St. Landry democrat., 1883-08-18
Gov. McEnery's ,Levee Policy.
N. O. Picayune

e. /
Gov. McEnery's reelection is urged
by some OF his more Jealous supporters
upon the ground that he is par excel
fence the friend of the leyees. One OF
his avowed organs has gone so far as to
say that he will be known in history us
@'the levee Governor Indeed, there is
such evident anxiety among the mama
gers OF his canvass to give prominence
10 this particular pretension that we
cannot fail to see that they depend upon
it mainly for popular favor in lis be-
half. But there is one fact, one fatally
damaging fact, i'll his record as u levee
Governor TO which they never make the
most distant alluslon. We atlude to the
loss sustained by the levee fund through
the McEnery land contract. We estl-
mate the extent OF that loss at one hum
dred and fifty thousand dollars, and
our estimate is based, not upon hearsay
or suspicion, but upon actual and Off
cially recorded trans actions.
Our inquiry into this matter was
very carefully and closely made, and
we have reported many OF the results
TO the. public Enthusiastically and in
detail. The whole loss will soon be
shown in these columns. We present.
ed at the time an overwhelming mass
of eyidence and it has never been refuted
in any particular. 1t is also well known
that the Governor for a long time stub
bOrnly refused the demand Of the peo-
pie for reform in the Land Office, and
that he only yielded at last undera pres
IRE that had become irresistible. His
letters on that subject, published in
May last, have not yet been forgotten.
They show that he was at that time de-
termined to make no effort to stay the
execution OF a contract which was not
only rulnous to the State, but was also
IN manifest violation Of the law under
which it was made. He held still
month after month while the State was
made to lose good land for the recovery
OF poor land, and while the legitimate
revenues OF the levee fund were divert
ed to the enrichment Of afavored agent.
When his attention had been repeated
~ called to the shameful wrong which
was being daley perpetrated right un-
under his own eyes, what did this Pc
cnliar friend of the levees do? Why
he took pen in hand and through tile
columns OF the press disclaimed all res
possibility in the premises. He de-
clared that he was poweTless; that on
ly the judiciary could annul the con-
tract. If anybody wanted to take the
matter into court he could do so, but
the Governor of the State would do
nothing.
But, some one may say, he has undone
all that. Yes under penalty of popu-
lar displeasure he has changed his
mind. When lie saw his last chance of
further advancement rapidly fading
away, he took a new view of the law,
and political necessity achieved that
for the security of the riparian proprie-
tor which logic and evidence. had failed
to effect.
Let it be remembered that neither
the law nor the contract had in the
meantime been altered in one iota.
How, then, did the Governor see his
way to the assumption Of a responsible
ity in the summer that he could not, or
would not, venture to take in the
spring. Men of common sense have
only one answer for that question. He
yielded because he was finally con-
WINGED that otherwise his recollection
would be impossible.
The first step of the newly appointed
Land Register was to consult the At
torney General, and that official gave
the law very largely the Interpretation
upon which the Picaynne had insisted,
and the only Interpretation which any
respectable lawyer could have given it.
Thus advised the land register foEmu-
lated and promulgated nunaber Of
rules directly opposed to the former
practice Of the Land Office, and the
Governor over his own signature APP
proved those rules.
Itmay be said that any man may
make q mistake, and that no man isl
always consistent but we claim that
some mistakes are so patent that no
sane man ought to make them. More
over it becomes every good man to re-
pair the wrong he has done when lie
has discovered it. What has Cover
nor McEnery done towards the recOv-
cry OF the $4,000 already lost to che
leyee fund 2 What is he going to do |?