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ADDRESS OF
ALBERT C. JAN
-TO THE-
BUSINESS MEN OF THE FIRST CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.

Fellow-Citizens-Sharing in the general re-
sentment pervading this community against
the insolence and brutal disregard of the
rights of the people displayed by the
inanagers of the political machine which
has, for so many years past, plundered and
well nigh ruined this magnificent city, and
prompted by the friendly suggestions of
citizens of all parties, who believed that I
had some peculiar opportunities of success
in a revolt against the growing arrogance
of the "ring" of professional poli-
ticians who have stolen the liv-
ery of the Democratic party to
serve their selfish interests in, I
had resolved and promised to announce
myself as an Independent candidate for
Congress when, without my procurement
or expectation, the nomination of the
nomination of the
Greenback-Labor party was offered me by
the convention of that party. In respond
to that offer I took occasion torplain
why deemed To my d duty to
stand in opposition to the nominal candi-
date of the party to which I had always
belonged, and to expound briefly
the principles and pledges upon the
strength of which every honest, self-think-
ing and independent man in the district
might vote for me with an approving con-
science, whatsoever his previous political
attachments might have been. These were,
in brief, to the following effect: That the
era of war and reconstruction was com-
pletely closed; that the South was now of
one mind with the North as to maintaining
the rights of the freedmen and extending
to them the fullest blessings of free and
public education; that no question re-
mained upon which a Northern or South-
ern party could ever be founded; that the
right and duty of the South to discuss, in-
fluence and share in the decision of all mat-
ters of national import were now fully rec-
ognized; that the way to preserve and
develop the inalienable right of
the States to control their own local
affairs was to take an active, intel-
igent and liberal-minded part in all
questions of Federal cognizance; that the
new and unfamiliar era of industrial ac-
tivity upon which the South had entered
forbade slavish adherence to old parties,
leaders and ideas; that the just wants of
the State in the way of Federal improve-
ment of the great watercourses and the in-
cidental protection of the sugar and rice in-
sugar and rice in-
dustries could be best secured by an inde-
pendent attitude toward the existing par-
12
ties, and such new ones as the restlessness
of conflicting interests at the North was
preparing to launch upon the country, and
that whether the tariff of the immediate
future was to be one of protection, with inci-
dental revenue, or of revenue with incidental
protection, the representatives of this State
in Congress could not fail to gain for the
two industries named all that they really
need or can reasonably claim, provided
they spoke the united voice of a people
who had no further use for those peculiar
ideas and views which the terms Demo-
cratic" and "Republican" implied during
the ten years ending in 1877.
•
POLUP
P
I pledged myself that in the event of
my election I would go to Washington
free from the shackles of any ring, faction
or political machine; devoted to the build-
ing up of the whole people and of the
permanent interes of the State and city;
resolved to aid in pltung such fetters upon
the all-devouring activity of corporate
bodies as would leave to the people in mass
that certainty of gaining a sufficient sup-
port from their industry which has always
been the boast and glory of our republic,
and that by my votes and speeches in the
National Councils, I would show my con-
stant remembrance and appreciation of the
fact that the Louisiana of 1883, free, alert,
prosperous and hopefuì, was not the
Louisiana of 1873, oppressed, turbulent,
impoverished and despondent.
Three weeks later the Republican Con-
gressional Convention, after a three days'
session, without asking or receiving from
me a single pledge of any kind whatever,
adopted a resolution approving and in-
dorsing my candidacy as an Independent,
and urging all Republican voters to give
me their support and their votes, on no
other platform than the one I had pre-
viously laid down in my above-mentioned
letter of acceptance.
Since then I have been favored with the
indorsement of other parties constituting
special elements of the opposition to the
ring or political machine which controls
the regular Democratic organization in this
city and district.
The vital question, or issue, in the im-
pending political contest, Congressional as
well as municipal, is opposition to ring
methods and ring rule. That the govern
ment of this city (by which term I mean
our municipal rulers, with two or three
honorable exceptions) is rotten and corrupt,
no sane man will deny. It has become not


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chased the support of one party and se-
cured that of the other by making pledges
in regard to my course as a member of
Congress if I should be elected. I content
myself with assuring you that these
charges, like other campaign slanders that
have been uttered against me, but which I
have not condescended to reply to, are ut-
terly false, and that I have made no
pledges of any kind to any individual or
party.
fional scandal.
pass that the
hawked about
0 to 80 per cent
uncil is driven to
Consider the propriety of dis-
charging the inmates of the Parish Prison
and House of Refuge for lack of
funds wherewith to buy the most
ordinary rations, it 18 time for |
business men to call a halt and resolve to
destroy, root and branch, the machine.
which has worked such disgraceful results.
Are you not aware that while the honest
and deserving employes of the city are
thus brought face to face with starvation,
the ring supports in luxury and idleness
and merely nominal employment a number
of "bummers" and "strikers" in every
ward, whose "time" suffers no discount,
but who demand and receive the full face
value of their paper? These are the men
who do the political work of the "bosses"
and make it possible for them to rule over
you and your fellow-citizens.
The main argument employed against me
by the friends of my opponent is the al-
leged fact that, if elected as an Independ-
ent, I could not be admitted to Democratic
caucuses. As a matter of fact the state-
meut is not true. Ask Mr. Ellis whether
his party associates did not invite the In-
dependent Congressman of Brooklyn, Hon.
J. Hyatt Smith, to participate in their cau-
cuses-an honor which he declined. But
whether it be a fact or not, I say to you
distinctly that, in the interest of my con-
stituents, I would not seek admission to
their caucuses. could not, consistently
The business men and capitalists of the with self-respect, invite the placing of a
North and of Europe are aware of the ex- collar around my neck. Caucus rule is but
istence, and of your toleration, of these another name for boss rule. It is not to
shameful abuses, and our individual and your interest that your representative
collective credit with them suffers from should merge his individuality in a body
that knowledge. The millions of idle cap- where responsibility is so much sub-divided
ital that might find profitable employment that it is practically lost and where meas
in this city and State will ver come here,ures are concocted and adopted that strain
and lasting prosperity. never visit us, the consciences of honest men.
until, by one manly effort, we free our- Morcore unst dangerous and in
selves from the snackles of "bossism" and sidious enemy of Loush atment
introduce order and decency into our polit- is the Democratic caucus, because i con-
ical household.
trolled, and will long continue to be con-
trolled, by the Northern Democracy. We
all know that the Democracy. as a national
party, is hostile to the policy of internal
improvements and a high tariff. At any
moment the Democratic Congressional cau-
cus may resolve to reduce or abolish the
duties on sugar and rice, and restrict,
within the narrowest possible limits, ap-
propriations for the internal improvement
of the South. At such a juncture who
would most faithfully represent you in
Congress-the man who has bartered away
his manhood for party discipline, and has
bound himself to obey the dictates of the
caucus, or he who, standing upon the firm
rock of independence, can give free play to
his judgment, and uphold the interests of
his constituents against even the "hallowed
principles of the Democracy" and in the
face of forty caucuses?
W
The recent elections in Georgia and Ohio
convey a wholesome lesson. In the former
State Alexander H. Stephens incurred the
hostility and resentment of the Democratic
machine by his liberal and independent
public utterrances. They sought to put him
aside, but the people were so earnest and
determined in their approval of his course
that the political bosses were compelled
to yield to his nomination for the Governor
ship and he was elected by an overwhelm-
ing majority of the masses, without dis-
tinction of party or color. In Ohio the Re-
publicaa party, made arrogant and reckless
by its long lease of power, undertook by
proscriptive and puritanical sumptuary
legislation-by Sunday laws and prohibi-
tion-to interfere with and control the
private tastes and habits of the people.
The Independent voters, particularly the
Germans, shook themselves free from
party ties and administered to the machine
a rebuke so strong that its counter-shock
has been felt in every part of the Union.
My opponent in this contest, Prof. Hunt,
has called to his assistance in his canvass
of the district Messrs. Fitzpatrick, Lionel
Adams, Jonas, Ellis, McCaleb, Lewis and
others, all of whom either hold or expect
office at the hand of the machine. These
gentlemen, during my absence on profes-
sional business, indulged in such unmanly
insinuations against me as that I had pur-
Prof. Carleton Hunt has, on several oc-
casions of late, delivered carefully pre-
pared speeches at ward meetings in this
city, of which I here read the reports that
appeared in the papers. You must have
been struck, as I was, by two features, or
points, in these speeches which forcibly
illustrate the lack of practical knowledge
and of tact that usually characterize the
"man of the closet."
1. He gravely tells the people of this
sugar district, where he has passed so
many years of his life, that the wages of
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if the machine which nominated him and
rules this city really represents the people
of this district, then
this district, then my candidacy is
illogical, absurd and uncalled for, and I
cannot conscientiously ask any good citi-
But I never will be-
zen to vote for me.
lieve and admit that the people have volun-
tarily placed their interests in the keeping
of a close corporation of professional poli-
ticians.
I have not been favored with the counten-
ance and confidence of these city "bosses"
and parasites who for too mary years have
been consuming the substance of New Or-
leans as fast, almost, as the industry and
thrift of the people have increased it. I have
therefore not the means, if I had the dispo-
sition, to carry on my contest with them
according to their own methods; nor do I
think my possession of such resources at all
necessary. If every man entitled to vote
in the First District who agrees with what I
have herein stated will but take the little
time and trouble necessary to vote, the
existing ring will receive a mortal blow
and it will be many years, at the worst,
before the people are again subjected to the
same degree of insolence, waste and plun-
der. But the hope of the ring lies în taeir
indignant
belief that each honest a
elector wil
L
ness of reg leave to his
istration and
rent their grasp on every man's earnings,
profits and savings will not be disturbed.
NATUR
Kuga tre
so
eat a power der Congressional legisla-
tion, upon which this district is peculiarly
dependent for its prosperity and welfare?
The private character of the rival candi-
dates in this contest is hardly at issue. It
is their public character that interests the
voters, their practical record. their opin-
ions, their abilities and capacity for use-
fulness, and these are measured by their
public acts and utterances. A man may
be, like Secretary Folger, the Republican
candidate for the Governorship of New
York, personally blameless, able and highly
esteemed, and yet deserve to be defeated
because of the machine methods resorted
to in order to secure his nominatioz.
I appeal to the business men of this
district, one and all, to foil this expecta-
tion by the moderate degree of energy I
have indicated. If I do not support this
appeal by the appended names of recog-
nized leaders of the mercantile and indus-
trial community, it is only because I am
not willing to subject any man of business
to the annoyances and importunities that
the struggles of a band of corrupt
politicians to retain their
power
guilty
might occasion him. I
only ask the merchants, trades-
men. manufacturers aud professional men
I herein address to do each his plain po-
litical duty at the polls, and to commend
I have no quarrel with Prof. Hunt per- the same performance to those who are ac-
sonally. I oppose his election because he customed to receive their advice with con-
represents the machine as against the peo-fidence and respect. For myself, I seek
ple in this contest, and every one knows nothing but the distinction of being sent to
that, as water does not rise higher than Washington as a genuine Representative
its source, so a machine nominee, however of the people, there to endeavor to do such
worthy he may personally be, cannot free faithful and efficient service for them and
himself from his obligations to the power theirs as will give me a continued claim
that created him. No man can serve two upon their esteem and confidence.
masters faithfully. If, in serving the ma-
ALBERT C. JANIN.
chine, Prof. Hunt will serve the people, New Orleans, November, 1882.
|
the colored laborers on plantations in
this State average $365 a year, whereas
everybody else knows, or ought to know.
that they hardly reach $240 per annum;
and
2. He seeks to make political capital by
arraiguing and denouncing the President
of the United States, the man who has
braved partisan prejudice to benefit Louisi-
ana and addressed to Congress a special
message concerning the improvement of
the Mississippi and the protection of our
levees, in which the following passage may
be found:
6.
The immense losses and widespread
suffering of the people dwelling near the
river induces me to urge upoù Congress
the propriety of not only making an ap-
propriation to close the gaps in the levees
occasioned by the recent floods, as recom-
mended by the commission, but that Con-
gress should inaugurate measures for the
permanent improvement of the navigation
of the river and security of the valley. It
may be that such a system of improve-
ment would, as it progressed, require the
appropriation of twenty or thirty millions of
dollars. Even such an expenditure, ex-
teading as it must over several years, can
not be regarded as extravagant, in view
of the immense interests involved."
Can Prof. Hunt hope to benefit his con-
stituents by gratuitously and unnecessarily
President.
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