The Opelousas courier., 1885-06-13
The Louisiana Offices.

N. o. States, Sth]
A special to tile Times Democrat an
nounces that the President will this
week turn his attention to the ,Louisi-
ana appointments. We trust this may
be true. Tt Is time that the Federal
offices of this State were cleared of the
men who for nearly a quarter of a CEN
tury, have made the Customhouso and
Postoffice hostile political fortresses in
our midst and the name of the Repub-
lican party and the Federal Govern
ment synonymous with corruption,
fraud, and, for long time, until our
local government was wrested from
them, outrageous robbery and actual
oppression.
We hope, however, that in making
| further appointments the Administra
ton will take the ground, that those
Democrats who fought the battles of the
party in the last and preceding cam
paigns have at least as much claim to
consideration as the leaders of bolts in
| the interest of the aspirations of dis
carded ring men; or as those high toned
gentlemen, whose kid glove conserva-
tism was so intense that, in the dark
days of the State, when rough and
tumble work was to be done, nobody
knew whether they we're Democrats or
Radicals; whose political status was
never determined until after it was
absolutely and undisputably settled that
Cleveland had carried New York by
eleven hundred majority, and that the
Republicans did not have pluck enough
to steal the State; but who, when that
fact was settled, came very near tear
ing their ruff1ed shirts off their backs
climbing down from the top of the fence
onto the extreme Democratic side of
/ it.
We don't care the snap of our fingers
who get the Offices; we want no place
ourself, and we have no special friends
whose aspirations we are urging. We
desire the appointees, however, to be
Democrats not sunshine Democrats,
not mu shroem Democrats who, in this
morning of Democracy, have just shot
up from the muck heap of cOwardly
conservatism or neutrality, bnt Demo
Gratis who have horne the brunt of the
long struggle, and who have never fat
cred in their fidelity to the party,
though there were neither loaves and
fishes to be divided, nor glory to be
won
The Administration must decide be-
tween making such appointments as we
here suggest, or draw it's appointees
from that bowling body of selfstyled
reformers, who, in the last canvass,
preferred Blaine to Cleveland, notwith-
standing the proved corruption OF
Blaine, but are now claiming to be the
only pure, genuine, honest Democrats
capable of filling the Offices without
stealing the Customhouse itself. We
have perfect faith In the good intentions
of the President, and are satisfied that,
/ unless led into error by bad advisers,
there will be no cause of complaint on
4 the part of Louisiana Democrats.
liz conversation with The Times
Democrat correspondent to-day, Hon.
/ @. B. Steele, Auditor of Pnblie Ac-
counts, states that he finds it very diff
/ ficult to enlist the attention of some ol
the police inries To plain and very inn
/ D ortant duty required of them under
section | of Act No 30 of 1884, which
makes it their duty to have abstracts
OF land made for the use of assessors
I On the lst of September last he address
sed d circular to the police jury in each
parish OF the State, calling their atten.
tion to this very important matter, and
j requesting action on their part to carry
I the provisions of the law and protec1
1 the State aud their paroehiai interests
and as there had been some severe stric-
lures published in the country press OF
the subject, he desires it understood
that the blame lies with the police jurie.
and not with his department The cor
respoudence he has had with tue police
inries, assessors and United States Land
j Office at New Orleans in order to secure
4 q complete abstract of all land entries
! that they might be added to the rolls o
the present yearssis voluminons. Many
parishes have refused to make an ap
preparation to pay for the abstracts
even after they were made and th'
States portion of the expense paid BY
the Auditors Office.
He further states that without theii
cooperation the limited appropriation
| at his disposal rerders him powerlesl
to do more. Therefore, the seyera
parishes which will have so much rea
estate omitted from their rolls and thei
revenues cotTespondingly lessened mus
place the blame where it properly be
I longs. In the matter of obtaining alb
stracts of United States land entries Mfr
Steele has beensaided materially BY th'
register at New Orleans
u.s. --@@4-~reGs see---------
The following are the transactions o
the u. S. Land Office for May
Thirty six homestead entries, aggre