The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-04-10
A CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

the DEMOCRAT for It's assaults upon the late
Legislature The able and ingenious speech Of
Senator White, made In the closing hours Of
tbs session, has proselyted these journals and
furnished them with their thunder. We have
no desire to underrate the merits Of Mr..
Whites speech, nor the extent Of the retrench-
ments II WAS intended to point out We have
read the speech with great care, and though
we checrfully concede that every proposition
in II Ia correct, still 1t furnishes us no reason
~ reverse the judgment we have pronounced
upon the General Assembly, and which the
great mass Of the people have indorsed, that
H. that It failed In its pledges and Is deserv
ing of little else than public condemnation.
Indeed, were the Democratic party to plant
itself upon tho record Of that body and Mt
tempt to defend IT, 1t would meet with inevi-
table defeat In the coming elections.
What most astonlshes us in reading Mr..
Whites speech is that n body composed Of rep
resentatives Of the people. who found IL prac
ticabe by piddIing legislation. to reduce the
Indirect burdens under which the people have
80 long suffered over two millions Of dollars
per annum did not see the absolute necessity
Of striking Mt the very root Of the evil and
substituting for the present cumbersome and
expensive governmental system n simple,
inexpensive and constitutional system. This
saving Of $2,1s5, ATS pcr annup, shown by Mr..
White, did not enable the Legislature to
reduce In the least the burdens Of taxation
A reduction Of ~ mills Is indeed provided
for; but that reduction was based rather on
the belief that the Mofett register tax would
more than supply the void. than that there
would be any reduction In the expenses OF
the government.
That more might have been done Mr. White
admits, but he. afIlrms that the constitution
was bar TO further retrenchment. Mr.. White
Ia entirely right here During the session
of 1877, In the midst OF civil revolution with a
usurpatory and rival Legisla' ure In operation,
with the capital Of the State swarming with
hostile federal troops. the Legislature enacted
very nearly every single measure Of retrcnch-
ment which Mr. White has mentioned. Nearly
every single dollar Of the So 1856, AIS which Mr.
White shows to have been saved by tho acts Of
tho late Legislature, was saved by the legisla-
ton Of the session Of is77, when the Demo
was overwhelming. or the Legislation Of
that session there has been little or no com
plant, and no defense Of 1t, SO fur as Its meas
ures of retrenchment arc concerned, was
needed. But IL accomplished all that could be
accomplished under the present constitution
Therefore, when the session Of 1878 assembled,
in the midst Of profound peace, there was
nothing more to do in the line of retrench-
ment. The Legislature, then, had the choice
Of going on with the cumbersome and expen-
svc system of government we had wrested
from the Radicals and exercising no functions
except the drawing of mileage and per diem
and enacting bills to incorporate villages and
fire companies, or of calling a convention and
giving the people an opportunity 10 correct
the incurable abuses OF the present system
and establish constitution of their own
The Legislature preferred the former
course. 1t refused to call q constitutional
convention; 1t refused to repeal the charter
Of single monopoly, and now it presents the
record it made In the session Of 1877 as a de-
Tense against the attacks Of the people upon
the ignoble session Of 1873, which was
run by the Lottery Company, a ring Of
bondholders, and the Radical minority, re-
inforced by enough "fishy" Democrats to
constitute majority. This Is d brief sum-
mary of the reasons OF the public discomfort
and the almost general odum that has fallen
upon the session OF 1878.
The Legislature had a great work before it,
but it was not equal to it's sphere of duty.
The people demanded u large enlightened
and patriotic policy of reform, n constitutional
convention and the extinction Of the horde Of
odious and oppressive monopolies which dis
grace our civilization and cripple our indus
tries, and they were given batch OF amend
ments, the adoption of which will involve
everything in confusion and give us no
relief. When we complain. we are met
with the response that the session of
1877 saved the State per annum over
two millions of dollars. 1t is unfortunate,
we think, that the Legislature did not realize
the fact that the SIN llest part of our grievance
was this two millions. During the reign of
carpet baggers and bayonets all the founda-
tions Of civil liberty had been disturbe !, and a
constitution imposed upon the State by its
enemies and set up by armed force, a con-
stitution framed in the interest Of tax eaters
and to plumber the taxpayers. This constitu-
ton Is both an insult and an oppression to the
people of Louisiana; 1t Is unrepublcan in its
nature, and 1t exists by virtue Of force and
fraud and not by the consent OF those who live
under it. Was that true reform which, by an
act here and a bill there, saved the State some
money, but dared not sweep out Of existence
an instrument like this? 1T Is not" said a
great statesman, apredilection for mean and
serdid things that will avert the conse-
auences OF false estimation OF our interests
or prevent the shameful dllapidation into
which a great empire must fall by mean
PREPARATIONS upon mighty ruins Nothing
could be truer than this, and yet, when we
contemplate the history of our State during
the past ten years, what must the constitu-
tional amendments and the money-saving
Of two millions Of dollars appear but "mean
reparations upon mighty ruins" utterly in
capable of correcting the evils under which
the State is staggering? From the marrow
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