The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1875-12-26
Address TO THE PUBLIC
u by THE
Louisiana Levee Company.
OFFICE LOUISIANA LEvEE COMPANY. !
No. % Carondelet street.
New Orleans. Nov. u, 1875.

OFFICE LOUISIANA LEvEE COMPANY. !
No. % Carondelet street.
New Orleans, Nov. 10, 1875
The undersigned, President of the Louisiana
Levee Company. In behalf Of the directors and
stockholders of said company. deems It his duty
to the public and to the stockholders to publish
the following statements in correction and rcfu-
tation OF the persistent misstatemcnts and false
accusations made regarding us and our motives
and actions through tho press OF New Orleans
The parties, not ourselves. who formed the
Lovee Company, and originally contracted with
the State of Louisiana for the building and
maintenance Of lovecs in February. 1871. found
themselves wholly unable 10 comply with tlleir
contract for want Of capital. The State had pro-
viously issued more than ss.Oo0.0O0 Of bonds for
evee construction purposes. under Boards of
Commissioners; which bonds were much depre-
ciated in value In the market. and the State was
poweress to raise further means for continuing
the work Of leyee maintenance. She had no
money and could NO longer got the work done
on credit. The levees wero broken and gone in
very many Places and unless something were
done the whole alluvial portion of the State was
certain to be inundated during the next floods
Of the river.
The State could not build the levees. and the
new Lovee Company. as then constituted. was
tuuitlly poWtlISc5 W VIOcCtu Will uio WOIh IL
had undertaken. Such was tho situation in No
vember. 1871.
At this iuncturc u few gentlemen. including
among their number several bank presidents.
large landed proprietors. and capitalists all res
ideDt citizens of long standing. who thought
they would thereby render the State good scr
vice. Joined togetller In the emergency and con
cludcd 10 invest portion Of their funds. and
undertake to do what neither the State. the new
I,evee Company, nor tho riparian propriotors
could do.
They acquired. us tho only means Of opcrat-
ing and of having the leyees built. flor tho only
possible fundamentally then was the newly
formed Levee Company. the franchises and con-
tract of said Company. They then Jointly con
tributed and paid In upwards Of $4OOOO0 in cash.
for capital, in December. 1871 and commenced
to rebuild such levees as the State, through It's
Commission Of Engineers designated AZ most
necessary. and ordered for construction. They
built every levee 30 ordered. and complied with
all the requirements OF their contract stipula-
lions as designated 70 them by the State as the
proprietor OF the cvees. through her officials.
BY the use OF their whole capital and strain
ing their credit. they succeeded In building up
wards of one hundred levees completely, with
many others at the same time under process Of
construction. before receiving one dollar Of
compensation therefor from the State.
To October. 1879. they built levees amounting
in the aggregate to 25s7.761 cubic yards. for
which 81 So. 656 60 was due. and on account of
which only s2s2 600 had been paid to them by
the State. The Levee Company has paid to
its sub-contractors. on an average. from first
to last nearly thirty-ilve cents per cubic yard
on a cash basis. besides defraying oil Of it's in
cidental and other necessary expenses. The
C0mpany's loss, In interest alone on the UNI
paid balances past due by the State for work
actually performed. say on about $I.500.0O0 at
ton per cent for three and a half years. amounts
to $685. 900 The balance due the Levee Com
pany on the first of November. 1875. after de-
Quoting oil receipts from both the construction
and repair funds. was over one and q half mil
lions Of dollars.
We have built SGT .553 cubic yards Of lcvees in
all. and the amount charged to the State for
construction and repairs is s3.2eea47. 1t is said
that the Levee Company IL making large profits
on its contract If so. how il 1t that stock. the
face value Of which is fifteen dollars tsl5) per
share(oh which no cash dividends have ever
been paitl)-is now selling at prices varying
from only two dollars to three dollars por
share?
The facts are that the entire amount received
from tho State. SO far-sl ,7s4 .2O0-has been ex-
pended in levee construction. and disburse-
ments connected Herewith. In addition to the
amounts received from the State. VIC have I'D
vanced and expended out Of our own means.
obtained from other sources. s7sOOO0, or about
onethrd Of the cost Of the levees built up 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 venality had been disap-
pointed by our refusal to submit to tho exactions
~ -
from the vindictive feelings Of discharged en-
ployees.
How many business men in New Orleans, or
anywhere else. would BIO willing to contract to
build levees for the State Of Louisiana at fifty
cents per cubic yard. and wait a year or more TO
be reimbursed, without interest. after paying an
average of thirty-flve cents per cubic yard in
cash. or its equivalent, to sub-contrN:tors inter
est on all loans. and other incidental expenses In
addition? They would find tho actual cost per
cubic yard for lovces at least forty ccntsall cx-
peDses included.
Our Company has complied with and kept It's
contract obligations faithfully from first to last
but tho State from the very first has been and is
still in default. The absurd impression pre-
walls even with those who should know better.
that. for some unexplained reason. the Levee
Company should build all the levces needed In
LOUISIANA OF Its own vOlltiOn without orders and
without compensation. For the amount Of the
balance due US we have rendered full epuiva-
lent 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 rs per contract.
Large sums, in bonds and warrants, issued
for no consideration whatever. as far as the pub
lie are informed. and even tainted with fraud
from their first inception. have been funded.
but our just claim is sought TO be repudiated.
and we ourselves held up for public execration
for presuming to ask TO be paid In bonds. in
stead Of cash, for what is due US. By act No. Of
1871, it was provided that the state Of Louisi-
ann contracts and agrees with the Louisiana
Lcvee Company in terms rs follows:" That
the Auditor Of Public Accounts shall be required
to pay the Louisiana Levee Company at the rate
of fifty cents per cubic yard for all levees con-
structed by said company after the first day Of
October 1873" and for 'all levees constructed by
said company before the first day Of October,
1873. at the rate OF sixty cents per
cubic yard. as the existing contracts and laws
provide" Weseek but to obtain from the State
the fufllment Of its contract stipulations.
1t is said that the Levee Company has not the
means to maintain the levee system and there
fore that its contract should be- broken. The
truth is, that il the State were in condition to
pay cash for all work done. our company could
hriId any number OF milliOpsrof yards annually