New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-11-13

State. None of the candidates who have
put out their money to secure what will be
called the public favor can be depended
| upon to be the first to introduce into his
own department such a system of econo-
my as will render him liable to be accused
OF meannesS By his focks Of hungry and
dependent friends. The cure for our
evils can not come from politicians. And
the partisan who promises much relief in
the way of retrenchment measures which
he and his friends propose to introduce,
stands il the footsteps OF one attempting
to obtain goods under false pretences.
Relief for the community can only be
obtained through radical reforms in our
industrial and social habits. Political
extravagance represents the losses from
top-cutting, from looping off in too prodi-
! gal a manner the matured fruit. Idleness
and high living strike at the roots and
kill its growth. Waste and increase are
perfectly in accordance with the laws of
nature, but when one preponderates over
the other, evil results follow. In this city
there is too much waste For one pro-
| Queer we have half 1 dozen or more con-
sumers. We have too many gentlemen
and ladies, too many servants to wait up
on them, and toe few artisans. Our male
population is not distributed like that of
other large commercial cities. The So
called learned professions are overstocked,
while the industrial occupations are neg
Iected We have more priests and clergy
men than We have shoemakers, and as
consequence order our shoes from Boston.
We have more physicians than cabinet
makers, and Cincinnati furnishes US with
bureaus and arnoirs. We have more law
yers than carpenters, more sporting men
than blacksmith5, more rum sellers than
painters, and more idIers dependent upon
their relatives for support than there are of
industrial people altogether. The female
population Of New Orleans is on still
more exalted plane. They are absolutely
debaTed from earning an honest living
by work by the force of public opinion.
The good housewife who is ashamed to
let her neighbor know that she does her
own cooking because she can not afford |
to keep servant looks down upon a girl |
who is willing to earn her bread by her |
needle or in any other manner. The pre-
sumption seems to exist that we are all |
rich, a city Of nabobs, and that hard |
work is not necessary. People entertain
each other in a style above the abilities of
either the host or the guest, and all the
time there is no fixed income. Some have
made show Of retiring on the income of
a little property worth ten or twelve thou
sand dollars, and are surprised to find it
inadequate to their wants If, however,
the tax collector could be evaded, say GER
tain politicians who are not just now in
Office, the burdens would be Iightened suf-
iciently to give, perhaps, an extra sociabIe
a year.
While our public affairs have been adj
ministered or a scale of too much ex-
.raTagance, they have no more than kept
pace with the prevailing fashion in private
life. Tie people are the fountain and the
public officers are the streams leading
from it. If We would have clear. streams
We must first purify the source There
ore we have little or no relief to hope for
rom change Of city officials. The sue
;essor8 Of the incumbents, whoever they
nay be, will never succeed in fulfilling
lie extrayagant expectations raised by the
ash promises Of the past campaign. They
Till find themselves as powerles8 to bring
bout a complete reform as were the Is
aeIites Of Old to make bricks without
traw. But still We say give US q fair
cunt and let those fairly chosen by the
,eopIe have the chance to try.