466 



LOUISIANA. 



for the appointment of commissioners and 

 other officers of election ; to provide for the 

 maintenance of the freedom and purity of 

 elections, and for the punishment of officers 

 and other persons who may violate the elec- 

 tion laws by making false returns, or altering 

 returns, or by refusing, or neglecting, or failing 

 to perform their duties ; to punish persons for 

 false, fraudulent, or illegal voting, and to pun- 

 ish violence or intimidation; to provide the 

 manner of entering on the rolls of the House 

 of Representatives, and to enforce article 103 

 of the Constitution, and generally to secure 

 and provide for a free, fair, and peaceable elec- 

 tion throughout the State, and to repeal con- 

 flicting laws." 



This was additional to the very first act of 

 the session, passed on January 8th, which con- 

 tained the following provisions : 



SUCTION 2. Be it further enacted, etc., That a Board 

 of Canvassers, to be composed of the Lieutenant- 

 Governor, the Speaker of the House of Representa- 

 tives, and three Senators to be elected by the Senate 

 from the different parties a majority of whom shall 

 constitute a quorum is hereby created and empow- 

 ered to canvass and make returns of the votes cast 

 at the recent general election in this State for all 

 officers other than Governor and Lieutenant-Gover- 

 nor, and for and against the constitutional amend- 

 ments. 



SECTION 3. Be it further enacted,, etc., That the said 

 canvass and return made by the board herein con- 

 stituted shall be primi facie evidence of the election 

 of the candidates returned by them, reserving to 

 all other candidates the right to contest the said 

 election and return by riling a petition for that pur- 

 pose in the court of proper jurisdiction within their 

 respective parishes, within a delay of thirty days 

 from the official promulgation of the canvass herein 

 provided for. 



The sections of the revised statutes relating 

 to public education, and the school act of 1870, 

 were repealed and a new law passed, to regu- 

 late public education and provide a revenue 

 for the same. Among the other acts passed 

 was one dividing the parish of Carroll into the 

 parishes of East Carroll and West Carroll ; 

 one incorporating Morgan's Louisiana & Texas 

 Railroad and Steamship Company, "to expe- 

 dite the extension, construction, and main- 

 tenance of a railroad between New Orleans, 

 Louisiana, and the State of Texas, and between 

 New Orleans, North Louisiana, and Arkansas," 

 and vesting in it " all powers incidental to and 

 necessary for the building and maintenance of 

 railroads to the State of Texas, and to North 

 Louisiana, and to Arkansas." Concurrent res- 

 olutions were adopted, asking aid of the Gen- 

 eral Government to rebuild and repair levees, 

 and to promote the construction of the Texas 

 & Pacific Railroad. On the last day of the 

 session a joint resolution was adopted pro- 

 viding for the appointment of joint committees 

 to investigate the following matters during the 

 recess : 



1. Affairs of the Auditor's office. 



2. Affairs of the Treasurer's office. 



3. Affairs of the Superintendent of Educa- 

 tion's office, division superintendents. 



4. Affairs of the Land office. 



5. Affairs of the Executive office under last 

 administration. 



On June 27th the grand jury of Orleans 

 Parish recommended that " the honorable court 

 will instruct the District Attorney to file the 

 proper information against J. Madison "Wells, 

 Thomas C. Anderson, G. Casanova, and Louis M. 

 Kenner, members of the late Returning Board, 

 for perjury, forgery, and altering returns of 

 the parish of Vernon and other parishes of 

 the State." An information was filed on July 

 5th for uttering forged and counterfeited re- 

 turns from the parish of Vernon of an election 

 held November 7, 1876, for presidential electors, 

 by which the votes for the Hayes electors were 

 increased from 2 to 180 and those for the Til- 

 den electors decreased from 864 to 469. The 

 accused, on arraignment, pleaded not guilty. 

 They were arrested and brought to trial in 

 January, 1878. 



The total State debt of Louisiana, after the 

 funding operations are completed, will stand 

 $11,785,293.21. It consisted on January 1, 

 1878, of outstanding consols and fundable cer- 

 tificates issued at par in lieu of fractional parts 

 of bonds, $11,279,780.66 ; $653,800of old bonds 

 to be funded at 60 per cent., $392,280 ; and 

 $188,720.92 of general fund warrants to be 

 funded at 60 per cent., $113,232.55. This 

 does not include unpaid interest coupons due 

 January 1, 1874, and earlier, or outstanding 

 interest warrants, amounting in all to about 

 $100,000. Neither does it include the " Prop- 

 erty Bank bonds," which the Board of Liqui- 

 dation has decided not to be fundable. The 

 State warrants advanced in value from 55 cents 

 in March to par at the end of the year. The 

 assessment of property of the State is about 

 $180,000,000. There is a levy of 5 mills on 

 a dollar for payment of interest on the consol- 

 idated bonds, and four mills for the general 

 fund. The bonded and floating debt of New 

 Orleans amounts to $21,894,714.74. 



The public school system of the State hasbeen 

 put in operation under the new law, and bids 

 fair to be successfully established. The law au- 

 thorizes separate schools for white and colored 

 children. In July the School Board of New 

 Orleans decided to separate the schools of that 

 city into white and colored. An injunction 

 was applied for by Paul Trevique, a colored 

 citizen, to prevent the carrying out of this 

 action, on the ground that it was an abridg- 

 ment of the privileges and immunities of citi- 

 zens of the United States. An injunction was 

 granted by the Sixth District Court, but after- 

 ward dissolved, on the two grounds that the 

 plaintiff's petition disclosed no injury to him- 

 self and no cause of action, and the process of 

 injunction was impossible of execution, as it 

 prohibited doing what had already been done. 



The Louisiana University and Agricultural 

 and Mechanical Collesre has been newly organ- 

 ized. It receives $15,000 annually from in- 

 terest on consolidated bonds formerly belong- 



