New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-07-06

! cepted the proposition of the State and is
sued about onesixth of it's stock to the
State. What is there in this legislation to
excite alarm or criticism, when it is remem.
given in lieu Of second mortgage, has al
ready about ninety-two miles OF completed
road in successful operation, and that there
| exists a general law of the State, adopted
! in 1856, which authorizes the Governor to
subscribe for one-ffth of the stock of any
railway company in the State. See Revised
Statutes, p. I40.
But it has been urged that the acts re-
terred to are unconstitutional. The Supreme
| the State of Louisiana vs.. the North Louis
| lana and Texas railroad. See 25 An. The
| question is res j,.GicGtG, but even if that de-
cision did not exist, there would be no
| good reason for the objections on the score
| Of unconstitutiOnalty. The debt was
created in 1868, before any constitutional
limitation on the power Of the Legislature
to create debts existed. The only article of
the constitution, which could have any
or act No 81 of 1872, must be article Ill.
That article requires the General
Assembly to provide for the pay
ment Of the principal and interest
of the debt thus created in the act creating
it, and prohibits the repeal thereof without
making other adequate provisions for the
same purpose. Act No. 10S provided that
the company under certain penalties should
deposit semi-annually with the State Treas
urer tie sum of money necessary to meet
the interest on the bonds, and that second
mortgage should be given to the State to
secure the ultimate payment of the debt.
Was this provision of adequate ways and
means to paw the debt 1t was lust the
same kind of ways and means, which was
sanctioned by precedent, and which the
Legislat ure, as tar back as in 1888, had
made for the payment OF the bonds OF the
State in favor of the Citizens Bank. In act
No. 81, the Legislature authorized the giving
the stock Of the company to the State in
interes taccruing.
The General Assembly deemed the pro-
visions made adequate, and their discretion
can not be controlled by the courts. Arti-
Gle Ill is in the interest of the creditor. 1t
directs the General Assembly to make ade-
quate provisions for the payment of debts
created, and it declares that the law creating
the debt shall be irrepealable until the debt
be paid, or unless the repeating law con-
the payment thereof. The only prohibition
in the article is that which fOrbids the re-
peal Of the law creating the debt without
making other provisions for its payment.
Even if the Legislature had failed to
make any provisions for the payment of the
debt, in the act creating it, still the debt
would be valid legal debt. The provis-
ion of the constitution was evidently for
the benefit of the creditor. It is directory
to the General Assembly, on whom it is
binding in fOrO cOnscientiG. but their fail.
ure TO observe the direction does not vitiate
the obligation. There is no penalty de-
nounced against the holder of the ob]iga-
ton. 1t is repugnant to common sense and
common honesty to say that the State can
take advantage of its own wrong; that it
can make contract, receive the benefits
contracted for, and then repudiate its obli-
cations on the grounds that something was
not done by itself, for the protection Of its
creditor, which should have been done.
There is no question of power or authority
to make debt involved. Article Ill does
not purport to confer any power. To create
debts is one Of the inherent powers Of the
Legislature. But suppose this directory
provision be construed into prohibition;
still, the obligation would be valid. In Glib
Son vs.. Foster, the Supreme Court of the
State held, in treating Of the rule in relation
to acts done in violation OF prohibitory laws,
that This disposition was extracted from
law five, title fourteen, book one Of the JUS
tinian Code but the Jurisprudence estab-
which has been Incorporated in the jurls.
prudence OF all countries. It is the maxim,
'Multa feri prohibitur quae 81 facta fuerint
Ointment frmitatem.' Those two rules must
be Interpreted by each other. The first was
intended for the maintenance OF public or
der, or a reasonable certainty in the muni-
ments of title; and the second for the pre-
servation Of property and the rights of
labor. The first rule is considered by all
rot onn1rinn fO
number Of cases, and not even to all cases
involving considerations Of public order"
2 An, 500.
But the General Assembly did make pro-
visions In both the acts Nos. l0S and 81,
already referred to. Whether the provi-
sions be adequate or not was question for
the decision of the Legislature alone. Law
yers will hardly differ on that proposition,
although some newspaper men may. See
COOley's Constitutional Law, page 129.
Such, too, seems to have been the opinions
Of the late Attorney General Belden in an
official letter to Governor Warmoth in Sep
tember, 1872 and of the subcommittee of
citizens OF New Orleans, through their chair
man, Judge J. Fl. Kennard, about the same
time, in relation to similar legislation in
favor Of the Mobile, New Orleans and Texas
Railroad Company.
In conclusion, it may he stat.d that the
NOItu Aculbldu0 duu AtAdS IdliFOdu is tue
only railroad in Louisiana owned by citi-
zens of Louisiana, and the only railroad in
the northern part Of Louisiana; that it has
received only $4,000 per mile in bonds from
the State while the Mobile, New Orleans
and Texas railroad has received subsidy
Of $4,000, 900. besides $l2, 500 per mile, and
the New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Vicks-
burg railroad is entitled to Sl2500 per mile;
that the owners of the North Louisiana
and Texas railroad have expended in con-
struction of the road between the Missis-
sippi and the Ouachita rivers $S90.l55 81,
of which $4l5. .925 was the net proceeds of
$40 State bonds, and for maintenance of the
road they have expended $3.50, $40 93, max
ing total Of expenditures of 5 ,426, 1896 80;
and that, as a result of the energy and en-
terprise Of those gentlemen. large portion
Of the country along the line of said rail
road has been occupied and cultivated and
towns have been built-lite and thrift exist
now where gloom and desolation prevailed
before.