The Opelousas courier., 1899-02-04
INQUIRER to Anti-Grumbler.
Editor COURIER =

UfUiO bleE replies W lily Iucotio'S Hp
pea1ed in the Clarion of Jan. % (the
its issue of Jan. 14), but the two togeth-
err do not by any means constitute the
"reply full and complete" which he
had promised to make. 1t is, however,
q very clever and plausible reply-and
right here | must compliment him on
the adroitness exhibited in his answers
to some of my questlons-and the cas-
ia! reader of that reply who does not
read the COURIER might readily con
clude that it is satisfactory and con.
elusive. "Qui n'entend qu'uue clocle,'
you know, ''n'entend qu'un son.
must also express my regret ut the
shattering of the hopes raised 10y Anti
Grumblern in his first instalment,
when he professed his willingness to
join hands with ne land to explore the
dark corners existing in public places,'
for thus far he has proved to be a thick
and-thin defender of the existing order
of things, a persistent apolOgIst tor the
abuses that | have called attention to.
He sees no grounds for my complaints;
he does not point out any abuses h!msel1'
he even goes back to 1888 and enlogtzes
all our police juries since that date and,
in fact, lie seems to think, With the
French optimist, that Tout est pour lie
mieux dams lie meilleul DIES mondes pos
sibles," and particularly in u little
world Of St. Landry-in other words,
that "Everthing is lovely and the goose
hangs high -.
After admitting that the present
sheriff is making money out OF his
Office, and accounting for the fact by
attributing it to "the peculiar circum-
stances in which he entered Office" one
of those circumstances being that, "un-
like his predecessors, he had no friends
to reward, and was not in advance OF
being sworn in loaded down with prom
/ iscs, in carrying out Of which little
! would be left him." and having thereby
established in an incOntrOvertible man
ner the fact that the sheriff did not need
any gratuities from the police jury ;
after admitting that tho police jury did
bestow upon him a gratuity by dellbe-
| rately voting him five cents per day per
! prisoner more than the law required
it to pay, "Anti- Grumbler" yet has
| no word of Gliding or remonstrance for
that body-on the contrary, he cOmpll-
ments it (thongh, to be entirely fair, l
must say that his compliments are about
other matters)-and he concludes upon
that point by congratulating the sheriff
upon saving money enough to build a
nice home y this result, be it remem
bered. having been reached 10y a man
deeply in debt, only u little more than a
year after taking the Office. THUS are
my contentious on this point proven
and | repeat what l said in my commu-
nication of Jan. z: Nov, l submit that
IA system or a condition Of things that
produces such results ia these days OF
general distress and depression is radi-
caliy wrong, and should he Instantly
remedied, instead of being aggravated.
Put on the brakes, | say y
Right here l desire to correct the i'm
preston left by the Clarion's correspond
sDt when he speaks of my assault" up
on the police jury and "the n upon the
sheriff" no more assaulted the sheriff
than | assaulted the fiscal agent or the
parish, treasurer ; and | am sure that
my references to the police jury would
be better characterized by the word "ar-
alignment" | did arraign the police
Jury for what | conceived to be its dere-
Lotions of duty in the conduct of the
parish government, n the altogether
respectful references to the gentlemen
mentioned were merely incidental in
tho discussion Of these public matters.
[ may not be a statesman. n humanita-
rian or a philanthropist, but, in taking
sufficient interest in public matters to
call attention to a few in which some
changes Of general benefit might we'll
be made, [ think / have at least given
some slight proof OF good citizenship;
and if the resulting discussion has
opened the ayes of the polfcej jury to the
g%rievous mistake it made in the matter
Ofthe fee for the maintenance ofthe pris-
oners-and | fancy this has been made
as clear as the MONDAY sun-Others may
be encouraged: to lay aside their disin-
%clination to "appear in print and make
some valuable suggestions as to reforms
in local governmental affairs, and some
Improvement in both town and parish
government would, | think, surely flow
therefrOm.
The next important queries are en-
bodied in the following extract from my
communication Of Jan. z:
"Why is it that, with five mills more levied
by the parish for the the last two years than
ever before on the property in the lncorpora-
ted towns, We are still paying a large salary to
a fiscal agent2 Do these heavy additional
taxes not yield a sufficient revenue to place
the parish on a cash basis And if we cannot
dispense with the fiscal agent. why cannOt we
get along without a parish treasurer = why
is it that, with these heavy additional taxes
levied in all incorporated towns (Which in Ope-
lousas have run the rate of taxation up to the
total OF 33a mllls) the rate OF parish
taxation has not been reduced to 7 or 8 millsp
To these queries Anti Grumbler"
first makes answer by rehearsiDg the
reasons which were advanced at the
time of the establishment of the agency
to justify this expensive innovation,
reasons which l have never considered
sufficient, and which. l submit, apply
with less force now than they did then.
| have always held, and through the
public press, at the time, l expressed
the conviction, that while some small
savings might be effected by borrowing
money to pay current expenses, i. O., for
jurors, supplies needed for the Jail, etc,
new bridges, repairs to old Ones, etc,
the saving thus made would be more
than Offset by the cost of the money
borrowed to pay salaries and fees, and
[ suggested that no money be borrowed
forthat purpose. The belief then
pressed has, l am firmly convinced,
proved correct for, Notwithstanding
the fact that the agency has existed six
or seven years; Notwithstanding the
fact that the parish has for the past two
years collected five mills additional taxes
on the property in all the incorporated
towns; Notwithstanding the further
fact that during that period it has also
collected heavy licenses in all these
towns-which never had been done be-
fore ; and notwithstanding the further
fact that it will again this year collect
the same additional taxes in all the
towns, and the same licenses, except the
liquor licenses, in all except Opel0usas,
H. ~or:oh - ckSlI -, 146k xphslo kl,n &c