Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1872-12-14
Houses to Rent.

TO the hOvel-frOm the massive store |
house to the dilapidated den. There
is no part of the city OF New Orleans
that is exempt from the evil, up town,
down town, in front or in the rear.
Vacancy prevails like the atmosphere
in every, quarter, business places be-
ing empty in the centre of the city and
residences in the domestic portion of
the town. No landlord feels safe in
his tenant-no real estate is paying a
safe rent. This is the situation as the
man abou. town finds it-bills up on
all sorts of places announcing the dis
position of the owner to rent or sell.
The rates are down, too, i'm places that
are rented. Houses do not pay inter-
est, taxes, insurance and repairs as
they should; they are not available
in bank to raise money. upon, because
capital is afraid of what does not pay
its own expenses just as Insurers are
afraid OF men who outspend their sala-
ries, and they can not be sold. There
is no movement in real estate. The
most eligible locations can not be dis
posed of. The condition of real estate
owners in New Orleans, to tell the
truth, is little worse, perhaps, than
it is i'll any other place i'll the United
States, considering the backing they
get from nature and the laws of trade.
As this evil is as widespread as the
limits of the city, and its effects touch
every man who owns a dollar in the
soil, it is fair to question if the parties
most concerned have inquired into the
causes of the dilapidation of their
estates and the chances of ameliora-
ton? We suppose they have, and we
suppose they adhere to the old theoIy
that the Radicals ruined the country.
This is the answer most strangers get
who make any inquisitiOn into the
matter OF our prostration, but it is not
the conclusion OF sensible strangers
have taken away with them after try
ing their luck ia this market for sea
son.
| The true reason of the stagnatiOn i'm
| trade, which means the same things as
the dulness in real estate, is this, that
the people of Louisiana have been ear
rying on a deadly fend with each other
tor four or five years--one race against
the other-and that until this quarrel
is ended aud the people are united, as
they are ia other communities, we shall
have no better times than we have had.
Ii is all nonsense to say that the Re-
publicans have injured the city, be-
cause il ii were the nature of Republi-
cans to ruin towns, st. Louis. Chicago,
Milwaukee, San Francisco, and score
of other thrifty places would show it.
The business of New Orleans has been
driven away by the warfare that exist
ed between one class Of people and an
other. The trade of the city has been
in the hands OF the white people, who
abused the negroes and their friends.
This is not business. We do not abuse
the Indian aud his friends; we do not
shut our doors in the face of the Span
iSh American and his friends, for the
reason that we want their trade. And
yet the merchants of New Orleans have
been for four or five years SO fearfully
excited against one-h half OF their own
customers that they would not even
speak 20 lnclf iTlcuuS.
The effect of this has been very de
trimental to New Oh leans, and especial
~ the real estate owners of New Or
leans. The negro is not limited to the
city Of New Orleans. he is creature
OF the isles of the seas, and the cont
nents that are beyond the seas. A
considerable part of the trade Of HEX
leo, Central America, the West India
Islands, and those parts Of Soutl
. America that border On the Caribbean
sea, is in the hands OF negroes. Thes'
men naturally shun our market, w
once had a large gulf trade, ard mer
: chants in Central America replenish
cd their stocks in our market. The
were negroes then, but they met II,
. harshhess at the hands of our mer
chants. They are negroes still, bu
they can not come to Il mart that cruel
, iies their race merely because it i
their race
We have thus driven away, O
!. sought to drive away, one halt of til
, people that shOnld have supporte
New Orleans. We have extended tn
: evil by driving away the negro and hi
friends in the countries to the sOut
of us. There was no necessity for any
thing of the sort. All that was wan
ed in the premises was that we slloul
have treated the coiored people as W
treat the Mexicans. politely and lik
r business men. This is the way the
k are treated in Cincinnati, New Y0rl
Boston, or st. Louis, where they trad
h without ever becoming offensive b.
t cause they are not offended. Men al
't not required to be constantly shoutin
out to them, " we do not associate vii
e yOu,' but they are merely called upo
Q to decide that matter when the que
|, ton of sociability presents itself The
are many negroes that are filter ass
u ciates than some white men, and the
q again there are Caucasians who a
ST inst as ohiecfioIablp az the lpyee ia