St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1880-09-11
E.essis5aaa's CO-OperaliVe Gen.
trail Factories and Inter-
nal Improvements
Association.
Capital @1O,04O,0OO.


Capital alO,O1O.0OO.
To he raised in the following manner:
10000 laborcrs capitalists each takin" 10
shares of $ln0--cach payable in 10 years.
without interest.
500 Il year-s50 every six months-or S25 every
three months, payable i'll money or III "o'E
All shares paid in entitled to five per cent. in
terest and to participate in the dividends
Perfect equality Of rights between the sexes.
Every Iaborcr to he entitled to one acre of
ground free of charge, for his residence
and family garden, which, at the expiration
OF the 10 years. becomes his individual pro
pcrty, with the privilege of purchasing at II
reasonable price, the ground worked by
him aS Il c0-Operator.
To the Citizens OF New Orleans. and of
the state of Louisiana.
Eclior- citizens Hard as it might
seem to us to hear it, the truth must be
told. The time has come for a change !;
great, thorough, complete change, If
we wish to enjoy that degree Of pros
perity to which we have the most un-
questionable right.
Year after year has elapsed, during
which we have been trying, by the
SioltS, W upHpitS t's>N'l'iSt WIZ
| dilapidated fragments OF our once ap-
parcntly prosperous condition but, the
spirit Of the age, the onward march OF
events have, by repeated failures.
warned us that we are not in the right
path. These failures have brought us
to the verge of ruin. Shall we keep on
until all hope of recovery be lost Tor
generations to come?
In the finest country i'll the world,
with a land teeming with unredeemed
millions, with resources capable of
transforming our State into the most
magnificent domain which the ambition
| of man might cause him to desire, when
/ the hountiful hand OF Providence has
lavishly placed within our reach all the
elements necessary to bring us to the
very height of national prosperity; why
should we doubt our ability to show
ourselves equal to the task laid ont
before us?
But, in order to do this, we, as a
people, must arouse to a due apprcia-
| ton of our duties. We must erase from
our minds, obsolete notions. We must
relinquish into the past that which be-
! longs to the past and we must inces-
sanity turn our eyes towards the rising
sun of progress" pointing to. us, in
| glaring characters, the new channels
which we must enter to reach the haven
of our future greatness.
The stubborn and egotistical may
laugh and ridicule, but the change has
to come and whether we wish it or not
it shall work its way through, inces'
sanity battling against old ideas, ex'
ploded notions and deep rooted pre-
judices.
Hark. In the distance, do you hear
| the shouts of the deluded colored man
leaving the sunny spot where he was
born and raised, to go and pitch III;
tent in the far west, there to become
prey TO want, speculation and misery
Again Do you hear the threats and
curses of the unruly and DISSATISFIED
day laborer, forcing away from ou1
fields the plow and hoeman, thereb,
leaving the weeds and grasses to grow
over our once beautifully cultivated
cane; thus spreading ruin and desola
ton where happiness and plenty uset
to be-
Do you see the deck of every steamer
crossing the Atlantic crowded with i'm
migrants and settlers eager to find {
home and some land to cultivate
Ready to share with us the fruit of tliei1
industry But those immigrants wan
no quarters no cabins; no six bits pc
day: no rations. They are freemen
knowing full we'll what the term means
and if they wish to work for their bread
they recognize but one master owe
them and that is, not the planter, bu
self-interest.
Already, in the DISTANCE; you cal
picture, in imagination, the pnr1ings o
the Great Eastern, carrying in its bosom
hundreds and thousands of industriou
laborers, to be landed on our shores.
How are we going to receive them
should they come? Where are we gola!
to locate them How are we going, tt
contribute to their welfare so that the.
may love their asW homes and wish t
remain permanently with u.s.
Shall it be. by taking them on OIL
plantations, administered as they ar
J at present +? If SO, those immigrants W
fear goull stay there but short time
Shall we sell land to them 1t the.
have no money, how can they buy? VI
credit, perhaps! How will they live II
the mean time9 Borrow money, Wh'
will lend any to strangers having n
securities to offer?
Fellow -citizeEs, were those IMMIGRANT
to possess, or were they to lind ever
thing they need to buy and cultlvatI
our lands, we cannot eytricate onrsel
YES from the following dilemma: # W
!, ask for our lands, anything like Iiiel
fair value, those immigrants will no
buy. If we sell at too low figure, W
will bring ruin on ourselves and faml
lies. Plantations which have cost thou
sands of dollars, cannot be sacrifice
for a trifie, much less can tliey be give
: for nothing. And yet, sad as 1t ma
be to say so, if we do not cultivate Ihos
vast tracts Of land, now lying idle. til
tax collector will ultimately take ther
away from us.
Sugar planters of Louisiana the labo
question is one OF paramount importanc
to us, but the question, once solved,
not going to give Us rest and comfot
under the present system. fhe NmL
element which we are trying to intro
duce, may plan out strikes more form
dable than ever the negro could lmas
inc, unless our dealings with it prove
accordance with its aspirations. LIE
us say 1t at once.
The old plantation system IS rotte
to the very core and must be abolished
The subdivision OF our large estate estate
into small farms, has become impera
five. ii remains only for us to carr
out the measure in such manner as Z
safeguard the interest OF both partie
interested, te-wit: the small farmer o
| the one hand, and the large propert
holder on the other.
The duty on sugar which we discus
with so much anxiety, Is not the. great
est enemy we have to dread. Th
sorghum, the corn stalk and the bee
now boldly come to ths front in tIl
shape of formidable competitors, an
worse than all. the unprecedented am