The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-12-25
A VOICE FROM THE COUNCIL.

/
AN ADMINISTRATOR RISES TO EXPLAIN
To the Editor Of the Bulletin:
Various correspondents of your estimabl'
journal have charged our newly elected Al
/ ministrators with disposition to ignore tn
Just claims of their constituents, and with {
determination to harshly administer the I'M
just laws under which they hold ofiice.
Without any disposition to provoke, or hme
to maintain q newspaper controversy, fee
unwilling that silence should seem to give as
sent to the charges, and deem it proper to cor
rect at least one miscOnstruction as TO theil
action.
In the address of the Administrators upor
assuming Office the following occurs, viz
"The power and resources Of the creditor to
enforce are greater than the aDllty OF the
debtor to resist.
This sentence was so construed by your cor
respondents as referring to the ability of the
CITY Administrations to enforce their demands
tor taxes, and was made to appear as an act Of
ssintimidation" toward the taxpayer in other
words, that our newly acquired official powers,
derived from tax-ridden and long enduring
community, were being paraded before the
people as if reckless or regardless of their
sufferings
Permit me to say to your readers that no
|
the seven gentlemen referred to. The sem
tence quoted alluded to the greatest burden
now bearing upon our industries and pro-
perties, viz: "The outstanding obligations of
the city, - and to the power of the creditors of
the city to enforce their demands through
the courts as against the municipality.
Means had been sought to relieve the people
from at least a portion of the taxation de-
manded for interest payments, and the Ad-
ministrators were confronted with statutory
provisions and decisions of the highest
courts in the land, seeming to sustain the
power of the creditor to enforce his demands.
So stringent were the laws found TO be, that
reference to the act under which the CONSOLE
dated bonds were issued, will show your cor
respondent that no official act can be legally
performed by an officer of the city govern
ment until the interest and sinking fund for
the same have been duly provided for, and
every issue of bonds since that time has been
coupled with legislative requirements almost
as mandatory.
In view of the fact, therefore, that the cred
itors Of the city, backed by the "minions of
the law" stood ready to pounce down upon
the estate which so many termed bankrupt,
and believing that our city would fare no bet
ter at the hands of the .. s. Judiciary and its
assignees than our unfortunate citizens in the
past have Jared, the Administrators were i'm
pressed with the belief that it was their duty
to our people to save them from the results
of bankruptcy.
l. By collecting sufficient of the assets OF
the city to pay her most pressing obligations,
protect the lives and property OF her citizens,
and provide for her poor, suffering and in
sane.
2. BY enforcing rigid economy in every de-
partment of the city government, reducing
expenses to a point required for absolute
necessities and stopping the increase of the
public debt through the vicious issue of bonds
and certificates at three fold prices.
3. BY plain exhibit of affairs to the cred
itors OF the city and such an adjustment with
the holders of legal obligations as would best
preserve the fair name of the city and relieve
her taxpayers.
4. By carefully investigating the evils pro-
duced by State interference with municipal
affairs, and demanding Of the newly elected
Legislature such relief as will permit city
officers to reduce taxation and restore to the
city the control of her own affairs.
The interest, police, school and drainage
laws render each Administrator liable under
his bond of $685. 900 for failure or neglect to
comply, or declares the Offices ipso .facto va
cant, and refusal to conform to them would
simply inaugurate an era of confusion and
chaos until the Legislature should meet and
act, or throw the appointment into the !
hands of the de tacto. The people |
expected honesty, economy and pru-
dence at the hands of her |
Administrators and elected Lawmakers to |
the Legislature to rectify existing abuses |
that are sustained by legislative enactments,
but your correspondents who criticize SO
harshly may rest assured that whenever it can |
be shown that the present administration can |
give any measure of relief to their fellow
citizens without entailing greater evils upon
the community thereby, they will act without |
or regard for office will deter
them from alternating the burdens of our cit
liens by every means in their power.
ADMINISTRATORS.