New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-07-28
Communicated
WHAT OF 1T :

The Attorney General, by virtue Of his
office, is in duty bound 10 prosecute all Of
tenders againet the State, no matter what
may be the position, social or official, of
such offenders. In pursuance of this duty,
and further melted thereto by the urgency
Of the Governor to purify every department
Of his administration from tho faint and
trace Of dishonesty or corruption, as well
as to protect the interests Of the State, the
Attorney General has taken the necessary
legal steps to bring to justice all persons
accused Of malfeasance or corruption in
Office. This has naturally excited the il!-will
of such persons. and they have accordingly
set themselves to work to ferret out, if pos.
sibfe. some weak spot in the armor Of the
Attorney General, some damaging fact in
connection with his official career. Their
researches have been rewarded by learning
that in availing himself of the lega! provision
emitting him 70 the assistance Of clerk,
he has appointed his wife to that position.
What Of it. Has he not as good right TO
appoint one person as another when there
is no legal obstacle: has he not as much
right to appoint female clerk as the post
master has to appoint his female assistants.
or the city government to have female
librarian, or as the Governor would have, if
he chose to exercise it. to appoint female
assistant private secretary! There is no
accusation that the work of the Attorney
General Office has been neglected, but only
that it has been performed by a woman
That such petty gossip should pass from
mouth to mouth among idlers, Or spiteful
persons melted to revenge by the exposure
of their own rascalities, is natural enough;
but that a respectable paper like the
Picayune, which has always aimed to main
tain high character, and standing quite
above the littleness implied in such cavil-
ling, should lend itself to work of this kind,
is strange indeed. Especially is it a matter
of surprise thatso cautious journal should
use language like the following: HE, too
(meaning the Attorney General), has been
wrongfully drawing money from the State"
This is grave charge, utterly unwarranted
by the facts of the case as far as known.
If it has no other foundation than the
Simple Ou6 Ol NlT.
wife as his clerk, she being perfectly com.
petent and performing properly the duties
of the place, the accusation of wrongfully
drawing money from the treasury is no
less than direct libel. We are inclined &C.
cordingly to think that the articles in the
Picayune, giving prominence to so paltry a
matter, and making accusations so unwar
ranted, must have been published by mis-
take.
As for the Times, there is no need to
notice it's article on this absurd subject, as
its animus will be readily understood by its
readers, and as it simply shows in detail
how much the lady earned.
If the enemies of Colonel Field, with all
their diligence in scandalizing sharpened to
extra activity by the exposure Of their own
can find nothing worse against
him than that he employs competent wife
as clerk, to the disinterested and impair
tial it will appear that go paltry an accusa
ton is in reality tribute.