562 



LOUISIANA. 



Subsequently the resolutions were made con- 

 current instead of joint, and passed the Senate 

 by yeas 21, nays 9. They also passed the 

 House. The Governor transmitted a copy to 

 the President of the United States with the 

 following letter : 



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, STATE OF LOUISIANA, ) 

 NEW ORLEANS, February 18, 1879. ) 

 To His Excellency B. B. Hayes, President of the Uni- 

 ted, States : 



I have the honor of transmitting herewith to your 

 Excellency (in accordance with the provisions thereof) 

 a duly certified copy of "concurrent resolutions" 

 passed by the General Assembly of the State of 

 Louisiana at its last session. 



In doing so, I desire, as Governor of Louisiana, to 

 express, in reference to the prosecutions now pending 

 in the Circuit Court of the United States against citi- 

 zens of Louisiana, under the sections of the Kevised 

 Statutes alluded to in the resolution, my profound re- 

 gret that, in a matter of such importance as to call 

 forth the legislative action of a State, a Judge of the 

 Supreme Court of the United States should not be 

 present to participate in the decision of the vital ques- 

 tions which those cases involve, so as to afford the 

 amplest opportunity of having them passed upon by 

 the highest tribunal of the land, the Supreme Court 

 of the United States. 



Any decision which might be rendered in those 

 cases, resting upon a mere concurrence of opinion of 

 two Judges of inferior jurisdiction (the effect of which 

 concurrence would be to bar the presentation of the 

 legal questions involved to the Supreme Court of the 

 United States ), would not carry with it the weight and 

 authority which the importance of the issues raised 

 and the sense of justice and right of the American 

 people absolutely and imperatively require. 



I nave the honor to sign myseli, with great respect, 

 your Excellency's obedient servant, 



FRANCIS T. NICHOLLS, 



Governor of Louisiana. 



The election of a Senator in Congress was 

 accomplished only after a large number of joint 

 meetings. At the last one there were 33 Sena- 

 tors and 88 Representatives present. The nomi- 

 nations were H. 0. Warmoth and B. F. Jonas. 

 Mr. Jonas received 98 votes and Mr. Warmoth 

 28. The former was declared to be elected. 

 His term commenced on March 4, 1879. He 

 was a lawyer of distinction in New Orleans. 

 He has held many positions of trust and honor, 

 and has filled them well. He has been a mem- 

 ber of the House, a member of the State Sen- 

 ate, and Attorney of the city of New Orleans. 

 In the canvass of 1872 he was nominated for 

 Lieutenant-Governor on the Democratic ticket, 

 but, in order to consolidate the anti-Republi- 

 can vote, he gave way to Mr. Penn. In 1877 

 he lacked three votes of the nomination for 

 Senator, which was conferred on Senator Spof- 

 ford. (See " Annual Cyclopaedia," 1878, page 

 497.) 



The following act for the prevention of cruel- 

 ty to animals was passed : 



SEO. 1. Be it enacted, etc., That section 816 of the 

 Kevised Statutes of the State shall be amended and 

 reenacted so as to read as follows : 



" SEC. 816. "Whoever shall wantonly or maliciously 

 cruelly beat, maim, disable, starve, or otherwise ill- 

 treat any domesticated animal, including those speci- 

 fied in the foregoing section, shall, upon conviction, be 

 fined not exceeding $100, or imprisoned not exceeding 

 three months, or both, at the discretion of the court.'' 



There was a failure to pay the interest falling 

 due on the State debt on January 1st. The 

 subject was brought before the Legislature. 

 By the Auditor's report the tax system of the 

 State seems to be greatly defective in regard to 

 the payment or non-payment of taxes and the 

 inequality of assessments. The practice of 

 non-payment by many owners of taxable prop- 

 erty is most persistent. The evil has grown to 

 so great a magnitude that there is a class of 

 non- taxpayers, whose interests are so large and 

 influence so extensive that it is almost impos- 

 sible to deal with them effectively. The com- 

 pulsory collection of their past-due taxes would 

 amount to practical confiscation. By the im- 

 perfect system of assessment, the property of 

 others is largely undervalued and almost en- 

 tirely escapes taxation. Some striking illus- 

 trations of inequality of valuation are present- 

 ed in the Auditor's report. For instance, the 

 whole State of Louisiana appears to own house- 

 hold goods, jewelry, silver plate, mechanics 1 

 tools, and other such personal property to the 

 value of $1,716,530, of which only $22,340 

 worth appears to be owned in the country. 

 What is still more remarkable is, that only ten 

 country parishes own any of these articles, and 

 forty-seven parishes are entirely destitute of 

 them. It appears, further, that while the city 

 of New Orleans has 25 per cent, of the popu- 

 lation of the State, the assessments of real es- 

 tate for New Orleans are 61 per cent, of the 

 assessments of the State. That is to say, New 

 Orleans appears to be between two and three 

 times as rich as the rest of the State. The real 

 estate of New Orleans is valued at $104,000,000, 

 and the real estate of the country parishes at 

 $73,000,000, so that all the land in the State of 

 Louisiana, with its houses, fences, cotton-gins, 

 sugar-houses, steam-engines, etc., is worth only 

 three dollars an acre, according to the official 

 assessments. The rate of taxation previous to 

 the session of the Constitutional Convention 

 had been fixed at 5 mills on the dollar to meet 

 the interest on the outstanding State bonds, 

 which yielded a gross amount of $973,500 upon 

 a total assessment of about $117,000,000. Al- 

 lowing 25 per cent, for deductions on assess- 

 ments, compensation to assessors, and commis- 

 sions for collection, it would net $730,125 to 

 meetadebt of $821,105.15, leavinga deficiency 

 of $90,980.1 5 at the end of the year. The debt 

 at that time was estimated at $13,000,000, and 

 the interest (at 7 per cent.) at $910,000; and 

 the net amount of taxes at $730,125, which 

 left a deficit of $180,075. This deficit, the 

 Auditor said to the Legislature, "can only be 

 met by an increase of the interest-tax, or by a 

 compromise with the bondholders, thereby re- 

 ducing the interest to such a rate as will enable 

 the State hereafter to meet its obligations 

 promptly. Whether a compromise can be 

 effected I am unable to say ; but is it not bet- 

 ter for the bondholders to receive their inter- 

 est punctually, at a lower rate than now fixed 

 by law, than to wait for an indefinite period ? 



