The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-09-04
A PUBLIC ENEMY.

80 delights Northern Republican editor en-
envy and defamer of this section of the Unior
as an utterance Of Southern newspape
calculated to back up and justify hts gros
and yindjGtive ISLANDERS. To these Northern
Republican editors the New Orleans T1We
IS sort OF Southern gospel. The
turn daily to It's pages for jnstifi
cation Of their abuse Of Louisiana, and, Will
denouncing us as higwaymen, robbers ant
murderers, they quote the New Orleans Iimcs
- Democratic journal God save the mark
as their authority, and call upon the civil
lied world to look upon our portrait as drawn
by our own hands, The Times claims t.
represent the people Of Louisiana. TO inter
pref the sentiment OF the true Democracy d
the State, and w. u. Kellogg announced u
tho United States Senate that 1t was 8
Democratic paper.
It 10 not astonishing, therefore, that the
New York Tribune and other Republican
papers, eager to defame us, accept the Timer
estimate of the civilization Of our people and
the credit of our city.
When the Constitutional Convention assem-
bled In this city powerful effort was made &c
force TINT body to repudiate the State debt Or
settled by the acts aud amendments Of 1874
The people had been Impoverished by years
or war succeeded by long era Of protligate
and corrupt government, and Ii ever a State
had justification for refusing to pay debt
Louisiana had. But the representatives OF
the people refused to repudiate On the cor.
trary, they adopted an ordinance recognizing
| the full face Of the debt; accepting every dol
lar OF 1t, and pledging the State to It's
| full and prompt payment. The
ordinance, it Is true. provides for a reduction
of the interest. But the bondholders In Eu-
rope. In the East and here, themselves ac-
knowledge that per cent interest was exces-
siye and ought to be reduced. The ordinance,
as passed by the Convention, will be- ratified
by the people by an overwhelming majority,
and, though the bondholders may not think
that the interest for the first five years ID as
large as It ought to he, they understand that
for years previously they have received an
excessive rate Of interest. and will soon &C
cept the settlement proposed by the Conven-
ton.
But the New Orleans Times Is not salts
fed. What satisfied our Impoverished peo-
Pile, and what the creditors OF the State are
ready TO accept, does not suit this excessively
Southern sheet. That paper assumes that the
honor of Louisiana cannot be- maintained ex-
cept by the payment Of a ~ mills interest
tax and z per cent interest on the debt The
Times, III short, Is more remorseIess than the
public creditors themselves.
Assuming this position, the Timcs, In
series Of articles, thus denounced the debt
ordinance, the people OF the State and our
representatives Ia the Convention:
No more high handed stand and delrer rro-
nunclamentO was ever 1asusd by II band Of Meg
lean guertilas. The Disgrace Of this. even now
] u acme degree, attaches to every citizen OF the
State. II is more ia Dtty than la anger that we
eontem blate the names Of those delegates who
whstber the people Of Louisiana will. BY their
votes, brand themselves. one and all. as high.
rnHnen.
There ls but one way that the people of Lou
islaDa can escape the financial Disgrace and the
commercial dishonor. which their delegates
promptly, end with nnanimity reject the dis
ggracef..l dob. provision. u
This ordinance Is an ugly and graceless by
brld-the spawn OF an irres0lute Moments |
thing which ~ man Of honest purpos eand def |
mite princpie, be he rspudator or anti -rep,,dta-
tor can reconcile to his conscience and his |
self +, speet.
siana will become q by word aud synonym
with shame among honest people everywhere
To add to the infnn,v Of the act the PEOPLE in
crested, here and abroad. know that 1t was not
Dasssh n ignorance nf its import Or Of It's us.
vas engthtly and ably debated The very mon
lance made strong ana well considered ed sren-
ayor Of honesty and good faith And yet u they
,otej for this monstrosfty. which will disgace
hem as It will the state and the people wuom
hey represent.
Because in the Judgment 81 honest mon the
adoption by the people Of q scheme Of repudia-
ae ate: Because is T aisseaora5!s. .'0A
81 iar % We can see, they have settled moth
ng. satisfied nobody. done mu b less good than
H. ~ and estab ished scant claim upon the re-
'peeet and sonfd..nee OF their fellow citizens.
We look upon the debt ordinance. 50. caIlad,
e q o, whole. as IN act OF virlua population.
accumulated interest and ''remitting" the eou-
IONS GO provision inseparable from the entire
neasurel ~ AZ act ornnmitigated robbery
We unprecedented at the time these articles
ppeared that they would mislead the public
broad and seriously iniure the credit and
landing OF this city In the financial centres
the world. We knew that, though the
lines was Republican sheet, owned and ed
ed by Radicals. It's utterances would be
uoted and accepted abroad as those Of
Louisiana journal, and hence
hat the action Of the Convention would be
to our serious detriment.
These denuncations Of Mr.. Clinton's
aper are beginning to bear fruit. The
lew York Tribune OF the third instant
nntainl n hftnr and vIndfcfivn oditnr;al |
injurious, In which the South :
IN people are grossly misreprepresented as !
, their legislation relative to their debts. !
adeed, the article OF the Tribune seems to !
ave been inspired by perusal Of the Times, !
nd could not be more abusive and Injurious :
1t had been written In the office Of the New /,
rleans paper and by the pen OF Dibbie or
linton. We append few extracts: :