict the commerce a,
the city with useless regulat ons is a e.
neral injury. W