St. Landry democrat., 1891-08-22
Heard From at Last.

, that 1t ought by all means to say some
thing about the Sheriff's action in pay
} ing it one dollar of the taxpayers
money for doing what we offered to dt
: for five cents. 1t had but little to say
however, and that little resolves itsel
into this: "The law does not yequir.
tax sales to be let to the lowest bid
der" Hence, its plea simply is that the
Sheriff has a leg0l right to take from
each delinquent taxpayers pocket aud
transfer to his own, and to those of the
saints and high moralists who are asso-
ciated with him in the publication of
the Clarion, from ninety-fvo cents to
one dollar and ninety cents MORE than he
| has THE LEAST SHADOW OF A MORAL
RIGHT to take. If that does not fairly
describe the case, then we fail to un-
derstand it.
| The Clarion goes on to say:
The Courier and Democrat, OF this town,
| have made an effort to have the tax sales pub
| lished in their columns at greatly reduced
rates. Such a thing was never done before in
this parish. that we are aware of and it is per-
tlnent to ask why it was not done last year and
lHc year DtloIc, when IHt courier anu DCulO-
crat had monopoly Of the printing. II they
had monopoly now, would they do SO I!
When the devil is sick etc.
The Courier and Democrat had "a
monopoly Of the printing the Cla-
riOn calls it-not only last year and the
year before but several years before
that, when tie present publisher and
reputed co-editor of the Clarion owned,
managed, edited and published the
Democrat and was one of the parties to
this so-called monopoly.' The Ca-
rion could easily ascertain why it was
not done" by simply asking him. AL
though the Clarion's article is mere
effort to dodge the issue and is another
dishonest attempt to mislead its read
ers, we have no objection to tell the
public that the reason why it was not
done' was simply that the Courier and
Democrat were published in the inter-
est of their owners and were not con-
trolled by politicians who, to vent their
spite upon one or the other, and to de-
priye them ct legitimate business, Of
fered to do the parish and town print
ing for nothing. This, the Clarion,
which is not legitimate business en-
terprise, and which was established to |
further the political ambitions of GER
tain men, and incidentally to injure rs
in our business-this the Clarion has |
done. When the Clarion, through its
7. S. Foptenot. ESD
who has been the cats paw of sharper
men in all this sorry business-when the
Clarion did this, we warned it that the
cut-thrOat game was one that two
could play at /; y We gave it to under
stand that we could and would bit
oack; and when we did hit we hit hard
As result of that blow, we have got
he whole blessed crew in the nine hole
and intend to keep them there.
The Clarion's question "If they had
monopoly now, would they do so -
nd its closing comment: "'When the
levil was sick 2 etc." are quite on par
With the balance of the article and with
he most Of its writings, and lack even
he smallest modicum of ingredients
7hich go to make up fair and honest
iscussion. The question is answered |
y what we have written above; and
le willfGl misapplication of the COM
tent is clearly demon strated by the s
act that though we may be a little |
sick" (somewhat disfgured, proba-
y, but still in the ring), we have never
aimed that we offered to publish these 7
< sales at greatly reduced rates mere 5
to save money for the taxpayers.
hat was not the determining reason, :
I'd we would be as false and dishonest
the Clarion it we claimed that it was; s
Ough we were much gratitied at the +
ought that the acceptance of our offer !.
the forcing of the Clarion to publish +
EN- at our figures vould rebound .
eatly to their interest. But the Cla-
IN, which claimed that its offer to do b
g parish printing gratis was made in y
@ interest of the taxpayer, belied it's n n
ofessions when put to the test, and p
arged 95 per cent more than we offer n
to accept for advertising the tax =
les. This damning fact fixes securely q.
on its own head the cap which it sly b
cut out for US, and convicts it of h
eaking insincerity and arrant hypoc- y
", qualities which the DEMOCRAT u
.thes and despises and holds in utter OF
scorn and contempt. +