The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-06-17

Of considering the report OF the COMMITTEES on
state Debt, with Delegate Marshall In the
chair.
DELEGATE STEVENSON
took the floor, and addressed the Convention
upon the subject, speaking as follows:
Mr. President-I rise here, Sir. to exercise
the privilege that / as member OF this Con
vention have, for the purpose of expressing
my views and sentiments upon the questlon
that ID now before us, namely, that 0f the
state debt. lam here as q delegate from the
parish Of Iberviile; still am not here as q
delegate from any particular place Or any
particular parish, but am here as
delegate Il the e nans saRs ,o ths ne oIs sse5s
State, from one extreme 70 the other, Mr.
President, think 1t will be some relief TO the
members Of this Convention for me 10 tell
them am not here to make any argumenL
on questions Of law; am not q lawyer, and
question only. am nothing but plain farm
er, therefore, Mr.. President, propose t0
speak Id plain, blunt manner.
Mr.. President, have examined closely Inc
report of the COMMITTEES On tfe State Debt.
/ refer 10 the majority report have care
fully scrutfniZed it and compared II with my
own personal knowledge OF this debt. waSy
sir, d member of d committee la 1878, not
composed of politicians nor II men e U tnat were were
held any office. We were Invited, at the re-
quest of majority Of the merchants of New
Orleans, and Of the Governor, at the Time
when scarcely any one n New Orleans or u
debt was, or whatits limit was. ~ vas for
the purpose Of defining and putting in some
concise shape the debt, and to limit ". think
some Of the gentlemen here know what
ni mittee W. se spent as some Two months ii are
fully examining the whole OF that debt.
The result OF our labors was published
at the time I'd pamphlet form, and. sir, " is
mattel q some prde p t9 me y rn1M tt 1has s
ever been refuted. find the report q the
Committee on the State Debt to this Conven-
ton ID based mainly upon this report of 1919.
made by myself and others. We arrived ~
debt, with that incurred sinee the wal, and
the proposed debt that was authorized to be-
issued under acts Of the Legislature. ready D
be- executed, amounted to over $4,000. 900.
proposed that the amount of the State debt
shoufd be fixed; they proposed sfHaf y sffeHid
be sifted thoroughly; they also proposed an
amendment to the constitution on the stale
preventing any further legislative encIoacil-
that day--that is the time when the debt of
the State was fixed-the time that the report
of the committee OF 1878 was made, there has
been but little debt added.
Mr.. President, what appears to me 70 be the
Committee on the State Debt is, that they
should recommend the reputation OF almost
the entire State debt, with the. exception Of
small portion Of the ante bellum portion o.
Mr. President, have been resident OF this
State but three years short OF half q century.
/ saw this debt made: / saw the work thac
had been executed or attempted to De exc
cuted; saw the struggle the State made 70
keep pace with the improvements going on In
other portions Of the world and In our sister
States. The first Of these ante bellum debts is
the one Of $4,000, which fs the balance o.
upon which the Charity Hospital now stands,
and which is not noticed In the DEBT COMMIT
: The next item, Mr.. President. and one
eminently worthy OF being paid, is the
the New Orleans and Nashville. Rail-
road. This Is. al. honest DEBT. ! know
when 1t WAS made. saw the railroad pI1lty
but at that day our people knew but little
about bflilding a railroad, they knew but
little Of the cost Of building railroad, they
might as well have undertaken TO make
crop OF sugar with ten M cent piece @ as 70 nave
Nashville with the small sum OF $441 900.
Only twenty-five miles Of that road was ever
built 1t would be unworthy, at this day. OF
the name OF railroad, but it was the begin.
about Building railroads. The railroad was
not completed, and the State, like the stock
holders, lost the money she had invested In 1t.
But why the committee have recommended
specially that the bonds Of this railroad
should be paid In preference to those
OF other roads equally meritorious and de-
serving Of attention, is something / can
not understand. Then the next item,
Mr. President, is the one Of $1,000 for bonds
Issued to the Mexican Gulf Railroad. This,
sir, is an equally honest debt. This road they
proposed to build from the city here to Lake
Borgne. At that time navigation at the
mouth OF the Mississippi was frequently OBJ
structed, so that our commerce was, at tfrnegs
entirely paralyzed, resulting In great loss
to tne people Of this city and State. The loss
OF that railroad is being felt by the people of
our State to-day. But this email balance Of
$4,000 OF the 100000 donated by the State IN
aid Of the Mexican Gulf Railroad, does not
figure In the report made by the Committee
on the State Debt at all.
Now, sir, we arrive at much larger item.
| refer to that OF bonds issued to the New Or
leans, jackson and Great Northern Rail-
road, and the New Orleans, Opelonsas and
Great Western Railroad. The bonds issued
70 these various railroads amounted Id the
aggregate to nearly $2,0O0,0O0. This, SIR, was
long hkxfGrN the ff tt,<.