New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-09-08

alleged value and the price at which they
sold their certificates Of indebtedness issued
by former representatives of. the city.
They contend that, as their contract with
the city was made prior to the passage of
the legal tender act by Congress, they ought
nish a certified copy of an opinion of our
Supreme Court, in the case of Tickling VS..
Marshall, to sustain their position. This
case, together with other decisions cited, can
have no application to the facts presented
in the petition. Coleman g. Co. voluntarily
sold their certificates of Indebtedness, con
scented to take for them what the market
offered, and thus parted with all their
interest, Us appears by the list appended to
the petition.
But the petitioners contend that the city
! is bound to make up the losses which they
have suffered by selling the certificates at
market rates, instead of collecting of the
city their full gold value. If it were cou-
ceded, for argument sake, that under the
decisions the certificates were cOllcctable
in specie, it would not logically follow that
the holders can compel the city to make up
the losses caused by the voluntary sale to
third parties. Such an inference is wholly
untenabie. When Coleman & Co. sold the
certificates, they sold all their right, title
and interest in them; if they sold them for
less than their real value. the purchaser &c
| 1ilfeu all tNtt the vendor lOSt. certainly,
If the argument of the petitioners. that the
certificates were payable in gold, be correct,
then the transferee might collect of the city
in gold. 1t the losses of the vendors must
be paid by the city. she would be required
| to pay those losses in addition to the pay
ment of the whole debt in gold. l think it
unnecessary to pursue this part of the subject
further. The claim is too palpably unjust
to merit serious argument. Is the city to
be bound by the bad bargains of Coleman
Il Co. in the sale of their paper! Suppose
the city to be legally liable to replace actual
losses. must it be concluded that, without
proof of the fact, every vendor of city
paper sells for the market price! Must the
city reimburse upon the statement of a pc
titioner that he chose to sell at a great sac
ritice-tO crafty a whim, it may be! The
claim does not seem to merit serious cOnsid-
Grafton.
Yet the petitioners tell lis that your pre-
| decessors recognized their demand to be
| just, and issued to them certificates OF in
debtedness to reimburse them for losses in
! these sales. l am wholly at a loss to know
upon what authority such certificates of in
debtedness were issued. / can find nothing
in the late city charter giving the agents of
the city such power. 1t is a donation of
money without any shadow IF right. 1t is
q gratuity to Coleman e. Co. q far as con-
Germs their losses upon the discount Of
their certificate sales, for they had parted
with all their claim by the act Of sale.
AS to the certificates of Indebtedness, is
sued under ordinance No. 1467, new series,
to which the petitioners also make refer
ence, l am of opinion that they rest on no
better basis than those above considered.
That ordinance can find no warrant in the
late city charter. All contracts above five
hundred dollars in value were required to
be adjudicated by the Controller to the
lowest bidder. The Council had no right,
under that charter, to give the lowest bid
der any better terms than he claimed for
himself. 1t would be manifestly unfair to
the other bidders. If the Council meant to
insure against war, that ought to ave been
among the terms submitted in the adver-
tiscment, for it mi ght have induced greater
competition. The late Council said in the
ordinance No. 1467, that whereas the late
disastrous war had caused an increase OF
OYER twenty-five per cent on the price of
material. etc, be it
"Rssolred, That the city of New Orleans
pay to John Coleman q Co. an additional
twenty-five per cent on her portion of the
contract now existing between said John
Coleman 4 Co. and the city; provided that
the increase of twenty-five per cent to be
paid by the city, shall apply only in the
case OF Rampant street." etc.
If the reason assigned was good, why
hot SAN1 t'1 U" NV pa NtAt
additional! If the late disastrous war;
had made material cheaper by twenty-five
per cent, it would not nave been in the
power of the city's agents to have had the
rate reduced in that amount. If the con-
tractor took his chances when he competed
with other bidders for the work, with what
Justice can he ask the taxpayers to give
him more! Are they not affected by the
war as well as Coleman & Co.! There is
as little justice as law in this unwarrantable
assumption of power by the late City
Council. They have acted az though they
were the city corporation, and had the
right to be liberal-instead of considering
themselves as the agents of the corpora
ton. bound. above all things, to be faithful
to their principal.
These certificates can not be of any value,
even i'll the hands of third persons. They
are not negotiable paper, and therefore are
worth no more by being transferred. Cole
man 4 Co. can convey no greater rights than
they themselves acquired by the unauthor-
lied act of the late City Council. l suppose
it is unnecessary to cite authorities on the
well settled doctrine that if the %assigner has
no equitable claim, he can convey none to
his transferee.
RUFUS NAPLES,
Assistant City Attorney.
Appropriations, etc.
Mr. West called up the ordinance making
appropriation for the Department Of I'm
provements, which was finally adopted, as
follows:
An ordinance appropriating money to de-
fray the expenditures of the Department
of improvements, for the month of Au-
gust, 1870.
SECTION l. BE it ordained by the Council
of the city of New Orleans, That the fol-
lowing SIMS of money. or so much thereof
as may be necessary, are hereby apprOpri-
ated to defray the expenditures of the De-
partment of Improvements for the month
of August, 1870:
/. Expenditures of the Department proper,
eight hundred and ~ffty-six dollars and fifty
two cents 1886 so, as follows:
Pay roll of salaries, $4l6 g..
Purchases
New Orleans Bee, yearly subscription to
July %. 1871, SIC.
New Orleans Bulletin yearly subscription
to July :, 1871, SIC.
New Orleans Times, yearly subscription
to August l9, 1871, SIG.
New Orleans P%icayune. yearly subscrip-
ton to August 9, 1871, Sic.
John Cockrem, kilograms and repairs to
office stamp, SO.
John w. Madden, stationery, $42 s..
j. X. West, livery of horse for five
months, authorized by ordinance No. 102.
Administration series, $3.50.
Charity authorized by ordinance No. %.
Administration series:
&C. Peasants. forage, $40.
Cain & Dipert, fuel, $50.
3. Expenditures of the Bureau of Wharves
and Landings, three thousand four hundred
and tifty-five dollars and eighty-three cents
($3455 83). as follows
Pay roll of salaries. Sl73 30.