The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1883-04-28
A sCATHING ARRANGEMENT.

Mississippi tornado.
o
A sCATHING ATTACHMENT.
A new political organization has becl
formed in New Orleans for the purpose 0
attempting nj the next election to wrest TIN
control Of the municipal government from
the corrupt ring that now rules the cit,
with an iron hand.
| The organization has assumed the title o
the q Parish Democracy of Orleans" nnt
announces that its efforts will be confined
to publication of the Democratic party O
the city and State. 1t will seek represents,
| ton in the State convention and support
| the national nominees Of the Democracy
Its address to the people, which was pro
mulgated i'll the city papers of tho l5tl
inst, over the signatures of more than COL
citizens of New Orleans, contains most
scathing denunciaton OF the methods by
which the corruptionists have obtained and
retained possession Of the municipal admin
istraton, as the following extract will
show:
Nearly six years have passed since the estab-
llshment of the Nichols government and the
overthrow of the whole structure of Radical
usurpatlon In this State. When that hour
dawned the good people of Louisiana felt that
Its contamination was well worth the strenuous
and persistent endeavor through which alone
it was achieved. Men thought that new era
of peaceful and pure administration had at last
arrived, and there was little, If any. apprehen-
sion that the fraudulent methods introduced
by alien adventures would be adopted by their
successors to defeat the will of the people and
corrupt the current of public life.
1t Is not necessary here to dwell In detail
upon that series of events whose sum makes up
picious omens and cheerful anticlpations of
that time. The situation speaks for itself in
tones that shame would mutfe if wisdom could
afford to dlsregatd. their warming.
We need not go further back than the last cleo
ton held In this city to find conclusive evidence
that the withdrawal of the troops and the aboli-
ton of the Returning Board. which had been
the mainstay of Radicalism in the State during
the reconstruction period were steps forward
by the substitution of other means quite as eff
fectual to contaminate the body polite and to
reverse the decisions of the ballot-box. The
city ring, as is shown by tie tally sheets, sum-
moned the absent, repeated the living, and res
directed the very dead TO swell its vote and
count in its minions. Investigation proves be-
yond doubt that large part of its constitr-
ency is at rest in the graveyard and that q
greater part ought to be ut work in the peniten-
tiary. The fraud was wholesale and unbIusIling.
Over 5000 fraudulent ballots wero stuffed in the
boxes, and those ballots which were poled
were fraudulently counted.
1t was clear to every Intelligent observer in
New Orleans that the Central Returning Board
had not been in reality destroyed, but only
broken up into small change and divided be-
tween the various precincts of the city. Instead
of one returning board we have had fifty at
work.
Tho conclusion is not more obvious than ap-
palllng. Elections have become mockeries, and
the name OF Democracy has lost its significance.
Through all that wide ramitication of CRIME
works the inspiration of perverted patronage
and the stimulus of spoils
Rings and cliques have conspired to defy the
laws Of the Commonwealth and to prey upon its
treasury. Hitherto they have been triumphant.
In several successive campaigns reform move
ments have been set upon foot. but the complete
or partial victories which they have won in the
vote have been denied in the count
1t Is not wonderful If some encouragement
has resulted from these repeated failures; but a
careful study OF the methods employed and the
hvcrence is within the reach of the manhood
and the patriotism of New Orleans.
This vivid picture of the corrupt compo-
sition of the Democratic city ring and of the
villanics committed by its hen chmcn is not
painted by Republican hands, he it rcmcm-
bercd, but by an association Of men pro
their Democracy and comprising
large measure Of the Intelligence, wealth
and responsibility of the Democratic popula-
ton OF New Orleans. They proclaim tile
50 triumph Of fraud" upon which we com
mcntcd in last weeks CHIEF, and demon
strate that our ,enuncatory criticism was
by no means too severe and could not be
,scribcd to political prejudice and opposi-
ion.
We have heard the Parish Democracy
called respectable vigilance committee,
'nd the term seems not inappropriate con
'idering their declaration that they will have
IN organized force at every ballot box on
election day sufficient to insure fair and
rec expression of the popular will and pre-
'ent the returns from being tempered with
The Indignation aroused by the igh-han,lcd |
onrse of the corrupt ring is widespread and
Ieep-seated, and the threat is frequently |
Uttered that if there be any attempt at the
lext election to falsfy the result as has
'een done heretofore. second " fourteenth
If September" affair may be looked for that
will eclipse that of 1874.
Ii the CHIEF was Il partisan paper and as
and unreasonable in its political
ttitude as some of its Bourbonistic contem-
'oraries, we might treat this contest as Il
nrcly Democratic fight, in viii eli men who
re not Democrats have no interest executing
. hope that it might result as did the
asenhary battle of the Kilkenny cats, but
re are III sympathy with any movement
Ihich has for its object the vinlicatiou of
he popular will as against rings and cliqucs,
'hether these are to be cIasse, under the title
t, Democracy, autocracy or mobocracy.
therefore,, as betw cen the Parish Dcmoc-
icy of Orleans ard the corrupt political
which controls the present
tate and city administra lions, we can have
o hesitancy in expressing IL preference for
9e former and i'll wishing, for the sake of
&c public interest, tlIa5 the essential OBJ
.cts of its founders may be fully attained.
New Orleans has secured the Centennial
otton Exposition by unanimous vote OF til
committee of the National Cotton
lanters Association. The result was
NICELY due to Col. Ed. Richardson, the
r@est cotton raiser i'll the country, who
ARMY advocated the Crescent City as the
arural point for the exposition. Good for
rw Orleans.