New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-10-29

Of that city better than | or any other ma
did, That reasoningF can b hFplI0 Ixisl
equal ,appropriateness, t. this ca1o.e tn
Senator Honi Baton Rouge (Ml9 go Il
supposed to represent the meia 4
people of his district, or he w. -
be occupying . seat upon the feSe Of tn
Senate; and he is presumed to knew VIVA
| srB the wishes and desires 81 EhiS' S6nStitil
| ents.. r hope, for the sake Of consistency
7 for the cake Of the widow and children o
4 M, LOf6ciel, for the sake of the peace anl
quietuess Of Baton Rouge, and the iites ami
/ property of its citizens, that. the Senate VII
pass this new charter, thereby giving thos,
| people - municipal government, undel
which they can live quietly and peaceabl1
without the. sfeas Nf. aassiRa fian- NJ. -
| Mr.. Raglan: Whenthe senate took reces,
this afternoon; l anticipated tn that come op
| this bill, and have, therefore, ngepsred
| myself for it. had discussed t8maatea
| pretty exten6i*ely with many of 66tof6el
| Senators, and several Of them, w. 50&ed
themselves to sustain me in the passage Of
this measure. have seen proper to vote
| against it tonight Why theyThave changed
their minds 30 completely since thu morn.
ing, can NOT eoMpFshend. That, however
has nothing to do with the merits of the
bill. In attempting to establish AzeyNys-
tenn Of municipal government fog Sedble
Of Baton Rouge, it il not my $3.50
place any extraordinary taxation tB6K tue
taxpayers Of that c0mWunity VIZ This fact
will be plainly shown by q comparison OF
the cost Of the conduct of the old city gov
eminent and the c0st-of- the 0ex -system
proposed to he. inaugurated by this BILL
That, however, is in reality not the ground
| upon which the opposition to thu Hea1hre
is based tonight. The real tOanddqf of
that opposition is the fear that, . 1f<f
municipal officers Of Baton Rouge will be
displaced and the city placed in the, hands
Of Republican officers. Now. am not
aware what appointments the Governor
viii make under the power dele9ated to
him in the bill. I only desire that men
shall DO appointed who will deal in111y n d
impartially toward all classes e45l bseos.
have carefully prepared an estilf5Ae
cost of conducting the new city government
proposed by this bill, in order that it may
be compared with the cost Of conducting
ministrators provided for in the bill will
cost the city Of Baton Rouge about seven
thcussnd d0llars;5 the two lp1l liless will
cost about one thousand dollars, and the
police force about five thousaad more,
making in an about thirteen thoW1hd- dol
lars. Under the charter now ins 1g1eASthe
mayor receives salary Of ffted - -
dollars; the cesnmissiOner Of tho collection
Of taxes, four thousand dollars; the city
marshal. twenty-one hundred dollars; the
street commissioners, fifteen hundred dol
lars; the wharfmaster." one thousand dol
lars; the comuissary Of markets, 'nins hum
dred dollars; the surveyor, tive hundred
dollars; the city attorney, one thou
sand dollars; and the annual expenses
of the, streets, If we are to take the
official report of last year as . cribRrion are
eighteen thousand dollars. amounting In ALI
to over thirty thousand dollars. The cost
Of running that city government under this
bill can not exceed twenty thousand dollars,
can be made. As l said before ~ SheGnly'
state these figures in order to now the
Senate that the proposed systemsof govern
ment is more economical than that in force
at the pfesent time. Ihope, therefore, that
the Senate, taking into consideration the
fact that the Object of the bill .is 70 provide
q new government for the people.of Baton
Rouge, under which all classes can live in
security, will suspend the rules in order
that we may aetupon this in,psrtant mat
ter at once. a., =,
Mr.. Futch: had occasion to visit Baton
Rouge on the same occasion that Senator
4ukIdu0m SC40C0 lVs duA xcUHlucO tucTo IL
couple of days. That being the first time
that had ever had the pleasure Of seeing
that little town. interested myself in %.
serving all could in and around It. as well
as in reference to its citizens. As the result
OF my observations, will state to the Sem
ate that there is not city on the earth
whose inhabitants are more quiet, more
peaceable. more 1aw-ab;ding and more
worthy the generous confidence and kind
consideration of the Legislature than the
people Of that place. believe that the I'M
fortunate and fatal occurrences which t1ok
place on the day of the last election were
the first Of that or similar ma, undE1<otk NIL
ever occurred in that city. So far from. the.
respectable, people Of that city being re-
sponsible tor the riot there which ended so
fatally. the responsibility is to be- lafd upon
the shoulders Of the dominant party; and /
make that assertion because have every rea-
son to believe it. 1t is true. as has been stated
that during that riot certain parties were
unfortunately and, I have no doubt, inno-
Gently killed; but what was the primary
cause Of it TT need not tell Won, gentlemen
of the Senate. because all Of you know it,
that in providing for the election under our
registration and election laws, the people of
that city were not protected in their rights.
and were net allowed to enjoy the privi-
leges which they had heretofore enjoyed as
sutragans. In conversation with the Gciti- 1
zens of Baton Rouge took particular pains
to gain all the information could in refer
ence to that riot and its primary and imme-
date causes. Instead Of the registrar of that
parish establishing polling places all over the
parish at the different precincts in order
that all the people might have an opportu,
nifty OF repairing to the polls without being
obliged to travel great distance, the whole
voting population Of the parish were COM
PEELED to go to the city Of Baton
Rouge to deposit their ballots. The
people of the parish considered this
course as direct Infringement of their
rights and privileges, and verv naturally, it
excited them. The result was that party
Of young men late in the evening, com
menced this promiscuous firing in the town.
They did so because they felt tbenseltes
outraged BY being forced to come from De
extremes OF the parish to Baton D6a6k - 4
vote. Many OF them, after having travelled
that distance, did not get An opportunity to
rote, az it was utterly impossible for all Of
them 70 do SO at one place. have no doubt
hat this disturbance was created by men who |
lad been deprived Of their votes in the way
have described. It was certainly not in
'ired O. allotted by the good citizens of the |
own. andeyet an effort is now being made |
% makethetn responsible for its unfortunate
'esults. hope the bill will not pass. y.
mr.. B6bef: hope, M PfesidBhtk, mat
he rules will Tue suspended In Jofder that
his OIL may be placed upon its third and
inal passage. Certainly no. Senator wllQ
tesires that peace and order shall prevail
throughout the State, Will vote against it.