The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-12-15
lack OF sagacity on the part Of the people and
their official servants which Is deplorable in

and willing and anxious to work, was waited ON Il
by public 9ca Who Ha demapded dnaga q I'm ander @
itege Of aoorhjnol And had to pay it OF, could
not work In few words, poor, .,, barbaross. fand
ercise of privilege the great God had given
me when He sent me into this world-the prfy-
ness through my own honest effort.
You can readily imagine the shock created by
this demand on poor. nnsophisticated young young
But there was. I plead that | was on the
great highway Of life, it was true,, but that W
Gn ss 1 Sa aPa eGesf ea py
you are on the highway, but [ am
high!.oaBnan, and now go'o' naon,ey 2s1ss
privilege Of leaving my c9rporat9 Yesx @
And 50 when, in the 5Tss R oshe greas s D.
pC SabY the afmy ISs fs than hbgyg P yg gon M
ly denied the privilege of wOnits. s
myself and my family until preturned
had not) into the treasury. Amor and W
upshot of this wonderful conditEtern-
Why my case was put before Coli Tor
the official right hand of Gen CapbTefl
foreigner and q stranger in our m DIST, e
ed his wonder over such q condition Of
and issued the following order:
- is hereby authorized to pursue his D.. # 4#&S e
ness without moestation, except under order
Here we have the singular and important fact
Of the stern military eye pereeiving the bar,
barous unwisdom OF the semi civil power. and
at single stroke Of the pen restoring to poor
lege, Of which it had been ruth essiy. robbed;
and the illustration, borrowed from the expe-
rience of my early LIFE. is not less striking ! a a
be useful to himself and to society at large, but
he has only his brains and his energy as caDi.
M The ne Of f2 @ into efy
that needs good population, but the Hrst thing
that city does is to demand Of him that which ne
ply the little VII ich he must necessarily spend
right here in the effort to make more Can
human ingenuity work ,sa out plan more of re-
But let us cuIsorily review this new license
ordinance as it lies before u.s. From the stfnd-
points Of the law Of common sense and OF the
simplest justice. taxation should bear equally
upon the people-.and, although the auibbIers
would have MS believe otherwise. the exaction
of a license is the levving of q tax. Does this
ordinance equally distribute the tax? Far.
very far from it.
Illustrations: =,
No 2-Public two-horse carriage, not stand
ing on the streets, $40: omnibus (which Is q
four wheel two horse vshicle) $50.
No. 3. Banks dealing in gold silver, uncur-
rent money or exchange. or doing any banking
business. $1,000. Every member Of firm or
company dealing in foreign or domestic ex-
doing q banking business, $500 each. -.
In other words. bank with one million doll
hodefsp fsp pays o While e9 men
the second named business, with a capital Of
900, will pay an aggregate Of $1,000.
b
office, 3d. Every member of q firm printing
newspaper, s25. Yet more capital may be tn-
esee na thae by 2ns the latter a'e
Every proprietor Of billiard room. sfOe.
No. 6. Every proprietor of race course. $500.
Every proprietor of saw mill. $50. Yet the
former is open two weeks in year and rareIV
yields profits while the latter r. runs oil the time
No. 7. Every person Keeping q stall for the
sale OF poultry. game ne or or vegetable. only @ said
member of a firm keeping. private market,
800. Yet the so-caled private market man
only adds to poultry. game and vegetables w
beef. mutton and pork, and may not have nall
the capital Of the former or be making half the
money.
interesting feature in this ordinances doW
Every pedder, hawker or deafer in imita-
ton M ]eMTelry clothing or dry goods etc. taee'fv-
Every, peddler Of notions. cutlery. candy.
cigars pictures, etc, fUe dollars"
"All persons Deddling fresh milk. cream
cheese, natural flowers, game. fresh vegetables,
eggs, fruits, bread. poultry and meat shall be-
Now the reader knows ere this that condemn
the whole, license system 1naualifedly. and
ne eepa bs ar Il s Fly wea
pie who put them In office, and ask them on
what authority they undertake to exercise such
is here shown. Why shall q man who peddles
clothes pay foe times as much as the man who
peddles cigars. or candy, or picturesi Clothes
pictures.
Again. why shall peddler of clothes pay s25,
and pedder Of milk, cream cheese. flowers,
game, vegetables, eggs. fruit. bread and meat
pay nothing at a12
Or. worse yet, why shall the proprietor Of q
private market paw s1oo for the privilege OF sell
ing food, and the Deddler OF the same food he
exempt from liceuse2 Or, why, shall the ped
dler sell meat free and the man who cooks it for
US tthe restaurant keeper) pay 800 for the
privilege?
people that this license system is g barbara eJgp
blot on our civilization, and millsoeN a.
the meek Of hnman 1dastr Lust y The ~
ton that we shall live by the sweat OF our brow.
and the poor and the young. or worse, the poor
lesser. but not less exacting. majesty of mans
law an and n made to pay for the necessity OF obey
do not sit here to criticfse the motives or the
wisdom of the Council in fixing Licensees On
the contrary. pity the conscientious man W
throat o Of s society. . Eut do unhesltatIngiy
demn any, set of men who will undertak
| step outside the pale of the law and ex
one class from penalty flor this ii Isl whi
others pay. / have no doubt that their
q must hs have eonyineed vi them Of the barba1
the system 10 it its eptFst t ta and Of the
That this people have long yearne
utter extinguishment Of the licens
there is no doubt yet we have never
Councils, who theoretically at least
the people, bending their energies
The great sum Of effort on the p
Council is to arrange the so-ca
debt" in the interest Of its holders
the last drop Of blood possible
tate. while Capital walks our
free. The same energy fairly
earnest determination to find
the highest law tribunals what
| owes would have long ago Il
so-called necessity OF O lice
would have so freed all prog
| to have given us the mean
| beautify and drain our city
| attract foreign capital.
| The first great duty Of
| is to free himself from
| Of taxation save that "
| eT7ln,efst-to the organi
whole: and II his cOI
end, then surely cQ
| en- of the necessit
| Then is the poar
| in proportion, q