The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1914-02-14
ASTOUNDING FIGURES,

Since Dam Was Built, Parish of La
| fourche Alone Has Paid Into
Treasury of Levee Boards One
Half of Sum Needed for Locks.
hitting the joint leyee boare1
| are srrect, when they say they hay
not yale money Or can not see theiS
waf Just now to raise the money I'd
fl zee the building of the Lafourche
Ks, does the poverty cry not come
IN bad taste? Suppose the dam had
not been placed in the bayou under
What now seems to nave been a
false pretense, diabolically concoct.
ed for the benefit and advantage of
a few private interests, would not
the levee boards nave had 10 dis
gorge the necessary amount to build.
maintain and repair #levees, to say
nothing of the expense attending
the reinforcing Of the same during
tae high waters Of 1912 and 1913?
Whether it was there or not, it
would have had to have been raised
by some manner Or method.
The placing of the dam at the
head of the bayou has therefore
preserved to the leVee boards thou
sands and thousands of dollars con-
trlbuted by us along the bayou for
the express purpose of building
leVees. Now, if we had been ex-
empt from the payment of the tax
es, and the money would have been
used in other sections where the
tax was paid, We would have had no
1eason Or rhyme to say anything;
but such has not been and is not
now the case. Our hard earned cash
was taken supposedly to build and
maintain levees on Bayou Lafourche,
and used for the benefit and adyan-
tage of other sections during ten
years or more-in fact, twelve years
to be exact-and during that time
we have not even been given what
We were promised when Bayou La
fourche was taken from us as a
stream-a six-foot channel
sixty feet wide.
Our money, aggregating between
forty-flVe and fifty thousand dollars
from leVee tax and acreage
tax alone, to say nothing of produce
tax, which was collected annually,
and is still collected, was used, not
eA Bay BaajjEeu eli Lafotl Laf four cf1e, hut on the rlV-
er IeVees. Some one was getting
the advantage of this money exclu-
slvely, while we Were getting moth
ing, not even a six-foot channel six
" feet wide.
IN other words, the parish of La
Fourche alone paid to the joint levee
boards from five hundred to SIX hun
dred thousand dollars in Ieyee tax
and acreage tax, one ten mills and
the other twenty-five mills, to say
nothing of the produce tax. Think
Of It, people OF Lafourche, you were
taxed Of your hard aasa cash al
prox1mately six hundred thousand dol
lars in twelve years, besides the
produce tax, which is quite an item.
approximately three hundred thou
sand dollars. Would it not have
been fair to have given other
sections Of the IeVee basins
one-half Of our money, and re-
serve the other half for the build
ng of the locks? One-half of our
eyee and acreage tax alone, with
out the aid of the produce tax,
would have built and completed the |
ocks, according to the estimates of |
engineers, whom we presume must |
know. If we are made to wait an
'ther twelve years, which we would |
10 We're we to listen to the poverty t
;ry of the leVee boards, we would t
AVE paid into the Golfers Of the |
and Lafourche leVee
boards, outside of the produce tax,
me million two hundred thousand
lollars, admitting that assessments
we're not increased. AS a matter OF |
act We have paid, this parish alone,
ne~half of that amount. For what?
'or the express benefit, purpose and
dyantage of railroads, land reclama-
ion projects, and now possibly for
he better advantage OF toll and pri-
ate canal owners who want to bag
he intercoastal canal route.
When you have recovered from
be astounding fact brought home by
be above figures-for the parish of
tafourche alone, six hundred thou
and dollars, without acreage tax
add to this the assessments of the
Of Terrebonne, st. Mary,
and Assumption and see
hat the total collection is for
Welve years, and you will wonder
here in the name of common sense,
the other parishes left
ut, the leyee boards have put the
loney, Or whether everyone who
1ould have paid did pay, or were
ssessed, and if SO where is the
loney. Certainly it could be raised.
Commercia1-Journal.
The Worlds Corn Record. i
Under the caption 1.-THE Worlds |