472 



LOUISIANA. 



l^irs when there was no money in the Treasury 

 to meet them, and, accordingly, the warrants 

 issued were cashed by bankers and brokers at 

 a heavy discount. " The loose manner of 

 conducting business in the office of the war- 

 rant clerk" was strongly condemned, but no 

 specific charges of fraudulent transactions or 

 corruption were brought against any one. 



The receipts into the Treasury during the 

 year amounted to $6,616,845, and the dis- 

 bursements to $7,578,148, about $961,000 more 

 than the receipts. The Auditor estimated the 

 probable expenditures for the year 1872 at 

 $3,355,943. The amount of taxes and licenses 

 due at the close of the fiscal year was $5,208,- 

 738. The total amount of taxable property in 

 the State in 1871, according to the assessment 

 rolls, was $251,296,017, of which $151,089,161 

 was in New Orleans. The amount of the 

 debt of the State is disputed. The Governor 

 asserts that the actual debt is $22,295,790.58 ; 

 while the Auditor says that it is $41,194,473.- 

 91. The Auditor reaches his amount by add- 

 ing to the $22,295,790.58 what he terms a con- 

 tingent debt of $18,898,683.31. The Govern- 

 or, in explaining this, says that it " is contin- 

 gent in that its becoming actual debt is entirely 

 dependent first, upon the construction of 

 certain railroads, for which the State has 

 agreed to indorse second-mortgage bonds for 

 $12,500 per mile, the companies having the 

 right to issue first-mortgage bonds for the 

 same amount ; and, second, upon the presump- 

 tion that these roads, with all their franchises, 

 rolling-stock, fixtures, trade, etc., will not be 

 worth $25,000 per mile, the aggregate of the 

 first and second mortgage bonds." The Gov- 

 ernor asserts that there is not the slightest 

 possibility that any of these roads, except 

 the New Orleans, Mobile & Texas Eailroad, 

 will be constructed; and moreover that, if 

 every one of them should be built, the State 

 would bo amply secured from ever having to 

 pay the indorsement, for the reason that the 

 roads chartered, if constructed, would be 

 worth four times the amount guaranteed. 

 During the years from 1861 to 1871 inclu- 

 sive, the State debt, according to the Gov- 

 ernor's estimate, has increased from $10,157,- 

 882.12, to $22,045,790.58. The bonded debt, 

 on which interest is now paid, is $19,858,300, 

 the annual interest on which amounts to 

 $1,403,820. Of this debt, $1,357,000 in State 

 bonds have been purchased, and are held by 

 certain trust funds in the Treasury, which, if 

 cancelled, would reduce the interest-paying 

 debt to $18,501,300, and the annual interest to 

 $1,322,400. 



An important decision in a case in regard to 

 the limitation of the State debt, and the pow- 

 ers of the Legislature, was rendered by the 

 Supreme Court in April. The matter came 

 up on an appeal from a decision in the Eighth 

 District Court of New Orleans, where an appli- 

 cation was made for the writ of mandamus to 

 compel the State Auditor to issue a warrant 



for a claim of $50,331.46. The Auditor in his 

 return urged two reasons for his refusal to issue 

 the warrant : the first was, that the law author- 

 izing it violated the third amendment to the 

 constitution of the State, in this, that it in- 

 creased the debt of the State, which was al- 

 ready in excess of the limit of $25,000,000 

 imposed by the said amendment (see AMERICAN 

 ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA of 1870). The manda- 

 mus was refused. The Supreme Court, in its 

 decision, contended that the debt of the State 

 exceeded $25,000,000 on or before March 1, 

 1871. 



In July the State Central Committee, of 

 which S. B. Packard, United States Marshal, 

 and opponent of Governor "VYarmouth, was 

 chairman, called a State Convention to meet 

 in New Orleans on the 9th of August, to choose 

 a State Committee for the ensuing year. There- 

 upon both divisions or factions employed 

 every means to secure a majority of the dele- 

 gates. The larger part of the committee were 

 opposed to the Governor, alleging that he 

 took the management of the State campaign of 

 the preceding year out of their hands. A 

 few hours before the opening of the conven- 

 tion, it became apparent that "Warmouth and 

 his friends had obtained a decided majority. 

 On the 8th of August the committee announced 

 that the convention would be held in the Uni- 

 ted States Circuit Court room, located in the 

 Custom-House. The object of holding the con- 

 vention there was generally understood to be 

 to prevent Warmouth and his friends from con- 

 trolling the convention. The committee also 

 announced that the credentials of all delegates 

 must be at once submitted to them, and that 

 those who passed their investigation would be 

 furnished with tickets, without which no one 

 would be admitted to the convention. This 

 course was violently denounced by Warmoth 

 and his friends as without precedent or au- 

 thority, and revolutionary. The number of 

 delegates, according to the call of the conven- 

 tion, was 116. At midnight, before the meet- 

 ing of the convention, the committee reported 

 a list, it is said, of 175 names, entitled to ad- 

 mission, including not only regularly-elected 

 delegates, but others who claimed to be con- 

 testants. The tickets were delivered to those 

 thus designated from the window of the pri- 

 vate office of the postmaster by that official and 

 his assistants. 



By ten o'clock the next day, a dense mass 

 of excited whites and blacks had collected 

 before the entrance to the Custom-House. 

 About nine o'clock, three companies of United 

 States infantry had arrived, with two Gatling 

 guns. The troops marched into the rotunda 

 and stationed themselves at the head of the 

 stairway, and the guns were taken into the 

 basement of the building. Soon afterward, 

 all the other entrances were locked, barred, 

 and closely guarded by special deputy-marshals 

 who were sworn in during the night, and no 

 one was permitted to enter the building ex- 



