The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-11-20
WATCH AND WAIT.

There appears to be some diversity of opin-
ION as to the time when the city officers elect
should take their seats and enter upon the
performance Of their official duties, and while
some are OF the opinion that the old officials
should walk out and decline to legislate fur
ther, others are equally sure that the officers
elect should enter in at once, take possession
and proceed to discharge the functions of
Office. It does not seem to occur to either of
these parties that the city charter prohibits the
incumbents from abandoning their officers un-
til they are regularly relieved by their success
sors, nor that the charter likewise prescribes
the time upon which officers elect shall take
their seats.
should the parties in Office 60 out before
they are relieved by their successors, their
bondsmen would clearly be responsible, and
should the officers elect take their seats before
they have conformed with the requirements of
the charter-given bonds, etc.-their every
act would be illegal and valid. There is no
special necessity, so far as we can see, in this
matter of the city officials entering upon their
duties, and if there is any possibility of our
being tricked out of our fairly won victory in
the State, it may be matter for serious con-
sideration whether it will be worth while to
have any city administration at all.
The expenses of the city government can,
it 10 true, be greatly lessened, and many
needed reforms can be introduced in the con-
duct Of city officers; but without Legislature
that will pass those measures of relief which
are absolutely requisite, the city cannot be
lifted out of the financial slough of despond
into which she has fallen. The ablest finan-
ciers in christendom would never be able to
afford any permanent relief to the city SO long
as she is under the spell Of those horrid
nightmares of oppression and injustice the
metropolitan police, the park tax, the schools
as at present managed, the drainage tax as at
present levied, and others too numerous to
enuperate.
Without favorable and honest Legislature,
New Orleans is doomed for two years longer,
SO far at least as any large and comprehensive
system Of financial relief is concerned A
little delay, therefor, in effecting the change in
the City Administration, need not be attended
with any disastrous results, and it will enable
us to give our undivided attention to the antics
of that preposterous board, which, like a
mammoth hen, sitting on marble eggs, can
scarcely be expected to hatch out satisfactory
results.
We must not lose sight of the Returning
Board for one instant; we must watch it with
the cat-like vigilance and overmastering
anxiety evinced by the Confederate prisoners
on Johnston Island during the war. when
they crouched by the side of a rat hole for
hours to obtain the wherewithal to keep body
and soul together; we must watch it as the
gambler watches the turn of the card upon
which his fate rests; we must watch it as
honest men watch their chattles when thieves
and burglars are around.
The Radicals on that Board mean to cheat
us if they can, and we must not lose sight Of
that all-important fact in any diversity OF
opinion about the city Offices.