The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-12-04
THREATS FOR THE PEOPLE.

the debtor to resist, and any !urther delay II
the payment Of taxes will sabject your prop
erty to risks and hazards greatly beyond the
temporary Inconvenience OF settlement
now The question must be fairly and
s0uarely met. The business OF the city car
not be conducted without relief from you, and
any interruption Of its operations would en-
tail greater evils than we now endure. We
IRE, therefore. compelled to solicit payment
by all the means in our power
awe regret that there may be individual
cases of hardship, but in the present crisis We
can no longer extend indulgence to the debt
ors Of the city without great peril to the in
teyests of the property holders aEd residents,
that would surely follow the suspension OF the
:, departments that are requisite for the protec-
ion of your lives and property"
& Such is O part of the language OF mani
Vfesto issued by the new City Administrators
Immediately on taking their seats, in the City
Hall, Monday, November 3Gth nlt. And this
manifesto is sign ID by a committee to whom
seems to have been assigned the important
duty of considering the Eeancal condition Of
this city. If we are not greatly mistaken, the
committee will yet seriously regret the haste
in which they signed and reported this threat
to people who put them i'll place for far
higher purpose.
Hall on Monday, November 30, 1874, when
Mayor Wilt, on resigning his seat to his sue
cessor, Knocked the people by declaring them
no worse off than when he and his Council
began to put the court screw to them two
years ago, and an incoming Council had
nothing better to offer than another turn of
the same screw.
Had we not, like the eels, become accus-
toned to skinning. We might express surprise
that a Council PET into Office for the express
purpose Of relieving their constituents from a
burden of taxation which is ruinous, would
inaugurate their term of Office by ordering
their camels to hneel for additional pack
ages
What are We to say when the candidate Of
yesterday rises up in his magisteral boots and
announces himself "the creditor Of that Voter,
and his "power and resources to enforce are
greater than the ability of thu debtor to re-
sist p II this same committee had been put
on platform in Lafayette Square before the
election, and asked for Their financial views
for resume OF their plan OF relief-would
they have dared to speak Of the city and its
council, as a creditor" Of this people? Would
they have dared to tell US that they desired
our votesfto establish between them and our
selves the relation Of debtor and creditor
they assuming the latter title and asserting
greater '.power and resources over us, the
humble debtors?
What Is this city? Is it not the people
And what is the Board OF Administrators, but
the creation of the people? Who built up the
houses that are taxed? the people. How? by
honest toll and the exercise Of he'brains with
which God has endowed them. Whence come
the "power and resources" Of this board
from the people. "Power and resources for
what to Cypress? no, to serre for the general
welfare.
But the people have been oppressed by
asu,Te1 power and resources" Even those
they elected to SERGE them two years ago have
been false to their pledges and instead Of un-
swervingly devoting every energy to the eman-
cipation of those who honored them, they only
industriously used the accursed lever Of
usurped "pCwer and resources to the ed-
vancement OF ruin.
Ard are we invited to repetition OF this
feast by the incoming administ :ation? Are
all the agOnies through which We have passed,
has even our best blood been shed for this
Are we indeed eringing debtors to official
s'creditors," who are ready to hurl the 'power
and resources Of corrupt attorneys, judges,
tax-collectors and sheriffs at US? Yes; for
they tell SO i'll the manifesto we have
quoted. True, they regret that there may
be individual cases of hardship ''Bus in the
present crisis we can no longer extend iudul-
gence without great peril to the property
holders" In ether words, the Fire Depart
ment is Oh the verge of suspension; it can't
get along without money, and it is easy for
the father OF family to mortgage his home.
Peril to the property holders y Peril !"
Why, what peril is greater than that which |
exists? What difference does it make to one
whether my property is consumed by fire, by |
water, by earthquake, or by taxation. 1t Is
ruin, torture, end the slow but sure process |
We have been undergoing is by no means to !
be preferred
Gentlemen, if yeu have accepted the Offices
you hold for any other than selfish or :" ling
purposes, be modest and industrious. You
are, we presume, Of the people not masters,
but servants and to subserve great purpose.
Take counsel, then, Of that portion Of the peo-
pie who are the greatest sufferers. Not only
bankers are iinanciers, and, therefore, yalra-
BILE couusellors. Lacey Il Go. did not pull
Wilt & Co. through, and they can't pull you
through.
The people put Wilt & Co. in Office to
break the chains of slavery, but they thought
differently. and they succumbed to Pinchback
and Kellogg. They thought the people were
all the time tickled to death at the idea of
having them in office, just because they per-
sonally loved them. They could not imagine
that principle had anything to do with the
matter; they could not see that the people
would feel degraded when they accepted their
commissions from Pinchback, or when they
welcomed Jim Lewis to their board instead Of
Gen. Beauregard, who was elected by the same
votes that elected tLem.
They could not see that by sustaining Nc
Emery they would have made Kelloggs role
more difficult to I'll, and tLCt even if he
and his infamous Legislature should have
turned them out Of Office, Kellogg's load would
only have been more difficult to carry. No,
no; they went in for Office; they gotit and they
have retired leaving us in worse condition
than when we elected them, and with the APP
prevail of not man who had anything to lose
by their administration.
No, gentlemen; you must take to your :
counses, those who are the chief sufferers .
More, you must beget faithfully good works :
you must practice economy before you ask !
others to sacrifice themselves you must burn !,
one gaslight where you now burn two; you
you must run one fire engine where you now
run two; you must employ one clerk and
hoakkeener one street ScaYenger where Won | I