The Meridional. (Abbeville, La.) 1856-1906, 1892-09-17
The star A Legal Luminary.

OON ii
making themselves obnoxious to the
public generally, becomes a task, but
the sspublic man" who sits supinely by
and for fear of having mire thrown at
him, refuses to show up the misrepre-
sensations or errors of a laundering
editor, is unworthy~of the trust placed
in him. 1t now becomes my painful
duty to speak very plainly" of the artl-
Gle, "Whither Are We Drifting" which
appeared, in the Star of the 10th inst.
I start out with the bold assertion, that
the editor who wishes to do right and
act properly and decently, has no rea-
son or excuse for accusing honest men
of "shenanigann work without being
certain that when he makes accuse
tons of that nature and uses quotations
to uphold and strengthen his position
he knows what he is talking about.
The learned author of the article in
question either was in biissful igno-
rance, of the fact that the section
of the Revised Statutes Of 1870
quoted by him vas repealed or ne was
aware of the fact and was guilty of a
wilful Misrepresentation, he may choose
either horn of the dilemma he either
Numbered or he is little and mean
enough to wilfully and publicly misrep-
resent the actions of honest. men.
Act No. % of the extra session OF
Els77 is an act ''to regulate public edu-
cation in the State of Louisiana; to pro-
vide a revenue for the same; to impose
certain penalties !; to repeal sections OF
the Revised Statutes from section h0etue
hundred and seventeen inclusive to sec
ton tacelUe hundred and Wssaety-seeeR,
&C. consequently section 1249 lR. So
quoted by our erudite critic has ceased
to be a law since 1877; and his lengthy
comments, patriotic illusions and sage
counsels fall to the ground and he
stands before the few readers OF his
sheet as a laundering meddler in mat
tiers not at all concerning him.
According to article l6l Of the Con-
stitution of 1879, "all officers shall con-
tinue to discharge the duties Of their
offices until their successors shall have
been indicted into Office" &c.
Nine citizens of this parish were duly
appointed to act as a board Of School
Directors. On September Sd, several
days after their appointment, seven OF
them were regularly qualified or, to use
the words of the constitution were Gin
Quoted into %ofice;" and by that very
fact the old board ceased to be and the
official career of Messrs. Summers and
Williams as officers of that board neces-
sarily ended with it.
Who then was to give the ten days
notice required by the Star" before
a meeting shoulds be convened Will
1.-THE Star maintain that Messrs. Sum
, mers as the President OF Mr.. Williams
. as the Secretary of a School Board thai
has ceased to exist have authority tt
notify the duly appointed and qualified
successors Of that board when anC
where to meet9
Let us suppose that the Board hat
? not qualified and organized, and tina
!. the notice mentioned by the serupu
d lousy honest author of the criticism
aforementioned, would never have beef
!, given. What then? Would the ney
board have remained until October
sixty days after their appointment
without qualifying. Then I suppos
the Star would have raised a how
about the members of the new board re
naming unqualified too long ; since ac
: No. 10 of 1873 requires that all officers
whether elected or appointed shal
Equality within thirty days after the re
: ceipt of their commissions. If GU
9 learned critic will only take the troubl
to read section z of act No. 81 of 1873
he will see that the Parish Board tina
r hold such special and adjourned meet
ings as the board may determine" an,
that to hold such meetings no motto
from defunct officials nor unsolicite
Y counsel from the Star Coupled wit