572 



LOUISIANA. 



LUTHERANS. 



stitution, but the question of adoption or rejection of 

 the Constitution is left to the individual conviction of 

 the voters. Thirteenth Holds that the judicial de- 

 partment of the government should be kept free and 

 unpolluted by the political turmoil, recognizing honest 

 differences or opinion as to the proper construction of 

 the constitutional and statutory laws, and recommends 

 therefore that each of the great political parties be 

 represented upon the bench. 



A resolution was adopted, setting forth that 

 if colored people are allowed to vote and have 

 their votes counted, they will remain in the 

 State ; if not, they will be forced to emigrate. 



A resolution was also adopted declaring Gen- 

 eral Grant their unalterable choice for President 

 in 1880. The election of Dumont, who is an 

 out-and-out Sherman man, as permanent presi- 

 dent of the Convention, is considered an en- 

 dorsement of the Administration. 



At the election on December 8th, the vote 

 given for the Constitution was 86,494; against 

 it, 27,346. The vote for the ordinance relative 

 to the State debt was 59,932 ; against it, 49,445. 

 The vote for State officers was as follows: 

 For Governor Wiltz, Democrat, 74,769 ; Beat- 

 tie, Republican, 40,760. For Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor McEnery, Democrat, 76,003 ; Gilles- 

 pie, Republican, 39,961. The other Democrat- 

 ic candidates were elected by about the same 

 majorities. The division in the Legislature 

 was : in the Senate, 31 Democrats, 25 Republi- 

 cans ; in the House, 76 Democrats, 17 Republi- 

 cans, 2 Independents, 1 National. The vote 

 for members of Congress was in favor of the 

 Democratic candidates : First District, Gibson ; 

 Second, Ellis ; Third, Acklen ; Fourth, Elam ; 

 Fifth, King ; Sixth, Robertson. 



The domestic exports from New Orleans for 

 the year ending July 31, 1879, amounted to 

 $63,624,797; the imports for the same period 

 amounted to $7,141,989. The steady increase 

 of depth in the water at the mouths of the 

 Mississippi has attracted the attention of ship- 

 owners. Two new lines of steamers have been 

 added to the foreign trade, and another will 

 come in a few months. The Morgan New Or- 

 leans and Texas Railroad is completed to Ver- 

 millionville, where it connects with the Loui- 

 siana Western, affording a through line to 

 Houston. The New Orleans Pacific is rapidly 

 extending. The cotton trade shows a decline 

 of 200,000 bales, which is ascribed to the epi- 

 demic and the low stage of water. The yield 

 of sugar was the largest since the war. The 

 receipts of grain were 10,678,306 bushels. 



The power of the judicial department to order 

 a tax-levy came up before the Supreme Court of 

 the United States, in the case of Morris Ranger 

 vs. The city of New Orleans. The litigation 

 arose out of an application for a writ of manda- 

 mus to compel the authorities of that city to levy 

 a tax to pay certain judgments rendered against 

 it upon bonds issued to the New Orleans, Jack- 

 son, and Great Northern Railroad Company. 

 The city set up as a defense that there was no 

 legislative authority for the levy of such a tax. 

 The petitioner demurred to this answer, but the 



Circuit Court overruled the demurrer and de- 

 nied the writ, whereupon the petitioner took an 

 appeal. The Court below proceeded on the 

 principle that the power of taxation belongs ex- 

 clusively to the legislative branch of the gov- 

 ernment, and that the judiciary can not direct a 

 tax to be levied when none is authorized by the 

 Legislature. The Supreme Court held, how- 

 ever, in a careful opinion delivered by Justice 

 Field, that, although the power of taxation is a 

 legislative prerogative, it may be delegated to a 

 municipal corporation, and that when such a 

 corporation is created the power of taxation 

 is vested in it as an essential attribute for all 

 the purposes of its existence, unless its exercise 

 is in express terms prohibited. "When, there- 

 fore, authority to borrow money or incur an 

 obligation to carry out any public object is con- 

 ferred upon a municipal corporation, the power 

 to levy a tax for its payment or the discharge 

 of the obligation accompanies it, and this, too, 

 without any special mention that such power 

 is granted. It is always to be assumed, in the 

 absence of clear restrictive provisions, that- 

 when the Legislature grants to a city the power 

 to create a debt it intends that the city shall 

 pay it, and that its payments shall not be left 

 to its caprice or pleasure. Whenever a power 

 to contract a debt is conferred, it must be held 

 that a corresponding power of providing for 

 its payment is also conferred. The latter is 

 implied in the grant of the former, and such 

 implication can not be overcome except by ex- 

 press words of limitation. In the present case 

 the indebtedness of the city of New Orleans ia 

 conclusively established by the judgments re- 

 covered. Owing the debt, the city had the 

 power to levy a tax for its payment, and it was 

 clearly its duty so to do. The payment was 

 not a matter resting on its pleasure, but a duty 

 to the creditors ; and having neglected that 

 duty, a mandamus should have been issued to 

 enforce its observance. The judgment of the 

 lower Court must therefore be reversed and the 

 cause remanded, with directions to issue the 

 writ in compliance with the petition. 



There were apprehensions that a repetition 

 of the negro exodus would take place in the 

 Avinter of 1879-'80 ; but the condition of the 

 colored laboring people seemed to have much 

 bettered itself, and no large number of them 

 seemed disposed to emigrate. The share sys- 

 tem was still the mode of payment in use, none 

 being paid wages except in the sugar districts. 

 The cotton crop on the bottom lands was ex- 

 cellent, and most of the laborers had money 

 saved up at the end of the year. On the hills 

 the yield was poor, and a part of the popula- 

 tion moved to the low lands. Contracts were 

 readily entered into for the next season, even in 

 Tensas and Madison parishes, where the most 

 fears were felt. 



LUTHERANS. The following is a summary 

 of the statistics of the Evangelical Lutheran 

 Church in the United States, as they are given 

 in the " Church Almanac " for 1880 : 



