The Beginning of Warmoth’s Downfall
The first hints of dissension within what may be accurately called
Warmoth’s party came as early as January, 1870. The element which was
to become so notorious as the “Custom-House” faction had already made
its appearance in Louisiana politics. A resolution introduced into
the House in the early days of the session recognized the existence
of separate organizations contending for recognition as the Central
Republican Club, and designated the men of the New Orleans custom-house
as “erring” members.[282] A certain tension seems to have been present
in the attitude of the House toward all questions respecting the
custom-house. When the House sought information concerning its own
members who were in the employ of the custom-house, Collector Casey
refused it, as he was not a State officer.[283]
The cause of the personal opposition to Warmoth is to be traced, no
doubt, to the movement for the removal of his ineligibility for a
second term, which caused alarm to the other Republican aspirants for
that honor.[284] Organizations were soon covertly started to defeat
the amendment at the polls, according to Warmoth’s statement.[285]
Opposition, however, first became open at the Republican State
Convention which assembled at New Orleans, August 9, 1870, for
the nomination of a ticket and the appointment of a State Central
Committee. It was felt that the governor was taking extraordinary
pains to control that convention, especially as he had been elected a
delegate by a club which the committee did not recognize.[286] Both he
and the lieutenant-governor, who was also present as a delegate, were
nominated to preside, but here the former met his first check: he was
defeated by his negro subordinate. As the civil rights bill of the
preceding session still lay unsigned in the hands of the governor, a
resolution of censure was urged by the custom-house officials on the
score that he had sold out his radical principles to the Democrats;
but after a heated discussion, in which Warmoth defended his action,
the matter was dropped and his conduct virtually indorsed.[287] The
convention denounced special legislation and pledged its best endeavors
to check it.
The State Central Committee consisted regularly of fifteen members,
ten appointed by the convention, five by the chair. As organized,
the five appointees of the chair were opposed to the re-eligibility
amendment and won over a majority of the whole committee. Hence, the
governor refused to contribute to the regular campaign funds or to
encourage his friends to do so, but levied forced contributions upon
all his appointees on pain of dismissal,[288] organized an auxiliary
committee, and began a canvass of his own, in many instances in favor
of candidates not regularly nominated by the party.[289] He had tickets
printed in favor of the amendment,[290] and, as we have seen, scored
a victory at the polls. To Dunn’s complaint that the Warmoth faction
had violated custom in organizing an auxiliary committee, he retorted
that the regular committee was trying to prevent a fair expression of
opinion on the amendment.
Before the legislature met on January 2, 1871, the friends of the
governor entered, with his knowledge, into a coalition[291] with the
Democrats of the Senate, whereby they robbed the lieutenant-governor of
his patronage by taking the appointment of committees into their own
hands,[292] and made Democrats chairmen and majority members of several
of the committees,[293] thus insuring their seats[294] to certain
members who had been fraudulently elected.
By the same coalition Carr was re-elected speaker on the first day,
receiving every Democratic vote.[295] The committees of both houses
were thus so constituted that anti-Warmoth men were powerless to rid
the legislature of ineligible members. Dissatisfaction with Carr’s
rulings, however, was so loudly expressed that about the middle of the
session he was compelled by a union of Democrats with the custom-house
faction to resign, and Colonel Carter of Cameron, old and rather
deaf,[296] was elected in his place.[297] Opportunity was now afforded
for a reconstruction of the Committee on Elections, which, although
unable to complete its investigation before the recess, by an adverse
report on four members at the next session, ultimately helped to
complicate an already intricate situation.
The choice of a United States Senator on January 10 to succeed J. S.
Harris served still further to antagonize the custom-house faction
against Warmoth. James F. Casey, collector of the port, who had, up
to this time, acted in harmony with the administration party, desired
this honor for himself,[298] but the governor threw his influence in
favor of General J. R. West, who, supported by the Democrats under fear
of the election of the negro Pinchback,[299] was elected on the first
ballot in both houses.[300] Casey was soon found among the governor’s
most violent enemies.
In view of the peaceful election of the preceding autumn and the
general quiet of the State, the hopeful words of the governor’s message
do not sound as absurd as events destined to occur within little more
than a year were to prove them:
I cannot pass from this subject to other details, in justice, without
calling your attention to the general and peaceable acquiescence of
our people in the results of the reconstruction policy of the general
government. Their acceptance of it as a finality has been much more
satisfactory in Louisiana than in any other state in the South.[301]
While urging the encouragement of public improvements, he warned
the Assembly against certain schemes of plunder “which are already
organizing and will continue to be organized and presented to you
for votes,” and insisted that the commonwealth’s state of bonded
indebtedness must preclude any further appropriations as subsidy.
Adequate penalty for bribery,[302] which had, he acknowledged, become
a “crying evil,” amendments to the public land laws, the police jury
system, the restoration of the old capitol at Baton Rouge, and a larger
measure of home rule for New Orleans are subjects which appear in his
message for the first time.[303] Although defending the legislation
of the previous session, he recommended with studied vagueness of
expression the modification of the election and registration laws:
The violent rancor of that period (1868) having now given place to
a more liberal and just acknowledgment of the true relations of all
our citizens, I commend to your consideration the modification of the
registration and election laws to an extent, that, while securing
the inalienable rights of all, will make the usage under them less
irksome and exacting to the few.[304]
Together with his message he returned without his approval ten bills
to the Senate,[305] and three to the House. The veto power was very
freely used by Governor Warmoth. Up to January 1, 1871, he had vetoed
thirty-nine bills[306] and suffered others to become law without his
approval by lapse of the constitutional time limit, because they were
passed by such a majority as to have made “his veto a useless bit of
friction.”[307] His courage in boldly vetoing some measures very close
to the hearts of his legislators should not pass unnoted, nor the
strength of his influence, for only five, up to this time, were able to
muster the requisite two-thirds majority in the face of his opposition.
The legislature took to heart the governor’s statement that the
questions most urgent were such measures as would most speedily “bring
railroads, open natural watercourses, and facilitate ocean commerce,”
without heeding his warning of the need for rigid economy. The orgy of
voting away paper money to aid paper railroads and canals went on with
even greater frenzy than before. It was unfortunate that the governor
did not carry the courage of his convictions further and instead of
vetoing but six bills, do his part to quash the thirteen laws[308]
which appropriated over $800,000 in actual subsidies; which granted
away valuable timber along with the right of way to a new railroad; and
which granted exemption from taxation to another canal company. The
loose extension of $40,000, which had been appropriated the preceding
session for the removal of obstructions in Bayou Bartholomew, to “what
more might be necessary”[309] is indicative of the business care
applied to the State pocket-book. The governor’s signature to the bill
for the purchase of a site and erection of a State capitol[310] may be
regarded as raising the State indebtedness by one and one-half million
dollars. He suffered an act guaranteeing the second mortgage bonds of
another railroad to become law without his signature,[311] but the
measure which guaranteed the principal and interest of a warehouse
company to the amount of over a million dollars was obliged to pass
over his veto.[312] The total amount added to the State debt by this
Assembly amounted to about four million dollars. Nineteen different
appropriation bills were passed, aside from those granting subsidies.
But it was apparent by this time that much of this effort to stimulate
development by State aid was barren of result. Some roads which had
received State aid had nothing to show for it, and committees of
investigation “to ascertain whether the said company has complied
with the conditions of the act” incorporating it were beginning to
appear.[313] So strong was the feeling that the governor recommended
to the next legislature that unless work be begun actively within six
months, certain railroads should lose their charters.[314]
The vexatious levee problem seemed to have found a solution. When the
serious crevasses which threatened New Orleans with inundation appeared
in the spring, the governor assumed control and closed the breaks with
the aid of State engineers. The Louisiana Levee Company was then formed
and its interests made identical with those of the State. The company
contracted to construct, maintain, and control levees on both banks of
the Mississippi and its tributaries according to the requirements of
a competent commission of three able engineers; to construct at least
three million cubic yards each year until the levee was completed to
the required standard. To get the company started the State subscribed
a considerable sum and levied a special tax of two-tenths per cent
for twenty-one years for a repair fund, and, in the absence of any
tax for the current year, issued bonds to the amount of one million
dollars.[315]
Although a number of additional schools had been put in operation,[316]
the superimposed Northern school law still proved unsatisfactory for
Louisiana and came up for further amendment. Forty thousand dollars was
fleeced from the people annually for salaries of school administrators
and incidental expenses, outside of the teachers’ salaries and other
expenses. School directors were often unable to write their names.
A letter from the president of the school board of Carroll Parish,
as printed in the _National Republican_, is so ungrammatical and
misspelled that it is almost impossible to read it.[317] Cain Sartain,
who later figured as a Representative, now a school teacher, was
appallingly ignorant.[318] Naturally demands for the abolition of this
costly and inefficient establishment were incessant. The supplement
passed this session tended to simplify the law, but the chief change
was provision for the appointment by a State board of subordinate
boards of school directors for the several parishes, towns, and cities,
who should have charge of all the funds and school records, all to
be under the direction of the division superintendent. An additional
tax of one to two mills was to be levied on the taxable property of
the parish. Special individual provision was made for the board in New
Orleans and for the levying of a special tax to the amount requested by
the board. But a section of the revenue law which prohibited the city
from collecting taxes in excess of two per cent[319] would have closed
the schools, as the limit had already been exceeded, except for the
aid rendered by the State superintendent and the city government.[320]
Still the system awakened great dissatisfaction, even the colored
people grumbling. The governor, by the appointment of Conway, a
Republican and intimate friend, to the headship of the school-system,
erected it into a political machine.[321]
Agreeably to the governor’s recommendation, bills to modify both the
election and registration[322] laws were introduced into the Senate
about the middle of the session, but were not pressed through, largely,
it was charged, because of the governor’s secret opposition. An effort
to tamper still further with the government of New Orleans,[323] and
a generous appropriation for the militia[324] passed both houses but
failed, apparently, to secure the governor’s signature. Some attention
was devoted to the labor problem and to the question of creating
parishes. The latter subject, probably for political reasons, had been
something of a mania with the legislature, until at this session[325]
the proposition was urged with much force “to stop the legislature from
creating new parishes unless authorized by the voters of the parishes
to be divided.”[326]
The extravagance and state of utter corruption of the legislative body
in 1871-2 were only the natural result of the conditions started in
1868-9.
The amount of the State debt was disputed. The governor held that it
was, in round numbers, $22,000,000, while the auditor claimed it to
be $41,000,000, the difference to be accounted for by a contingent
debt of $18,000,000 dependent on the construction of railroads, the
second mortgage bonds of which the State had agreed to indorse.[327]
The bonded debt was $19,188,300, the annual interest on which
amounted to $1,403,820, besides which there was a miscellaneous debt
of $3,187,490.[328] A comparison of the debt with the period just
preceding the Warmoth administration is suggestive, as it had increased
over $8,000,000 since 1868, taking the conservative estimate,[329]
growing by deficiencies at the rate of over $1,000,000 a year. The
expenditures in 1870 had exceeded the income by over $1,000,000
although the deficit was more than covered by the balance in the State
treasury at the beginning of the year. The total amount of bonds or
aid granted by the State to various corporations, prior to 1871 and
for which bonds had not yet been issued, was over twelve millions. The
auditor estimated the probable expenditures of 1872 at something over
three millions, but as a matter of fact they far exceeded that sum.
The total amount of taxable property in the State at the close
of 1871 was $250,594,417.50 from which $4,605,475.02 in taxes
was collected.[330] With this should be compared the valuation
and taxes in 1870 to show the decrease. The valuation was the
same--$251,296,017.02,--but the taxes collected were $6,490,028.[331]
The unpaid taxes amounted in 1871 to nearly five millions, exclusive
of the taxes due for 1870 and of the taxes in a number of parishes
where no rolls of assessment had been made.[332] The aggregate tax
in the State was fourteen and one-half mills on the dollar.[333] So
great was the burden of this taxation that in some parishes whole
forty-acre tracts of land, as rich as any in the Nile, were sold that
year by the tax-gatherer for one dollar, and in many instances estates
absolutely found no bidders. Large owners were willing to give half
their acres to immigrant families on the sole condition that they
should settle on and improve the land given them. A company was being
formed in northern Louisiana to divide 50,000 acres of land in tracts
of fifty acres to a family. Real estate declined within the years
1870-1 not less than twenty-five per cent.[334] What was formerly
considered very good security, mortgage paper for instance, had become
of little value, because in a few years at that rate of taxation no one
could pass the papers, for in case of foreclosure the property bore
with it the burden of five, six, or seven per cent taxes which would
leave no revenue.[335] The picture of the financial state drawn by a
distinguished Democrat about this time is worthy of quotation.
If we were threatened with the continuance of the power which has
administered this government, the conflagration of Chicago would
not be more desolating than the effect of the continuance of this
legislation would be upon the city of New Orleans; and the reason
of it is this: when the city of Chicago was burned to the ground
the people had at least the ground left, and northern and eastern
capitalists have come there to rebuild it, while with us, capital is
flying from the state, commerce is decreasing, and everybody who can
is trying to get away.[336]
The cost of collecting the tax was excessive. Ten per cent of the
amount was allowed for assessment and collection in all but portions
of New Orleans where five per cent was deducted. The mere cost to the
State of gathering in the taxes in 1871 was close to $500,000 out of a
total of $6,500,000.[337] This made the cost of collection over twelve
per cent.[338] The poll-tax in the second district of New Orleans for
10,146 persons amounted to but $1911, and of this sum, after the cost
of assessment and collection was deducted, only $800.85 was left to the
treasury.[339]
The legislative session of 1871 cost $958,956.50, although the
Assembly appropriated only $641,400, the average cost of each Senator
amounting to about $5300, of each Representative, $7300, making the
average cost of a member $113.50 per day.[340] With this statement
should be compared the cost before the war, when the largest amount
ever appropriated for an ordinary session was $100,000.[341] The
explanation of the enormous difference is to be found in the governor’s
comment[342]:
It was squandered in paying extra mileage and per diem of members for
services never rendered[343]; for an enormous corps of useless clerks
and pages,[344] for publishing the journals of each house in fifteen
obscure parish newspapers, some of which never existed, while some
never did the work[345]; in paying extra committees authorized to
sit during the vacation and to travel throughout the State and into
Texas[346]; and in an elegant stationery bill which included ham,
champagne, etc.[347]
The official reporter in the Senate drew the munificent salary of
twenty dollars per day,[348] while each representative of a newspaper
received a generous gratuity.
The enormous printing bills were, of course, a result of corruption.
The public printing had cost the State in three years $1,500,000,[349]
a goodly share of which Warmoth was accused of obtaining because
of his fourth interest in the State paper.[350] Under the law the
three commissioners named a State printer for the journals, laws,
and debates, but they were also authorized to have the printing done
by certain country papers. In addition the House and Senate claimed
the right to select other country papers to publish these documents
officially, to be paid from the contingent funds, so that thirty-five
or forty more were so selected. The sum of $180,000 was paid to papers
in New Orleans in 1871, outside of the official organ.[351] Many of the
papers were sustained only by these contracts.[352] It was generally
believed that men were sent over the country to edit these papers in
order to build up the interests of the governor, while Carter, on the
other hand, openly admitted that he gave his patronage to papers which
would support the reform movement.[353]
The entire lack of conscience of the men who were administering the
government came to light during the close of this year and early in
1872 with appalling vividness, until one turns away simply sickened by
the tale of corruption.[354] Neither party nor class lines regulated
integrity,[355] for reputable men of both sides were among the persons
who offered bribes. As Carter put it, “There seems to be something in
the climate here that affects both parties.”[356] Under oath one man
declared that it was generally understood all round that any one who
wanted to get a bill through had to pay for it. He thought there was a
regular office opened down on Royal Street for that purpose where there
was an agent for members. He had seen money paid right on the floor of
the House. After the passage of the Chattanooga bill he saw a man with
his hands full of money paying it out to members with little attempt
at concealment.[357] Senators under false names were incorporators of
many of the companies chartered and got their shares of stock after
the bills were passed.[358] So wide-spread was the knowledge of their
dishonesty that the story was current that the members had not even
time to write their promises to vote the passage of such and such a
bill, but had to resort to printed blanks.[359]
One of the dishonest measures, not mentioned elsewhere, should not be
passed without brief mention, at least. In 1870[360] the legislature
authorized the improvement of the old city park, a piece of ground
which had been held for the purpose for many years. During the
following year two politicians, Southworth and Bloomer, got a written
agreement from the owners of a large vacant piece of land--the only
large tract near the city--to sell it to them at a fixed price, six
hundred thousand dollars. The legislature of 1871 amended the park
law so as to allow the commissioners to buy land for the new park
and made an appropriation for it. The governor now appointed as park
commissioners, Pinchback, West, and Southworth. They next acquired
title to the property, but paid only sixty-five thousand dollars, the
remainder being left on mortgage. August 15 they sold one-half their
purchase to the city for eighty thousand dollars, receiving sixty-five
thousand dollars in cash, and one hundred ninety-five thousand in
bonds. It was common street talk that Antoine complained that Pinchback
had cheated him out of forty thousand dollars, which he in some way
expected out of the deal.[361]
The evidence fails of proof that the governor ever received a bribe
for his action on any bill,[362] but it is difficult to escape
the suspicion of his complicity in corrupt transactions, if it be
true, as was alleged, that no bill which the governor favored could
fail and none that he opposed could pass. He admitted his use of
his patronage to remove personal enemies and appoint friends “as a
custom of governors”[363] and that the government had been guilty
of some abuses created by his connivance, but emphatically denied
the perpetration of any frauds,[364] declaring on oath that he stood
before the Congressional committee with “clean hands.”[365] But his
duplicity in other ways seems clear, while the fact stands out that
with a salary of eight thousand dollars a year he testified that he had
made far more than one hundred thousand dollars the first year of his
administration[366] and by 1872 was reported worth a million dollars.
He was surely willfully deluding himself when he uttered this boast:
I believe I have since I have been governor of the State, under
circumstances and embarrassments of the gravest character, and under
difficulties that I am surprised myself that I have been able to
overcome, administered the State government in the best interests
of the people of the State, and have produced as much harmony, good
feeling, and prosperity as it was possible for me or any one else to
produce under the circumstances.[367]
In a series of remarkable pen pictures the governor brought charges of
dishonesty against most of the custom-house reformers--against Senators
Ray, Casey, Packard, Lowell,[368] Carter.[369] His attack on Carter may
be considered typical:
Mr. Carter was also, and is now, the paid attorney of the New
Orleans, Mobile, and Texas Railroad Company, from which he receives
$833.33 per month, or $10,000 per annum, and for which he has
never done one hour’s service. The contract for his employment
was made with him by the company after he had kept in his pocket
for thirty or sixty days a bill which had passed the legislature
almost unanimously, and immediately after this contract was made, by
which he became the attorney of the company, the bill was signed by
him.[370]
Several of the men attempted no reply to these charges, and Carter’s
explanation served only to convince the Congressional committee that
the charge was substantially true.[371] Casey was clearly proved to
have been the holder of a corruption fund of $18,000, part of a $50,000
fund raised by himself and others to bribe the legislature to pass a
bill for a company in which he was an interested incorporator. When the
governor vetoed the bill, Casey unlocked the safe and Herring returned
$18,000. It required just eighteen senators to pass the bill.[372] The
president of the Louisiana Lottery Company had a list of about fifty
members of the House with whom he had made arrangements for the passage
of the Jackson Railroad bill with the amount that had been paid and the
sum still due. The amount with a few exceptions was $600, but Campbell
and Pinchback were rated worth $2000.[373] Many members held two
offices, quite content to interpret the constitution in the Louisiana
way that a member of the Assembly was not a State officer.[374]
The governor made a genuine effort to combat the extravagance of
the legislature. In April, 1871, soon after the adjournment of the
Assembly, he applied to the courts for an injunction to restrain the
auditor from paying warrants for the mileage, per diem, and contingent
expenses of members of the lower house, because fraudulent vouchers
had been issued whereby the amounts had been increased. The injunction
was granted and the auditor, together with several experts, appointed
to investigate the matter. The governor’s real object was to assail
Speaker Carter by the allegation that he had coerced the chief clerk
to sign a fraudulent journal of the House, which authorized five
committees to sit during the recess, thus defrauding the State of
$200,000. Warmoth declared that a number of resolutions, which the
speaker stated as introduced and passed the last night, had been
interpolated into the journal, for it was notorious that they had not
been introduced up to half-past eight o’clock that evening, and that
from that moment until the adjournment the House had been in a constant
state of uproar, during which time it was impossible for the House to
take any action. He advanced what seems considerable evidence of his
charge, while the delay of the publication of this day’s journal for
sixteen days after the adjournment,[375] looks, it will be confessed,
suspicious.[376]
The report of the commission sustained the charges of the governor
but in part. It was shown that the amount of the warrants had in some
instances been fraudulently increased; that warrants to the amount of
$240,000 had been issued in excess of the appropriation of 1871[377];
that many warrants for extra pay to officers and clerks had been issued
on the resolution of but one house, contrary to law; that $40,000 had
been fraudulently issued to committees for mileage on official duty,
when, according to the journals, they had not left the city; and
that the signatures of the State officers had been forged in various
instances. The commission condemned the loose manner of conducting
business in the warrant office, but brought no specific charges. The
opposition press charged the governor with holding up this report for
months and publishing it at the opportune moment for him--just before
the assembling of the legislature in 1872.[378]
An important decision in regard to the limitation of the State debt
was rendered in May by the State Supreme Court. The matter came up on
appeal from the Eighth District Court of New Orleans, where a suit
had been instituted to compel the auditor to issue a warrant on an
appropriation of $50,000 made in favor of a Mr. Nixon. The auditor had
refused because the law authorizing it violated the recent amendment,
as it increased the debt above the constitutional limit. The Supreme
Court affirmed the decision of the lower court in favor of the
auditor, contending that “the evidence in the record leaves no doubt
that the debt of the State exceeded twenty-five million dollars on or
before the first of March, 1871.”[379]
FOOTNOTES:
[282] Jan. 15, 1870. “Whereas different persons and separate
organizations are contending for recognition as the Central Republican
Club of the State of Louisiana.... Resolved That the organization
thus attempted be permitted to take a back seat in the gatherings of
the great Republican party of this state, and that the door of the
Republican Temple shall hereafter, like gospel gates, stand open night
and day, until all political sinners, including even the erring ones
from the New Orleans Customhouse, shall have time and opportunity to
return decently and in order to their father’s house.” La. House Jour.,
55.
[283] See above p. 29. House Journ., 1870, 252.
[284] Warmoth himself thought that “if it had not been for
that amendment there would have been no division.” House Misc. Doc., 42
Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 380. Dibble, however, thought that opposition
began when he refused to sign the civil rights bill of 1868. _Ibid._,
298.
[285] _Ibid._, 298. He alleged that the custom-house party
printed 500,000 tickets in opposition to the amendment and distributed
them through the State. It is also significant that almost all the
Republican votes against the amendment were cast in the third ward
where Dunn and Lowell lived. _Ibid._, 382.
[286] _Ibid._, 128.
[287] House Repts., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 92, 9, and House
Misc. Doc., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 299.
[288] It would seem that both sides used their patronage.
Warmoth accused the custom-house of using its appointment of 400-500
Federal employees for the purpose of influencing the legislature in the
fight. House Misc. Doc., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 356.
[289] _Ibid._, 155.
[290] House Repts., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 92, 3.
[291] House Misc. Doc., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 384.
[292] The vote is indicative of the relative strength, 24 to
11. Sen. Jour., 1871, 11.
[293] Another bit of testimony would indicate that the
bestowal on the Democrats of the patronage in their respective
localities was a part of this bargain. House Misc. Doc., 42 Cong., 2
Sess., No. 211, 126.
[294] The finessing for coalition appears strongly here.
A proposition had been made in writing by Dunn and Packard to the
Democrats, whereby the former agreed to prevent any further legislation
for mixed schools or social equality and to aid in the repeal of the
obnoxious legislation, if the Democrats would help to defeat Warmoth.
The offer was rejected by the Democrats. _Ibid._, 306-7.
[295] La. House Jour., 1871, 1.
[296] _Ibid._, 79. House Debates, 1871, 115. Jan. 31.
[297] On one occasion he apologized for so frequently vacating
the chair, on the ground that he was sick and feeble, and broke down,
“standing up and talking loud enough to keep the members in order.”
House Deb., 1871, 200.
[298] Packard denied that Casey wanted the office, but the
burden of proof is against him. He had acted with Warmoth prior to this
time and a custom-house brother approached Warmoth on the question.
Warmoth’s refusal to support him could hardly do otherwise than
alienate him. House Misc. Docs., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 328-9.
[299] _Ibid._, 327.
[300] La. Sen. Jour., 1871, 20. House Jour., 21. It is
interesting to note Pinchback’s appearance as a candidate thus early.
He was a strong second though not in the race as yet. The vote stood 68
to 24, House Deb., 1871, 9.
[301] Sen. Jour., 1871, 23.
[302] There was no law against bribery in Louisiana.
[303] La. Sen. Jour., 1871, 27-9.
[304] La. Sen. Jour., 1871, 29.
[305] He later withdrew one of these vetoes. _Ibid._, 63. Only
one of these ten bills passed over his veto. He should have credit for
preventing the squandering of a million and a half dollars by his veto
of the Nicholson pavement bill in 1870.
[306] This statement is based upon the table submitted by the
governor himself in 1872 to a Congressional committee. House Misc.
Doc., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 286-94.
[307] By 1872 he had vetoed 70 bills and refused to sign 40.
_Ibid._, 285.
[308] See the laws of La. for 1871, Nos. 35, 40, 46, 53, 59,
70, etc.
[309] _Ibid._, No. 45.
[310] _Ibid._, No. 31.
[311] _Ibid._, No. 28. The Southeastern Railroad Company.
[312] _Ibid._, No. 41. The Louisiana Warehouse Company.
[313] Sen. Jour., 1871, 67, House Jour., 35. In all, the New
Orleans, Mobile, and Chattanooga Railroad Company received from the
State $4,250,000 or over $58,000 a mile besides a grant of the use of a
part of the New Orleans levee, valued at $1,000,000, for it completed
only seventy miles. It remains to be added that two different companies
of Northern capitalists offered to build the Houston and New Orleans
road without subsidy or aid, but the legislature would not grant a
charter. Nordhoff, 58.
[314] _Annual Cyclopedia_, 1871, 474.
[315] La. House Jour., 125, Sen. Jour., 121. For the full act
see Session Laws, 1871, No. 4.
[316] In 1871 the total number of schools was 640, the number
of teachers 1240, and the attendance 90,000. _Annual Cyclopedia_, 1871,
474.
[317] Feb. 1, 1872.
“January the 9th 1872.
Cor J P York I visited new Welashe Peish in the critmas finnen the
White People rebelling Jest as much as the dead When You Was on the
ball field Dod Swan leven in bellvue says by god he Wald like See
the Dam Yankes start a public School in bellvu are minden ore any
Whare beteew monre and Scheveport he Shat down a Young man I sew Well
my names Simon ford on Widarvne lone Plac all so Jhon head and Jhon
alfard liven in bellvue cauth a young man name Anderson Smith Who
Went to see a Young collard lady step him Struck Him 3000 licks With
a new caw hide do for God Sake Send them Peple Petectheon. I promised
them that I Wold Send You”
[318] _National Republican_, Feb. 6, 1872.
“Mr. Spaker. I ask the unimus consent of the house to rise to a
question of privilege. I find in one of the issures of the Times
last week a burlest on one of my carstituent which was takened from
a private letter adressed to my collegue who ocuppies a seat on this
floor as a representative who sent the private letter up to the Chief
Clerks desk to be read as a memoral. I think that the gentlemen my
collegue who occupies a seat on this floor he acted very injustice
with one of his constituents which he stands here to represent, end
not only don injustice to his constituents he have I consider Mr.
Speaker have shone a disrespecte this heaverbal body by sending a
privat letter up to the Clerk desk to be read as a memoral in order
to flatter one of his constituent he have not had a chance of an
education, as he have had &&&”
[319] Laws of Louisiana, 1871, No. 42, Sec. 7.
[320] _Annual Cyclopedia_, 1871, 474.
[321] House Misc. Doc., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 40.
According to the _National Republican_, Conway was “devoted to the
fortunes of his Excellency just as ardently as he is opposed to the
interests of the people of the State.” Jan. 3, 1872.
[322] This bill immediately upon its appearance from the
committee was made the special order for a certain date, but does not
reappear in the Journal after Feb. 10. Sen. Jour., 1870, 102. Election
law appeared Feb. 1, Sen. Jour., 73.
[323] Passed by the Senate Feb. 16. Sen. Jour., 131; by the
House, Feb. 18, House Jour., 157.
[324] Sen. Jour., 220; House Jour., 222. Passed by both houses
Mar. 2.
[325] Even during this session fourteen new parishes were
proposed.
[326] House Jour., 68.
[327] The governor asserted that there was not the slightest
possibility that those roads would be built, and that if every one
were built, the State would be amply secured from ever having to pay
the indorsement, as the road would be worth four times the amount
guaranteed. Sen. Repts., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 41, Pt. i, 197.
[328] _Ibid._, 193. The governor’s figures vary slightly in
different statements, 194.
[329] The following total compiled by Secretary Bragdon for
the governor is suggestive:
Public debt for 1860 $10,099,074.32
1868 14,347,051.02
1870 23,427,952.29
1871 22,357,999.05
1872 23,045,790.00 _Ibid._, 200.
[330] Sen. Repts., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 41, Pt. i., 205.
$3,658,879 is quoted by Scott from the _Financial Chronicle_, _see_
Scott, _Repudiation of State Debts_, 110.
[331] Sen. Repts., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 41, Pt. i., 205.
_Cf._ Scott, _Repudiation of State Debts_, 100.
[332] Sen. Jour., 1871, 27, House Jour., 87.
[333] Sen. Repts., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 41, Pt. i., 358.
[334] _National Republican_, Jan. 2, 1872.
[335] Testimony of Eustis, House Misc. Doc., 42 Cong., 2
Sess., No. 211, 534.
[336] Sen. Repts., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 41, Pt. i., 205.
The _National Republican_ reported September 22, “The regular broker
shuns all dealings with it--city paper--and capitalists scorn it, it is
hawked around by its unfortunate owners--clerks and laborers--and sold
to the first man who offers to buy it.”
[337] $493,324. Sen. Repts., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 41, Pt.
i., 358.
[338] Note Herbert’s table comparing the cost in 1871 with
that under the Democrats before the war, 403.
[339] Sen. Repts., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 41, 360. Tax
Collector Sheridan said that he cleared about $32,000 in 1871 and
$14,000 in 1872. _Ibid._, 42 Cong., 3 Sess., No. 457, 707. Warmoth
defended those figures as the usual receipts for the office. _Ibid._,
713-14.
[340] House Misc. Doc., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 396.
[341] Sen. Repts., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 41, Pt. i., 359.
[342] Governor’s Message, 1872. _Annual Cyclop._, 1871, 471.
[343] Some committees were authorized to continue during the
recess, some thirty, some sixty days, some longer.
[344] The Enrollment Committee had over eighty clerks at $8
a day, when not more than ten could be required, according to the
governor’s statement.
[345] The printing bill for the House journals was $68,000,
exclusive of New Orleans. House Misc. Doc., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211,
38.
[346] $20,000 was spent in extra mileage above the amount
allowed by law, $40,000 for mileage and per diem of special traveling
committees of the House alone. Carter stated that there were thirty-one
standing committees and twenty special committees with a full
complement of clerks. House Misc. Doc., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 39.
[347] _National Republican_, Jan. 2, 1872.
[348] Sen. Jour., 1871, 74.
[349] House Repts., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 92, 21. The largest
sum ever spent before the war, when they were printed in both English
and French, was $60,000.
[350] This paper was said to pay a dividend of 110 per cent.
But the governor denied receiving any dividend. House Misc., Doc., 42
Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 368.
[351] _Ibid._, 38. Sometimes papers were opposed merely
because others were entitled to the same privileges. House Deb., 4.
[352] _Ibid._, 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 39. See House
Jour., 55 and 129 for a list.
[353] _Ibid._ He asserted in the Press Convention that his
patronage should not be used against him, and in several cases where
papers asserted this independence, the contracts were revoked. House
Misc. Doc., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 298.
[354] Phelps says: “The corruption was so general and so
notorious that no one connected, directly or indirectly, has escaped
from the mess without taint in the eyes of the people.” _Louisiana_,
369.
[355] Moncure declared that he did not know a public official
who was not worthy of impeachment. _Ibid._, 53-4.
[356] House Misc., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 38.
[357] _Ibid._, 238. Another man brought conclusive evidence
and stated that he had witnessed money paid to Carr, Dewees, and
Pinchback. _Ibid._, 474. Nordhoff had the original of the following
interesting document: “Gentlemen of the Finance Committee of La. Levee
Co.: Please pay to Hon. A. W. Faulkner the amount you may deem proper
to pay on account of Levee Bill, I being absent at the time under
orders of the House. But I would have voted for the bill had I been
there. Mr. Faulkner is authorized to sign a receipt for me--Stamps.”
Nordhoff, 59. The value of quotations from Nordhoff may be proved by
stating that he declared himself a Republican, never having “voted
any other Federal ticket than the Republican; I have been opposed to
slavery as long as I have had an opinion on any subject except sugar,
candy and tops; and I am a thorough believer in the capacity of the
people to rule themselves, even if they are very ignorant, better than
anybody else can rule them.” 10.
[358] Most telling is the reluctant reply of the governor to
the question: “Are you able to say from your knowledge, personally
or officially, that all or nearly all of these bills incorporating
monopolies or granting individuals private valuable franchises are
passed through the legislature by corrupt means?” “I wouldn’t like to
say that.” House Misc. Doc., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 400.
[359] _Ibid._, 534.
[360] The _Picayune_ had combated this measure in 1869 as an
act of folly then. Sep. 24, 1869.
[361] Nordhoff, 62.
[362] The most damaging charge against him was that of a
bribe of $50,000 offered him to sign the Nicholson paving bill. Walsh
published a card, saying that the governor had refused it because
it was too little. The latter, naturally, denied this and tried to
disprove it by the unsupported statement of another man, whereupon
Walsh sent the governor a challenge. And so the matter stood--the
unproved assertion of one man against the other. House Misc. Doc., 42
Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 376.
But Scott on the other hand swore that it cost more to get the
governor’s signature than to get it through the legislature. It is to
be regretted that the defense which Mr. Warmoth still expects to write,
based, the writer understands, upon the fact that he prevented still
more outrageous wrongs from being perpetrated, has not yet appeared,
as it may throw additional light upon this question. The writer has
applied to him repeatedly in vain for a statement of his position now
after the lapse of forty years.
[363] House Misc. Doc., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 380. He
said that he had learned from the Democrats that “to the victors belong
the spoils.” 369.
[364] _Ibid._, 358.
[365] _Ibid._, 351. He declared in a series of replies to
direct questions that he had never tampered with the election of
members, never counseled nor advised such tampering, never held any
stock that he had not paid for, nor had stock presented to him, nor
been promised stock on condition of approving a bill incorporating
monopolies, and never been influenced in any way in his official acts
by any reward or the hope or promise of it. But he admitted having
signed bills after expiration of the constitutional time limit in order
to “quiet the people.” _Ibid._, 351, 371-2.
[366] House Repts., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 92, 25.
[367] House Misc. Doc., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 374.
[368] Lowell was a defaulter for a large amount.
[369] House Misc. Doc., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 395-6.
[370] _Ibid._, 396. Carter was an apostatizing preacher and
ex-Confederate colonel, who had turned loyal patriot and anti-Warmoth
leader.--Cox, _Three Decades_, p. 561. With this statement might be
compared Carter’s opinion of Warmoth as voiced in a speech in February,
1872: “Louisiana is afflicted with worse laws and worse administrators
thereof than can be found in ten states of the Union. Henry Clay
Warmoth is the Boss Tweed in Louisiana, except that that amiable
villain, with all his infamies, is a gentlemen and a saint compared
with the unscrupulous despot who fills the executive chair of this
state.”--Cox, _Three Decades of Federal Legislation_, 560.
[371] House Rpts., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 92, 23. Of course
the men attacked made counter charges against the governor.
[372] _Ibid._
[373] House Misc. Doc., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 475; and
House Repts., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 92, 26.
[374] E. W. Dewees, another leader of the House, contended
with Carr and Carter for eminence. The investigating committee of
Congress reported that he had been under arrest with seven sworn
charges of burglary against him, and had then obtained of the chief
of police a certificate that his picture was not in the rogues’
gallery.--_Ibid._, 27.
The conclusion to which the Congressional committee came is worth
noting when we recall that they were Republicans: “The world
has rarely known a legislative body so rank with ignorance and
corruption.”--_Ibid._, 24. In May, 1875, five members of this
legislature were indicted for bribery.--_Times._
In this revolting catalog it is refreshing to find one person free
from the taint of dishonesty. The lieutenant-governor was regarded by
the Democrats as incorruptible. “In the view of the Caucasian chiefs,
the taint of honesty and of a scrupulous regard for the official
proprieties, is a serious drawback and enervating reproach upon the
Lieutenant Governor.”--_Times_, August 4, 1871.
[375] House Misc. Doc., 42 Cong., 2 Sess., No. 211, 396. The
fraud took the form of substituting one bill for a similar one which
had been tabled but purported in the journal to have been taken up
that night. It was supposed that the delay was due to the loss of the
original bill alleged to have been passed.
[376] It is only fair to add, as Carr pointed out, that the
testimony of the commission did not bear out these charges.--_Ibid._,
230.
[377] _Annual Cyclopedia_, 1871, 471. The over issue of the
vouchers forced the value of the warrants down to 2½ cents on the
dollar.--Herbert, _Why the Solid South_, 403.
[378] _National Republican_, Jan. 2, 1872.
Strangely enough the report appeared in the _Picayune_, Dec. 29, 1871.
That paper printed one of its rare expressions of approval of the
governor: “The efforts of the governor to defeat so glaring an
infringement of the law will meet with general approval. The court has
issued the injunction asked for by the Executive, and in consequence
over three thousand dollars will be saved to the State.”
[379] 23 La. Ann. 402-8, State of Louisiana _ex rel._ Salomon
and Simpson vs. James Graham.
* * * * *
Transcriber’s note
New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public
domain.
Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
Other spelling has also been retained as originally published except
for the changes below.
Page 31: “which look unnecessarily” “which looked unnecessarily”
Page 37: “The leaving movers” “The leading movers”
Page 61: “but tactily--all power” “but tacitly--all power”
Page 94: “instances been fraudently” “instances been fraudulently”
Footnote changes:
Footnote 82: The lowercase “i” in “ibid” was capitalized.
Footnote 199: The lowercase “i” in “ibid” was capitalized.
Footnote 259: Missing footnote number was added.
Footnote 374: “evolting” changed to “revolting.”