486 



LOUISIANA. 



power to send Mr. Bradley, but that it was 

 competent for him to go if he chose to do so. 

 He refused to go unless ordered by the Presi- 

 dent, and the latter declined to interfere in 

 the matter. The committee then issued an 

 address to the people of the United States, 

 dated December 23d, in which the proceed- 

 ings at New Orleans since the election were 

 recapitulated, and an appeal made for a fair 

 hearing and an equitable judgment on the con- 

 duct of the parties to the contest. The ad- 

 dress closed as follows : 



We submit to the people of the United States that 

 such proceedings reach a point at which the whole 

 theory of popular government is reversed and over- 

 thrown. The means by which such results have 

 been reached are enough to startle the public mind, 

 but the results themselves are not less appalling. 

 Aside from the general offices of the State, we find 

 the Legislature of the State delivered over into the 

 hands of men who were not elected, and who are 

 utterly unfit for positions of such responsibility in 

 that body as originally composed. At its organiza- 

 tion it comprised sixty-eight persons of color, most 

 of them totally uneducated, with a very small mi- 

 nority of whites. Since that time they have ex- 

 Glled members whose seats were unoontested. They 

 ,ve unseated members returned elected by their own 

 Board and seated their defeated opponents, on the 

 simple ground that the former had not appeared to 

 claim their seats. The result is, that, originally bad 

 as the Legislature was, it makes itself worse day by 

 day, and the prospect is, that soon the conservative 

 element of the State will have no representation 

 whatever. To those who flatter themselves with 

 the hope that Mr. Kellogg would not willingly abet 

 any scheme of outrageous misgovernment, it is now 

 apparent that, even "supposing this to be true, the 

 power of restraining has passed entirely beyond his 

 control, and that, should he attempt to thwart the 

 schemes of this Legislature, his own impeachment 

 would be a probable event of the future. In con- 

 clusion, we would state that we have attempted to 

 perform the duties of our mission in the purest 

 non-partisan spirit ; that we have not sought to fur- 

 nish capital to any political party, or to excite popu* 

 lar clamor in the interests of any faction ; we have 

 laid our case before the President and his Attorney- 

 General, and we willingly testify that we have been 

 courteously received and patiently listened to. While 

 they have refused the specific measures of relief for 

 which we applied, they have given reasons for such 

 refusal^ in no manner' implying their indisposition 

 to see justice done. They have referred us to Con- 

 gress, and we feel assured that we shall have the im- 

 mediate sanction of the President, so far as we in- 

 vite an impartial investigation of the facts of our 

 case, and that we shall have his cooperation in any 

 measures of relief which Congress may adopt after 

 just investigation. The people of Louisiana, ignor- 

 ing party, and conscious of an honorable effort to 

 place in office men of tried probity, seek justice, not 

 generosity. They ask for a calm, impartial examina- 

 tion of the recent extraordinary events within their 

 borders, in order that the truth may be known, and 

 that there may be a speedy correction of tho dan- 

 gerous evils now threatening the very life of their 

 State. 



Thus the matter stood at the end of the 

 year. Henry 0. Warmoth still claimed to be 

 Governor, as his term did not end until the 

 second Tuesday of January, and he denied 

 the legality of the Legislature which had sus- 

 pended him. Finchback claimed to be Gov- 

 ernor by virtue of his position as President of 



the Senate when Warmoth. was impeached. 

 The Legislature, made up of persons returned 

 as elected by the Board of Returning Officers, 

 known as the Lynch or Custom-House Board, 

 was in session, passing acts which were signed 

 by Pinchback as Governor. The Legislature, 

 made up of persons returned as elected by the 

 Warmoth Board, had adjourned the extra 

 session, but proposed to meet in regular ses- 

 sion in January. Kellogg and McEnery both 

 claimed to have been elected Governor for the 

 new term. Various suits were pending in the 

 State courts and the Federal Circuit Court, 

 and the issues of the contest were to come up 

 in Congress early in 1873, on the appearance 

 of contesting claimants for seats in each branch. 

 These matters and the further progress and 

 final settlement of these difficulties belong to 

 the record for 1873. It may be mentioned 

 here that the electoral vote of Louisiana was 

 thrown out entirely when the count was made, 

 in joint convention of the two Houses of. Con- 

 gress, and that a majority of the Senate Com- 

 mittee on Privileges and Elections recom- 

 mended in February (1873) that anew election 

 be ordered in the State. 



It is impossible to obtain any accurate 

 statement regarding the material condition 

 of the State, or of any of its institutions for 

 the year 1872. Amid the political excite- 

 ment of the time, there is so much confu- 

 sion in the public offices and records, that 

 no regular reports are made. The debt, for 

 which the State is actually or contingently 

 liable, was stated in January as $41,733,752.17, 

 although there is a law limiting it to $25,- 

 000,000. The rate of taxation for the year, 

 based on the assessments of 1871, was as fol- 

 lows : 



Mils. 



State Tax, or General Fund'.'Fom mills on each dol- 

 lar, "for the support of the government of the 

 State, of paying the public debt, and of promoting 

 the public interest thereof." 4 



ScJwol Tax, or Special School fund. Two mills on 

 each dollar, for the support of the free public 

 schools of the State 2 



Interest Tax. Six and one-half mills on each dollar, 

 to provide for the payment of the interest to be- 

 come due in 1872 upon all State bonds, except the 

 interest on levee bonds 6) 



Levee Tax. One and one-half mill on each dollar, to 

 meet the maturity of the coupons of interest to fall 

 due in 1872, for the benefit of the levee bonds lj 



Special I^evee Tax. Two and one-half mills on the 

 dollar, for the payment of the interest and part of 

 the principal of the bonds issued under an act of ' 

 1870, known as the " snecial levee tax fund " 2# 



Levee Construction Tax Fund. Two mills on the dol- 

 lar, as compensation to the Louisiana Levee Com- 

 pany 2 



Levee Repair Tax Fund. Two mills on the dollar, for 

 the benefit of the Louisiana Levee Company 2 



The whole forming an aergreeate of twenty and one- 

 half (20^) mills on each dollar 20& 



The total debt of the city of New Orleans, 

 on the 30th of June, was $20,763,658.21. The 

 rate of taxation was $2.62 on the $100 as- 

 sessed valuation, and the estimates for 1873 

 place it at $3.03| on the $100. 



Of the total population (526,392) ten years 

 of age and over, as reported by the census of 

 1870, there were engaged in. all occupations 



