The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1880-05-29
The Police Jury and iss
Duties.

4 30 lSldtl1tC w III VI ~
State Board of Engineers con.
corning the protection of Levers
in this State.
A letter. in that Article, writ
ten by a member Of that Board,
gave the information that the
care and preservation of the Lee
wees was left entirely to the Pc.
lice Jnrirs of the various Par
ishes.
Section l Of Act IS of session
OF 1880 printed in this paper late
~, also places the Levees under
the same supervision.
Act No. SO also in section 5 re
quires the Board of State Enai-
neers to prepare plans for rice
fumes. suitable to the various di
mansions of Levees, and that all
new fumes shall be made accord
ing to such plans and specifica-
tons.
Section 6 requires all persons
owning fumes already made, or
who desire to construct new ones,
to pay into the Parish Treasury
a License not to exceed two dol
lars aud Il half per perpendicular
foot of le"ee cut. Said license
to be paid annually by all owners
of rice fumes that are in use.
Section provides that all
funds so collected for licenses
shall be used only for the purpose
of taking out old ana abandoned
fumes, and for expenses Of super
intendence and administration.
The liking Of the amount of this
license is left with the Police Jul
~, and for a strange wonder the
handling Of one half of that
amount is conditionally commits
ted to that body for the purposes
intended.
Section 10 provides that the
Board Of State Engineers shall ap
point a Levee Inspector for each
Parish who shall superinte1d the
construction of rice fumes sc.
and who shall receive for such
services one half of the amount
raised by these tlnme licenses,
payable on the certificate Of the
State Engineer.
1t will be noticed by a careful
perusal of the Levee Law that
science has so arranged it that all
the responsibility of the protec
ton of levees, the prevention of
crevasses, aud the work necessa
ry to secure the levees which pro
tect the planters of Lafourche
and adjoining Parishes is thrown
upon the shoulders of the Police
Jurors, whilst all the taxes [op
to six mllIsl goes into the hands
of the Board Of State Engineers
one of whose members writes
that "the repairing of old levees
Is a matter entirely with the Po-
li:e Jury" The Board however
in the wise discretion safforded it,
admits that they deem it thei.
duty to point ont to members of
the Police Jury any cray-1isL
holes that may be found in the
Levee. No doubt this duty is
gratuitous, not imposed by the
laws, and done simply because
the members Of Police Jury are
plain simple men, farmers or me
chanics, and would not perceive
a cray.fish hole, ergo, science vol
lnteers to come in and obhg;ng
" point cut the ravages Of those
little creatures who are not even
to be known in future 10y the
name of craw-fish.n
However the wisdom or infa.
my of our present levee laws is
not, just now the question. What
should the Police Jury of Lafour-
che do under the existing laws to
secure the levees under their SUI.
p%ervision, in order t" protect the
lands and crops Of the Ag,icultu
rists, is the problem to be solved.
That is the duty before the mem
bers of that body and one that
they must meet and grapple.
The object of the Legislature in
endeavoring to throw the weight
of the expense upon the cultiea
tor Of rice is neither just nor fair
in this Parish. Were all rice
growers owners of large tracts of
land the matter would be mate
rally changed, but when that
class Of agriculturalists are so
many, working each small tracts
OF land the burden would b. too
great.
There must be some system
adopted to protect our levees :
they cannot be kept in safe con-
dition at hap hazard. There must
be method and discipline.
There lies more dangers of
breaks from abandoned fumes
than from all other causes com.
bined.
This fact alone would probably
justify the Police Jury in reouir
ing an ANIMAL license from tho
owner of each and every hume in
the Bayou, no matter how small
that license would be, SO that the
Jury could ascertain the coudi
ton OF those fumes, and to have
any that might be abandoned.
taken out and removed. :