New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-03-27
MELANCHOLY RUINS.

/ MG1dNOuO44 0OANOs
We have no appetite for ruins. We d.
not care to feed on the decayed ussges o
a past..displaced by the superior progress
of the present. Neither Baalbec nor tn
Coliseum would lure US from the school!
and workshops of later civilization, no.
would the view Of any number of naked
statues bring the same pleasure with the
visible happiness of family well Clad
we'll fed, and well employed.
In this We acknowledge ourselves neither
classical nor poetical. But we have among
US those who are fond Of ruins, who pre-
fer the memory of past wealth to the &C
QUESTION of present competence. We
| have O press that luxuriates in the tradi-
ditions of wealth and luxury, denounces
progress as robbery, demands the forcible
arrest of movement and the restoration of
the ancient, with its calm of stagnation.
The organ of this denomination is printed
in foreign language, and is limited in
its inf uence to those who alone speak
and think in that language. It
conveys no appeal to those who
really control the destinies Of Louisiana,
because they neither know nor under
stand its complaints. Its main object
seems to be to demonstrate that as Con-
gress has not guaranteed what, from q
French point of view, it calls repub-
lican form of government, the French
government should reclaim a province
which has been defrauded of its guaran-
teed rights. Its second purpose is to
invoke the invasion by the federal govern
nlent Of those rights which the constitu-
ton has guaranteed to the States. To
advocate these objects, this organ Of
foreign ideas does not cease to denounce
the acts of the Republican govern
ment, and holds it responsible for all
the decline that has fallen upon New Or
leans. When, however, we look upon the
ruins of the st. Louis Hotel, the finest |
building for its purposes in this city; when |
we see the Bank of Louisiana sold for less
money than the iron Enclosure around it |
cost, when there are three other banking |
houses in the same quarter which have
been closed for years for banking pur-
poses, when we see the railroads, the ship
ping and the produce trade DESERVING the
first chosen sections Of the city and NOV
ing to new and distant sections the ruins
give us sincere concern, and we regret
that those who direct the public thought
Of the ruinous section will not take more
rational view Of the facts connected with
the radical change of trade and the in
creasing desolation of these ruins
We deny that the decline Of the old part
Of New Orleans is attributable tc the po-
itical abuses Of the Republican party, or
hat it could be repaired by change of
'arty administration. The causes lie
leeper than politics. As patient perish
ng with pulmonary disease persists in
alling it "a bad cold, SO city suffering
rom diversion Of its trade is persuaded ;
hat the improper occupation OF few
undred offices and the oppression Of pub :
C debt or excessive taxation is the sole
ause of the morbid decay or dry rot which
as settled down on its commerce. We
i'll coneede as much debt, as heavy
xes, as mach incompetency in civic ad- d.
inistration as may be demanded, and it :.
i'll not account for the stagnation Of our
ty. The proof is plain. The stagnation -
trade is chiefly confined to one part Of :,
e city; the progress and improvement ,
exclusiv ely evident in another. 6,
A comparison of the taxable values in =
rec pr ncipal representative districts of \
e old part of the city with that of three =
the new or American part will show !,
at progress has not been arrested =.
taxation Or debt, and that the largest =.
lount of wealth and the heaviest burden
taxation rests upon the American por- G,
n of the CITY. "