The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1878-06-29

mental reservations, just as the Cont',lr.
rate women stock the OATH daring tn"
wlr-thuuyh do not mean t" say INT
he does so under the same ilnj"iA;iN'
necessity nor with a s'Hl SO vir'H"N>.
!lI then. there is annll.rr SET OF can
,i,IatrS those who do 'lnt H'id the money
50 mach but who art greedy and want
more. and w go in pledged 4" til"
"ntoliry power /" 1rin'i th" las, cent
possible from the pr"i' pie tr pay the '"t'''I
of flesh demanded by the holder OF >pN-
riouS evidences of jnlrhIr.ln'>>.
Now. this City \ ministration Vt "nl>
went into Office on ill' san" NhirIWMd
of reform that placed the State admul>-
tration in power and their failure to
meet the Just expect tinn> Of the people
is even greater than that of the latter
But it has moi in the least disappointed
those of us who understood all the tim"
the modus opvundi of the manutArtlr"
of the concern.
have s 1ii before. that the Council
that surrounded Mr.. Leeds va, clog
around his neck that while he reflected
the sentiments Of the people, and would
have carried out their helrStS, those W no
were elected on the same platform with
him, and were pledged as he was t"
radical reformation Of things, were in
tluenccd by fear, ignorance, or worse.
and thwarted every rlinrt at substantial
change And yet. the leader Of thrs"
very men succeeded to the May"ralty OF
New Orleans, and TOW p!eSidrs over all.
another Council that has proved false I"
the bchcs:s of the people and has uttcrIy
failed to ilh,rovo the condition OF The
City anything like the extrrt that real
sterling intelligence and faithful regard
for the interests Of the whole people
could accomplish.
What is the condition of New Orleans
to-day!
lst-She is assessed on her real estate,
SSS9W,lsO; Oh income, Sl,229.97O; on
furniture. S44G.S5O: on horses, &c.,
S97S, J37 on stocks in Vessels, &C., SOB
s3l; on capital, Sl~,9S2G!1. Total.
Sill ,llS,395. The entire asseSsmcnt Of
the State is set down at about Sl50,U00,
600. 1t will thus DE seen that New Or
leans, with much less than one third the
population of the State pays more than
three tifths OF the taxes Of the same.
But this is not the worst of it. At the
same time that she pays more than her
share of interest on the State debt Of,
say Sl3.NOO,0O she pays all Of that on
about S22.OUOOIM, so.ralled city debt,
thrcc-fnurths Of which is utterly spuri-
olls-illpyaAin the fullest accrptation of
the term. New Orleans is taxed one and
a half per cent OH the city assess.nt ut
above nanle,l, besides hundreds of thou
sands in the way Of licenses on trades
and proft,>ions-in all Il total OF about
S2O0O.OO per aunum, exclusive of all
State taxes, OF the l. per cent tax onc
third is set apart for interest and reduc-
ton of debt and the balance, with IL
yelSe taxes. goes ~ 'ay all current eN-
peeses of every Notwithstanding public
schools and police.
Any legislator who will thirk over the
matter will at once see that all this is Il
tremendous bur;llen for the City to car
rrv. but the worst has not appeared.
While carrying the hurthrn our debt
does not decrease at all, and each yeal
the City is largely in arrears to its en-
ployees.
Under the so-cal1ed "Preminm Bond
Scheme" in 1876, the City Council retr'
ed more than S590.03A worth Of bonds,
while it failed to meet $500 600 of its OWE
ordinances. Again, from April l2th
1877. to September 5th. l~77, the present.
Council retired $56U,O0o bonds, Will,
ordinances Of that year to the extent o.
s550,0O0 remain unpaid Thus, while ii
their official publications they claim ;
reduction of debt to the extent of ria hel
more than ST .00o,0 900, they are proven t'
have failed in their current obligations
to the extent of s9jo,ooo!
And, this is not the worst, for they art
retiring bonds at fifty cents on the 3ol
lar, when they can 90 into the n'ark-
and buy up all they want at 30 Oh tb'
dollar!
Our country Legislators never took tn
: trouble to look into the matter, or they
would have readily seen that the Pre-
} Mum Bond Scheme is one of the grand
est swind]ts that ever was pcrretrated
No sensible man here, not "a holder u
the bonds. of this City issued since tk'
Consolidated bonds OF 1852, but is bOuu'
to admit that almost the eutirr MASS j.
entirely illegal aud therefore not bind
ing on the people. Nobody came to M
lerstand this better than the holder:
themselves: there was really y" market
for the trash; the holders saw that Lou
isiana must ere long fall into Democrat
ic hands; they feared just scrutiny o
their claims, Tall that the people eve
did, or do now demand, ! aud they wen
before Kellngy's last legislature with thu
Premium Bond Scheme. and had thu
whole debt Of the city, legal and illegal
ordered to be funded at 50 cents. on tn,
dollar, and on tho lottery principle
They could not sell their claims to any
body at SO on the dollar, but they had !
law passed as above, in the hope of ad
vancing them. Every possible effort has
been made to boster up the intamy, bu'
Premium Bonds are this day 81 cents
and this, not as All investment by capt.
tali>ts, but as street corner speculation
from day to day, or hour to hour.
| As New Orleans stood before this Law
was passed, she had piled against her ;
| debt of $22, 100000 to $24,0OO,000, full!
four6fths of which was illegal, and sht
was struggling for the day when sh'
could get the whole mass before homes
Courts for adjudication. Her peopl'
knew that they did not owe the mass o
it-that they had not gotten any beneh
from the expenditure Of this vast sum o
money. They had never hesitated o
ceased to demonstrate against the scoun
drelism that piled up the so-called debt
to declare that they would exhaust ever,
effort to avoid paying it, and they al
pealed to all good and true mcn--capi
talists not to touch the unholy thing.
But the love of money surpasses al
human understanding. There was III
amount of illegal bonds that could b
put on this market at shaving rate o
discount that Banks, Insurance Compa
MES, &C., would not buy up. Thus tn
Radicals were furnished with persona
fortunes, aud the sinews of political wal
and tour own best citizens" became tn
oppressors of the City aud State. Thu