The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-06-13

about the immense frauds committed mr.
the State with regard to the so.called Mapp0Nnl
talists came here protesting not to want I'M
State aid. They were going to do evarvsh IVY
themselves, and, sir, the first thing WI I na9g
they had an exclusive grant on the i a,.aM.
worth millions Of dollars which they 81 tb sss
successors hold to-day. | believe the WIZ f.ois
thing has been sold out under first mortoa.s.aAs
The next thing we knew the State had ss,e
anteed second mortgage bonds for sev aaa
millions OF dollars, which have been n I'M !
The State got nothing for them. The p rssi
not the State bonds. The first rnorfrauss..
bonds were placed in the hands Of a rees;'s4ge
and even those bonds-the first mf,rfnssee.l,,
bonds-are unpaid to my knowledge. In fh asss
issues you can lind, as conclusions Of i liz
that the constitutional Limitations 1nnn ia n,
servants OF the people for the issues al d s,s
were not complied with and the issue v W.
void suo Wass
Now is the question presented Of thu r,ohx
to ratify these spoliations, or shall We reisass
alone that rise to address the Conve1ltims y
Now, Sir, after this debt had swollen III a,,.h
stupendOus proportions that 1t was irnnousilssal
longer to carry 1t; after the marrow n Nv
people OF Louisiana had been sucked drv ~
these extravaganza and wasteful Governnc.ngy
and when their power to contribute IA 4Iss
spoliation had begun to wane Mr.. KELLOGG w.
came the Governor; he found 1t was innass, sss
sible to carry the load, to get money f tn
the people to carry on the ordinary expenss
OF the government, and he proposed what 4
large amount of bonds outstanding. iilass
and fraudulent, were funded. They tho1,cN
they would cover up their tracks and ealra ~
deficiency Id their bonds. "
Now, sir, the question Is, are the pe0nla il
Louisiana, In honor and justice, urecIf,dnt
by that act from declaring the fnndinaoa y
these obligations illegal. How was the bods
that passed that act constituted? First sis
how did the constitution, the Fundamental
law Of the land, prescribe that the LegisIatnrs
shall be constituted2 1t preseribes that tn
election and qualifications of their own aa ~
bers and choose their own officers; that nv,
must meet freely without exterior force. thaat
they, having sofreely met those who ilSss
been prt1an fucie elected at the polls, shall M
ganlze the House. Was 1t so orgauizeis 81
speak notlwith reference to any political uartvs
By whomsoever It was done crime was fs,ns
mitted against the constitution aud the m
We saw on the day of the assembling 81 I'M
Legislature q company OF United States MI
diers at the door, OF its hall, permitting onIy
those to go In whom a United States iudoss
had decreed had the right to goin. ss
And are we to be told, sir, that that b1dv1
impaneled by United States Judge, who'll.
legally acted and excluded members by fofJe
had the right to make laws to bind the Stats
thought, sir. It is not The the a,l ~
tion we are discussing here-the poYs
or the force; it Is the right a
are discussing. They may have been sds
tanned in their pretensions by the powerof fiji
United States government. We are not diss
cussing their power to execute their deefpe9.
we are discussing the question OF right. al
justice, and Of equity.
Mr.. President, that body, however. nra.
tended to pass Q statute by which all thsss
fraudulent bonds, these demonstrations III
issued bonds, should be funded at sixty earlta
that time says that the act which was plo
mulgated was falsified after 1t left the HollsA
The act that appears In the statute booA
and the act that was promulgated, was en
tirely different from that passed by theE
House. What the act was that was passed
substitute on the statute book purporiDg m
have been passed by that body. and underH
the funding process was gone through With.
Suppose that an illegal body, although "
all coneede that 1t had at It's back the powA
right on its side to bind us forever, still ths
act was In violation of the eonstitutIM
because it in itself was retroactive, retr0.
active laws being prohibited by. the eonstts
ton, 1t attempted to give validity to tA
which was null; attempted to give vaiidity
and force to the SIC, 100000 OF State seenfitdaS
that were null and void. ss
Other gentlemen have shown US that TIL
Funding Board had exceeded Its authority
Under the letter Of the constitution II hsds.
only authority to receive and exchange ~
not legal or constitutional. it exceeded u
authority. Did they make any inquiry
We had before our committee q member d
that Funding Board and questioned him: "DM
you make any inquiry" "No; We accepted
any bonds upon which the State g.
out that interest had been stopped on. We
did not regard that. We made no inqutr1e
we took them ali in" Did they pretend t0 dk|
eide anything? No, sir. Now if It was 4 Ill.,
bunal it was created III violation OF the con-
stltution. II it was not tribunal, II II had A.
power to decide; nobody could be bound By IL
action.
In 1876 committee of the Legislators ~
dertook to investigate the conduct Of tb1e
body, and what did they find as to itg 1aM
duct. I refer to the Funding Board. Ihsf
found in the course OF their investigation ~
only that all these fraudulent and unconstlts
tional issues had been funded, but there Ne
4O4 bonds, probably Of $1,000 each, that H. =
been funded twice or three Tire,
and they bear impossible numbers; M1
is, the bonds surrendered were not I'D
been made. There were then 404 repeats
That is the report. That was the inyeete
ton made Immediately after Mr.. Estlie0
was elected Speaker, and the report u
signed by both Democrats and Republlca
To illustrate the looseness with which e
board did business: Four of Its members t9o
room at the Fifth Avenue Hotel p Nee As
York and proposed to go into funding tnes1s
The immortal Lowell was one OF them, ~ II 1Ha
tome was there, Deslonde was there, 80 1sssss
Baldwin also. Mr.. Baldwin soon thole1e.s
some rascality was going to be coIcocssas
that he did not have strength enough % eo9H|
1t. He shut his eyes and posted Oft 70 boet4as.s
Mr.. Deslonde said he did not want 70 see H. -
funding done, and he left the room ana snssH
the door behind him. We do not know WI VII
became Of Antoine, but when MI. Ueeless
went back there was large pile o. 49, ~
in the fireplace, that he was tod - -
been large amount OF bonds and oDiigas.a w.,
that they had decided to fund, and tney w. isss
up process verbal When TIE ae,an a.ant
came back they found that this action s=s ~
IN the nostrils Of the people, and tlal .a lt e
Baldwin perhaps would not stand u. alau 's#
was not carried out. .,x u
The report is full OF irregularities taas VIZ W.
In, no doubt, without the knowledge Q. ,s soJIS
OF the members. An examination W shss
take too long to go into all the details 70 suSx
that the board, In the conduct OF 1ts prov 49,.
iv,