St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1878-09-14
communicated ]

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cratic parish committee on the candl
dates nominated ly the same convention
tia, left authority for its creation, (th'
executive committed You seem to b'
in favor tina; should the committee fai
tn co]irrt the amount levied on eacl
candidate. they d,oI. the name of thu
candidate 81 failing to pay "'r! proceed
Immediately to appoint another "wh'
viii pry' and so on.
Now for the sake of argument Let Ii
~urprSe that al or majority OF th'
c,udidatrS nominated neglect or rcfus,
10 DAY the amount assessed upon e"ci
Of them respectively. Do you propos,
in surh AN event that the executive
committee proceed to undo and annu
the work OF the convention by droppins
the entire or most of the ticket nomi-
u,tc,i and offer az 81 substitute new
set of names7 If | understand your
,raning, this is your proposition. Fol
i paper which processes to advocate
nnion and harmony (permit me to sug-
gpst) it looks as if you were making Il
frur pas. Such proceedings would bring
decentralization and confusion in oul
ranks and would eventually result III
the partial if not total defeat of the
Democratic ticket.
The candidates whose names appear
| in the first column of your paper are
| the nominees of convention remark
able for the quantity of leading and
! representative men who composed 1t,
and that convention has failed to cloth
, it's then future executive committee with
authority to levy IL discretionary tax on
the candidates of its choice. That body
I alone could vest in the committee such
power and havin. failed to do it, the
committee rsEnnt ASSUME so much au-
tiIority without even a precedent to
show for Justification.
By this modus opefandi the committee
could drive out CT tn" field any or all Of
the candidates nominated previously
and who wonld he unfortunate enough
not to be en- 0deur de saintet6 with a
maiurity of the parish committee.
The committee has the uudeniahlr
right-nay it is Il part of their duties
to solicit suhScl iptions for rampalgn
PURPOSES, of the MANY members OF the
party, whether they be candidates o
uot; The candidates would readily see
the business Gf surh Il measure and
would undoubtedly subscribe on ever.
instance. pr"portionatrly 10 his means,
or money value aud dignity OF the office
he is aspiring to; but this solicitation
in my opinion is the limitrf jurisdiction
of the committee.
| do not believe that any of those
nominated hy the Democratic c"nven-
ton and win object to the assessment
above spoken of, "are iaboring under
he laIlucination of your Chicot canhi
:late;' hope they have senso enough
to comprehend that registration notices
.ts ais" tickets are expenses to be paid
i'y them exclusively, do not think
the DEMOCRAT has any reason ~ allegt
why prrIlaps they are "laloring unlt,
':nprrs>ioH that the expenses Of tl
rl,npaign s!l"ul.t be fuotth s,y the men-
t,prs of the com mitee." This isexactl.
where the difference arises; they are
under the impression that the commit
tet. should Iet them manage their busi-
ness thrmstIves, confident that they Can
make use Of their money as judicionsl,
rs the committee while the committc,
is under the impression that it is better
levy Il tax and Use the money OF the
candidates as it they had no confidence
in their wisdom for such transactions.
They object to the committee spending
any money except what they will get by
private subscriptions and they deny the
right of any body to impose upon them
), tax wha atsoever.
The convention never dreamed of
giving any such power or authority to
its then future executive committee and
should an attempt be made by that body
to enforce their resolution relative to
said assessment, and drop the names of
those who will not pay, the probable
is that we will have two
tickets in the field each claiming pre-
ference over the other, and certain de-
feat be the inevitable sequel. ..~
The committee must bear in mind
that in suchan emergency it will assume
very grave responsibilities towards the
people. viz: that of defeating the ticket
by them in convention as
and of giving satisfactory rea-
sons therefor; the position will not be
IN enviable one for any of them.
/ sincerely hope that some means will
be found yet, which will avoid the shame
20 the Democracy of presenting two
tickets to the people for ratification, |
hereby diminishing the prospect of u |
complete success at the next election |
rot to say secure the election of a radi- |
,al ticket. Very respectfully
. Your obedt. servt.,
..- ~ DEMOCRAT.
nh l. TS