The Colfax chronicle., 1890-12-27

ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE

ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE
BY the Democratic Anti-Lottery
Executive Committee of
Louisiana.
For the first time in the history of the
Democratic party in this State, a conven-
tion assembled at the capital to organize
a movement for the purpose of impress
ing upon the councils of our party line.
of policy in the approaching campaign.
This unprecedented action, inaugurated
SO far 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 it's citizens. As
| the organ OF the convention recently as
sembled, its action demands at our hands
brief exposition of it's important objects
and purposes.
In order to properly appreciate the
present issue the situation of the State
must be regarded. Whatever in that
situation may require amelioration and
progress, it cannot be gainsaid that the
Democratic party, since its advent to
power, following upon the darkness of re-
construction, has fulfilled it's duty as the
representative of the people and carried
them forward from 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 il the State In 1878 was
! S15S, ,587, ,195 and that for the year 1889 it
is SIG, ,392. .2S8, leaving out of view the
$10,O00,0O0 invested in industries exempt
J ed from taxation under the constitution
Of 1S79 For the year 1890 it is estimated
that there will be further increase of
s8,000O00.
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 a large surplus into the
fund of this year.
Her public school system shows the
following phenomenal advance:
1880
Total expenditures for public schools Si11 ,s58 81
Number OF schools. H4
Number OF teachers ers.-:;-.....--... i,SD
! komber OF enrolled pupils. s..--.-.-... 54sSl2
Total expenditures $7c4, $50 W
Number Of schools. s..-.....,---....... Z.6
! Number of teachers -.......-...... $50
| Number of enrciled pupils ...-....-.. 1S2,5
Her schools are in session for longer
terms than the other Southern States,
save Virginia. Her teachers 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 ef the re-
constructed commemorative. 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 at
| Jackson are completed, which officially
announced will be in the very near future,
| there will be more than ample accom-
modation for ali 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 a
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.
A:ter the flood Of 1882 the State ex-
pended in works of reparation SZ35, ,215,-
-; after tho food OF 1884, S2i5,357 ~,
and there will be available in 1850 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 phenominal.
Thirty-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 S3 per cent.
The value of the bonded debt of the
city of New Orleans in the markets of tho
world has increased go per cent. That
city has added more than s30,G00,000 to
her assessed values. In 1880 she had 9l5
manufactures, employing 8404 hands,
producing a product valued at s18, ,808, ,O0O.
In the year ending Aug. 81, 1889, the in
dustrial journals estimated that she had
24,297 hands, producing product valued
at $44 1923, 900. Her credit is such that she
| pays her bills in cash, and is about to re-
fund S10,00OO00 of her debt, bearing 6
per cent interest, into per cent bonds.
The railroad mileage in the State has
increased from 652 miles in 1880 to 1647
in 1882 and there are in 1890 four ad-
ditionaI 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-
tory and settled, and the relations Of the
races harmonious and amicable.
realizing to its fullest extent the fact
that these benefcent results could not
have been achieved in this State without
the supremacy of the Democratic party,
which represents the union of the white