New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-08-16
PRIVATE AND PUBLIC CREDIT.


Does Mr.. Fleming carry into his pri-
vate business the same suggestions which
he makes concerning public matters? Is
he latent repudiator of his own obliga-
tons when he publicly avows his willing
ness to refuse payment of the legal indebt-
edness of the political partnership Of which
he is member? Suppose Mr.. Fleming
sent out an agent who abused his position
by engaging in transactions with innocent
parties that he did not indorse? Would
he repudiate these engagements by hiding
his property, or would he pay them like
man, taking the loss upon his own Shout
ders that he had been instrumental in
creating? Or would he say to the men
who trusted his agent on his letter of au-
thority that they had no recourse against
him for advances made to his representa-
tive? All the debt the State is responsible
for was duly created by the proper authori-
ties and it is now in the hands Of innocent
parties. The men who betrayed their
bEubLo uO uOl l4Olt Tic DOA1llo anu N ILIdulb
they instructed the Auditor to issue, but
these securities have passed into the pos
session Of men who paid their money for
them. To investigate the debt for the
discovery Of fraudulent warrants and
bonds is to go overhaul the records Of
the last thirty years. The first fraud upon
the list would be the bonds issued to the
New Orleans and Nashville railroad in
1886. There were five hundred thousand
dollars of these bonds put afoat, upon
which the State has paid interest regularly
ever since, and the principal Of which she
will have to pay. Then again there is
the one hundred thousand dollars worth
of bonds issued to the Mexican Gulf rail
road, the interest upon which has been
paid and the principal of which will have
to be paid. Mr.. Fleming can not find
trace of any return the State ever re-
ceived for either of these issues of bonds.
If they were in the hands of the original
holders it might be just to investigate and
repudiate them; but as the Democrats
and Reformers who got them sold out at
once to innocent parties and as these in
nocent parties have been protected so
many years in their property, it does not
become US at this late day to confscate
the property of the just because it came
to them from the unjust with the consent |
Of the payees.
There are number of obligations that
stand in the same relation to the State and
the people. Our duly accredited repre-
contracted them the fault was
with us in putting weak men in position
10 abuse our credit, and now it is our duty
10 assume the acts of our agents. The
position of Mr.. Fleming is one that no
business man could hold and expect to
obtain credit; and as the State is only a
concern, if she attempts
% repudiate her legal obligations
by denying her responsibility. for
bills that have been duly contracted
n her name, she will suffer the same
lishonor that would fall upon an in
liyidual merchant who accepted goods
nd then refused to pay for them on the
core that the clerk who purchased them
night have been stupid or dishonest in
making his trades.
The truth of the business is, that Mr.
fleming does not understand politics. He
reats the State as if it had neither con-
cience nor honesty, in fact as a thing to
e played with in the interests Of fitting in
rs cocks. Other gentlemen who pay
lore attention to public matters consider
he State as the great exemplar of hui
ian society, and they intend that it
hall pay for its mistakes just as a human
eing does. Ifsociety negIects its duties,
r runs in madness, as the taxpayers of
have done, let them bear the
urden Of their errors as a fitting lesson to
ZACH them better what to do in the fu-
ire If we are to allow the political ma
nine to be run at hap-hazard for years,
e must pay for our neglect as Mr.. Flem-
e would pay for his neglect If he mis- ,
anaged his private affairs. If we say
'-day that We will not pay for the folly of
what interest is there in doing !
ght. A sponge will correct our wicked
ess by erasing the evidences of its com
ission. The business house that pro-
eds upon this plan will soon lose caste
it'll the street. A State that will do it must :
on be counted as unworthy of acknowl- E
Igment by all respectable communities.
The attack upon the public credit which /
now being engineered by such men as
emery and Fleming is either very y
.clzed movement in favor of spectators, |,
it is very weak attempt to be honest I
a dishonest way. f
ULTIMATUM.