Semi-weekly Louisianian. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1871-1872, 1872-01-25
TnB GOVERNORS ANNUAL MESSACB
Continued from our Lost.
STATE OF LOUISIANA,
Executive Department. :
New Orleans, January l. 1872. !

PfeSenAIFcS OI tno State OF Louisiana
1, therefore, recommend the immediat
passage of bill authorizing the levy an,
collection Of tax for the support Of tn
free public schools of New Orleans.
The report of the State Superintendent
of Education, which shall in due time b
presented to the General Assembly, vii
be found of great interest, and will give i,
detail the facts which justify the statement
and recommendations herein given.
The reports of the State Auditor fo
this and the previous years, together viii
the reports of the State school authorities
show that Large amounts of money hav
been lost by the loose and inefficient man
agement of the school lands granted b,
Congress for educational purposes, ant
known as the sixteenth sections. From
these reports it is apparent that new legis
lasion on this subject is imperiously de
manded, if these valuable resources are I,
be saved to the State. The matter naturally
belongs to the State school authoritie.
and an enactment authorizing them t,
take the steps requisite for ascertainine
the present condition of those lands, ani
for enforcing the claims of the school funt
against the purchasers of such sessions q:
have been sold. is the most feasible mod.
Of protecting the interest Of the State ir
that valuable grant
LEGISLATIVE EXPENSES.
respectfully call your attention tc
the fact that the extravaganza Of the
Legislature at its last session has pro.
duced q most noticeable sensation
throughout tho State, and has given
the opponents of the government the
means of sowing distrust and producing
the greatest dissatisfaction among the
people. The last session is known to
have cost the State, for the Senate,
Sl9l, 763 85, and for the House of Re-
representatives., S767, 1872 65-an average
cost of five thousand three hundred
dollars for each Senator and seven
thousand three hundred dollars for
each member of the House, or an av-
erage of over six thousand eight hun
dred dollars for each member of the
entire body, or of one hundred and
thirteen dollars and fifty cents per day
for each member during the session.
1t is necessary that 1 should comment
upon this subject with q view of bring
ing the evils to your attention, in order
that You may guard against them in
the future. A careful calculation of
the expenses Of the General Assembly
for mileage and per diem, even at the
enormous rate of twenty cents per
mile, each way, shows that the total
expenses ought not to exceed 500 900
for the sixty days of the annual session,
and the Legitimate contingent expen-
ses of both houses ought not to exceed
S25, 900. Then what has become of
the excess 1888, $50 80? 1t has been
squandered by the officers of the As
sembly III paying extra mileage and
per diem of members for days service
never rendered; foran enormous corps
of useless clerks, pages, ETC., for pub
fishing the journals of each house in
fifteen obscure newspapers, some of
which have never existed, while some
of those that did exist never did the
work they were employed to do, al
though every one has received the
compensation for 1t; in paying COM
mittees authorized by the House to sit
during vacation and to travel through
out the State and into Texas, and in a
hundred other different ways. The
enrolment committee of the House
had over eighty clerks, most of whom
were under pay during the whole
session at eight dollars per day, during
which time only one hundred and
twenty bills were passed which did
not require more than eight or ten
clerks to perform the whole labor of
enrolment.
Permit me to suggest that neither house
has any right to spend the public money
for purposes for which the law has already
provided. The publication of the journals
OF the General Assembly being provided
tor by the printing law, it WAS not COM
petent for either house separately to di-
rect and pay for such services. It is not
iesitimately part of the contingent ex-
penses of either house.
l will also venture to lay down a pro-
position which / believe to be sound poll
cy as well as good law. The constitution
limits the session of the General Assembly
to sixty days. Both houses must adjourn
at the expiration of this time. Can it in
the face Of the constitution continue its
existence for longer period, even by the
joint action Of both houses Then if it
can not for longer period, how much
less can either house. acting separately
continue the existence of part of its
body during vacation !? I am clear i'm nv |
conviction that neither house can authorize
one of its committees to sit during vacation