New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-12-17

II SAoeO pAnV0OuCy Uut ~ - tA0 40S0 0oe "
the Republican party that requires it. To
those familiar with the facts it is known
that the pursuit Of three or four Offices in
New Orleans constitute the real 'politics'
Of Louisiana. Suppose sheriff, tax collec-
tor, or assessor can extort from the people
for term of Office from one to two hun
dred thousand dollars. You perceive that
such prizes are worth playing for. How
may they be gained? The candidates
first go before ward or city convention.
The votes in this body may be controlled
by means usually employed by politicians
1t may be by the payment of money or
/ the promise of Office. The nomination
for one Of these Offices on the promise of
an executive appointment, once obtained,
the nominations for an Office so lucrative
becomes a security for loans and credit.
| Then commences the election expenditures.
! Clubs are organized whose officers seek to
| commend themselves to future patronage
| by the violence Of their declarations.
Torchlight PROFESSIONS; frauds at the polls
and in the ballot box follow. Riots sue
| coed defeat, and robbery comes in with
success All the expenses Of the contest
must be Unidentified from subjected
people.
Who is held responsible at home and
abroad for this riot and robbery? The
Republican party. And yet it is perfectly
plain that the Republican party suffers as
much as its antagonists by these abuses.
But members of Republican Legisla-
ture, who gets the money? If it be taken
by your antagonists it is distributed
among themselves. If it was taken, in
any case, in your NAME it is coined else
where and spent elsewhere. In one or
more fragrant instances, the very money
for the improper exaction of which the
Republican party is held responsible, has
been, and is now employed in defeating
the undoubted will of the Republican
party.
We now address ourselves especially to
the colored members of the Legislature.
You have been endowed with freedom,
and elected to Office through the agency
Of the Republican party. 1t is in their
power to secure you in the exercise of
your rights and the safety OF your persons,
but your period Of probation will soon end
and you must take your chance with the
American masses. A nation so large as our
own can not occupy itself exclusively with |
any special interest. Each must have its |
day, and with the national sympathy for
your bondage, and the provisions made |
to educate, protect and employ the col
ored people, it can not be expected, nor
do you indeed desire, to be a perpetual
subject Of national solicitude.. It would
be an imputation upon your manhood
and capacity to suppose otherwise. You
are, then in local power and should so
conduct your legislation as to remove all
just causes Of complaint and all sources
of official corruption. These will appease
and disarm discomfort, and then the in
necessity for your services
and the cordial relations which exist at |
all other than election times, will recon
Gle all differences, and your position will
be realized and respected by all For
you should remember that you are here
always. Others may come and go; they
may SOW in wrong and reap in riches;
they may gather even the fruits of fraud
and depart; you are here to answer as
for their deeds You may
battle behind defenses weakened by the
and still more by the acts of
those who thus first disgrace and then aban-
don YOU It may even happen, that over
by the desperation and rapacity
Of your opponents, you may become polit-
ically subject to them. Upon the conse-
quences Of such bondage to an exas-
perated foe we shall not comment. You
can comprehend it. But our summary of
advice to the Republican Legislature now
about to assemble is to make all substan-
tial reforms. Restrict all abuses of official
power. Relieve the State Of all bogus
debt, and issue per bond to every cred
tor. So will you have peace. So will
return to the landlord and the
aborer. And so will the Republican party
ramain in the ascendant, confirmed by the
accession of thousands who will accept its
princi Piles.