The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-11-13
A DAMAGING CONFESSION.

A DAMAGING CONfESSlUN.
The New Orleans Republican of Wednesday
(the 11th), under the heading "Driven from
business into Politics." makes the following
remarks which contain good deal of truth,
mixed with some Justification Of facts. We
scarcely looked for such candid admissions
on the part Of men who emphatically live by
following politics as business"
If a stranger were to come to New Orleans
in search Of Republican business house, he
would stand good chance to fail in his mis-
sion Whatever may be said of the tolerant
spirit of the people here, the fact remains, q
stubborn thing. that there are no Republicans
| left who transact or control any business of
moment. There is not banking institution,
an insurance company, dry goods house, q
grocery, not even bookstore under the con-
troll Of Republicans Our cotton factors, our
cotton press managers, Steamboat and steam
| ship agents and auctiOneers are all taken from
| the Democracy, at least they all wisely profess
| to belong to that party, and must stand ready
| to respond literally to any demand tor a sub
scription in the name Of "the people," no
matter by whom presented. 1t is necessity,
not choice, that has thus driven Republicans
from the marts into politics. There are few
of these who would not gladly surrender wht
is generally called their public positions of
trust and emolument to the more truly inde-
pendent vocations of private station. Yet an
experiment in that direction would assuredly
end in loss and failure as hundreds of our
citizens can testify. Their stores have been
avoided as pest houses, and high rents, taxes
and other expenses have b9en the moth and
rust which closed them out The Republican
newspaper is the oldest, if not the sole surviv-
ing anti-Demo cratic establishment of any
magnitude in the city. And if we had not
fortunately been placed in position of indie
pendence of this odious freezing out process,
there would not now be brick left standing.
When q sensible Northern correspondent
comes here and writes these truths home to
his paper, he is, at once, branded as a talsi-
fer, but no witnesses are ever called to refute
the alleged calumny. There are none to call
The last one sold out years ago, and sought
an Office as last resort All have passed
away, either as disheartened, rnined men, or
have accepted the uucongenial field Of poll |
tics. These are the fruits. It requires no
great skill to know the trees upon which they
grow They spring directly from the fell
spirit OF ostracism, prescription and re-
venge, which has been invoked by the
Democracy, to mOnOpolize everything except |
What wonder, then, that the Republicans
have been forced to take up politics as pro-
tession. Nothing else was left them. And
yet we shall expect to see what we have-writ-
ten above stoutly denied. Let him who would
dlsprove what we say bring Democratic wit
ness with a receipted bill from an outspoken
Republican for anything which could have
been obtained elsewhere, and We will gladly
pdbiish it as an exception to prove the rule.
There are many Northern men who have
come here since the war who have always
acted with the Republican party, and yet
pursuits. These men were not ostracized for
the reason that, although not siding with the
majority Of the people of Louisiana, they did
not feel called upon to insult, denounce and
SANDER them on any and every occasion. The
rascals who came here in tho wake of the Fed
oral troops, and who have brought cur State
to the verge Of bankruptcy, had neither money
nor credit They were all "on the make,
and those who failed to wriggle into
office generally went into all sorts OF
bogus enterprises, "con6dence business
operations and wild cat companies, having no
other object but plumber. Of course, all
these Jeremy bidders sooner or later came to
grief, and, being on excellent terms with the |
police and the Governor, had no fear OF being
sent to the Penitentiary, where most Of them
should now be serving the State without re-
pleting her finances. These model Re-
publicans were, as their organ truly says,
70 forced to take up politics as
profession. This we fully admit
out must differ with their panegyrist when he
dds: Nothing else was left them" They
,ould have turned their attention to honest
abor, whether in town or country. They
night have done even betten by packing up
heir buds and leaving Louisiana for Louisi-
mas good. They preferred to "stick," and
he result is the present condition of affairs
n the land which these human grasshoppers
AVE so effectually eaten up and transformed
rom a blooming garden into barren and
leSOlate waste.