The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1880-01-10


old year was better than we kney
and blessings always brighten as the,
take their fight.
| Strange we never prize tho music
| Till the sweet-vOiced bird has flown,
Strange we always slight the violets
Till the Summer flowers are gone"
With al, the gathered wisdom o
the pas. ring, ring the bells in loft,
spire and lowly turret. Let thei
echoes sweep across the continent t.
cheer and gladden. fifty millions o
human hearts. The dead year bega1
with dark shadows, commercial de-
preston, want aud suffering, but il
it's life how of promise streameG
atbwart the nations commercia! hori.
zon, which now spans the coming
years, and over its great sweeping
arch is written in unmistakable char.
acters unparalleled commercial pros.
perity.
Let us then arise to duty,
blessings lie along our path,
Let us save the wheat, the roses,
Cast away the worthless chaff.
Let us find our richest comfort
In our labor day by day,
With a patient hand removing
All the briers in our way.
The good that has been accom-
plished, and that will be accomplished
by Postmaster General Key starving.
out war on specious swindles can
scarcely be estimated. Thousands oil
men in this country carry on extern
sive business with purchasers and eli
ents whom they have never seen.
Their business Is legitimate and hon
est, but it suffers more or less from a
comparison with these fraudulent con-
Germs which are the object of Post.
master General Keys attack. The
lotteries, and many other confidence
schemes, that Judge Key hos throt-
tied, very truly plead that their busi-
ness has been the source of an i'm
mense revenue to the Government,
through the Postoffice Department.
But if this plea was worthy of consi-
deration, it might be answered that,
by debauching the mails, and abusing
business confidence, they have di-
verted a much larger revenue that
would have accrued to the Govern
ment through the channels Of legitim-
ate business. If men all over the
country, whether they want to make
a purchase, prosecute claim, secure
a patent or pension, could believe
that advertisers do just what they ad-
yertise to do, business through the
mails would be immensely augmented,
and the vexed problem of the elimi-
nation of the superfuous middle
man" would be in measure solved,
confidence would he restored, and a
much better class Of advertisers would
fiid the press an indispensable me-
dinm Communication. Judge Keys
work is not yet complete, but it is
progressing, and is doubtless already
reaching in healthful extirpation far
beyond the SO called firms that lie has
denuded Of power to gull green horne
through the mails.
A gigantic brokers' swindle has re-
Gently been unearthed in New York.
Some time ago the attention of the
Postoffce Department was called to a
circular purportiDg to be issued by
Lawrence g. Co., Bankers and Bro
kers." 1t was filled with seductive
words and accounts of poor men who
had become suddenly rich through
stock apeculations. One instance in
particular was given of clerk in the
Postoffice Department here, who had
intrusted $l0O to the firm named, and
BY allowing it to be continuously in.
vested, had realized no less than S26,.
GOO. The circular was headed with a
wood-cut of a large building. with
several smaller houses by its side, and
the New York custom house in the
distance. On the wall of the large
building the words Lawrence & Co.
Bankers and Brokers'" were couspi.
cuously displayed. Convinced that
the firm, if it really existed, was en-
gagged in deceiving the public, the
Department authorized its special
agent in New York to investigate the
matter and report. The result ha.
been to unearth one of the largest, il
not the most extensive, awiudline
concerns in the country.
The list Of swindling concerns pub
lisl,ed BY the Pcstef1ice Departmen