New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-09-12
GENERAL NICHOLS AT MONROE.

Il
. place. There is little or nothing in tn
general principles laid down by Genera
Nichols to which any Republican cal
dissent; on the contrary, he appears t.
us to be much better Republican thar
Democrat, at least in theory. We might
perhaps, dispute the applicability of some
of his facts to the results attributed t
to them, and have no sort of hesitation il
filing doubt Of his ability to be such 6
Governor as he promises He is now il
the position of the man in the pasture
trying to catch the horse; he displays
very prominently the nubbin, but con
ceals the halter under his arm. Wait till
he gets hold of the foretop, and then note
the change. Out comes the halter, and
all efforts at persuasion and Cancellation
cease at once. Here is sample Of the
bait held out:
shall be Governor of no party and of
no race, but the whole people. l am one
of those who have an awful sense of the
solemnity and binding force of an oath, and
l would violate my oath of office if served
one class of citize IA, or any special interest
in the State, to the prejudice of others.
While am Governor there shall be NO use.
less office nor corrupt officers, if it is in my
power to prevent it.
| General Nichols is no doubt sincere
and honest man, and means what he says.
But he is very green politician if he
| supposes he can run the Democratic party
Of this State upon any such basis as in
| dicated in the above extract He will be
popular and influential just so long as he
does as he is bid to do by the leaders and
paladins who will surround him and scru-
tinize his every act
The General, however, lays too great a
stress upon the taxes. He is no doubt
correct in saying that the burdens of taxa
ton fall upon the laborer and cotter no
less than on the rich; but that all the
poverty, distress and threatened bank
ruptcy which he alludes to have their
origin in excessive taxes and bad govern
ment can not be demonstrated to the sat-
isfaction Of reason. 1t is, however, the |,
custom for political tyros, no less than
veteran demagogues. to harp upon this
plea whenever they find themselves before
a crowd that is not likely to be critical.
1t would not do to come out squarely
and state the exact truth in Monroe. 1t
would have been exceedingly unpopular
to tell that peculiar audience that the
principal cause of the trouble complained
of in Louisiana is our foolish attempt to
avert the curse pronounced in the Garden
of Eden. Too many poor men and women
in this State are striving to live and keep
up show Of responsibility without work.
In the town of Monroe, where Mr. Mich
oils was making this speech, there is prob
ably as much genteel poverty in proper
ton to numbers as anywhere There are
no factories there, and we suppose the |
most Of the clothing, boots and shoes,
hats and caps, etc., are brought there |
ready made in boxes. The ladies do not |
even knit their own stockings. Such
condition of society shows that the people
are required to pay not only for raw ma
terial which they can not produce, but
for labor, of which they have abun-
dance unemployed In this city it
was remarked the other day that
twenty-six men were employed in putting
up brick wall-one negro mason, who
was doing the work, and twenty-five
white men who stood idly By, looking on!
When the mason went home at night he
found his own supper waiting for him,
and did not feel the burdens of taxation.
The idlers dispersed to eat the bread Of
and thought this the worst
governed country on the earth. Enough
money is spent for whisky and beer alone
n this State every year to feed and clothe
very man in it, and not by the rich,
either. Cigars and tobacco form another
tenn more than double all that is paid for
axes, while the money spent for pistols,
ixed ammunition, gimlet knives, sword
,anes and the like would be sufficient tc
nm the public schools.
The comparatively small item of taxes
becomes dwarfed into actual insgnificance
When considered in connection with the |
immense drains for vices and the losses
rowing out of unemployment. But
General Nichols carefully avoids any OF
1,,lp |
ersistently marshals the taxes, bad laws
nd alleged mal-administration in the
Doubtless it was more eff
sctual in campaign speech to lay all the
ault upon political opponents than to en-
er into an examination of the most fla
rant violations of the laws of political
We heartily join with General Nichols
his desire for a peaceable campaign
nd ''iair and square election" If there c
re not Republican votes enough in this !
tate to elect our ticket we ought to be $
eaten. But we do not intend to lose by y
efault, such as will be occasioned by a q
ell planned system of intimidation. +
/ case every Republican shall be left ,
erfectly free to vote for the man or men q
his choice and have that vote made
fective in the count, without any acct !
mt either to the ballot box or the re- n
rms, and We fail of success, the Demo- s
ats will be entitled to the honors Of the Il
Glory. But if the tactics of 1872 and d
IA are resorted to, the policy which re- c
tied in the forcble CAPTURE of Missis- | q