New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-04-23

R UBLIOAN, SUNDAY
eATERMHNT or THH I.1vRB con
- PANY.
NEW ORLEANs, April 81, 1876.
70 His yxcellsney William Pitt Kellogg 0overno
OF the State Of Louisiana; IS
SIR-The newspapers Of this city Of ever
date, publish letter from General james
Longstreet, State commissioners, to you
making certain allegations Of over payment
BY tho State to the Levee Company, for worl
done In 1874 and 1875.
A sense Of justice t. the Levee Company,
and due regard to truth and the proper
enlightenment of public opinion, impel me
to address you an answer to the erroneous
ststements made by General Longstreet.
This company not only invite, but are
anxious for the strictest Investigation in al
matters of payment of moneys made to
them by the State, or measurements Of
works done, made by State officials, or on
all points arising in connection Herewith.
The Levee Company have frequently as
serted, and now reafirm, that moneys paid
into the State treasury for building levees
have been used, without warrant of law,
for other purposes.
We further affirm that, 20 far from an OK
cess Of payment having been made to the
Levee Company in any one year. in each
year since the formation of the company
there has been . deficiency of payment
under the terms of the contract made by
the State with the Levee Company for
levees built and repaired.
We affirm that the aggregates of this
yearly deficiency largely exceed 81 ,00O, 900
in the last five years.
We affirm that, before 81 was paid to the
Levee Company by the State, the company
had constructed and paid for work done to
An amount Of over $400, 900 cash stock sub
scriptions Of their stockholders, and have
subsequently and during the last tour
years, borrowed, on their bonds and notes,
more than $500 900, to carry on their works
and supply deficiencies occasioned by the
yearly non-pavment on the part of the
State, trusting to the faith of the State for
repayment.
General Longstreet alleges that in 1874
the Levee Company received $677. 900; in
1875, $343. 400, or sl.02l LOO in the two
years, and that in those two years the
work done amounted to 1,S24,l52 cubic
yards, emitting the Levee Company, under
the contract with the State, to only $9l2,-
O0s, and that consequently the Levee Com.
pany received $l04,024 more than they
were entitled to, and that this amount has
not been properly accounted for. General
Longstreet has forgotten, or has not taken
the trouble to inform himself of the fact,
that more than one-half of this sum which
he alleges was paid this company, in those
two years, was back taxes on account of
work done in 1871, 1872 and 1873.
From January l, 1875, to January 1, 1876,
the amount of levee tax paid into tho State
treasury was &359, 58S, GO and out of this
only 1891 800 was paid to the Levee Com
pany for work performed in lS74-75.
AS NO money is paid to the Levee Com
pany except on presentation to the Treas
urer of q warrant properly authenticated
by the signatures of president and treasurer
of the company. your excellency can easily
have the truth Of our statement verified by
having these warrants examined and the
various amounts for each year aggregated.
l would now respectfully call the atten-
ton of your excellency to the reference
made, in the letter of General Longstreet,
to the matter of the crevasse at Milliken's
Bend. Early in April break occurred in
the old levee at Milliken's Bend, in front Of
. new levee which was being built under
orders from the commission of engineers.
On the receipt of the news q letter was
addressed to the Levee Company, dated
the fourth of April, 1876, from the commits.
sion of engineers, directing the company to
close the crevasse as soon as possible, under
the direction of the chief State engineer
On the eleventh of April letter was re.
ceived from the commission of engineers,
requesting information as to what the com.
psny had done about closing the crevasse.
To this last letter returned the following
answer, to which invite your excellency' q
attention:
New ORLEANS, April IL, 1876.
General James Longstreet Chairman Commission
of Engineers:
In answer to your communication of this
date, We beg leave to say, that on receipt
of your first communication, having refer
ence to the crevasse at Milliken's Bend, the
Levee Company Immediately dispatched
Mr.. Darker, an efficient engineer, to CO.
operate with Mr.. McGinty, the sub.con-
tractor, who is building the new levee at
Milliken's Bend, in taking the necessary
steps to stop the crevasse, if possible, un.
der the direction of the State engineer.
The only information Mr.. Darker has com.
municated is, that the ends Of the break
had been we'll riveted to prevent
the enlargement of the break by wash
ing. That the work has not been
carried on. as you say you are cred.
IDLY informed, can be attributed to but one
cause, the want of cash means to pay for q
large quantity of material, the wages of
hands, etc., found necessary to close the
break. This deficiency of cash the Levee
Company is unable to supply. The pre-
sumed amount of taxes to be received in
1876 had already been anticipated by the
building of levees under orders from the
commission of engineers, and even large
proportion of the tax of 1877 has also been
anticipated under similar orders, and this
company has been further impeded in its
operations by q restraining order from the
Superior District Court to the Auditor, in