New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-01-03

herewith, approved March 8, 1871, and re-
iative to fees of the Auditor of Public 40.
counts, approved March 6, 1872
The general purpose of this bill Is to be
commended, and If it were not fatally de-
/ fective in it's provisions | wonld sign it,.
| The fees and commissions now allowed by
| law to tax collectors are extravagsntly
high, and they ought to be reduced. New
| ertheless o proper regard for the public
| service aud the necessity for a speedy and
an efficient collection of the revenues
should prevent the reduction of such fees
and commissions to an amount sufficient to
| defray the cost of collection. This bill,
which is unequal in its provisions, reduces
/ the compensation to collectors in certsin
districts in New OFlesns 80 low that the
| collectors in those districts could not pay
| for the necessary clerk hire out Of their re-
| ceipts for fees.
l trust that the General Assembly will re-
pass the measure in q more carefully pre-
pared and equitable form.
WIN. P. KELLOGG,
Governor.
STATE OF LOUISIANA, }
Executive Department.
| New Orleans, jar uary l, 1877.
To the honorable the President and members Of
the Senate
return to your honorable body in which
it originated en- act entitled an act, requir-
ing the Auditor of Pablo Accounts of the
otdtO VI ADulelduh 10 lbeu6 warrants on Inc
| State Treasurer in favor of the cOnsiitu-
| tiOnal officers of the State for the payment
OF their salaries; requiring the several
State tax collectors TO receive said war
rants from the tax PAYERS of the State in
payment of the general fund tax for the
current year; requiring the Auditor of
Public Accounts aud State Treasurer to re-
eeive said warrants from the tax collectors
in their settlements, etc.
can see no lust reason for pIViD0 DrAfpr-
ence to one class of creditors over others.
The act seems to have been passed in con-
temptation of a state of facts not now ex-
listing.
The revenues of the past year have been
sufficient to meet the expenditures, aand, as
a matter of fact am informed that the
constitutional officers have been paid their
salaries. WA. P. KELLOGG,
Governor.
STATE OF LOUISIANA J
Executive Department, ,
New Orleans January ], 1871 )
To the Honorable President and Members Of the
Sena-e:
l return with my veto an act to exempt
from State and parish taxes lands over
flowed by the Grand Levee and Bonnet
Care and other crevasses now existing.
The law would confer too much power
npon the tax collector. 1t is net necessary.
The existing la VS. under which the Board of
Assessors in the parishes can reduce assess
ments, with the approval of the Auditor,
are sufficiently effective for the relief con-
templated by this bill.
WIN. P. KELLOGG,
Governor.
STATE OF LOUISIANA
Executive Department,
New Orleans, January l, le7f.9
enatora and Members of the HOUSE of Repre- senta
tives of the State of Louisiana;
In transmitting this the closing message
of my administration again congratulate
you upon the bountiful crops with which
Providence has crowned the agricultural
industry of the State. While other COM
mnnities have been Ecourged by pestilence
or visited by serious disasters, the health Of
this State has been exceptionally good, and
neither overflow nor other public calamity
has befallen us.
My term of Office as Governor of Louisiana
will expire in a few days. shall resign
the onerOus duties which that petition has
imposed upon me with only this regret,
that circumstances have not permitted me
to accomplish more for the good of this
State. The difficulties encountered can
scarcely be Overstated. During the first
years of my administration an organ
lied plan of tax resistance prevailed, and
the existence of the government was re.
peatedly threatened by armed insurrec-
ton, which finally became of so formidable
a character as to render necessary an sp-
peal to the general government for aid in
its suppression. The tranquility of the
5 tate has since been disturbed by revo-
lutionary effort to seize control of the or
ganization of the lower house of the Gen.
eral Assembly, and by an attempt to dis
place the executive authorities by false and
frivolous articles Of impeachment, adopted
in violation Of plighted faith. Through all
these embarrassments l have also had 10
contend against systematic calumny and
misrepresentation abroad, and have seen
with regret the ready acceptance which the
ISLANDERS directed against the Republican
party in tLis State have met with from
those who profess to believe in the prin-
ciples Of that party as maintained in other
States. Conscious of right have struggled
on, endeavoring to give peace and pros
perity to the State, and at the same time to
protect the rights Of those By whose votes
mainly l was called to the executive chair.
The recorded facts viii show that when /
entered upon my duties the bonded and
floating debt of the State was $24. 093, 4O7,
with contingent liabilities amounting to
$2l ,09O, 500. The laws authorizing this con.
tingent debt have all been repealed; and
the debt of the State now is:
Nav consuls outstanding. $50. 6, 3lS, $40
Old fundable bonds, S4,O59 800,
which funded at sixty cents,
will be.............~....... e.4S5,5SO
Old fundable warrants, outstand-
ing, about $4,000, which
funded at sixty cents, viii be $4,000
Total consolidated inteEest-bear-
ing debt, when funding Is com
pleted, exclusive of interest
coupons due prior to January,
1874, and interest warrants is-
sued therefor amounting in all
to about el01.OO ............ 1855, 922.
Taxation for State purposes, when this
entered into power, was
twenty-one and half mills on the dollar,
with an equal, or even greater taxa
ton in most parishes for parish pur-
poses. Taxation for all State purposes, in
oluding schools, lie now limited by oonstitu-
tional amendment 70 fourteen and q half
mills, and by law Of the Stats the rata Of !
parish taxation can in no case exceed the |
rate Of State taxation. Constitutional /
limit tina. exnanaieuraa ~ i