The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1872-01-14
Martial Law.


New Orleans have applied at Washington
for the proclamation Of martial law In thi'
city. The grievances that have led to the
existence of such dcsire In our midst are
truly serious. Year by year our city and
our State are falling into poverty. Proper.
ty is steadily depreciating In value- Places
that were nortgaged several years ago are
not now worth the amount of money then
loaned upon them with margin at that
time, which it was thought would mako the
loan perfectly safe, and in many instances
the lenders would probably not be willin 6
to accept tho property on condition of re-
leasing the debtor. in every street one sees
numbers Of buildings for rent, while field
after field on our plantations is thrown
out Of cultivation. Laborers discharged in
some neighborhoods are crowdiBg into
others, and scarcity of employment is
gaining Roadway where lately the great
demand was for laborers.
Every one knows tho constant cry that
has gone forth from our population thus
far this winter that there is no business,
that there is nothing but lethargy and in
activity, that so dull season was never be-
fore known in the history Of New Orleans.
Commerce and industry sink hand in hand
to the depths of ruin. The shipping that
used to crowd our six or eight miles of
levee front now contents itself with an &C.
| casional wharf here and there, and fat
boats are broken up in front of the French
Market instead of three miles below.
Tho cause of all this paralysis that is
creeping over us with it's fell spirit of desc
lation is simply the Withdrawal of foreign
capital. "Money makes the mare CO." is
an old saying, and means that the sugar
house, the cotton gin, the saw mill, even
the woodman's axe, will cease their noisy
activity and lapse into the silence of nature
unless kept going by money. Foreign
capital built large portion of this city,
and finds itself bitterly disappointed in the
Investment; it has sustained our agricultu-
ral efforts, and in many cases struggles in
vain to retrieve itself from the ensuing
embarrassment. Foreign capital appears
to be steadily retreating from our loan
market. and domestic capital, is becoming
equally timid. The consequence of all
this, as long as it lasts, will be the con.
tinued decay Of our every interest, and the
continued spread of that thriftless air of
ruin which evidently pervades the whole
State.
Now, the question is. what is it that thus
frightens capital away; to which the reply
on everybody's lips is, misgovernment.
There is always an insecurity of property,
aud of capital invested in property, where
the governing power is alien to the inter-
ests of the people, and intent merely on
their plumber. This disposition of q gov
eminent is easily detected. For instance,
in this State, an issue of bonds in two or
three years increasing our Indebtedness by
thirty millions of dollars, a city and parish
increase of perbaps as much more, a sy stem
of granting monopolies to private corpora
tions, of dona'ipg public property to pet
railroads and canals, sanitary lodges, lot
terry privileges and every scheme of money
extortion that human ingenuity can in
vent, are enough to show capital that it is
in the position of the hare before the
hounds.
AS if this were not sufficient, direct and
~. The profits of real estate investment
are eaten up in tax bills, greatly augment
ed by costs and damages which the laws
are cunningly framed to create. The land
swarms with tax collectors, and yet the
people cannot find out what they owe OF
where or when they must pay IL. Hun
dreds and thousands of Taxpayers are re-
turned from the various parishes as delin-
quents, simply because nobody ever called
on them for their taxes, and why be-
cause for each and every delinquent re-
turned on the list, one dollar goes to the
parish recorder and two dollars 60 to the
State Auditor. Why, the government
treats the people rs public enemies and as
the legitimate victims of extortion. And
all this comes upon q community just re-
covering from the complete prostration of
q long and unsuccessful war, and struggling
with the difficulty of a Few and very i'm
LOT