The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1877-01-10
tent orleial intlmldatIOn Of the republican


ask your attention gentlemen, 10 q kin
dred consideration. I have referred TO the
vast power of the government OF Louisiana
over the fortunes Of her people, and indicated
its bearing upon the question of Intimidation.
The manner in which that power has been
employed bears still more directly upon that
question. The cOiOred people OF the state labor
under many di >advantages which their former
enSlaVement has ent0lled upon them, Dut
they are not so besotted with ignorance as 10
be insensible 10 the ordinary motives of pru-
dence and Seif-interest- Bad laws tell upon
their prosperity. Like other citizens they are
able 10 realize the blessings OF good govern
ment, and 10 feel the mischiefs OF political
corruption and spOliatiOn in the name of
law. What has the Kellogg government OF
Louisiana, as we call IT, done for the people or
the state, white or black? Let me give you
few Facts, some Of which gather from Mr.;
Chas. Nordhof's book on "Ihe Cotton states"
The officers charged with the execution of the
laws are not only inefficient but corrupt.
Justice is not only denied, but openly sold.
Judge Ludcling, who was branded
with dishOnnor by the supreme court of
the United States, as already mentioned,
was made chief justice OF the state by Cover
nor kellogg. In the republican parish of Plac-
To 1870, 81 of whom were co,ored and murdered
by poop OF their own race, not one of whom
has been hung. In the parish of Natchitoches
Il murders occurred within the same period,
but not man of the murderers paid the for
felt of his life, although the parish all the
time under republican rule, with corrupt
judge, tbieving tax collector, and a police
jury made up mainly of lliiterate negroes.
fhe murder OF Henry Pinkston illustrates the
sunni GENERAL lhtl. Inc case ladS UGH liidNc
very sensational by republic an politicians. The
version of the affair given by Mrs. Pinxs on
startled the whole country. She was brought
into the court room on litter, as II in the last
stages of life from the effects of her fearful
wounds; and the committee of visiting repub-
licans evidently felt that here was a case
which turned the political ta0les decidedly in
their favor. But there was no evidence that
the murder had any connection whatever
with politics. Pinkston himself was demo-
crat. Many of the statements of
Mrs. Pinkston were conclusiYely shown
10 be false. She was shown TO be herself des-
Her character for veracity, as well as in other
respects, was proved 10 be as bad as possible.
she had been indicted for murder. 1t turned
out that she was able to walk about town on
the day she was carried into court, and that
the circumstances of her appearance there
were part ola theatrical performance which
was planned and enacted in the interest OF
the political cause IL was designed TO serve.
But these are incidental observations. The
fact Is that Henry PlnkstonS life was taken
by violence. and that no effort whatever was
made TO find out the criminal. The coroner
OF the parish, a republican, declined to hold an
inquest over his body. The governor offered
no reward for the discovery and arrest of his
murderer, and but tor the effort that was
made to connect the affair with politics II
would probably have attracted no attention.
In n few parishes of the state there Is a good
deal of general lawlessness, like that which
prevails in some of our western territories;
but neither in these parishes, nor in the state
generally lis the punis ament oe crime enforced.
The governor rivals the president
The government, with well nigh absolute
power at Its command, connives at the open
defiance of its authority, and thus makes it.
self party TO the mu tiplied acts of lawless-
ness and outrage which scOurge the state.
These acts very rarely grow out of any question
colOred races but whatever their oigin may
be, the government is wholly without excuse
in falling to employ against them the strong
hand of power, and thus making itself ter
ror to the people instead of the protector OF
their rights and the aVenger of their wrongs.
The failure of the civil authorities in other
respects Is equally ineXcueable and shocking.
The public schools Of the state are converted
into political engines and largely given over
to the management Of demagOgues. I'm
worthy, incompetent, and drunken charac-
tiers are employed as teachers as the reward of
political services. In many parishes the
members of the legislature are members and
officers of the school board. and the schools
thus become part of the regular machinery
of politics. The business of the teachers is
not TO teach, but TO talk up the man whoap-
points them. Only a little over one-fifth of
the children of the state, between the ages OF
SIX and twenty-One, are enrolled in
the public schools In one parish the
treasurer of the school board uses the funds
Tor his private purposes, and pays the teacher
in scrip In two other parishes the treasurers
abscond with large amount of money. In
another the school money is invested in pri-
waite business and speculation. In the parish
OF st. James the school board burned their rec
ords on leaving the Office. The administration
OF local sch oil boards abouuds in embezzie-
ments, defalcations, incompetency and faith
=
superintendent.
The fnsncial policy of the government is
equally vicious and profigate. In New Or
leans the assessors receive five per cent. on
their assessments. In the parishes OF the
state the collectors receive ten per cent. of
their collections. The assessments are some
times as high as one hundred, and even one
hundred ana fifty per cent. above the true val
ue of the property, and the assessor receives
his fee on the entire amount, although the
false valuation may afterward be corrected.
The rate oil taxation Is equally startling, being
sometimes as high as seven or eight cents on
the dollar. The effect of this shameful mal-ad-
ministration is greatly to depreciate the value
of all property in the state and paralize all
branches of business and industry. 1t
the people. The love of plumber sometimes
seeks 10 disguise itself IN the form of indirect
taxation. The legislature of the state has
chartered a company with the exclusive right
to sell lottery tickets In the state, condition
Of its annual payment OF $4,000 and the act
declares one of its objects to be "to raise fund
for educational and charitable purposes" On
a million Of capital il Is said this company
makes not less than $3.50 900 clear profit year
ly, and IL has established policy shops and
petty gambling dens at various points In New
Orleans, and thus greatly demoIalized the Ia
tered in 1874, under the name CT "Society for
The Prevention Of Cruelty 10 Animals" whose
object seems to have been the raising of a
revenue by cat lie stealing, and one of the
most amusing chapters of Mr.. Nordhof7s book
is that in which he refers to the numerous
chartered monopolies by which the people are
uccCtN uuucl tie ltaASc pIttthScOi pTOilOtlDE
their welfare. / can not dwell upon these
matters further, nor have the time to notice
in detail the election laws of the state, and
the u q which has been made OF their dishOn-
est machinery. l have already dealt with the
returning board, which / am sure has no
honest defenders in the country, unless / ex-
cept Senator sherman and his unsophisticated
associates of the visiting republican commit
tee. only remark that $40 false registra-
items were made in the city of New Orleans
alone by the republican officials in 1874. and /
believe over 600 in the late election; that the
legislature is sometimes largely composed of
supervisors OF registration who are chosen
from arishes they never saw till they went
there to superintend the election; and that in
the election of 1874, In a case where the demo-
cratic ticket succeeded, the records were car
risd by the supervisor of the parish to New
Orleans and concealed in a house OF prostitu-
ton, one of whose inmates was sent TO drive a