Sugar planter. [volume] (West Baton Rouge [i.e. Port Allen, West Baton Rouge Parish, La.]) 1856-1925, 1867-09-07
THE LEVEE ORDER.

the order of Gen. Sheridan relative to re
pairing and building new leyees upon
the Mississippi front. The points con
tanned therein are embodied in a commu
Injection by two members of the new
Leyee Board, Messrs. Lawrence and Burn
side, to the Governor of the State, anc
by him approved aud referred to Gen,
Sheridan for endorsement. Hence the
order.
It is a matter of general surprise that
such vie rs could be entertained by civil!
ians who claim ut least an ordinary
amount Of intelligence. The condition o.
the parishes bordering the Mississippi is
we'll known to the couptry at large. The
people thereof are in a condition tending
towards starvation. Every attempt at
cropping, since the war closed, has failed
except IN rare and isolated instances
This season promises nc more than pre-,
cedibg years, and none have suffered more
p~rivations and hardships than the luck
less riparian proprietor. They have scarce
II money enough to meet the ordinary
expenses Of common place substance,
and yet they are required by the order to
expend hundreds, perhaps thousands, Of
dollars to build or repair ievees upon
their lands according TO the tenure Of the
old Spanish grants. We will venture to
say, taking this parish as an example,
that the lands Of least seyen-eighths Of
the riparian residents will not defray
the expenses thus incurred, though they
brought the highest market price at pub
lie or private sale | What then is to be
done According to our parish law
where The proprietor Is unable to bull
lew levee Or repair the old, the work is
undertaken by the parish, and the land
sold for what it will bring at public sale.
Any deficiency between the expense ia
Cured and the amount thus realised, must
be assumed BY the parish. AS it is, our
citizens find it extremely difficult to live
and pay the taxes already imposed and
y have additional burdens forced upon
.hem-whlch must and will be heavy if
the order Of Gen. Sheridan is rigidly en-
forced-will be equivalent to depriving
them OF the little they now possess, and
turning them adiitt Upon the charity Of
tue world. Let the candid reader reflect
a moment upon the condition of affairs
as we have truthfu!ly represented them,
and be will wonder what system Of legis-
lation is this that requires, nay compels,
the people Of one parish to sacrifice their
all n order to protect the property Of
people in other parishes Naturally,
too, be will enquire why all protected by
levees arc not equally taxed for their re-
pair and maintenance, whether il a Dor
der or an interior parish?
The law requiring the riparian propri-
etor to keep up his lcvees has always
been injurious to the true interest Of the
State, and now more than ever. When
put 10 force by the Spanish government it
was well enough it induced immigration,
he lands upon the river oeing
the most valuable. They were sold for
q mere trifie compared with their actual
value, but with the condition that levees
should be built thereon and always kept
in order, thus entailing, as it were. a
perpetual mortgage upon them for the
performance of the original con
Of the sale. The changes Of gov.
ernment wrought no change in the sys-
1t was supposed, however, to have
died out during the war, and the new
order of things, but it appears not. Not
revoking this law long since was a great
OF our Legislators. Whenever the
question was% publicly agitated, represen.
tatives of interior parishes invariably
claimed and demanded the protection of
cession stipulations of France to the
onieed States. and by France inherited |
rom Spain, and they were always sue
;essful. No arguments of riparian rep.
resentatiFes possessed the slightest inlu-
ence or weight, because, unfortunately,
hey were in a minority. Those living
u the interior were willing enough to be
protected by the labor of others, and
hey cared little whose property was sac.
''hced SO long as their own was preserv-
"a. 1t was not a charitable spirit aor
could it v e be called o reasonable one