444 



LOUISIANA. 



so as to permit the trial of such cases before 

 the court at any time, with or without a jury 

 of 0. 



Provision for enabling the people of any parish 

 or municipality to tax themselves tor public im- 

 provements by a majority vote of property tax- 

 payers, and while protecting them against taxa- 

 tion for the profit of private corporations, en- 

 abling them to aid such general enterprises as are 

 to promote the general welfare. 



Giving the Assembly sixty working days for 

 its session, except in 1896, when ninety days are 

 to be allowed ; also enabling the Assembly to 

 enact revisions of general statutes and codes 

 without reading in full in each House. 



Empowering the Assembly to provide by law 

 for pensions to Confederate veterans, and includ- 

 ing such pensions in the objects for which the 

 taxing power of the State may be exercised. 



Providing for suspension of accused public 

 officials pending trial. 



Abolishing the penitentiary lease system. 



Simplification of articles on homestead and 

 exemptions. 



Striking out the paragraph limiting expendi- 

 ture of the agricultural bureau. 



Allowing city elections to be held on days 

 other than those of State elections. 



Removing the restriction allowing contracts 

 for State printing, etc., to be given only to resi- 

 dents of the State. 



A bill to call a constitutional convention was 

 voted down, and the proposed amendments, in 

 modified form, were passed as joint resolutions, 

 to be submitted to vote of the people. 



There was a general demand for a radical 

 change in the election laws such change as 

 would secure fair elections and honest counting, 

 and a sentiment in favor of the Atistralian ballot 

 law or a modification of that. An act was passed 

 to regulate elections, but it was not regarded as 

 radical enough for the emergency, and was gen- 

 erally condemned by the press of' the State. 



A railroad commission was provided for, and 

 a State board of arbitration. 



The formation of a naval reserve battalion was 

 authorized, to form part of the National Guard, 

 and to be organized and equipped according to 

 the general plan outlined by the Navy Depart- 

 ment at Washington. 



A lien law was passed to secure workmen and 

 furnishers of materials for buildings. It applies 

 only to cities of 50,000 or more, and to contracts 

 for $1,000 and over. 



Another act authorizes colleges in the State to 

 confer diplomas on women in the practice of law, 

 medicine, and pharmacy, when they possess the 

 same qualifications and requirements as men do 

 in said professions. 



A new law was made for the treatment of 

 leprosy patients. The Governor is to appoint a 

 board of control for the Leper Home. Late in 

 the year a home was secured in Iberville Parish. 

 An old family mansion is to be repaired and 

 taken for the purpose. 



Other measures were as follow : 



Prohibiting the sale of spirituous liquors, except 

 for medicinal purposes, within 3 miles of certain col- 

 leges and schools. 



Providing for the treatment of indigent inebriates 

 at the expense of parishes and municipalities. 



To prevent the spread of infectious diseases of 

 fruit trees. 



Creating a bureau of agriculture and immigration, 

 and providing for the appointment of a commissioner. 

 _ Appropriating $1,200 for expenses otMocating posi- 

 tions of State regiments at Chickamauga and Gettys- 

 burg. 



To suppress lotteries and the sale of lottery tickets, 

 and advertisements of the same. 



To prohibit the sale or gift of intoxicating liquors 

 to minors, also prohibiting the employment of women 

 to dispense or distribute liquors. 



Requiring equal but separate accommodations for 

 white and colored people in depots, and equal but 

 separate coaches. 



To regulate the sale and purity of commercial fer- 

 tilizers. 



Providing that the sheriffs of the several parishes 

 of the State of Louisiana, the parish of Orleans e.\- 

 cepted, may keep constantly on hand track or trailing 

 dogs, not exceeding 4 in number, for the purpose of 

 tracing and pursuing fugitives from justice, and to 

 provide for the purchase and maintenance of the 

 same. 



Authorizing any married woman to subscribe for, 

 withdraw, or transfer stock of building, homestead, 

 or loan associations, and to deposit funds with and 

 withdraw them from any such association without the 

 assistance or intervention of her husband. 



Prohibiting corporations, merchants, or other per- 

 sons within the State of Louisiana from sell in ir or 

 dealing in brooms made in the different State peni- 

 tentiaries by convicts or other persons confined there- 

 in, unless each broom is stamped or labeled "' convict- 

 made." 



To provide substantial artificial limbs, and the re- 

 pairs of same when necessary, for citizens of this 

 State who lost a limb or limbs in the military service 

 of the Confederate States. 



Authorizing candidates for State and municipal 

 offices to contest before the courts the election of 

 their opponents. 



To prohibit the board of school directors of the sev- 

 eral parishes of this State from combining the public 

 schools thereof with any private or parochial schools 

 or other institutions of learning under the control or 

 management of any church, religious order, or asso- 

 ciation, or any religious sect or denomination, and to 

 prohibit them from employing as professors or teach- 

 ers in the public schools of this State any preacher, 

 minister of the Gospel, priest, or other minister of re- 

 ligion, member of any monastic or other religious 

 order, who is in the actual service of any church or 

 religious order of any sect or denomination whatever, 

 as a teacher or minister of religion. 



Resolutions were adopted declaring it to be 

 the sense of the General Assembly that United 

 States Senators should be elected 'by direct vote 

 of the people, and that Louisiana Senators and 

 Congressmen should work to that end ; and re- 

 questing the Representatives of the State in 

 Congress to urge the passage of an act requiring 

 an appropriation of $25,000 to remove the sedi- 

 ment in Bayou Terrebonne and complete the 

 dredging there ; and placing the Chalrnette 

 monument under the care of the " Daughters of 

 1776 and 1812." 



Politics and the Sugar Interest The ac- 

 tion of Congress on the Tariff bill and its influ- 

 ence on the sugar interest of Louisiana caused 

 great dissatisfaction in the southern sugar-plant- 

 ing part of the State. The crop for 1894 was 

 estimated at 845,000,000 pounds, on which the 

 bounty would be $16,000,000. The prospect of 

 the loss of this, and what was felt to be the un- 

 friendly attitude of the Democratic party toward 

 the great industry of a State that had seldom 



