Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1866-02-03

THE PROPOSED STATE HOUSE.

found our address 10 the people " ihe
State upon the question Of restoring
tue Capitol to the city Of Baton Rouge.
In the present exhausted condition Of the
treasury every effort should be made by
our Legislators to economies wherever
economy cen be successfully introduced.
Ii is not wise to retreDcb 10 small mat
tiers, and leave gaps open by which thou
sands, and perhaps millions may escape.
The present Legislature is considered On
al hands to be one Of the best ever as
sembled ID this State, and from which
much was expected in all relating to the
welfare Of an impoverished and nearly
ruined people. Some acts, indeed, have
been passed, Of q character tending to
much good and which will. no doubt,
prove beneficial ii the main; but others
have been enacted of which the least
said the better. 1t is high time that
while making such laws as are absolute
II needed, much more can be done hy con
sulting economy in every expenditure
necessary for conducting the machinery
of our State Government. Members must
bear one important fact in mind, which
they seem almost entirely to have ignor-
ed, that our means for raising taxes are
not what they were before the war. 1t
will be useless to pass stay laws and
homestead exemptions, if We are ground
down by unnecessary taxation Induced by
a frivolous expenditure of the publiccre
dit-mopey, we have none or very little.
We see it proposed in that august body
to select a site in New Orleans
whereon to erect a State Capitol. Has
the question of the expense ever occurred
to them Have we means at command
for such a purpose !? and can the State in
the depleted condition Of her finance war
rant such an expenditure? These are po-
tent questions over which we ask that
body calmly to reflect. The State House
III Baton Rouge can be put 10 perfect re-
pair for what it will cost for the land
alone in New Orleans, and to talk of
building q new Capitol in that city
smacks more Of a desire to accommodate
some st~ockjobber than to serve the inter
ests Of the people of the State at large,
and it is SO looked upon by a large ma
Ijority Of the country citizens. The entire
press of the State have harped upon the
imposition called the Convention of 1854.
1t has been ridiculed and derided time
withot number, and ever now the present
Legislature seems to treat it with con-
tempt wherever it can do SO without too
far committing itself, but it hugs one i'm
portant act to its sonl, and that is the re-
moval Of the Capitol to the city Of New
Orleans. Every one knows why that
Constitution removed the Capitol, and
every one knows that it was done with
out the slightest shadow Of a law. Yet
the present Legislature winks at the re-
moval and talks of building a new State
House at an enormous cost, without con-
sultIng the people to know if such an act
be in accordance with their wishes as to
location and the expenditure necessary
for the purpose. Let the press through.
out the State take this matter up and put
it in its proper light before their readers,
and compel if possible, a stay in the I'M
wise proceeding Of the Legislature.
1t is not improbable that we shall be
compelled in the course of a year or two,
to have a new convention, to modify the
old or adopt a new constitution, and then
the question of q removal of the Capitol
from Baton Rouge, to New Orleans
eheuld be a matter upon which the people
OF the State shall decide and not be left
to the whim or caprice of the Legislature.
Legislators are the servants Of the people
not their masters. Had the question of
a permanent removal Of the Capitol, been
q subject Of discussion, amongst the
aatnfrry nncrfa - 4Lo Last nIo.4.a- F..