The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-11-14
ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC
BIZ THE
LOUISIANA LEVEE COMpANv
oEFISE L % H LEvEE CoMpAsy
NO N rs Coe r1asa street.

oUOCkuO1uOGb Oh Bdlu SOIup8ny, Aa1srus.
duty to the public and to the stocEhoosaa ~ his
publish the following statements ID coSete to
and refutation of the persistent misstatsr.ssNlon
and fRlse accusations made regarding y. e ing
New Orleans. p1essm
The parties, NOT ourselves, who formal a.
Levee Company, aud originally cOassaesssssS
with wit the State OF Louisiana f1s che building
found themselves wholly unable to comnivt N;.S
their contract for want of capital. The sta sa
had previously issued more than % 600 oO0 ~
bonds for levee construction purposes. nma y.
Boards of Commissioners; which bonds wass
much deprecated in value in the unarket anS
the State was powerless to raise further mean
for continuing the work of levee naainten snce
She had no money and could no Ion ger GET the
work done on credit. The levees were Sroksn
and gone in very many places, and unles.
something were done the whole alluvial Dor.
tion of the State was certain to be iaundataa
during the next floods of the river
the State could not build the levees, and tho
new Levee Company, as then constituted. was
equally powerless to proceed with the work il
had undertaken. Such was the situation in
November, 1871.
At this juncture few gentlemen, including
among their number several bank presidents'
large landed proprietors, and capitalists, all
resident citizens of long standing, who thougbt
they would thereby render the State good
service, Joined together in the emergency
and concluded to invest o portion of their
funds, and undertake to do what neither the
riparian proprietors could do.
They acquired, as the only means of opera
ting and Of having the levees built, (for the
only possible fundamentally then was the
newly formed Levee Company, the franchises
and contract of said Company. They then
jointly contributed and paid in upwards Of
$400, 900 in cash, for q capital, in Dec, 1871,
and commenced to rebuild such levees "a the
State, through it's Commission of Engineers,
designated as most necessary, and ordered for
construction. They built every levee SO or.
dered, and complied with all the requirements
of their contract stipulations as designated to
them by the State as the proprietor of the
levees, through her officials.
By the use oftheir whole capital, and strain.
upwards of one hundred Ievees completely,
with many others at the same time under pro-
cess Of construction, before receiving one dol
lar of compensation therefor from the State.
To October, 1872, they bnilt 1eveeS amount
ing in the aggregate to 2557, 761 cubic yards,
for which 81 ,534 CSC o was due, and on account
of which only S292, 900 bad been paid to them
by the state. The Levee Company has paid
to last, nearly thirty-fve cents per cubic yard
on a cash basis, besides defraying all of its in
cldental and other necessary expenses The
Company's loss, in interest alone on the unpaid
balances past due by the State. for. work
actually performed, say on about 81, 500, 900, OF
ten per cent for three and half years,
amounts to $525. oco. The balance d1e the
1875, after deducting all receipts from both
the construction and repair funds, was over
one and half millions of dollars.
We have built 5 ,617 ,553 cubic yards of levees
in all, and the amount charged to the Statefor
construction and repairs is So 266, 347. 1t is
said that the Levee Company is making large
profits on its contract. If so, how is 1t that
stock, the face value of which is fifteen dollars
(S15) per share-(on which no cash dividends
have ever been paid)-is now selling at prices
varying from only two dollars to three dollars
per shaTef
The facts ara I'll at the entira amounf received
from the State, 30 far, 81 754 200, has been ex-
pended in ievee construction and disbursements
connected Herewith. In addition to the
amounts received from the State, we have ad-
vanced and expended out of our own means,
obtained from otherlsources, $50, 900, or about
one-third of the cost of the levees built mp to
this time; for which We have received little
else than abuse, coming from anonymous
writer's to the public, and which abuse was
dictated, in some cases, by those whose venslity
had been disappointed by our refusal to submit
to the exactions of black mail" and, in other
cases, emanating from the vindictive feelings
of discharged Employed
How many business men in New Orleans, OF
anywhere else, would be willing to contracts
build levees for the State of Louisiana at fifty
cents per cubic yard, and wait year or more TO
be reimbursed, without interest Rfter paying an
average of thirty-fve cents per cubic yard in
cash, or its equivalent, to sub contractors, in
terest on all loans, and other incidental e1-
penses in addition They would end the actual
cost per cubic yard for levees at least forty
centS-au expenses included.
Our Company has complied with and kept
its contract obligations faithfully from first to
last, but the State from the very first has been
and is still in default. The absurd impression
prevails, even with those who should know
better, that, for some unexplained reason, the
Levee Company should build all the leyeeS
needed in Louisiana of its own volition with
out orders and without compensation. For the
amount of the balance due rs we have rem
dered full equivalent in work done, and yet
We are denounced as seeking to rob the State
for asking to be paid in deprecated State bonds
the amount due us in cash as per contract.
Large sums, in bonds and warrants, issued
for no consideration whatever, as far as the
public are informed, end even tainted with
fraud from their first inception, have been
funded, bat our just claim is sought to be re-
pudiated, and we ourselves held up for Pablo
execration for presuming to ask to be paid IN
bonds. instead of cash, for what is due US. By
Act No. of 1871 it was provided that the
" State of Louisiana contracts and agrees
with the Louisiana Levee Company IN IN
Public Accounts shall be required to pay
the Louisiana Levee Company. at the rate
constructed by said Company, after the first
day of October, 1873" and for !" all leveeS CON
atrucfa6 nv aaid TnTn0anu hafora the frat Gay