The Colfax chronicle., 1890-12-13
GRANTp A,SATUR 5


ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE
BY the Democratic. Anti-Lottery
g. Executive Committee of
Louisiana.
For the first time in the history Of the
Democratic party in this State, conven-
tion assembled at the capital to organize
| q movement for the purpose of impress
ing upon the councils of our party line
Of policy in the approaching campaign.
This unprecedented action, inaugurated
90 Tar in advance of an election, springs
from the grave condition in which the
State finds itself, and the universal alarm
OF the people at the imminent dangers
with which they are threatened both as
| to the good name of the commonwealth
and the liberties of all of its citizens. As
the organ Of the convention recently as
sembled, its action demands at our hands
brief exposition of its important objects
and purposes.
In order to properly appreciate the
present iEsue the situation Of the State
must be regarded. Whatever in that
situation may require amelioration and
progress, it cannot be gainssid that the
Democratic party, since its advent to
power, following upon the darkness of re-
construction, has fulfilled its duty as the
representative Of the people and carried
them forward from a condition OF abject
ruin and misery in an ever onward move
ment of progress and development.
Nothing could indicate this more clear
ly than the fact that the assessed value
Of the property in the State in 1873 was
t158, ,587 ,195 and that for the year 1889 it
is $226, ,392, ,288, leaving out of view the
SIC, coo invested in industries exempt
ed from taxation under the constitution
of 1879. For the year 1890 it is estimated
that there will be q further increase of
| $8,OOO,OOO.
Nothing could more clearly demon
strate it than the fact that for the first
time in many years the appropriations of
the State are within the revenue; that the
State has her current expenditure on an
absolutely cash basis, and carried over
from last year large surplus into the
fund OF this year.
Her public school system shows the
following phenomenal advance:
1880.
Total expenditures for public schools $l1l sss 81
Number OF schools. 04
Number OF teachers. .............-. 1,38
Number OF enrolled pupils. ......... H,H2
Total expenditures $504, $50 90
Nomber OF schools. SN6 s
Number of enrolled pupils ........... 1s2.sss
Her schools are in session for longer
terms than the other Southern States,
save Virginia. Her teachern are better
paid than OF Alabama, tennessee, Missis-
sippi, North Carolina and Virginia. Her
public charities are better supported and
administered than those Of any Of the re-
constructed commonwealths. The SLAM
ders of the lottery orators and newspapers
relative to the condition OF the insane
asylum and the insane in parish jails have
been entirely refuted by official authority.
When the extensions now in progress ut
jackson are completed, which officially
announced will be in the very near future,
there will be more than ample accom-
mediation for all the INDECENT insane in
the State. The levee fund is ample to
restore and keep in repair the levees in
their former condition, and even the ad-
ditional outlay to still further improve
them to an ideal system can be met by
temporary increase of taxation in certain
districts, even If the Federal appropri-
alton, which has Just passed Congress
aud been approved by the president, does
not obviate this.
After the food of 1882 the State ex-
pended in works OF reparation S235, ,215,-
80; after the food Of 1884, S245,357 81,
and there will be available in 1880 for
purposes Of repair and improvement over
100000, apart from the resources of the
levee districts themselves.
The financial condition of the parishes,
cities and towns in the State and their
advance in ten years out OF condition
of large indebtedness is phenomenal.
ThiFty-six parishes owe no debt whatever.
The aggregate bonded debt Of the Louis
lana parishes has in ten years decreased
80 per cent. and their aggregate floating
debt has decreased SO per cent
The value of the bonded debt of the
city OF New Orleans in the markets of the
world has increased $50 per cent. That
city has added more than S3O,O00,OO0 to
her assessed values. In 1880 she had 915
manufactures, employing 84O4 hands,
producing product vaiued at SIS, ,0O8 600.
In the year ending Aug. 81, 1889. the in
dustrial journals estimated that she had
"a, ,297 hands, producing product valued
at $44,923,OO0. Her credit Is such that she
pays her bills in cash, and is about to re-
fund S1O,OOO,O00 of her debt, bearing
per cent interest, into per cent bonds.
The railroad mileage in the State has
increased from 652 miles in 1880 to 1647
in 1889, and there are in 1890 four ad-
ditional roads in process of construction,
which when completed will add over 500
miles more.
The crops Of the State OF all kinds ex-
hibit similar increase.
The condition of our labor is satisfac-
races harmonious and amicable.
Realizing to its fullest extent the fact
that these bene6cent results could not
have been achieved in this State without
which represents the union of the white