New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-05-10

I
wooden slab alongside the rail. -
| Allow me, gentlemen, to call your atten.
ton pointedly to the imperfect manner in
which the duties of the City Assessors are
performed. reform is loudly demanded
IN this department. Cafelessness. partial.
lty, and inadequate returns are the imme.
| diate evils to be rectifed. Many lots in the
city are not assessed at all, while some are
assessed at more, others at less than their
real value. Thus there is no equality, no
uniformity, and no justice in the assess
ments. Everything is prosecuted without
order. We are often without proper in
formation ia respect to the real owners of
lots, and are unable to decide whether the
sntlre lot or only a portion of it is assessed
1he Assessors either act blindly, and without
suInclent information, or without due re.
gard to the proper execution of their trusts
II the former, 1t is exceedingly important
that they should be properly instructed;
ana II atterWard remiss, that thew be held
strictly accountable tor their laches. IL
a word, more method must be introduced
inlo our system of assessments, EVERYTHING
IS lett 700 much at loose ends. The Assess.
0rs are too irresponsible to the govern men
from which they derive their powers, some
strong checks should be placed upon the
exercise OF tavoritism in making assess.
meDts. The remedy l propose for the cor.
rection OF the defects of the present system
is very simple, and will, if applied, think,
prove effectual.
l would recommend in order to make
Just and equitable assessments, that each
square of ground be accurately drawn on a
scale of twenty-five feet to the inch, with
the boundaries on street lines in illk, and
subdivisions in pencil. By this arrange
ment changes can be made from time to
time as the selling of lots or parts of lots
make them necessary. The Assessors can
and should then ascertain (Which is easily
done) the value of any one lot in a given
square by referring to the most recent sales,
10 rental, or any other criteria which may
suggest themselves to the mind of the AS
SCISSOR. The value Of one lot being fixed,
the others can be readily ascertained by
simple rule of proportion, with proper
allowance for corner lots. Another book
should accompany the book of diagrams
descriptive of the improvements on lots
such as ''Three-story brick store, with slate
roof and iron shutters, built in - year,
and cost - dollars
By adopting this course it will be neees.
sary to employ a force equal to the present
one for several years. But when completed
comparatively small board would be all
that would be necessary to revise the as
sessments from year to year. The same
books would answer both for city and State
By making two sets of rolls, one for the
assessing would be materially reduced.
Oh all our American cities, none requires
more thorough attention to the subject of
drainage than New Orleans. With an allu.
vial soil, subject to heavy rains in winter
and spring, sobOed with water all the year
round, verging on a swamp of which 1t
originally formed part, a thorough system
of drainage is of vital importance aud in
dispensable to general comfort, cleanliness,
and health. The periodical visitations of
sickness to which this city for the past half
century has been liable, are, in great
measure, attributable to our miserable sys
TEN of drainage. Our commerce, our pros
perity as a city, have been seriously injured
and retarded by it. Can nothing be sug
gested by science, nothing accomplished iiy
skin and energy to remedy the evil?
To this subject have devoted much re
Election. For long series of years we hay
been content with halfway measures. The
time has come when we are imperiOu.ly
called upon to adopt some complete system
for draining the entire city. Different plans
have been suggested tor the purpose, one Of
which is that large draining canal should
De dug as nearly as practicable through the
middle of each district extending to the
lake. Experience having proved the ineti.
cheney of shallow and narrow canals, it is pro
posed that these canals should be from eighty
to a hundred feet in width, and nine or ten
feet in depth, and substantial leyee be
built along the lake shore extending up the
navigation canals, in order to keep out the
waters of the lake, and the draining ma
chimes be removed to the lake shore, and if
there is anything better than the old drain
ing wheel that it should be employed,
The drainage laws at present divide thu
city into three districts, under three boards
of commissioners, only one of which a.
present is doing anything of moment to.
ward draining the city. ! allude to the
Board of Commissioners of the First Drain
ing District, who have prosecuted their
labors with cOmmeudable energy, and who,
when they reach Metairie Ridge with their
draining machine, which they may be ex-
pected to do in three or four months, will
have accomplished an important work.
Ten years, however, have passed away,
during which the Boards of Commissioners
of the two other Draining Districts have
done little or nothing. The eity-to say
nothing of the swamp that lies between the
city and the lake, the nursing mother OF
the epidemies with which this city has so
long been afiicted-remains undrained. All
our plans, whether of the city or of the
State, to promote the health of the former
by proper system of draining, have, up to
this time, proved failures. Surely time
enough has been expended in inaction, by
which we have gained nothing and lost
much in money ana IN health.
In order to carry out one general plan, !
would recommend that the three Boards of
Commissioners be consolidated by an act of
the Legislature, so that there be but one
Board, or (Which would be better plan
stilD that the city government inaugurate
a distinct bureau, TO be called the Drainage
Bureau, to whom the execution of the de-
tails OF the plan of draining the city, when
we shall have adopted one, shall be COM
mitted. The Commissioners of the First
Draining District, who have exhibited the
right kind of capacity and efficiency in their
department, might be very eligible officers
for such Bureau.
The benefits likely to result from the plan
of draining the city by three large canals,
one cut through the middle of each of the
draining districts, from the upper to the
lower limits of the city, and thence to the
lake shore, preserving a straight line, or
making as few curves as possible, would
seem to be obvious. In the first place, the
draining would be complete, embracing not
only the entire city, but the swamp lying
between MetaiTie Ridge and the lake shore;
for l take it for granted that no system of
drainage which does not include the ad-
jacent malarious swamp is the proper one
for the city Of New Orleans. If we wish to
make our city healthy we must make the
soil of that swamp healthy by etfectually
draining it. Another advantage OF pur-
suing a bold, straightforward course Cor
as straight as possible) with canals, sutfl
ciently wide and deep, from Galvez street
to the lake, is, that we should thus get rid
of various crooks and elbows, which now
impede and retard the flow Of the water,
and by increasing the volume OF the
water, the impetus with which it moves,
having less friction to overcome than when
it passes through various smaller channels,
win also be increased, and should it not
after all be found sufficient for free and
ready discharge of water into the lake, it
may be aided, and the flow of the water &C