436 



LOUISIANA. 



prevent them from being fully attended by both, 

 that the utmost cheerfulness prevails in the schools 

 for the latter as well as the former, and that they are 

 crowded to the extent of the means afforded for their 

 accommodation, which can and will be greatly in- 

 creased by the cheerful action of the authorities and 

 people of the city as soon as it is ascertained that 

 they are to have the direction of their own children, 

 and that the management of their education is to re- 

 main without interference from the State. 



The undersigned would remind the Senate that it 

 is the duty of the State to attract its children to the 

 school and* not to drive them from it. Our political 

 safety depends on the education of our children, of 

 all complexions and conditions in life, and any plan 

 or system which is calculated to cause the poorer 

 whites, who cannot afford to pay for the education of 

 their children, to avoid the schools, cannot fail to in- 

 jure the State and to injure those for whom so vital a 

 change is made, as well as others. 



As the colored children have now as good schools 

 as the whites, and as those attending them are satis- 

 fied therewith, and as" this is" true also of the great 

 mass of the adult colored population ? the only excep- 

 tions being those politically ambitious, the under- 

 signed trusts you will agree with him, so far as this 

 bill is concerned, in letting well enough alone. 



The financial condition of the city of New 

 Orleans demanded considerable attention in 

 the Assembly, and several measures were in- 

 troduced intended to enable the city to collect 

 its back taxes and to redeem its notes, which 

 had been issued to a large amount, and were 

 fast becoming depreciated in value. A bill 

 authorizing a loan of $5,000,000 to be nego- 

 tiated by the city passed both Houses, but was 

 returned by the Governor without his signa- 

 ture, and, though passed by a two-thirds vote 

 in the House of Representatives, failed in the 

 Senate. 



A .measure which occupied a large share of 

 attention was an act of registration which 

 should allow to all citizens the opportunity of 

 making the recantation permitted by section 

 99 of the constitution. Several bills which 

 were introduced did not find favor with the 

 majority of the members, but a measure finally 

 passed on the 7th of September providing for 

 the appointment of three registrars, and 

 making all necessary regulations concerning 

 the appointment of supervisors and the per- 

 formance of their various duties. The section 

 of this act which relates to the qualifications 

 required of those who apply to be registered 

 consists of the following series of oaths, one 

 of which each applicant must be prepared to 

 subscribe : 



SEO. 5. JBe^it further enacted, etc., That said Board 

 of Registration^ the supervisors so appointed by 

 them as aforesaid, for each parish, shall require every 

 person, before he is registered as a voter, to take and 

 subscribe any of the following affidavits as the case 

 may require, and any member of said Board of Regis- 

 tration or any supervisor is hereby authorized to ad- 

 minister said oaths : 



I 1 do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the ease 



may be) that 1 am twenty-one years of age, was born 

 (or naturalized, as the case may be) in the United 

 States, and am subject to the jurisdiction thereof, and 

 have been a resident of the State of Louisiana since 



L ~~ j y ' and a resid ent of this parish since 



the day ot , and that I am not disfranchised 



for any of the causes stated in the first paragraph of 

 article ninety-nine of the constitution of this State. 



And I do further solemnly swear (or affirm, as the 

 case may be) that I did not hold any office, civil or 

 military, for one year or more, under the organization 

 styled ''The Confederate States of America;" that 

 I never registered as an enemy of the United States ; 

 that I never acted as leader of guerrilla bands during 

 the late rebellion ; that I never in the advocacy of 

 treason wrote or published newspaper articles, or 

 preached sermons during the late rebellion ; that I 

 never voted for and signed an ordinance of secession 

 in any State. 



The last paragraph of the above affidavit shall be 

 dispensed with, where the person applying for regis- 

 tration shall produce and exhibit to the registrar or 

 supervisor the certificate of the Secretary of State, 

 showing that he has relieved himself from the disa- 

 bility contained in the clauses of said affidavit, by 

 voluntarily writing and signing a certificate setting 

 forth that he acknowledges the late rebellion to have 

 been morally and politically wrong, and that he re- 

 grets any aid and comfort he may have given it, and 

 showing that such certificate has been filed in the 

 office of the Secretary of State, and been published in 

 the official journal, as is required by article ninety- 

 nine of the Constitution, and the act of this General 

 Assembly, prescribing the requisite forms of such 

 certificate, and the registry and publication thereof, 

 and, if the party applying for registration has lost or 

 mislaid such certificate ot the Secretary of State, he 

 shall be required to take and subscribe in lieu thereof 

 the following affidavit : 



I, , do solemnly swear or affirm, as the case 



may be) that I have voluntarily written and signed 

 a certificate setting forth that I acknowledge the late 

 rebellion to have been morally and politically wrong, 

 and that I regret any aid and comfort I may have 

 given it, and that I have caused such certificate to be 

 filed in the office of the Secretary of State, and that it 

 has been published in the official journal, according 

 to the requirements of article ninety-nine of the con- 

 stitution, and according to the forms required by this 

 General Assembly, and that I have either lost or mis- 

 laid the certificate of the Secretary of State showing 

 the above facts. 



That taking and subscribing the affidavits required 

 by the preceding part of this section shall not prevent 

 the registrars or supervisors from receiving other evi- 

 dence showing that the party applying for registration 

 is not entitled to register, and they shall have a 

 right to examine under oath, to be administered by 

 themselves or other competent authority, any witness 

 to prove any fact pertinent to the right of any one to 

 register, and shall decide from the evidence whether 

 the party so applying is entitled to register, subject 

 to appeal to the Board of Eegistration, which. Board 

 shall have power to hear and determine such ap- 

 peals. 



That if any person applying to register claims to 

 be relieved from the disabilities contained in the 

 second clause of the aforesaid affidavit under the pro- 

 viso to article ninety-nine of the constitution, he 

 shall be required to take and subscribe the following 

 affidavit : 



I, , do solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case 



may be) that prior to the 1st of January, 1868, I 

 favored the execution of the laws of the United States 

 popularly known as the reconstruction acts of Con- ' 

 gress, and openly and actively assisted the loyal men 

 of the State in their efforts to restore Louisiana to her 

 position in the Union. 



Any'person who shall swear falsely to any of the 

 foregoing affidavits, or any clause thereof, shall be 

 deemed guilty of perjury, and, on conviction thereof, 

 shall be punished as prescribed by law. 



Provided, That it shall be competent for the Board 

 of Eegistration to propound to applicants for regis- 

 tration such questions as they may deem proper, to 

 be answered under oath, as to the time and manner 



