New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-06-08
TAXING TEE LEAn.

The handful of Reformers in this State
who have determined to ''stand, in the
language of the Picdyme, ''irm on the
broad and simple platform of the redress
of State affairs, are now clamoring for
the initiative in the formation Of State
ticket This little band, that would hardly
form a respectable tea party in any ether
State in the Union, is actually swelling,
like the frog in the fable, to dangerous
proportions, considering its real strength.
1t is not disposed to await, with the Dem
ocratic party of this State, the final action
Of the national Democratic party in the
Baltimore convention; nor is it disposed
to delay action until the Democratic
party has consulted all the astrologers,
all the magicians, and all the sooth-
sayers as to how the stars read, as to
what the entrails show, as to the signs,
sinister or felicitous, of the fight Of eagle,
crow or buzzard, touching the Greeley
Brown, the Grant Wilson or any other
Presidential ticket This little party,
led by the Picapme, is anxious to take
the initiative in creating Reform ticket
that will sweep the Radicals from Office
and place the so-called State Reformers in
their places. This is one kind of reform,
to be sure, but we are not quite so sure it
is the kind of reform that is wanted by
the people Of this State, and that which
is promised by the Liberal Republican
party, under the lead of those great cham
pions of reform in State and national
politics, Greeley and Brown. It is not
safe to always confde in those
who are loudess in their professions of
honesty and disinterestedness. Honest
Reformers are not anxious to circumscribe
the limits Of reform. On the contrary,
they are anxious that the good work of re-
form shall extend wherever it is needed.
and without the prospect of receiving any
thing more than the benefits that befau
the people in general when they are
blessed with good government. The
greatest anxiety of the little Reform party
that is now holding convention in this
city-or a majority Of the active men COM
posing it's created from no better mo-
tive than division Of the spells Of Office,
To gain this great boon our local
reformers are willing to be joined
by all, regardless Of color or pre-
vious condition; but when it comes to
naming the ticket, to portioning out the
offices, from Governor down, these very
pure and disinterested Reformers are OPP
posed to extending these favors outside Of
their limited circle. In this nice little
matter Of naming the men who are to be
presented to the people as worthy of Their
confidence and support, they are exceed
ingly sensitive, selfish, proscriptive and
circumspect, and are found taking the
lead upon the self-constituted basis that
in them is combined all the honesty,
virtue and intelligence Of the State. Of
course, we do not wish to be understood
as saying that all the members of the
Reform convention now convened In
this city are of this stripe. This
would be rather too sweeping But we
do wish to be understood as asserting
that this is the character of a majority of
the members Of that convention; and to
support our assertion we have only to
refer the people Of Louisiana to the pro-
ceedings of the convention.