The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1891-03-28
FIFTY YEARS AGO !
BY Uncle srLAs.
No. -.

Not being a resident of Louisiana
during the campaign of 1910, | have
but little knowledge of how it was
conducted, but the fact of the vote of
the state being given to Gen. Harrison,
IS a reasonable conclusion to suppose
that the Wings were alive and earnest.
as their brothers were elsewhere.
Among the leading Wings of that
day, who no doubt participated in the
contest we're Gov. E. D. White, of La
fourche, Senator Porter, of st. Mary.
Edward Sparrow, j. p. Benjamin..
Christian Roselius, Rice Garland who
met with such a tragical fate, a few
years afterwards; among the Locofo-
cos were alsoa number of men of great
talent and e%loquencc.
The parishes of Lafourche and Terre-
borne, were almost unanimously Wing,
whilst III Ascension and Assumption
the parties we're pretty equally divided.
In the southern portion of Louisiana
tho Wings We're largely in the MAORI
ty whilst in the northern part of the
state the Locofocos predominated.
On the fourth day of April, 1871,
Just u month after his inalguration,
President Harrison, died, much to the
sorrow and regret of the Wing party.
tie had appointed an able cabinet,
with Daniel Webster at its head.
Almost the only official act which he
did, besides the appointment of officers,
was to publish a call for an extra ses-
sion of Congress.
John Tyler, the vice president. be-
came president a few days afterwards.
The call for al extra session required
the governors of all the states to issue
calls for the election of members of
Congress, previous to the usual dates,
At thee elections the Wings elected
a handsome majority Of the members.
among tn NJ some Of the ablest nen of
the nation.
A bill authorising a charter of a
national bank vas vetoed by President
Tyler, to the dismay of the Wing
party, as that was one OF its favorite
measures. A second bill, under a
different title, framed in such Il nan
ner rs was thought to avoid the presi-
dents objections, Inet with a similar
fate. This SO aroused the Indignation
of tho Wings against Tyler, that he
had scarcely a friend left in the halls
of Congress.
The Wings deemed his acts those of
a traitor to his party, whilst tile Loco
fncos would not trust him, being in
clined to hold a similar opinion. whilst
rejoicing over his tr~eachery. The
Wings passed what was then supposed
to be a high tariff, but if Henry Clay
the great leader of the protectionists
could have Eel the Mckinley bill of
1890 he would have considered his
American plan rs that of a very low
tariff indeed.
Tho Wing party advocated a system
OF internal improvement by the gov
eminent, whilst the Locofocos voted
against nearly every thing of the kind,
except coast defenses, and the improve
ment OF harb"rs bordering upon the
deep seas.
They denied the right of the gov
eminent to pull up snags or improve
the navigation of any river, that was
within the limits of any state-that,
they contended-was the duty of the
individual state.
The consequence was hat the gov
eminent was improving rivers and
harbors in all the northern. whilst
nothing was done in the southern
states. When Il bill to improve a
northern river was before Congress,
the Wings supported it on principle
whilst the Locofoco members, in the
northern states would all vote for it,
and thus tho bill would pass. But
when the question of doing anything
i'll the south, was up, the local Locofoco
members as we'll as those in the other
states would all fall back on principle
and vote against it.
1t was not until some Year. later
when John c. Calhoun, Of South Caro-
lima, the great, able. and eloquent
leader of the States Rights Party,
visited Memphis in Tennessee, an3,
proclaimed the Mississippi river to be
a ''great inland sea worthy of the pro-
lection of the government" that the
Democrats began to vote for any fed
eral improvements.