The Opelousas courier., 1883-06-16
Those Ywo Awful Bills.
In. o. States, June II

the McEnery land grab," and also,
since late report of a Senate commit
tee appeared, at Act 90, ofl8sO. Since,
however, the fact has been made public
that our esteemed contemporary had
bottled up it's hostility to the latter act
on the purchase by beneiciaries of the
act of certain warrants it held, and
which it was assumed would be iniu-
riously affected by its passage, that able
and fearless .jonrnal has had little or
nothing to say about Act 90, and has
concentrated all it's powers of dsnunci-
alton upon the land grab" and the
Democratic administration.
We have attentively watched this
ferscious onslaught on the Picayune, in
which large number of the country
papers, inflamed by the fiery eloquenee
of our neighbor, have joined with india
eliminating zeal, and we must say.
that the war wears to us much mere the
appearance of determined purpose to
bring Democratic administration inta
disrepute and disfavor than of one to
expose great public crime and fix the
responsibility upon the guilty parties.
In every political canvass since the
war we have taken a Jealous, and to
the best of our ability, an active part
in behalf of the Democratic party; but
with none of the Democratic admins
trations which have succeeded the ra-
dical usurpations have we had any off,
cial Identification. While we have
done all that it was in our power to do
to promote the election of the Demo
cratic nominees, we have always been
in position to eriticise and judge the
administration from the nd-point of
the people, independently of the indi-
viduais who composed them. Never
theless, we have always felt it to be our
duty to deal justly with our political
representatives, leaving to Radical pa
pers aud Radical trumpeters the work
of defaming and misrepresenting Dem
ocratic officials and measures.
We regret to see that many of our
Democratic contemporaries are pursuing
a different line, and following the lead
of the Picayuae, are making a war on a
Democratic administration which is
bringing the party into disrepute
abroad, and threatening, in the face of
1884, TO disrupt aud destroy it at home.
This War has its ostensihle origin in acts
Dc aud 90 of 1880.
No~, if these two acts are the viii
lannon's things they are represented to
be, bet The parties responsible for them
be arraigned before the people for,
whether we be friends or enemies of the
present Governor, it is scandalous po-
litieal crime TO try to force upon him
the odlum of these measures with which
he had nothing to do and no part i'm en-
acting, and at the same time it is unpar-
donable political hypocrisy to conceal
the real measure of the responsibility
of the body oftiie representatives of the
party in such measures.
There is not the slightest difficulty in
fixing the responsibility for these two
measures and if the popular clamOr
over them which the hysterical elo,
quenee of the Picdyune has evoked be
just, then woe to poor Louisiana! for
those Democrats who we have been ac-
customed to regard as unpurchasahle
representatives of tho people, as stain
less gentlemen, as the friends of econo-
my and enemies of jobbery aud cerrup-
tion, are utterly unworthy of cur trust
and deserve to be lashed throughout
the State with the whip of public scorn
and Indignation. The record shows
that this very class of our representa-
tives were chiefly instrumental in the
passage of these acts.
Referring to the records of the House
and Senate of the session of 1880, which
passed "the land grab" bill, we End
/ that in the House it was passed by the
votes of such menssssas Archer, Billiu,
Gibson, Harris, Mccullough, Phipps
Pope, Richardson, Vaughn, Wise and
others Of like character, while the vote
in the Senate is equally entitled to res.
pect by the people of this State. The
latter body, we find, voted ananimoasls
for the bill, thus including such names
as Burlington, Cunningham, FOntsnot
Foster, Leake, Lucas, Luckstt, Marston
Mutt, Parlange, Perry, Walton and
Watkins.
/ Nor can it be said that this bill wal
railroaded through the Legislature, and
| that its object, purport and scope were
not understood by the representative:
of the people, for we find the following
reasons for voting against it, by three
members of the House, on record:
The bill gives to the Governor the
power Of employing counsel, and max
ing expenditures for the recovery oi
several handred thousand acres of lani
from the general government
The bill fixes no limit to the expense
except the full value of the lands OF
their proceeds. The Governor maj
therefore dispose of the whole value o
the claim, giving all to the lawyers EN-
ployed and leaving nothing for tht
State.
w. B. LANCASTER,
Il. SCHNEIDER,
JOHN MAHoNEY.
In the Senate alse the bill was full,
understood and several amendment
were made to it, with which il was re
turned to the House and finally passed
by the vote above referred to. Gov
Wiltz appears to have had no responsi
bility for the act other than that h'
signed the bill thus passed by men VIII
stood above reproach as representative
OF the people and as honest men. Gov
McEnery appears to have had no 70
sponsibility forth act other than th
afixing of his signature to it as Preai
dent of the Senate, an act, in the per
formanee of which, he had absolutsf.
NO discretion. Tile responsibility TO
the passage of this act rests with th
gentlemen whose names We have give
above and otller members of the Legis
Iature who voted with them for it, AM