504 



LOUISIANA. 



West Baton Rouge, Iberville, St. Martin, Iberia, 

 St. Mary, Terrebonne, Assumption, St. James, 

 St. John the Baptist, St. Charles, Lafourche, 

 Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, and Plaque- 

 mines thirty counties and parishes. 



It is the opinion of engineers that the im- 

 provement of the bed of the river for navi- 

 gation requires as a preliminary the construc- 

 tion of better levees. Otherwise the thriv- 

 ing fields on its banks will soon be laid waste 

 entirely. Even under the present circumstances 

 these overflows are not unfrequent in occur- 

 rence or limited in duration, but happen at 

 least live out of every eight years, and endure 

 for days and weeks and months. The cost of 

 repairing existing levees, as estimated by the 

 United States Commission of Engineers of 1878, 

 above Louisiana, is, for the right bank 4,000,- 

 000 cubic yards, and for the left bank 867,000 

 cubic yards, giving a total of 4,867,000 yards 

 at 25 cents per yard, $1,216,750. This subject 

 was one of the most important topics consid- 

 ered by the Commercial Convention in New 

 Orleans during the last month of the year. 



The Democratic-Conservative party of the 

 State assembled in convention at Baton Rouge 

 on August 6th. Major E. A. Burke was nomi- 

 nated for State Treasurer after numerous bal- 

 lots, and the following platform was adopted : 



The preamble recites that the Democratic- Con- 

 servative party of the State of Louisiana in conven- 

 tion assembled do hereby reiterate all the pledges 

 contained in the party platform, adopted in July, 

 1876, and particularly the following : 



Resolved, That we hereby pledge our party to the 

 satisfaction of all the legal obligations issued by the 

 State of Louisiana; to the most strenuous efforts in 

 the direction of reform arid an economical adminis- 

 tration of the government, and especially to the 

 abolition of all unnecessary public offices ; the re- 

 duction of the fees and salaries of office to the 

 standard of a fair remuneration, and the conse- 

 quent reduction of taxation to the lowest possible 

 limit commensurate with the necessary expenses of 

 the government; the preservation of the public 

 faith, and the curtailment of the dangerously large 

 patronage of the Chief Executive of the State. 



Resolved, That Francis T. Nicholls, by his prudent 

 and statesmanlike management of the many delicate 

 issues growing out of the success of the party in 

 1876, and resulting in the firm establishment of the 

 people's government in Louisiana, deserves the 

 gratitude of all Louisianians; that his wisdom, jus- 

 tice, and moderation in the administration of his 

 high trust, in strict accord with the principles an- 

 nounced by him in accepting the nomination for 

 Governor, have won for him the respect of all as 

 the Governor of the whole people of Louisiana, and 

 entitled him to the support of all who love good 

 government. 



Resolved, That it is the sense and judgment of this 

 Convention that the Legislature of this State at its 

 next session should provide for the calling and as- 

 sembling of a convention at the earliest practicable 

 time thereafter, to frame and establish a new Con- 

 stitution for the State of Louisiana. 



Resolved, That in favoring a call for a Constitu- 

 tional Convention it is not purposed to displace or 

 interfere with the incumbent officials in the State 

 government. 



Resolved, That the interest of the industrial, wealth- 

 producing classes is of paramount interest to the 

 people of the United States ; those whose labor and 



enterprise produce wealth should be secure in its en- 

 joyment. Our warmest sympathy is extended to 

 the laboring classes who nave been thrown out of 

 employment by the ruinous financial policy and un- 

 just legislation of the Eepublican party, and we 

 pledge the Democratic party to a reversal of this 

 policy and to a restoration of the rights they are en- 

 titled to upon its accession to power. 



Resolved, That the Louisiana Democracy demands 

 that the national banking system should be abolished 

 and national-bank notes retired, and in lieu thereof 

 that the Government of the United States should 

 issue an equal amount of Treasury notes, commonly 

 known as greenbacks ; and we also demand the un- 

 conditional repeal of laws imposing a tax upon the 

 circulation of State banks. "We demand also the im- 

 mediate and unconditional repeal of the resumption 

 act, and are unalterably opposed to the ruinous policy 

 pursued by the Kepublican party, whereby the vol- 

 ume of the currency has been contracted far below 

 the business requirements of the country, and fail- 

 ures, depression of business, scarcity of labor, and 

 pauper wages have been entailed ; that it is the sense 

 of this Convention that all bonds and obligations 

 of the National Government should be paid in the 

 legal-tender greenback notes of the United States. 

 except where it is otherwise provided in the original 

 law under which they were issued ; we further de- 

 mand the repeal of all laws passed subsequent to 

 the original law creating the public debt, by which 

 the obligations of the contract have been made more 

 onerous. 



Resolved, That we remember with gratitude the 

 heroic and patriotic efforts of General F. N. Ogden, 

 and the citizen soldiers of Louisiana under him, in 

 the establishment and maintenance of the people's 

 government of this State. 



Resolved, That the vote of Louisiana at the elec- 

 tion in the year 1876 was cast for Samuel J. Tilden 

 for President, and Thomas A. Hendricks for Vice- 

 President, by a majority of over 8,000, and was 

 fraudulently'counted for Eutherford B. Hayes and 

 William A. Wheeler, under the pretense that the re- 

 sult was accomplished by intimidation and whole- 

 sale murder; and that the failure of the Kepublican 

 party to produce witnesses to sustain these charges, 

 when invited to do so by the Potter Committee, is a 

 confession of their inability to maintain their allega- 

 tions and of the falsity of the charges themselves, 

 and that the result of the investigation by the said 

 committee is an affirmative proof that there was no 

 foundation for those false and unjust charges ai;d 

 allegations. 



Resolved, That the recent, admission of W. P. Kel- 

 logg as a Senator from this State was an abuse of 

 partisan power for a transient partisan end, and a 

 breach of the Constitution, which assures to each 

 State two Senators, to be chosen by the Legislature 

 thereof; that long before Kellogg's admission it had 

 been conclusively settled that the General Assembly 

 known as the Nicholls Assembly was the true and 

 the sole Legislature of Louisiana; that in the opinion 

 of this Convention it was beyond the competency of 

 the United States Senate, by a post-mortem recog- 

 nition, to galvanize into life and legislative power 

 another Assembly, of whose existence there is no 

 token upon the statute-books of the State, and 

 which dissolved before gaining recognition any- 

 where ; and that in view of the unprecedented char- 

 acter of the case a revision by the Senate of its ac- 

 tion on this subject is due to justice. 



Resolved, That we regard with serious dissatisfac- 

 tion the indifference and opposition of the members 

 of the National Congress to a system of internal im- 

 provements to develop the industries and restore the 

 prosperity of the Southern and Southwestern States, 

 and we urge our Senators and Eepresentatiyes to use 

 their utmost endeavors to secure such unity of ac- 

 tion as will lead to a speedy completion by the aid 

 of the National Government of the Texas and Pa- 



