LOUISIANA. 



LUTII KUANS. 



It was only in April that four men, apparently 

 belonging to the same clique, had been arrested 

 in Tangipahoa on the charge of conspiracy by 

 violence and/ threats of violence to compel persons 

 to leave a place where they lawfully were. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature met in 

 special session Aug. 8, and adjourned Aug. 18. 

 Twenty-one members of the Senate and 72 mem- 

 bers of the House were present at the opening. 



The object of the session was, first, to author- 

 ize the city of New Orleans to organize a sewer- 

 age and water board to construct and administer 

 great public sanitary works, and, through the 

 aid of a constitutional amendment to that effect, 

 to permit the issuing of bonds based on a special 

 tax, the proceeds of which are to be used in the 

 construction of the public works so provided for, 

 the city having voted in favor of these improve- 

 ments June 6. 



The Legislature was expected also to carry into 

 effect the article of the Constitution authorizing 

 various cities, towns, and drainage districts to 

 levy special taxes and issue bonds for works of 

 improvement and protection from floods and for 

 sanitary purposes. Also to provide for certain 

 improvements to be made in the State Capitol 

 and grounds and other matters pertaining thereto. 



The important laws called for were enacted. 

 The constitutional amendment to ratify the ac- 

 tion in reference to the special tax for public 

 improvements will be voted upon in April, 1900. 

 The water and sewerage act was passed, after 

 some attempts to amend by leaving out a civil- 

 service provision, and to reduce the proportion 

 of the fund to be spent on drainage. The so- 

 called " country bill " was also passed, providing 

 that " for the purpose of paving and improving 

 streets, roads, and alleys, purchasing or con- 

 structing a system of waterworks, sewerage, 

 drainage, lights, public parks and buildings, 

 bridges, and other works of public improvements, 

 the title to which shall vest in the municipal cor- 

 poration, parish, or drainage district, as the case 

 may be, municipal corporations, parishes, and 

 drainage districts (the city of New Orleans except- 

 ed), when a majority of the town council, etc., so 

 petitioned in writing by one third in number and 

 amount of the property taxpayers entitled to vote 

 on any proposition hereinafter set forth, may sub- 

 mit to a vote of the property taxpayers proposi- 

 tions to incur debt and issue negotiable bonds 

 therefor not to exceed one tenth of the assessed 

 valuation of the property within said municipal 

 corporation, parish, or drainage district, as shown 

 by the last assessment made prior to the sub- 

 mission of such proposition; and when a major- 

 ity of the town council, etc., petitioned as afore- 

 said, may submit to such vote propositions to 

 levy and assess special taxes upon the property 

 subject to taxation in such corporation, parish, 

 or drainage district, such taxes not to exceed 5 

 mills on the dollar of the assessed valuation in 

 any one year, and not to run for a greater num- 

 ber of years than the number named in the propo- 

 sitions submitted." 



Decision. The law providing for an inherit- 

 ance tax of 10 per cent, on property received by 

 foreign heirs, for the benefit of the charity hos- 

 pital in New Orleans, is declared unconstitutional, 

 since, being an act concerning revenue, it should 

 have originated in the House, whereas it did origi- 

 nate in the Senate. 



Political. An association called "the Jack- 

 son Democratic Association of Louisiana " was 

 formed in July. A meeting and barbecue were 

 held at Rayville July 4, with the apparent object 

 of bringing together the opponents of Gov. Fos- 



ter's administration. Speeches were made by 

 United States Senator Cafl'rey, ex-Congressman 

 Boatner, and others. A few days later the as- 

 sociation was formed and a declaration of prin- 

 ciples was put forth. It opposed trusts, de- 

 manded fair elections and fair counts, rigid en- 

 forcement of the franchise clauses of the new 

 Constitution, election of United Senators without 

 influence of Executive patronage, appointments 

 to public office for fitness, reasonable rotation in 

 office, and honestly conducted primaries, and said 

 also: "We shall demand that the Governor to 

 be elected shall confine himself to the discharge 

 of the duties of the executive office, and shall 

 not use as a corruption fund the power of ap- 

 pointment vested in him by law to coerce and 

 influence legislative action in the election of 

 United States Senators or otherwise." 



The first election under the new Constitution 

 was the city election at New Orleans, Nov. 7. 

 The negro vote was almost entirely eliminated. 

 The Jackson Democracy united on a ticket with 

 the Citizens' League, which carried the election 

 in 1896, when the citizens were roused to the 

 pressing need of reform in the administration of 

 city affairs. They were defeated by the regular 

 Democratic organization. 



The election of State officers will not take place 

 till April, 1900. The Democratic State Nominat- 

 ing Convention was held in Baton Rouge, Dec. 

 19 and 20. There were many candidates for the 

 first place on the ticket, among them W. W. 

 Heard, present State Auditor; S. McC. Lawra- 

 son; R. H. Snyder, present Lieutenant Governor; 

 and John Dymond. The ticket chosen follows: 

 For Governor, William Wright Heard; for Lieu- 

 tenant Governor, Albert Estopinal; for Secretary 

 of State, John T. Michel; for Attorney-General, 

 Walter Guion; for Superintendent of Education, 

 Joseph V. Calhoun; for Treasurer, Ledoux E. 

 Smith ; for Auditor, Will S. Frazee. 



The platform denounces trusts. It calls for 

 appropriations from the Federal Government for 

 the improvement of the Mississippi, the construc- 

 tion of levees, the jettying and improvements of 

 the southwest part of the Mississippi, and a canal 

 connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans with 

 the isthmus. Gov. Foster's administration is 

 praised, as well as the suffrage clause passed by 

 the late Constitutional Convention disfranchis- 

 ing the negroes. No reference is made to Bryan, 

 to the financial question, or to any issue relating 

 to the national Democracy. 



The other parties did not hold their State con- 

 ventions before the close of the year. 



LUTHERANS. The Lutheran Church in 

 North America is a communion of many nation- 

 alities and many languages. It has rightly been 

 called a polyglot Church, for its services are con- 

 ducted in more than a dozen different languages. 

 It is to be found in nearly every State and Terri- 

 tory of the United States and in numerous prov- 

 inces of the Dominion of Canada, and has a 

 baptized membership of about 8,000,000. But it 

 is not a foreign Church, for a large portion of 

 its members are native Americans, and most of 

 its literature, apart from that of the periodicals, 

 is published in the English language. The most 

 important publication of this year is The Lu- 

 theran Cyclopaedia, an octavo volume of nearly 

 600 pages, edited by the Rev. Henry Eyster 

 Jacobs, D. D., LL. D., and the Rev. John A. W. 

 Haas, of New York city. During the previous 

 year the publication of a Lutheran Commentary 

 on the New Testament, in 12 volumes, was fin- 

 ished. These publications represent the different 

 tendencies in doctrine, worship, and life, as well 



