The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-04-19
day OF -. 1875. under the provisions Of the

day OF ----. 1875 under the provisions OF tn
Hevised Statutes and has commenced the wor
the city Of New Orleans with the State Of Texas
and It is q matter OF public impo1tance that tn
completion Of said railway shodld be expedite'
in every lawful manner"
There is, then, a legislative. and an executive
and a Judicial decision In our favor. We hav
all decisions in our favor except that OF the tax
resistors
| desire now briefly to call the Courts atten
ton to one Or two special points made by tn
serving OF comment One Of the objections
urged by Mr Ogden. was that the city. after TIN
collection Of the tax. did not control it: 1t Il
obliged to pay it over to the railroad company
l. only wish 70 answer that by asking q aues
ton: what one OF the special taxes that the citl
is ordered to levy does It controlf Does the citj
any other special tax that is decreed for any spe
cial purpose. Other, than TO turn it over to the
parties designated by the law2
Another objection made by him was that be-
j cause the benefits accrung from this road were
not local, but were shared in by q number q
parishes, together with the city OF New Orleans
| therefore it was not in n proper sense loea
tax. and that no different rate Of taxation could
| Pc imposed upon the citi ems 81 New U,rleans
| from that on those parishes ask your Honor's
| attention to a consideration of the position In
which he. puts himself He alleges what is not
| necessarily true-that this law will impose a
| lower rate Of taxation upon the country parishes
| through which the railroad runs than it does
upon the people Of New Orleans.
! The law with regard to the parishes simply
limits in lump AS recollect it. it says that the
amount Of subscription by any parish shall not
! exceed s300g0. How, in the name Of common
| sense does he reach the conclusion that in order
| to reach $500, 90 in parish they are going 10
| impose more or less than mills. Until he has
established the fact that it is State tax, and that
| It must bear eveHly upon all parts Of the State.
| there is no force whatever in his objection
But admitting. for the sake Of argument. that
| there was an express provision in the Constitu-
ton that you must tax each parish through
which the road runs at the same rate ms you do
the city OF New Orleans mon constat." that the
t1r. Il,
TAX IN the CITY Of New orleans AT Al events. he
Is attacking this statute by alleging the unconst-
tuionality Of another statute which has. never
yet been enforced or attempted to be enforced.
There is nothing in the objection for The rea-
son that tux OF this character is local tax to
y9y wba na5h T TbRE It BE- %nnffpp ty
effect Of any other theory. Are not all the towns
and cities Of any size in the State 81 Louisiana
member that the gist OF the gentleman S argn
mant is that. because they are equally Interested
in this particular kind Of protection or improve
ment Of their property they mist perforce be
taxed ut the same Identical rate. Are rot the
cities Of Alexandria and Shreveport eftd Baton
Rouge as much interested in having q t,ood po-
And yet. under this theory every law author
ling these municipalities t. impose a taxation
Ii is a reJocito dd dbsWdnn. The history Of tho
whole State gives the lie to it, IT IS impraftiea-
bic; there would be no sense in such a.rule.
My friend Mr.. Eusis travelling outside of the
law again said that II was about time to put q
stop to this kind of thing that the people SHOULD
be- made to understand that they arc not to h ndle
other peoples property.
| must confess that when | heard that utter
anee from "a man who is part Of the govern
ment of this State and who is usually well veTsed
ia the machinery of the State and national gov
ernrnents. | was astounded because he strikes
at the very foundation Of the whole Government.
What The tim has come to tell the people that
they shall not exercise their choice Ia ref renee
10 a question of this kind because they are not
property owners2
How does the constitution Of the State read?
What are the qualif att Ions Of an elector? How
only can we change then2 If the gentleman
was sincere in his declaration understand it
To be on his part q new departure" ] under
stand that he shall be hencefOrth tho advocate Of
property qualification.
Hut we are arguing the case upon the con
sttution and the law as they stand, and the
humblest citizen. blaek or white. he ha n voter,
as the law and constitution stand. has as
good right us you / even A. T. Stewart.
if he had been one OF our citizens. to pass upon
this question. Time to put a stop to i'll Then it
is time to call 2 constitutional convention and
tell these men that YOU propose to rob them of
this right. | Do not envy tho raShnesS of the
man who would advocate such thing especial
~ IN tons 10 atty.
Mr. Ogden treadng upon the very grave If
his father, Mr.. tustis repeating tho same de-
claraton in disregard Of their oft expressed ju-
Il eial tpintpns called your Honor's attention to
the fact that the time was Opportune for you to
array yourself against the whole current of
Of presidents whose sides are marked by sign
boards tipped with the fingers Of Marshall, Of
fancy and Of Chase and. going back to the
foundation of the Government Of Madison an
Hamilton He told you that the time was oppor-
tune Tor you. disregardng those sign boards to
set up the new doctrine that railroads are not
public uses, and that you would thereby put
stop t. this thing
He said tho Supreme Court Of the United
Ststes ~ now pausinG. Pausing at whatf Paus-
ing or the question as ~ whether ~ railroad is n
public or private usel Why there is not u single
Ne gsion rendered ny the Supreme Court Of the
United States from its organization up to this
daft hat 81 hat
There is n t n single decision Of the Supreme
Court of this State that admits doubt about it
but there are two most emphatic ones on the
other side-one each by the fathers Of the two
counsel | have mentioned. What does Mr.
Ogden mean by saying that the Supreme Court
Of the United States Is Dausing upon this ques-
tom Why, it looks to me rs though he had not
read the history of the country in the last fifty
years.
If the people Of this State believe that they are
pausing on it wi is it that we are to-day knock
ing al the doors Of Congress and begging for q
contribution to aid us in constructing the Texas
Pacific road, and afurther contribution to aid us
in keeping the waters from Overlooking our
lands | say. sir. that the success Of any such
idle resistance this would for the next cen
fury dam up the streams Of commercial pros
The time is coming and / think has como.
when such errors as they have promulgated
here will cease to be promulgated in tins State
alike befbre the courts and before the people
The conviction is deep among oil classes, in
Guiding the properly holders and a vast MAJOR
ity OF whom we claim TO have on our side that
unless we wake up and compete fully with our
more energetic neighbors Of the North. East and
West, wo will sleep the sleep Of death Why,
such q crop of Kip Van Wrinkles as we have ex-
hbted in this contest. venture to say. cannot
be found in any city Of fifty thousand inhabit-
ants within the limits of the United Statesl
In reference TO the question of Drematurity,
which is ending Mt the beginning. | was re-
minded, on reading the petition, of q good story
| heard told by Andrew Jackson Donaldson to
man who foresaW horrible disasters in some
coming legislation He said that in his mme-
data ueiu bpr hood there lived n xyiIpNed
Their with an unusually emotional daughter still
in her teens; that one day the mother wan Tered
down to the banks Of the Tennessee River upoD
which they lived. and there found her daughter
in inc0nsoabe grief aud shedding tears. Ap-
proae hing her she asked what was the trouble.
well, mother" she said. | was Just thinking
that now / am a girl that some Of these days
may have an only daughter. as you have and
she may stray down on the banks of this river
fall in and get drowned, and was crying about
it,"
It struck me. when saw this injunction is
sued. thus prematurely, that that case aptly
fitted this. Now. if there is such thing in law
as prematurity defy the production of more
pointed illustration Of it than this.
The prematurty is manifest without the
slightest care OF scrutiny They are attempting
TO prohibit the City Council Of New Orleans from
doing u purely ministerial act. For the purpose
of this law the Council are nothing but erks.
They share none OF the discretion, which shall
be exercised in the execution of this law. The
power to mandamus them was specially insert
ed in the law. Under the law il is impossible
than they should. unless they are one Of the CO.
ordinate branches Of the State government. The
power comes from the State and is given to the
,iway company, and they are only iDterjected