St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1891-04-11
TO THE PUBLIC.

As silence on my part might b,
misconstrued by the people Of thi
parish, whose good opinion / vaIu.
and will endeavor to retain, / feel con
strained to notice the. slanderous at
tack made upon me in the ST. Landr,
s Democrat OF Saturda a1sssst1
/ The pretext for this is a letter
wrote in May 1890, the publication 0
which was designedly omitted by the
editor, SO as to render his SANDER more
efectual
/ 1t is as follows
To WHOM IT NAY CONCERN:
/ Opelousas, March 31st, 1890
i BY request of Harry Bloch, / write this
4 letter. Being Democratic, of course, wan
/ none in office but Democrats; and / dc
not wish to be understood as desiring the
removal of the present Incumbent whose
/ application to be retained | have signed
But among Republicans at this place, il
one is to be appointed, eheerfully add my
recommendation to that Of others who may
have requested his appointment. see no
reason why he would not give as much sat
/ isfaction, II not more, than any other Re.
publican here; for he is popular in his own
party and stands well among Democrats
whose personal esteem and friendship he
enjoys to a large extent. He is polite and
| attentive to his business as an employee in
large mercantile firm here and has, /
think, given entire satisfaction to, his en-
ployers with whom he hasbeen for the past
/ two wears I have known him all his life,
and believe him to be trustworthy not only
| as Republican, but as citizen and per-
sonal friend. Respectful
L. e. LEWIS,
Judge 18th Dist, La
This letter was stolen-p the month
of June or July, 1890. from the files
of the Post Office Department and
never returned
For writing it, / have no apologies
to make, and nothing to conceal in
connection with it. / am unable to
see anything wrong, either morally or
otherwise, in such a letter and | would
not hesitate to write the same kind of
a letter for any other republican for
whom / entertained like sentiments.
Bloch was appointed in March, 1891.
by the President and neither he, nor
the Post Master General, had in their
possession any recommendation OF
Bloch from me, and ] am not known
to either of them, either personally or
officially. / am a democrat-thev and
Bloch are republicans. Isigned Mrs.
Baiey's application to be reappointed
and her application, with my signature
attached, is now on file in the Depart
ment, and / expressly decl red in the
above letter that, / was democrat !
that j desired none but democrats in
office, and that / did not wish her re-
moval.
Notwithstanding these facts, all
within the knowledge OF this slanderer,
he asserts in his paper that, no doubt
my influence was potent in securing
the appointment of a colored republi-
can as postmaster at Opelousas and
that I have, thereby been Instrument
al IN hunfifiating orr community.
This is basely false, malicious
SANDER, and the editor of that paper
knew it to be SO when he penned and
published that statement.
As to the humiliation of our COM
munity resulting from this appoint
ment. | have neither seen nor heard,
of it except if1 the pages of
this slanderous sheet. But not salts
fled with disappearing me, he makes
of it pretext to stir up race prejudice
and conflict of white and black. In /
concluding he says
I'm the name of outraged society, in
the name Of our threatened ciyiliza-
tion, and in the name of white SUI
premacy, We protest against this ap-
The colored people have never made
an attempt to control public affairs in t
this parish since 1868. They utter no
threat to our civilization, and they
submit to the supremacy Of the white
race in governmental affairs and there is
no sign,-nothing to indicate that I
they will ever attempt to disturb that
The editor of the Demo
crats knows this. Why then this APP
peal to race prejudice?
But what is the record of this
Pharisee, who prates of white suprem-
hey and the humiliation of this COM
munity?
He was elected, and served with two
solored men-Felix Lessassier and Si-
neon Birotte, on the town council in
1882, and he has several other times
-un with colored men for election as
member of the town council and
,een defeated. He, | do not
loubt, and a large majority of
he white people of this town have
been voting for colored men (and ;
sometimes black ones) for members of
he town council for many years past
md this has been the course pursued,
without protest or change, by the peo-
lie of this town, I think, for more
han ten years. / do not live in the
own-he does. When he cleanses his
,Wn record, it viii then be time for
i'm to criticize that of of others. E
In my opinion, his purpose is, to !,
induce the people under the impulse
# race prejudice to put him and his
ottery associates in power.
It is insulting to the intelligence of !,
he people to suppose that they do not .
Understand this false cry of alarm, and
he political purposes to be subserved .
hereby. S
They know that the supremacy OF ..
he white race is in no danger, and !; !.
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