The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1874-02-14
INIiIAIANA.

LOUISIANA.
We are indebted to the author of
pamphlet containing u series of letters
addressed to the New Orleans Times
by Hon. Charles Gayane, author of tho
History of Louisiana, n member ot
the United States senate in the good
old ante belhm days, and ut present
occupying the position of reporter ol
the Supreme court of Louisiana. The
author first devotcs himself to the task
of laying before the world the deplora-
bic condition into which reconstruc-
ton, so-called, has plunged the pelican
State; he next undertakes to prove to
the forty Democratic members of the
Legislature that it is their policy and
their duty to take their seats in the
Kellogg Legislature and concludes,
in his last letter, with a vindication of
himself from an attack made upon him
by Hon. Horatio n. Ogden, the at
torney general of the McEnery govern
ment. In comparing the first part of
the pamphlet with the conclusion, one
is puzzled to decide whether the hon
orable author has earned the most dis
tinction as a statistician or as a dirt
finger. He certainly shows himself n
master in both arts.
While the whole of the pamphlet
is interesting and enjoyable reading, it
is only with the first branch Of it that
we propose to interest ourself in this
article, and with that only so far as to
extract therefrom few brief sentences,
showing to what hopeless depth Of
poverty and humiliation the people Of
that once proud commonwealth have
been reduced.
OF the financial condition he says:
"According to statement published
by the State auditor, it appears that
all the taxable property in the State
was assessed in 1870 ut S25l ,246, ,Ol7,
which property, on account of cXtraor-
dinary depreciation since that time,
would hardly sell, in 1873, for Sl0O,OCO,-
600, so it results that the people of
Louisiana, merely to meet their current
taxes, to-wit, Sl2, 900, have to pay
considerably more than ten per cent
per annum on the value of what they
in reality, as mass, do not own, but
merely possess, after balancing their
assets and liabilities.
70 sum it allup: Wehave 100000, 600
of public liabilities; S40,O00,OO0 of
private Indebtedness outside of the
State; 24,72S,000 of taxes to pay,
emitting millions for penalties in
cured, and besides several millions for
the support of the general government.
Our assets are Sl00,000,000 of prop
erty at cash valuation-say $3.50, 200, 900,
if you please. The rural population
averages, as we have seen, an annual
pro luct of about $500 per head.
How much of that can the poor
devils spare to meet their share
in the mere payment of taXesand
live? Really not cent. AS to our
suburban population, what do they
produce per head? Can they make as
good showing as the rural? Are
they not in a much worse condition
than those who drive the plow? Are
they in their mortgaged houses better
able to pay their taxes than their fel-
low citizens in the field? 1t almost
unsettles the brain to contemplate such
state of things"
And again: "If to work with bor-
rowed money, if to be in debt is to be
a slave, then we are all reduced to that
condition, whites and blacks-a condi-
+;o,,' ,,,,,ob IorJor Than tbot of our for
mer bondmen, orthey at least were sure
of food and raiinent, raiment and shell
ter, and we, the apparently free, donot
possess the same advantage. Out of
population of 1000 there are thou
sands who will be threatened with star
| vation within the next six months, If
our chains are not knocked off and la
Dor offered to our liberated arms and
hands. I call on all the inhabitants of
the State, without distinction, to testi-
| fy that this is the truth and not the
wild imagining of gloomy and dis
eased mind"
/ All this, letit be remembered, is from
the pen of one holding office under
the Kellogg government, and, there
fore, more apt to extenuate the evils of
the situation than to ''set down aught
in malice"
In the face of all this, can it be cred
tied that the Congress of the United
States, composed presumably, how
ever violent the presumption may be,
of christian gentlemen of the nine
teenth century, can sit complacently
week after week, and month after
month, discussing gravely thequestion
as to whether Louisiana needs relief,
and if so whether the government
ought to furnish it or not? 1t would
seem to an unprecedented mind that
one consideration alone would be suf-
ficient to sway the Judgment of an
honest legislator-that is that the fed
eral government is alone responsible
for the wreck and ruin that lies before
it, and common honesty, independent
of all political considerations, demands
that it should hasten to repair the evil
it has wrought.