The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-04-01
THE STATE-HOUSE JOB.
A Legislative Swindle Unearthed.
Sale Of the st. Louis Hotel for a State
Capitol.
The Ring, and Who Compose It.


Capitol at last.
There have been numerous schemes, and
ring after ring has been formed, only to
break and defeat the bright dreams Of the
members, to ruthlessly shatter their air cas-
ties, and cause them to gnash their teeth in
thinking of what might have been" There
was the ring in which a very wealthy gen
tleman from Rhode Island figured extern
sively as the purchaser of that magnificent
iron structure, the Marine Hospital, and in
which Warmoth. BloOmer ct ais. were
thought to be large links. 1t was thought
that there was money enough in that COM
bination to carry through anything. But
alas! their hopes, like those Of their
this, will die utterly in their breasts.
We venture to assert that no large scheme
was ever conducted with more secrecy, and
the astonishing part Of the programme is
that no one should have discovered the plan
of action before it was developed, especially
when it required a legislative enactment to
successfully carry out the scheme.
But to explain. Not long since there was
formed in this city a corporation under the
name and style OF the New Orleans Building
Association, the president of which company
is Senator Benham, and the directors, the
following Kellogg legislators: Devices,
Mathews and Wands. The capital of this
company was fixed at 100000, and the pur-
Cow oh
hensive as possible.
In the General Appropriation Bill
passed at the last session of the Legislature,
we find the following section:
appropriation to pay rent OF all public
buildings, $3S 900, to be paid out on the war
rant of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor
and Speaker of the House of Representa-
tives, OF a majority of the same, who are
hereby constituted board on public build
ings, with full and extensive authority to
lease, in the name Of the State, such pub
lie building or buildings, for all the various
executive departments and for the General
Assembly, for an annual rental not to exceed
$5O, 900, and for a period not exceeding TWEEN
ty years; said building or buildings to be
exempt from State and parish taxes while
occupied as a State House.
Now this is very suggestive, and when we
learn that the New Orleans Building Asso-
citation has purchased the St. Louis Hotel
on the strength of that section, then the cat
which had hitherto eluded our optics. springs
clear out of the bag, and the scheme stands
revealed with burst Of sunlight upon it,
that brings into unpleasant prominence its
worst features.
The price paid for the hotel to John G.
Gaines, President of the Citizens Bank,
which institution hold mortage on the
property. was one hundred and twenty five
thousand dollars; twenty-five thousand of
which has already been paid down, and the
balance to be paid in annual installments OF
$4,000 at s per cent interest.
The Board appointed by the act quoted
above. have acted in unison with the parties
composing the building association and have
entered into an agreement to rent the bull
ding for State House at $780, 900 per annum
for five years, at he end Of which time it
will either be bought outright by the State
or be otherwise disposed of. Five years, at
$4,000 per annum, aggregates the handsome
sum of $25O,OOO, or profit Of $125, 600 cash,
besides the ownership Of the building.
Quite neat little transaction, and sans
doubt it puts money into the pockets OF not
only several impecuniOus members OF the
Legislature, but, as rumOr asserts, into the
pockets Of some OF the highest State Off
Gals. and into the Golfers of prominent
banker, who is one of the ring.
The board appointed by the act is COM
posed of Kellogg, Antoine and Lowell, and
these worthless have, past all doubt, been
parties to the transaction, and, while we do
not assert that they share in the plumber,
we do assert, most emphatically, that 1t
looks very much like it.
The formation Of tho association, the men
who compose it, or who are tgure-heads
therein, the passage of that remarkable
section in the Appropriation Bill, the pW-
chase of the St. Louis Hotel, and the
agreement to rent it as State House, all
point to collision, and the public will not be
long in making up their minds about the
matter.
Of course, Mr.. Kellogg will be diffnse in
explanation Of how it all occurred, and Will
try to shift the responsibility for the act,
but the fraud is patent. The building could
have been rented by the State for s25,ooo,
without the least trouble, which would have
been a saving of $4,000, but the
ring would have made no money, you see.
Rnmor has it that the shares of this COM
pany are divided into ninths, and that three
of those ninths 20 to three high function
aries of the State Government free, while
the other six ninths are divided out among
six others, who planked up the money to
make the first payment on the hotel. we
should be obliged to any one who would
point out to us the three State functionarles
who are 70 profit by this plumber; we should
,:,x> ~ ,uhl;.h their Names in large letters,