New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-02-06
THE PROTEST OF NEW YORK BOND
HOLDERS.
Governor keilogg's Reply.

Executive Department,
New Orleans February 4, 1874
| To W. Se.igman l. Co., J. J. Anderson, Morga,
! ! Co., Chester GriswOld John L. Macaulay G
"; stanton. Jr.. John PoudiI. Oliver Ames AM
others, New York:
! GESTLEMES-A printed document, dated
January l6, 1874, with your names at
| tached. and protesting against the fund
! Assembly OF this State, was delivered
at my office by some unknown person or
the morning OF the second instant. Ii
| seems, however, that advanced sheets were
furnished to the New Orleans Pcayt,ne pre-
viously, since the substance OF your memo
! rial, though addressed to the Governor and
! Legislature, appeared in that paper some
! days before / was aware. otherwise, Of its
| existence. / am, therefore, in doubt as to
what degree OF authenticity should be at
| tached TO the document; but IL view of the
] names appended thereto and especially AL
! view OF the great Importance Hf the sub.
ject, 2n induced to waive objections to the
| suspicious accessories to us presentation.
| aud treat il as a genuine expression OF your
! views on the subject. You will not, trust {,
| consider i offensive If I use in my reply
the same plainness Of speeca :ha. taayac.
:erizes your protest.
! ]. is evident that you could not have
| been il possession of the Otfcia! financial
| reports OF this State for :he years 1872 and
! 1913. IL is impossible TO reconcile Cour sin
! gIlaily inaccurate conclusions Will. the eX.
ac. an! specific evidences 70 the contrary
| contained IA those reports. / have eansed
| copies o: Tie same to be mailed to each Of
You, and respectively .lG!:e :o:s: attention
| thereto.
! Your statement. taken from Inv message.
| tina: IA: deb: ot 'hc State Is -. IS; s.6 j.
| substantially correct. You, statement that
| zine actua! amcun: Of interest now anna
! ally tae upon the debt" estimated. pre-.
sumo. by yourselves. Is 81. 1873 35S. is not
! correct. The interest now annually due
! upon the deb: Is 5 30 $50. Your quota.
! ton. from my message to the effect that
! the commonwealth had, during the past
Year. raised a revenue exceeding 81 0UO.0U0,
and that my estimate placed the necessary
expenses OF tie State government at 81 ,000,.
600 are correct SO far as they 60, but Your
differences iheretrom are wrong. To be
more explicit. quote your tatlls.ed s:a.es
men::
The actual amount OF ;nterts. Row an.
-. nually due upon the debt !! 80; sSS
J liz Necessary aEnua! expenses Of the
commonwealth are stated by the Gov.
rILCG. 10; to exceed .................. 900 800
Making a total annual outlay off,. 81 493 358
Revenue of the State tor 1873 ........ 900 COO
Necessary outlay. including .uteyest.... 2,493 1853
Excess Of income over outlay ....s! ,5o6S42
Whereupon, you observe ''that it is ap.
parent. therefore. from the message that
the State OF Louisiana at this moment pos.
sesses n her treasury a sum OF money
largely n excess OF her necessary outlay"
You will pardon me if reply. III terms as
broad al. Your insinuation. that no such con.
clns!on j. apparent or fairy deducible from
the message. Or from any other uthentc
published facts and documents: bu. the
contrary. ! refer you Tor proof 10 those
portion. OF my message which trea: OF the
subject. 0: public schools and !eyees, and
TO the annual reports for 1873 OF the State
Auditor and State Treasurer. You can not
uc ignorant Ut Che fact tina. our interests
are almost entirely agricultural. and de.
pend mainly tor their existence upon the
protection of our soil from :nunda.ion by
vast system OF levees. built az a cost Of many
millions o; dollars, aud tia. these .evees
We're destroyed by the war. The State
has since been struggling 10 repair them
and build new ones. The cost is immense,
and Is not included IN the estimate of .'aX-
penses of the Site government" The
amount expended for levee purposes in
1873 was ",02! l., tsee Auditors reportI.
Again. our public schools were Inadequate
Is sustained by an expenditure III 1873 OF
SiG...C. Ui, whic!: item is 10Y included in
the estimate OF expenses % the safe gov
ernmen'. You vii! see from this that your
conclusion. above referred 10. was erroneous.
You take :he revenues OF 1873, namely,
:'oOa.U0c and sUbstrac: theretrom your
estimate of interest for Is. and partial
and greatly reduced estimate of fxpedi
lures fox IS! !, which does not include leyees
and schools. .ieducting IN that way d balance
which you call 'eXces- of income over out. |
lay ard spread before the public as the !
amount which 1.-The State Of Louisiana at !
this mOmen: possesses III her treasury at |
the same time clothing ycur statements III |
such language that persons who have seen I
only Your address would infer that they
were transcript: of my message. ! am |
certain that the gentlemen whose names |
have before me could not all have carefully |
considered the rurpoTt OF what they We're |
,!gnng. The following is a true statement |
u Income" and ''out!ay" !,r 1873. (See |
official reports:
eco 0tD as assumed in
In. address, the ordina.
ry STATE Expenditures.
not including interest
schools ana leyees was 1919 ~ o.
. penses for account of
interest. schools and
evees. we've. 2ai.,a8o 81 3Gg6,9i2 8:
Balance ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. S3le 90. 20
From this balance must he deducted more |
han 100000 OF past due interest OF 1872, |
De |
lso be remembered that a considerable
'cr:ion of the revenue of 1873 was collected
Il outstanding warrants OF previous years.
which reduced the floating deb. bv that |
mount. BIZ. was not available for any other
urpOse.
A fair statement of The probable outlay
or the year Is. !, estimating intercs: on the
ebt as it now stands, would be:
or interest. + 81. so 90
eetssafy expenses for general HuT-
poses ItNstsON 90 |
expenses for levee plrpo-es 800 Nyo 90
.eessary EXPENSES for schoo! puv.
po7es.'........ ..................... So"tt' 20 |
Tota! outlay. ................... s 81 $40 90
This would leave our floating debt wholly !
nprovided for. and our necessary expenses
Ir general purposes may. not wthstaudipg I
ur best exertlons 20 prevent it, reach the !
lm OF sl,20O,000 1t is thus plain that we
lould have TO collect for 1874 nearly !
1000, 900 in cash. 1t does not follow that
ecause this was done in 1873. it is easy or
ven possible TO do it again. The results of
ne past year were obtained by the rigid /
Increment OF severe laws, and were at. I
nded with hardships SO great that no v
arson OF ordinary humanity could witness |
lem without the desire to relieve them: | s
e with the debt at its present amount We A
lould be compelled to resort again to the | v
me course. stated in my message, and :,
peat, that was and am utterly opposed :
this for several cogent reasons. the most
inclusive of which, to our creditors at
as'. being that teT more repetitions
ould result in our hopeless bankruptcy.
uring the past year large sales of real
tate have been made in all parts of the :.
ate. and large amount o. property 1"
iudicatei to the State for taxes. penalties
q costs thereon. This is not the IesuI. OF s.
willingness 10 pay, but CT sheer inability.