The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1888-06-09

authorities, instead of resisting the
change of administration, are extend
ing to their newly elected successors
every mark Of attention and courtesy.
The transfer of Office, instead of caus-
ing turbulence and disorder, instead of
almost provoking civil war, is accom-
plished in peace and harmony. The
government at Washington no longer
throws . disturbing element into our
domestic concerns. Combining itself
within the limits fixed by tho cOnstitu-
ton, and recognising the power of
each State to manage it's own affairs,
the national administration of the pres
cut day in no way, directly or indirect
", obstructs the transition now going
on. The federal government is being
constitutionally administered. There
is, to-day, no fear, alarm or anxiety
lest some dispatch or order may come
from Washington thwarting the will of
the people or subverting their govern
ment.
Fellow Citizens, congratulate you
on this mighty change. Congratulate
you on the sure guarantee, typified by
the change, that civil government,
through the peaceful agencies of the
law, is still the heritage of ourselves
and of those who are to come after US.
l congratulate you and all the people
of this mighty union that the irritation,
iealousies and heartburnings engender-
ed by the strife of more than . quarter
Of . century ago, arc dying out, and
everything gives reason to our hope
that nevermOre will the American UNI
ion be darkened by illegal, unjust and
improper interference Of federal power
with the domestic affairs of tho States.
But, fellow citisens, the contrast be-
tween our position in 1877 and that of
to-day does not end here. The re-es-
tablishment of our liberties was but
the beginning of our duty. The I'M
scrupulous party which for eight years
had dominated our State had left ita
affairs in . deplorable condition. Our
bonded debt had been increased to
vast proportions. An enormous float
ing debt without pro DIVISIONS for its pay
ment confronted us.
Taxation had been 90 excessive that
the people had been driven to resist
payment. This, coupled with delin-
quency on the part of the revenue Of
ficers and abstraction of books and
records from the auditors Office BY
those who fled from it, left the mattel
of revenue collection in . confusion
that seemed intricable. In the parish.
es aud cities of the State misgovern.
ment. pro6gacy and corruption had
boon the rule, and placed the local If
fairs of the people in the greatest dis
order.
In spite of the vast amount of tribute
state, parochial and municipal, which
alien adventurers had wrung from thu
people, our credit as . State was very
low. Our material interests had beer
SO long neglected that they seemed
dead. Our levees were broken and
abandoned, and disastrous overflow
had made wilderness of vast bodies
of our alluial lands. Immigration Il
our State had stopped. Our statute
books were burdened with odious laws
enacted for the oppression, spoliatior
and humiliation of the people. Or
every hand were the fruitful evidences
| of the ruin which had been wrought
by eight years of radical Republican
rule.
To rear again the temple Of consti.
! tutional home government, whose al.
| tars had been thus desecrated and
whose fair proportions had been marred
and almost destroyed, was the hurcu'
lean task which dcv0lvsd upon the
Democratic State administration o
1877, and its Successors. 1t was tasl
which seemed impossible of accom-
plishment, but it was resOlutely under
taken and carried ON, and now, aftel
| the lapse of eleven years of Demo
cratic administration we find c0ndi'
ton Of affairs which gives great hops
and promise for the future. The credit
| of the State has steadily improved ant
has been established upon . frnel
basis. A levse system has been pro-
iected and executed with admirable
zeal aud fidelity, aud our alluvial land
are almost redeemed and secured from
| foods. Attracted by tho material re-
sources of our State, immigration Il
coming into it's borders to assist in the
development of it, wealth Of forest
mine and field. Under prudent loca
administration tho affairs of most o.
our cities and parishes have beer
placed on basis tending to prosperity
The political animosities which former
| IL existed between tho white and col
ored rases have almost disappeared
with the alien adventurers who aroused
them. Honest government in the State
| for the protection Of all classes alike
has shown that the true interest 81
both races lies in no unreaAoning an
tagonsim, and the upright, simple and
| faithful administration of that presi
dent whose conduct a. chief executive
has done 90 much, both 70 elevate tn