St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1880-02-07
Public Inspection.
MIDDLE MEN WHO LIVE OFF THE IN
DUSTRY OF OTHERS WITHOUT BENEFIT
TO ANYBODY-NR. FRANZ'S BILL.

DUSTRY OF OTHERS WITHOUT BENEFIT
To ANYBODY-sIR. FRANZ'S BILL.
''''f ''ii From n' the n. 0. Daily states.l
Now that we are prOfessedly working
to establish in Louisiana a truly econom-
ical and Democratic form of government,
it is surprising to see bills being intro
duced into the Legislature which, ii
enacted, will defeat the great end IL.
view. One of the dlsting ulshed features
of true Democratic government is non
interference, to the fullest possible
extent, with the private concerns OF the
people.
Democratic government is not pater-
uat the government OF Radlcailsm IS,
and is constantly seeking to be more so.
Democratic government, knowing the
banefu influence of Office holding, seeks
to have as few as possible and with
moderate compensation Radical gov
eminent seeks to multiply office holders,
to pay them exorbitantly, and to make
them the great efficient lever OF per-
petuation of growing party power.
Why does Mr.. Franz want a bOdrd OF
flour inspectors? Let us put the answer
in plain English. Simply because, wlh
.f0m' inspectors already put upon as by
| lar, -four is not Inspected.
Does Mr.. Franz expect q board to DO
what one, two or three men, commits
stoned by the State, have failed to do
Dees he expect in a board to find the
Utopia of flour inspection?
Mr. Franz is IL most respectable and
intelligent citizen of the third ward, a
member OF the lower house OF the leg
lslature, elected by the Democratic
party, and he conducts q prosperous
bakery-a most respectable and I'M
p0rtant calling.
| have no doubt Mr.. Franz sometimes
opens barrels of Indifferent, or even OF
sour flour at his bakery, aud then have
spectors!n Why? Because MI. Franz
has to buy all his -four through an in
spector, and not under the natural laws
of trade. Mr. Franz may be an excel
lent judge of flour, but his Judgment is
not of the slightest value to him until
he opens the -four barrels at his bakery,
and then it is not worth five cents to
him, for all he can do is to curse Or cry
over the bad flour.
Let me show Mr.. Franz the crying
evil of public Inspection" | bought
some hay fl,in prominent dealer; it
purported to be first class,' and first
class price was charged he. 1t had
passed the public inspector as first
class, and therefore the dealer was war
ranted in selling it as first class. When
| cut it open there was a four inch plat
ing Of good hay the balance was trash
and briars-such stuff as no human mar
would ask horse or mule to lie down
on-much less to eat.
| carried specimens to the dealer; he
! 4 II, T., ~ cl, ny1l
ders and said, 81 have the certificate of
class hay" I asked him il he was going
to require me to take it as first class
hay. He said, hat can | do? | have
paid my money for it as first class hay
| have sold it as such, and you must
take it as such" But, said, "Will you
not make reclamation on that inspec-
ton; or will you not publish him to the
world as the incompetent official that
he ISL" He replied, ooh, no! | can't
afford to quarrel with public officer of
that kind. We have to keep on the
good side Of them"
How does Mr.. Franz like the picture
Can he fail to see how "paternal gov
ernment" had Slapped that dealers ideas
of right and wrong9
But what do we want with flour in
spectors? If inspectors are necessary
for one article, they are necessary for
all. Our wives must no longer attempt
to be judges of calico. Let inspectors
pass upon it, and then let us buy it
blindly. And so with iron, coal, corn,
oats, horses, mules, sheep, goats, jewelry,
wooden ware-everything that passes
| from man to man.
| Let men in general subordinate them
selves to the dicta of Office holders
worthless consumers Of the fruits of
industry. Let us build up a guild of
middle men who shall be presumed to
know all and we to know nothing, and
let us feel and clothe and enrich them
while we lead our brains to sleep and
not know too much.
Why should Mr.. Franz be capable of
knowing good -four from bad Let pa
ternal government step in and say that
he shall not. Aye, deprivei him of the
privilege OF even saying, "d-n that
Inspector" if the flour is bad. Make
it penal offense for him not to bow
down to the infallibility Of "public
inspectors"
Bah! it sickens the heart to look on
at this work of legislators. Gentlemen,
senators and representatives! wipe out
the last vestige of a public inspector,
weigher Or gauger. Throw the people
ON their own innate intelligence and
industry, leaving the channels Of trade
free and uninterrupted for legitimate
and healthy competition. Flour in
spection is relic Of barbarism, just as
the city ordinance that requires that
Mr.. Franz must sell so much bread for
SO much money, no matter what the
price of -four may be. BRUTUs.
EXCESSIVELY Cold WINTERs.-In
answer to some Of it's readers, who are
complaining of the extreme severity of
the weather this winter, the Gazette de
France gives brief table of the various
excessively cold winters that have been
known in France during the last 500
years. In 1890 a large number of
persons were frozen to death in the
streets Of Paris, and the wolves, that
were doubtless more plentiful than they
have been since, were driven by hunger
into the streets of the French capital,
and are even said to have eaten the
corpses of some of those who were
froZnn Tn 1Sl- tho harhor of MarcoilfaS