Year: 1878

tion Of the views and purposes of the con-


ventionsts They are telling the people


/. that the advocates of constitutional


convention are Indifferent to the business


and agricultural interests of the State,


and are ready to peril everything that


has been gained to accomplish their end +;


q that their purpose is TO depose Gov. Nichols


and have what is vulgarly termed new


deal and 3. that, ii a constitutional convention
Is convened, the State debt will be either repu-


dated entirely or scaled, or a portion of it


tainted with fraud eliminated, that the credit


of the State will thus be destroyed, and many
innocent holders of State bonds wrOnged and


ruined.


l. Now then there Is not single word of truth


or reason in any one of these charges. So far


as the business interests Of the State are


concerned, they can be best advanced by the


early assembling Of convention and the


adoption Of constitution framed by the


chosen representatives Of the people, and &C


cepted and ratified by the people in general


election. The present constitution was framed


under military bills and imposed upon the
State by Federal bayonets. While that con-
stitution survives, there will and can be no
contentment Business men and Conserva-
| tive men may cry peace! peace! But until q
constitution framed by the chosen represen-
tativ6s of the people Is adopted there can be
no peace. The people will never be content
under the bayonet edict of 1863, and so long
| as it is the organic law of Louisiana there
will be agitation Business men, therefore,
will act with wisdom and policy il they join
in ba md oR rFrnaf hoHN ~ 10
for @ speedy constitutional convention and
the adoption Of an organic law satisfactory
to the people, and which will insure economy
10 the administration of the government.
Q. Those who advocate constitutional con-
| vention SO far from having any desire to de-
pose Gov Nichols, are amongst his strongest
supporters. We have no sympathy with any
attacks upon the Governor. He came into
Office under circumstances Of the most extra
ordinary delicacy and difficulty. His right to
the office of Governor was disputed by a dar-
ing conspirator, backed by large though ig-
norant and turbulent element of the popula-
tion, sustained by the Federal government.
Civil war or ignoble surrender for many
weeks seemed to be the only alternative.


But the legitimate government was finally
established. By what means we know not.
But we know that, when Tilden and the ma
tional Democrats shrank from the RESPONSE
bility of holding the national victory the
South had won for the Union, it will be difficult
to show that any necessary measures adopted
by the people of this State to hold their State
government and expel from power the oppres-
sors and thieves who had for years been
foisted upon them, were unwarranted. With
the policy of the State administration, We
have not been always fully in accord. For
the shortcomings Of the late Legislature,
we have no liberation. But we do
sincerely believe that, under the diff
cult and perplexing circumstances Of the
situation Gov. Nichols has acted in the main
with wisdom and discretion, and we land we
believe we are in full accord with the con-
ventionists throughout the STATED be-
leve that convention or no convention, he
should serve the full term for which he was
elected. The story, therefore, that the pur-
pose of the conventionists is to unseat Gov.
Nichols is utterly without foundation in fact.
We have no doubt there are some few persons
In the State who would be glad TO see him de-
posed. But, however much they may dissent
from some of the measures Of his administra-
tion, the great mass of the people Of LOuisi-
ana honor and reverence their Governor, and
would oppose any movement which contem-
plated his retirement from the high office he
so worthily fills.


3. The assumption that the movement for a
constitutional convention means a repudta-
tion of the State debt is equally untrue. The
people of Louisiana, in the election of 1874, in
voting for the amendments to the constftrl-
tion scaling and adjusting the public debt,
entered into a contract to pay it upon
its present basis. There Is now no repu-
diation sentiment of any consequence in
the State. Indeed, had it not been for
the combination of monOpolies, rings and
gamblers in bonds at the last session of the
Legislature to defeat the convention and other
popular measures, reputation would never
have been heard of in Louisiana. But this COM
bination used their power to tamper with the
highest interests Of the people, and to specu-
late on the fluctuations Of the States credit.
They forced the bonds down by one move
ment, and then, after loading up" manipu-
lated the work Of the Legislature for the pur-
pose Of driving them up to ninety-tive cents.
Their game was discovered; the people were
incensed, and if there is any reputation SEN
timent in the State to-day it was produced by
the operations Of this scandalous comination.


But the rapudiation fever has made no
headway. A few factionsts in New Orleans
talk about it, but warm as have been the de-
nunciations of the late Legislature in the
country and here; earnest as is the demand
for constitutional convention, we have heard
no threats of readjustment or reputation.
The farmers, and the planters, and all the in
dustrial classes, realize the Importance of sus-
tanning the credit of the State. They feel
that even if some part Of the State debt was
fraudulent in It's origin, they accepted it all in
1874, and that they can better afford to pay it
than to turn capital away from us by repu-
dating any portion of it.


The naonle OF this State have no disposition
to repudiate or alter the present status of the
debt. But it will not be safe for the gamblers
in bonds and the monopoIists who are identi-