The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-07-15
TO TIE WORKINGMEN.

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For several days past an advertisement
has been published In the papers inviting
different classes Of the community to assem-
BILE In mass meeting In Lafayette Square
this Tuesday, evening. The object OF this
meeting, IL is universally known, is to oppose
the adjustment Of the public debt as proposed
by the recent action OF the Convention, and
to adopt resolutions looking practically to
the reputation Of the obligations of the
State.
In this remarkable advertisement We find
the following:
All Workingmen whose wages and employ.
ment are diminished by excessive taxation
are invited to participate
To several other classes the invitation Is
also extended But II is the invitation to the
.sworkingmen whose wages and employment
are diminished by excessive taxation that
we propose in this article to speak.
No honest or sensible man will pretend to
deny that excessive taxation Is o public evil;
that It Expresses or Injuries every honest class
of the community, and that the working people
are those who first and most severely feel Its
effects. But sensible men will not undertake
to remedy this evil through the instrument
tally of greater one, like the famous quack,
who to cure the maladies OF his patients re-
sorted to nostrums to throw them into tits.
This however, Is the method Of the eminent
hnanciers and statesmen who propose TO-
night to relieve the workingmen by propos-
Ing to destroy the credit of the State and drive
away from us the capital, energy and enter
prise which constitute, In this commercial age,
the basis OF all public prosperity, and on
which the working people depend for en-
ployment, wages and bread.
The very gentlemen who are callers OF this
mass meeting are the men who have, for years,
opposed every enterprise calculated to main
tain or restore the prosperity OF Newtorleans
or to rehabilitate the State. They opposed
and defeated the measure designed to build
the New Orleans Pacific Railroad, work
which would have employed, clothed and fed
thousands Of workingmen and their families;
which would have won back to New Orleans
the trade of Texas, which made us at one
time rich city, and which would now, had
Its construction not been prevented by these
crazy howlers about taxes, be affOrding per-
manent employment to hundreds Of draymen,
clerks, longshoremen. builders, mechanics
and labOrerS.
4The poor man pays the taxes, and il this
railroad tax be carried he will bear the bur
denl' shouted these new-fanged political
economists. The workingmen heard the de-
lusive cry and voted against the railroad
that promised thousands OF them employ
ment and bread and meat Are the working
men who voted against that tax any better
of for It's defeat7 Are the workingpen less
In need Of employment than they were when,
at the bidding of the callers Of this mass
meeting, they struck down the New Orleans
Pacific Railroad, which was Offering them
meat and bread for their hungry wives and
children2 Did defeat Of the poor little miser-
able tax for that road enhance the wealth Of
this city dollar, or put mouthful OF food
In the mouth Of workingman, or afford
him day of extra work?
We think not. These howlers about taxa
ton defeated the railroad; but at the same
time they struck deadly blow at the pros
perity OF the city. They prevented the levy
Of very small tax upon the property Of New
Orleans; but at the same time left thousands
of workingmen without employment, and
caused further depreciation OF every piece
Of real estate In New Orleans
And to what feast, or to be serious, to what
mad and insane folly do these political econo-
mists again invite the workingmen2 The
Convention has proposed to settle the
State debt by accepting its face and
reducing the interest to 3 per cent
for fifteen years and 4 per cent there
after. This, with the other retrenchment of
expenses, reduces the annual expenses Of the
State nearly one million Of dollars. Many Of
the best, purest and most honored mem
bers Of the Convention voted for this
adjustment. Gentlemen voted for 1t who
stand as the peers Of any man or men Ia the
Union, and whose motives cannot be assailed.
It Is now further proposed to limit the State
rate Of taxation to six mills. This will enable
the State to meet all Its expenses and pay the
interest on the State debt as readjusted, and
1t reduces the present rate Of taxation
five mills. The bondholders are will
ing to accept this settlement; the great
mass Of the people are willing to ac-
cept It.; the merchants and corporations
interested are willing to accept 1t. Only the
faction Of regulators; only those restless
SplIlt5t OI IACHti, lct u5 say, LuOst 5Ofe-
heads" who, In the memory Of the oldest In
habitant have never been satisfied with any
thing; who never will be satisfied with any
thing, unless 1t be their own supremacy In
public offices, and who, consequently, never
will be satisfied, object to the arrangement.
The bondholders have been forced to aban-
don their claim to per cent interest on their
honda and five and n half mills interest fax
And yet these regulators cry out that the
bondholders have triumphed over the people
and that the workingmen must rise up to de-
fend and protect their rights.
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