Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1878-06-08
SUPREME INDIFFERENCE.

last lew Gays. IL "dSs dCCoiu'uS
to them, a TEMPEST in teapot
they had virtuous regrets at seeing
Judiciary become SO much inter.
ested in so triflfg matter, and
showed a majestic contempt for
controversy between a couple OF
lottery ticket vendors. At the
same time the public cannot but
remember that a portion Of the
press of this city has'not been above
devoting a whole page at IL time to
the advertisements Of one of those
ticket vendors and pocketing a con-
siderable amount of it's ill-go'ten
gains. The. supreme indifference,
and the supurb contempt, and the
laborious belittling of the issue,
though apparently directed equally
and impartially against both part
les; are not above suspicion. The
excitement was all WORKING one
way. If posses had been called
out by the respective sheriffs, Mr..
Towards posse would have amount,
ed to q dozen or two OF his own
employees, while all the abIe-bod-
led men in that city would, if ne
cessary, have gladly joined the
other. If Mr.. Howard had him
self owned and published lottery
'@organ," it could not have adopt
ed shrewder line than to pooh
pooh the issue as unworthy the at
tention of the public.
But, in fact, tive pub ic feeling
which really did exist, the "adver>
Using mediums" to the CONTRARY
Notwithstanding, and which exists
to-day sufficiently strongly and
universally to take summary meas
ures if this were not an essentially
law'abiding community. was not
enlisted in a mere squabblc o: RI
val gamblers. 1t was an exhibi-
ton of the deep-seated public in
dignation that has long existed
among us az the fact that the tot.
terry iniqui,y is legalized at all, and
particularly that it is made a mo-
nopoly. There is no reason why
the same principle, f. proper in
this instance, should not be ex.
tended to every other business.
The democratic principle is sup
posed to be that every kind of bus
mess is open 20 everybody on the
same terms. Certainly govern.
ment may put conditions to it's ex-
ercise. 1t may require license
to be obtained =: it may stipulate a
certain degree of skill or iacom-
potency ; but these conditions ap-
ply to rybody alike, and no
one who meets them is exclud ed !.
Upon the principle of. monopoly
it is absolu tely prohibits
ed that anybody shall lex,
ercise certain calling, except
specified persons.
This is One of the worst features
of despotism. 1t assumes that all
right vests in the king ana that
he can concedc such portions
thereof as he may prefer. The
poisonous principle of monopoly
probably crept into this country
under the despotic government OF
tho old Spanish regime, and like
every other faint is hard to eradi-'
cate. Ii Louisiana were the Is
land of Cuba we should not be sur.
prised to see mouopolies sold out
to individuals, not only in the lot
terry, but many other kinds of bus
mess. Il will he an evil day for
America if this fearful poison
should sp1c cad. No wonder that
the people are uneasy at lite pres
ence. Every instinct Of republic
can self preservation is shocked
by the contact, and hence the
general interest in conflict
which our 'Fadvertising mediums"
sought so sed.lously to ridicule as
an undigniied judicial squabblc.
Well, the popular feeling was
too ip'perious to be trifed with and
it triumphed. The Governor,
willingly, or unwillingly, abau-
doned his protegcs, and there
upon they surrendered. We
claim that this is most encourage
ing symptom. Little by little the
body polite of this State is recov-
ering a healty tone; and in the
same ratio it is sloughing off the
diseased scabs and ulcers that had
accumulated during its sickness and
imprisonment. The Democratic
party has been blamed for retain
ing in office certain vagabonds and
professional parasites, but the
Demncratic marty too WAS still