St. Landry democrat., 1890-10-18
The Levee Tax Resisted in Avovelles.

ost lsh whether subject to overflow or u,
mt lhls aroused the tranquil inhabitan
nr- OF the towns OF 11omeaville, EGla, Han
ng vile and Bunkic, and their environ
who met at Bnnkie on the 14th, (Tue
to day. last, to express their opinion
C. this highly moral and harmonizir
ty device of Gov. Nichols, to raise leyt
e. money. 1t must be confessed there
r! no lottery in it, rs, if persisted in, an
I'd unavoldahly enforced, many of IT
s. poor inhabitants of tho alluyial lant
e Will not be left II lot to live on. Ho
of charming the theory to save them fvol
8, the pretended ruin of lotteries, by DRAG
W glnS them over the prccipice. of conf.
t. cation.
J. That our readers may bc able to fror
S. some ideas of their own on the suhiec,
Ia We here place the articles of the Con
Ii stitution before them.
u Art. PA. The General Assrmbi,
Y may divide the State into leree districts
e ani provide for the appointment OF, O,
10 Cer""h "l itVce commissioners in SAT-
S districts, who shall in the method ant
: manner to be provided by laws. have
@ Supervision OF the erection, repairs anC
maintenance of the levees in said dis
trlcts; to that effect it may levee n tax
not to exceed ten mills on tho taxable
= property situated within the aluvjaI
q porunns of said district subject n
overflow; "Prorided that in case OF
necessity To raise additional funds for
> the purpose OF constructing, preserving
nr repait'hS any lfVees protecting the
lands OF Il district, the rate of taxation
herein limited, may be increased wien
The rate OF such increase and the nects-
sIty and purpnse for which it is intend
, ed shall have been submitted to a vote
or the property tax payers of such dis
trlct, paying taxes for himself, o, in any
representative capacity, whether resi-
heht or, NONRESIDENT on property sit
uaied within the alInvial portion of
said district subject to orerfow, and a
majority of those IN number and value,
voting at such election, shall have voted
therefor"
Notice closely this language, wherein,
it is said the General Assembly man
divide the State into leree districts, and
| t, 'here state, may levee tax, not to
exceed ten mills per cent, on lands sub
jet to orert'oW.
! Art 200, declares that, "The state
tax on property for all purposes mhat-
erer, including expenses on govern.
| tnent, schnols, Ierees and interest, shall
| nor exceed, IN any one year six mills on
the dollar OF its assessed valuation.n -
Look at your last tax receipts and
You will discover that the State has |
been collecting all the taxes it could |
constitutionally assess, to-wit: 6 mills. |
The object of Incorporating the article,
2l4 IN the Constitution was not, to au. |
thorlze levee commissioners to assess 5 |
mills more, for that would make II mills |
the tax paye would be called on to pay,
Dotwith-st standing the article 200, en-
phatlcally declares that, for all purposc
Thdteter, the state tax shall be limired
to mills per cent.
But again, these assessors are violat
ing the Constitution in this. that. th.
Constitution authorizes this 10 mills Der
cent on lands subject to orerfow onlv.
whereas the effort is made to collect i,
from all alluriai lands whether subject
to over flow or not
The administration finds itself in q
dilemma which we cannot yet see how
it can extricatcd itself from. In the
irst place, the state had the power tn
evee the 6 mills without the interme-
iiation of boards of levee commission
ers. This power it has exercised. 1t
lad the authority to organize the boards |
IT Levee Commissioners and to delegate r
hat power to it. Now if the Boards i.
Iave IT, the State as such, has nothing
:urther to do with it. But whether the /,
me or the other exercises the power, oil -
nat can be constitntionally assessed is 4
mills for all the purposes of the State. b
Again it ls plain that, the levee tax v
'an be assessed only on lands subject to Il
're,Jtou. Now it may be question, as
o some few locations whether they a. !,
nay be justly considered subject t.
veltiow or not? 1t is evident to our
mind. the terms "suHect to orerfow,"
re intended to apply to such lands
My, as need protection By lerees. They =
annot be understood of all aUuriol :"
snds regardless of the necessity for :"
hem. Thousands of acres of alluvia, al
lnds are in high state of cultivation. =.
nd have no more use for the aid of the u
ate, or, district in protecting them a.
ON the high water of the rivers, than 'e
II stills to enable them to step on the "
,rner Of the new moon, until it splash ,u
gly flows by over other less fortunate
stricts. But in this, as is too com-
only the case in some other matters. on
10 standard of craftsmanship, is ex- in
'cted to be found in the venture to 9,
ample on the Constitution the test tn
patriotism in the willingness of ca
ople to submit to promiscuous robbery 20
the name of law. Fellow. citizens
ver be so base as to allow those who
ould serve, to tyranujze over you, in
olation of your Constitutional rights. y ar' =
Q have more to say about these abom- no'
able Levee District Laws. nei dei
A., the
La, is to have a new Ice mu
ctory before another summer, with eau
pacity Of ten tons daily. New Iberia, anu su;
Ike Charles and other towns around -
/, manufacture ice, still Opelousas T
ans content to swelter on through at
Volving summers, paying them to fur n, ~
'h it and speculate on our necessities. OF
wv long, oh how long! shall this old ,oo -