New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-12-12
lml And 1874.

,laring errors peIpetIa'ou ~
seturning Board Of 1872. ACCORDING 10
he compilation made by the torman-
Mitchell board, it was only necessary 10
count the city as carefully as might be
with immunity from exposure
md then sci about making the country
marshes balance each other. The evidence
rro and con was weighed with all the
gravity that characterized the umpire Sc
lected to adjudicate the great cheese con-
trcversy between the two cats. Inc moae
0. procedure. however. differed IN tnss'
that whereas in the one case the Return
mo Board bit off chunks from. each cats
portion with great impartiality, in the
other all the loss was sustained by the lie
publican eat, and the confscations were
added to the store Of its Democratic rival
Where it became necessary to reduce the
Eepub,ican vote IL a parish. a ballot box
could generally bs found either tainted
WITH fra-d. or confronted by riva! in
oe,;ous,v stuffed for tho occasion. We
do the beard the justice to say that where
the evidences Of stufiing were very raipa-
BILE, the boxes were rejected, even If, as
was usually the case. the Democratic cause
would suffer by tho rejection, while
perhaps 8 feebler plea would prevail
against = strong Republican precinct.
For instance, whea the board came to St.
,1ames and IbervIle parishes, they were
thrown ont upon the absurd plea that the
whites were 50 inundated by the negroes
that they dare not 60 to the polls. St.
Martin was also rejected fer no better
reason, perhaps. than want OF prepon'
derating evidence either way. 1t does
net need much of margin in fifty-si1 OF
n,are parishes 10 change majority OF
twelve or fifteen thousand votes from one
side to the other, and the supervisors OF
election in Is Y were skillful men at hg-
ures and promptly raised the amoupt
levied upon them pro rata. We have res
ferred to the Forman- Mitchell board be-
cause it was the most honest, if not the
wisest of all the fusion boards. The
gentlemen who figured in the leading
business on that board never thought it
possible that those with whom they were
associated would be. guilty Of wrong.
Thinking no evil, therefore. they very
naturally disco vered none, except that
which was trac cable to the Radicals.
Thus it came about that these worthy
gentlemen permitted great many frauds
to slip unseen into the record, and that
thew arrived at q conclusion totally at vari-
ance with that Of all the other Returning
Boards whatever. The weak point with
that board was that it really had no re-
turns before it to canvass. The papers
which passed for such were either made
up entirely in this city by experts, or
were sub jected to d wholesome surveil-
lance. The Democrats, who had tried
this trick in 1872, tried to catch some OF
our fellows at it this year but failed, OF
course. What need has a. party with
plenty Of vot es to resort to tricks2 We
may admit for the present that the three
trunks were the legal repositories Of these
returns. Perhaps the red tape and seal
ing wax came from official sources. Even
the paper was no doubt paid for at high
rates by the State. But the figures from
the country-no, not any. They were
nearly al in one handwriting, when they
should have showed more than fifty varie-
ties of chiro graphy. Our local board
failed to notice this fatal error, but when
they reached the Senate committee room
sagacicus Democratic Senator saw
through the whole business at glance
and mildly suggested to the supercargo
that the best thing be could do with those
forgeries was to bury them. The hint
was promptly taken and no man outside
of Louisville, Nashville, Baltimore. Sails
bury, Anderson or White Sulphur Springs
we are not quite sure where they are
hid-has Sc en- them from that day to this.
This year we have the genuine returns
from majority Of the parishes, and there
can be no doubt thrown upon the legal
capacity Of the Returning Board. There
has been enough volunteer opinions ten
dered, wise and otherwise, to carry much
larger election than our last was, and
every little victim of notion insta ntly
conceived it to be an idea-a perfect bril-
liant, and insisted that the board adopt il
without inquiry or debate. Naturally the
board has been greatly embarrassed witt
such IN abundance Of resources, and
where il has been difficult or impossible
to reconcile tie suggestions with law Of
common sense, have been reluctantly com
PEELED to reject them and find q conclu
sion of their own. The militia have beer
called out at least five thousand time
since the board began its labors, or once
ct any rate, for every rejected proposition
Fortunately they did not come every time
We don't know what prevented obedience
but suspect the callers did not hav
SO much military authority as they triet
to make the Returning Board believe.
The Returning Board Of 1879 were per
mitted to meet in secret conclave, wher
they could put the best face possible upol
matters. The board of 1874, consciou
Of being in the right, with no intent, N
instructions nor mistaken sentiment o
any kind that they should make goo
case out of q bad one, sat with ope,