516 



LOUISIANA. 



ties, for six months until July 1st. It provides 

 for the salaries and other expenses of the execu- 

 tive and judiciary departments out of the gen- 

 eral fund. It orders payment out of the inter- 

 o-t t:ix fund of " reduced interest on coupons 

 of consolidated bonds, under the provisions of 

 the constitutional ordinance relative to the 

 State debt, $120,000, or as much thereof as may 

 be necessary to pay the interest on that por- 

 tion of the State debt already stamped or con- 

 verted, and that which may be stamped prior 

 t.. .Inly 1. 1S82." The sixth and last act of this 

 session created a printing board. 



Having emK'd by limitation of time without 

 completing the revenue and license bills, a 

 second extra session was called by the Gov- 

 ernor, and commenced on the 26th of Decem- 

 ber. The Legislature now passed its third act 

 providing for the investing of the interest tax 

 fund in the hands of the fiscal agent of the 

 State, in bonds of the United States Govern- 

 ment, and providing for the payment of the 

 reduced interest due or to become due on the 

 bonds of the State. 



The Constitution of 1879, it may be remem- 

 bered, presented this alternative to the bond- 

 holders : either to retain the face of the bonds, 

 the interest being reduced to 2 per cent, or to 

 have the bonds reduced to seventy-five cents on 

 the dollar, and receive 4 per cent on them. As 

 the State debt amounts in round numbers to 

 $12,000,000, at 2 per cent interest, $240,000 

 are required to pay the interest. If reduced to 

 $9,000,000 at 4 per cent interest, $360,000 are 

 necessary. As the rate of taxation at present 

 is limited to one mill, and the assessed value 

 of taxable property is $181,000,000, only $181,- 

 000 can be collected to pay the interest. A 

 yearly deficit, which may vary from $59,000 to 

 $179,000, must exist. The sole constitutional 

 remedy for this lies in an increase of assess- 

 ments. These are notoriously low. Neither 

 of the extra sessions of this year met the vexed 

 question to which their attention was directed 

 in the Governor's message, and which the 

 Constitution relegated to the Legislature. No 

 board for the equalization of assessments is 

 yet established, and the year closed with the 

 Legislature still in session. 



There was no serious civil or social disturb- 

 ance during 1 88 1 . An organized strike occurred 

 in New Orleans on the 1st of September, which 

 intsrfered with commerce, and at one moment 

 sdemed to threaten the peace of the Common- 

 wealth. The militia, at the request of the 

 mayor, was called to protect the armories and 

 assist the police in maintaining order. But an 

 amicable compromise was effected between 

 employers and employed, and on the 15th of 

 September order was restored without a resort 

 to force. There has been no exodus during the 

 year, or any disturbed relations between the 

 white and the colored populations. 



The absence of general and municipal elec- 

 tions during the year has been favorable to 

 tranquillity. The interruption of industry by 



their frequent recurrence, and the distraction 

 which they require from sober pursuits, are 

 great evils. The fact is admitted that the 

 people are the source of political power; that 

 they govern through their appointed agents, 

 who are responsible to them ; but it is impor- 

 tant that these facts should not be concomitant 

 with idleness, dissipation, debauchery, and cor- 

 ruption, which seem to be consequents upon 

 many elections in the States of the Union. 



Nothing in the relations between Louisiana 

 and her sister States is noteworthy, unless it be 

 that the State of New York commenced a suit, 

 in the Supreme Court of the United States, to 

 recover $1,050, the amount of thirty coupons 

 detached from bonds issued by the State of 

 Louisiana in 1874. In the year 1878 a bill was 

 passed through the Legislature of New York 

 to authorize any citizen to transfer an overdue 

 written obligation of any other State to the 

 State of New York, and that, upon being se- 

 cured in the payment of costs and expenses of 

 the suit, her Attorney-General should bring suit 

 for its collection. This bill did not meet the ap- 

 probation of the Governor, and was defeated. 

 The veto of Governor Kobinson was emphatic, 

 and his message is worthy of preservation : 



STATE OF NEW YORK, EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, ) 

 ALBANY, June 14, 1878. \ 



Memorandum in brief of the reasons for disapproving 

 Senate Sill 2fo. 292, entitled "An act to protect 

 the rights of citizens of this State holding claims 

 against other States." 



The Constitution of the United States does not per- 

 mit a citizen to sue a State in the United States courts. 

 This bill attempts to evade that provision by author- 

 izing a citizen of this State, holding any obligations of 

 other States, to assign his claims to the State, and to 

 be prosecuted in the name of the State by .the Attor- 

 ney-General for the benefit of the individual. In 

 other words, it requires the State to lay down its dig- 

 nity, its honor, and its integrity as a sovereign State 

 of the Union, and to become a collecting agent for 

 speculators in State bonds, or written obligations 

 against other States, and in so doing to evade the 

 Constitution, and to assume a false position by prose- 

 cuting claims in which it has no interest whatever. 

 (Signed) L. KOBINSON. 



An act with the same title was introduced 

 the following year into the General Court of 

 New Hampshire, and adopted. In 1880 the 

 Legislature of New York passed the former 

 act, and there was no veto. It is under this 

 last act that the suit of New York was com- 

 menced in April last. In 1881 a bill under this 

 same title was introduced into the Legislature 

 of Massachusetts, but that Commonwealth re- 

 jected it. These suits are pending in the Su- 

 preme Court of the United States. The Con- 

 stitution of the United States has jurisdiction 

 to determine controversies between the States. 

 The controversies heretofore determined have 

 related to subjects of jurisdiction and bound- 

 ary, which disturbed the colonies, and were 

 inherited by the States. The question which 

 will be decided by the Supreme Court is pre- 

 sented in a very forcible manner in the above- 

 cited message of Governor Robinson. 



These suits exhibit the fact that the finances 



