The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1876-04-30
LETTER FROM MR. JOHN HENDERSON,
PRESIDENT OF THE 10 UISI4N4 LETEE
COMPANY

|
our forms had been sent to press last week:
NEW ORLEANS. April 81, 1876.
To his Excellency VIM. Pitt Kellogg Governor of tn
State of Louisiana:
| Sr-The newspapers of this city of even dat
publish a letter from Gen. James Lonpstreet
| state commissioners, to you, making certait
| allegations of over payment by the State Il
1875 CAV
sense of Justice to the Levee COMPANY ant
que regard to truth and the proper emil z hten
| ment of public opinion, i'm pei me to address, OF
an answer to the erroneous statements M AIDE By
| Gen. LoDgstreet.
This company not only invite but are
anxious for the strictest Investigation in al
| matters OF payments of moneys made to then
| by the State, or measurements of work done
made by State officials, or on all points arisin 9
| in connection herewith.
The Levee Company have fre quently asserted
ana now affirm, that moneys paid into the
state treasury for building levees have been
, USED, without warrant of law, for other pur.
poses.
We further affirm that, so far from an excess
of payment having been made to the Levee
Company in any one year, in each year since
the formation of the company there bas been a
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 one million of doilars
in the last five years.
We affirm that, before one dollar was paid to
the Levee Company by the Safe, the company
had constructed and paid for work done TO an
amount of over S400 600 cash stock su bscrip
tons OF their stockholders, and have ubse-
quentty and dnring the last four years, Dor.
rowed, on Gher bonds and noteP, more than
5000. 600, to carry on their works aud eupply
Deficiencies caused by the yearly non PAL ment
on the part of the State trusting to the faith OF
the State for repay ment.
Gen. Longstreet alleges that in 1874 the
Levee Company received S677,S00; in 1875,
S343, 400. or Sl021 900 in two years, and that in
those two years the work done amounted to
l ga, 1852 cubic yards, emitting the Levee Com.
pany, under the contract with the State, to
only 9l2.O16, and that const nently the Levee
Company received $109 024 more than they
were entitled to, and that this amount has not
been properly accounted for. Gen. LoDgstreet
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 LIST, 1875, to January 1st, 1876,
the amount of levee tax paid into the State
Treasury was $3.50 $50 60, and out of this only
1891 500 was paid to the Levee Company for
work performed in 1874 I5.
AS no money is paid to the Levee Company
except on presentation to the Treasurer of q
warrant properly authenticated by the sigma
lures of the 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.
/ would now respectfully call the attention
OF your EXcelency to the reference made, in
the letter of Gen. Longstreet to the matter of
the cgevasse at MilIken's Bend. Early in
April q break occurred in the old levee at
Millikens Bend, in front of a new levee which
was being built under orders from the Com
mission of Engineers.
On the receipt of the news letter was ad-
dressed to the Levee Company, dated 4th April,
1876, from the Commission of Engineers, direct
ing the company to close the crevasse as soon
as possible, under the direction of the Chief
State Engineer On the 18th April o letter
was received from the Commission of Engi-
neers, re uesting Information as to what the
Company had done about closing the crevasse.
To this last letter returned the following
answer, to which l invite your Excellency's at
tentlon:
NEW ORLEANS, April II, 1876.
Con. James Longstreet, Chairman Commission of En-.
gineers:
In answer to your communication OF this
date, we beg leave TO say, that on receipt of
your first communication, having reference to
the crevasse at Miiiiken's Bend, tho Levee
Company Immediately dispatched MIR. barton,
an efficient engineer, to cooperate with Mr..
McGinty, the gu b contractor, who is building
the new levee at Milliken's Bend, in taking the
necessary steps to stop the crevasse, if possible
under the direction of the State Engineer.
The only information Mr.. barton has com
municated is that the euds of the break had
been well rivetted to prevent the enlargement
of the break by washing. That the work has
not been carried on, as you say you are credibly
informed, can be attributed to but one cause
the want of cash means to pay for large
quantity of material, the wages eff bands, etc,
found necessary to close the break. This
deficiency of cash the Levee Company is unable
to supply. The presumed 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
portion of the tax of 1877 has also been antici-
patcd under similar orders, and this company
has been furth er impeded in its operations by a
restraining order from the Superior District
Court 10 the Auditor, inhiblting him from
issuing warrants in favor Of the company, for
taxes received. Yours respectfully,
JOHN HENDERSON,
President Levee Company.
On the 2yth March, 1876, the Commission Of
Engineers issued an address, conceived in terms
as follows: