The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-05-14
RESPECTFUL SUGGESTIONS TO THE
CONVENTION.
pssrA Of Public Works, or Bureau Of
Internal Affairs.

The public works and property Of the State,
md the means OF making and keeping them
10, are subjects requiring constant. special
care and direction of the best and ablest Of
men. .#m@
ALI our public improvements, whether n,
esse or III posse, are lying loose, without sys-
tenn, or method Of action on them; and for
the last dozen years they have been the
special delight and fattening ground of
plnnderers. The immense debt that curses
% Il mainly for improvements promised, but
not performed.
Why should we not have board or COM
mission, composed of men of age and expert
nce. Of high ability and character, ineligible
\ 10 future office, and as nearly as possible
beyond temptation, with tenure lasting
through administrations and the mutations
d current politics, to investigate and report
On all proposed schemes OF public improve
nent, and see that those already In existence.
which involve the interests Of the people, con-
form, In duty. to the law and public welfare /?
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY NOT FIT.
But the Legislature, as body. and
through Its committees, will do all these
things" Gross but pardonable delusionl All
our abuses, piunderings, and the crushing
debt, have arisen under its very eye and with
~ sanction II not connivance. or course
this whole matter ID every legislators bust
ness But what Is everybodys business ID
nobody's;" and in this regard, a legislature
comes about as near being a collective no.
+ body as can well be fancied. 1t or the State
needs to act through mediate body
charged with special duties.
o,,,ht -
q governor, aiming at power and plumber,
pe turned loose In an average legislature, he
car, with the means he has in hand. own as
scheme -
| Please LOOK INTO OUR HISTORY,
Gentlemen Of the Convention. It Is fraught
WIN the most important lessons. Especially
NO ~. railroads and other public works, enor-
mous wrongs are seen, and remedies sug
geSIod or indicated
Now, ! beg to say, with great Difference,
Ist THIS convention cannot, without reading
W. dgesting q. w. r. Bayley's erpose of our
nllroad history, published in 1873, properly
dAl with the subject. So it has been, for like
s mson, With our two Conservative Legisla-
Mes. They acted as il they knew nothing
%sae vilialny involved, or as If they did not
saat 70 investigate the subject. And the
mssae remark OF the DEMOCRAT of this very
nVlng seems to apply to all Legislatures
NY the last: but in all these later years
ssry company, corporation and monopoly
~ mad abundance of friends lin our I,episla
VIZ put poor Louisiana has had none.
lat US dwell moment upon some Of the
aauos and spoliations we have suffered to
aow how We need a permanent bureau of in
Mnai affairs, to check and guard against the
Mpldity that has Impoverished us.
nLook OF the Ship Island canal scheme; the
as5lcan Gulf Company: the Backbone Rail-
~ nssa; the Chattanooga Railroad Company;
i Ia and III ~.
Mmense public spoliation involved in them
r loK at the Levee Company. managed by
Nh riSst respectable men, taxing the whole peo-
NV pay them siXty-seven, sixty and fifty
w. per cubic yard for all dirt put in levees,
s ssa everybody knew it could be done for
ss sssa or twenty cents; and when its duties
49, ,e ueen better done since its demise, at
Mstnlrd the cost.
rn msok, too, at the barefaced villainy Of War
NV ana his legislative complies, In issu-
n ss april 81 1871, the State bonds for
c rnhsg1No payable to his own order, and
nISSasuiy passed at once to innocent third
M -. s., ior the pretended purpose Of build
0o+ - from Vermillionville to Shreve-
I'm W work on which was ever done except
Io ~Sttn IN the following October.
Ina Sas at the waste of the magnificent swamp
SSas how much the list could be extended!
Mill suppose such board in existence,
tn proper supervision Of all such affairs.
N ND would have prevented such wrongs, or
Moba made damning record of them.
hanarr s au institution would have a powerful
nait0nsg { Tor good, while a private citizen, no
hreatuhe now Well-ntentioned, may spend his
the 80 W Whistljng against the wind. Before
passaai . g well as since, tried to have law
! Id snr aoaathorizing the city and State, that
lousas ess.ea millions in the stock of the Ope-
Ehrers., sackson and the Vicksburg and
ales N ~ railroads, to bid at any forced
~ M aiu roads to protect their interests.
ben 49, 49, peen needed, millions would have
Would hssu.. a State board Of public works
= No4e SpOEnn cath od.a 70, n,,l. I,aopla