The daily gazette., 1877-05-12
PACKARD ON LOUISIANA.

The worm will turn to sting the foot
that treads upon it, and rackard has been
goaded to break silence about the Louisi-
ana election returns by the declaration of
the New York Tribune that the return
board OF that State scared more for the
State administration than it did for.the
Presidency" aud that it decided ssnopush
the rejec ton of votes beyond. All reason
able limits for the sake Christening Mr..
Packard on President Hayes coat-tails.o
The Tribune was most unfortupate IN
thus provoking Packard to a public ex-
planatiieu, for he publishes reply in that
journal Of yesterday that cannot be an
swered. Mr.. Packard shows that had
The return board stopped with throwing
out the ull-dozed parishes of East Baton
Rouge, Elst and West Feliciana, More
housey Ouachita, Grant, De Soto, I.afay
ette and Webster, the result would have
been as follows : ,... ,il.. ~.
GOVERNOR.
Nichols, Dem. 1854 Packard, Rep. "a, 1892
Democrats. ELECTORS. Republicans.
McEnry. .....74 ,995 Kellogg. .75, $50
Wickliffe .... 1903 Burch. nc, ,663
St. Martin. ...74, ,S15 Joseph. ..... "a, ,421
Poche. .......74,6 ,639 Sheldon. rs, ,428
De Blanc. ....74, ,797 Marks 1910
Seay y......... 74.976 Levisee .. ,901
Cobb. ........74 III Brewster. 78,9O)
Cross ........74,76S Jeffrion, q. .74,127
Mr.. Packard thus shows that it was
necessary to 'push the rejection of
votes" beyond the bull-dozed parishes
not only to save the Packard State
ticket, but also to save Hayes, and he
reminds the Tribune that Its claim
that additional work was done ''for the
sake of fastening Mr. Packard to Mr..
Hayes coat-tails" is "curiously at
variance with the facts" He then
shows that the board could have re-
jected the additional parishes of Uald-
well, Nathitoches and Richland, and
accepted the face of the returns in the
other parishes, with the following
results.-Packard over Nichols, 40i,
and Wickliffee, st. Martin De Blanc
and Seay, Democratic electors, maiori-
ties ranging from to 66 over their
Republican competitors, which would
had given the Republicans the State
administration and both branches of
the Legislature, and given to Tilden
four electoral votes when one would
have elected him, But Mr.. Packard
reminds the Tribune, that
Instead of thus resting, they "pushed
the rejection of votes" beyond these
limits. Additional polls were rejected
in the parishes of Bossier, Catahoula,
Claiborne, Franklin, Iberia, Livings-
ton, st. Landry, Tangipahoa, and in
three wards of the city of New Or
leans, which did not affect the election
of Governor or the membership of the
General Assembly, and from such .ae-
tion resulted the majority of the Hayes
electors. adopt the words of the
Tribune and join in your suggestion
that "uneasy Republicans who are
worrying over the hearings of the
Louisiana settlement upon the Presi-
dents title will do well to keep these
figures in mind"
Mr. Packard clearly demonstrates
that the rejection of votes in Louisi-
ana was not solely in the interest of
himself and the State ticket, bat that
the work had to be pushed "beyond
all reasenablellimits" to give the Hayes
electors majorities. The best thing
that the Tribune can do is to dismiss
the arithmetical feature of the Louisi-
ana return, and not goad those who
did the figure-work to tell anything
about it, for it cannot be stirred with
out making presidential stencil in the
nostrils of the nation. There is force
in its assumption thss the selection of
electors is duty imposed upon the
State, and that the revision of the law
full tribunals of the States is a question
of the greatest delicacy and fraught
with the gravest of possible wrongs,
but no journal with just claims to fair
ness, can defend the original return of
for Hayes and Wheeler with
out violence to every dictate of public
integrity.-Times. .......
Washington NOT and Gossip.
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