The Louisiana Democrat., 1891-03-11
MR.. BLANCHARD'S DEFENCE OF
SABINE PARISH.

Congressman Blanchard recently
took the floor in House and gave the
lie direct to the report recently clrcu
lated in reference to Sabine Parish
that is in the matter of the reported
slavery question there. AS no such
thing exists, however, we believe it
the duty of every Louisiana Congress
man to deny such an Infamous charge.
Mr.. Blanchard, speaking on this sub
ject says
Mr.. Speaker, l should not have
noticed that slander but for the fact
that some wicked or malicious person,
within feM days pust, in a commu-
nication to the Washington Post re-
vamped the lie. / pronounce it to be
a falsehood made out Of the whole
cloth. Sabine parish is nat negro
parish. ACCORDING to the last census
it has population of 10, 500, of whom
only $500. 1t is community of
small farmers, and the population is a
thrifty, industrious, church going and
law abiding people. There are no
great plantations in the parish as
there are in the parishes in the allu-
vial valleys of our rivers. The re-
turns of the State superintendent Of
education of Louisiana, for 1890, show
that there are in Sabine Parish sixty
one public schools for whites and thir
teen for colored persons, with an at
tendance of about 1000 white and 522
colorea children. In the schools there
are thirty-seven white teachers and
eight colored teachers. These figures
represent very fairly the proportion
of the races; there being about five
times as many whites as blacks. The
State registration of voters shows
1856 whites and 435 colored, which,
according. to the proportion of the
taces, is largely in favor Of the blacks.
A railroad, the Texas Pacific, runs
along the entire eastern border of the
parish, and even this villainous SLAM
der which has been read from the
Clerks desk admits that the negroes
who are alleged to be held in slavery
go down periodically to the stations
upon the railroad. And yet this SLAM
derer puts forth the preposterous state
ment that five hundred negroes have
been kept in state Of slavery ever
since the war, and that until recently
they din not know slavery had been
abolished.
Mr.. Speaker, it is fact that the
Republican party controlled the gov
ernment of the State of Louisiana
from 1865 to 1878, period of thir-
teen years. During that time in many
parishes of the State United States
troops were stationed, and certainly it
would seem very remarkable that with
the Republican party in control Of the
State government for thirteen years,
and with United States troops station.
ed in various portions of the State at
different times during that period, they
did not discover this extraordinary
condition Of affairs.
The negroes in Sabine Parish are
as intelligent as they are in other pa
risbes of rhe State. They are in a
prosperous condition, are well treated
by the whites, have school facilities,
and live on terms Of good will with the
white citizens. A few years ago it
was true of Sabine parish, and | be
ieve it to be true of it now, that there
was not single mortgage recorded
against a farm in the entire parish.
This speaks volumes for the industry,
thrift and economy of the people there,
and is circumstance to be pondered
over by the people of the mortgage.
ridden States of the West. Mr.. Spea-
er, | brand as willful falsehood the
averments of the dispatch read from
the Clerks desk.