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; AILY DE3O.iL. RAT. 4 e arsalief the City of New Orleans. Ol*,1*, 109 r aver "Stre, TiH DEMOICRAT PUBLISHING COIAHIT 6QiP. W. DUPRE, Preslent. I. J. HEABEY ........ ....... EDITOD. *I . .------------. RATES OF SUBSCRIPTION: The Daily Demoorat. One y e ... SI m i Months ............... g Three Months ..................... 8_ One Month ....................... 10 tage, one year ... ........ Payable in Advance. The Weekly Demoorat, The Weekly Democrat, a large eight-page ralr.will be furnished to subsoribers at the Aona rates: rh.... ........... ......1. 0 .Months ........................ . . ree Months ...................... l1 Payable in Advance. WNW ORLU8AE, APRIL 1S, 181p. LETTERS PROM THE PEOPLE. From this time until the close of the con Fention, the columns of the DaiocwAT will be open for the diseaesion of all questions touching the proposed constitution. Indeed, we invite communications from the city and the country, and we will print them whether ' we agree with the views expressed or not, re erving, of course, the right to exclude such as we do not think of sutcient interest to in sert. We wish it also distinctly understood that we will not return or undertake to pre serve rejected manuscripts. Opium smoking finds little toleration in Japan. A man was recently sentenced to ten years' hard labor in Yokohama for violation of the law against this practice. The flag question has been happily settled. Yesterday the Virginia company on a visit to the Washington Light Infantry, in order to put a stop to the senseless clamor which was being raised in the North because it carried oenly a State flag, borrowed a national ensign and appeared on the streets of the capital with it, side by side with Virginia's emblem. All parties, we hope, are now abundantly satisfied. Cornellus Vanderbilt a few days ago paid to S' the daughters of Horace Greeley the sum of $67,000, principal and interest, borrowed from Mr. Greeley several years since. The money i a ,part of the sum supposed to have been realised from the compromise effected by William H. Vanderbilt with the contesting Vanderbilt heirs, by which Cornelius received $1,000,000. He puts his money to good use in thus promptly paying the daughters of his dead M eend. The longest term of service ever enjoyed in Congress was thirty years, to which term Virginia elected one of her sons. A North Carolinian served twenty-eight years and a Vir.,inian, North Carolinian and a native of Massachusetts twenty-four years. Of Con gressmen elected to ten Congresses or over North Carolina contributed thi greatest num ber, 4, Virginia and .Ohio 8 each, Massachu eetts 2, and Illinois 1. Of those serving over lyve terms Pennsylvania contributed 85, Vir ginia 88, North Carolina 24, Massachusetts 90, South Carolina 14, New York 18, Alabama 9, Connecticut 10, Florida 1, Georgia 5, Ili nola 10, Kentucky 8, Louisiana 2, Maine 4, Maryland 8, Michigan 2, Minnesota 1, .Mis asislppi 2, Missouri 2, New Hampshire 1, New Jersey 8, Tennessee 12, Vermont 6, and Wis cons. n 2 Pennsylvania, it will be seen, is ex eeedingly Conservative and seldom changes Its representatives; indeed, no less than 163 Pennsylvania congresesmen have served over three terms in Congress. Next in order come Virginia, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Ohio and New York. In making up his committees Mr. Randall has given the South twenty-five chairman ships and the North twenty-five-an equal division. He has also distributed thq more Important chairmanships equally between the two sections. For instance, the Ways and M .bans, Elections, Foreign Affairs and Mill tary Affairs are given to the North, while the Appropriations, Naval Affairs, Commerce, Judiciary, Banking and Currency and Pacific ialiroad committees will be presided over by Southern members. The chairmen are dis tributed among the States as follows: Ar kansas 1, Georgia 3, Illinois 5, Indiana 3, Kentucky 2, Louisiana 1, Maine 1, Maryland 8, Mississippi 2, Missouri 1, New Jersey I, New York 5, North Carolina 2, Ohio 3, Oregon I, Pennsylvania 4, Tennessee 4, Texas 1, Vir gina 4, West Virginia 1, Wisconsin 2. Alto gether the distribution is much fairer than that made by Mr. Randall for the last Con grees, and much satisfaction is expressed by the Democratic members. The Speaker ap pears to have put personal antagonism aside In the present instance and constructed his committees more in accordance with party desires and the interests of the country. An Investigation has lately been made into our congressional records to discover wheth er political talents and powers are often in herited in this country. In England it is a well known fact that in consequence.of the condition of English society this power and influence is handed down from father to son. There are great 'political families in that country who legislate and rule its destinies for generation after generation. It is com monly supposeed that in the United States this suoeession of political talents from father to son seldom happens-that the sons of our statesmen seldom follow in the footsteps of their fathers and legislate for the country, and the cases of the Adamses, of Massachusetts, and the Bayards, of Delaware, are cited as ex ,eptionaL The investigation of the congres . aonal records shows this to bean error. There are no less than eighty-two cases of sons suc ceeding their fathers in our Congress and -- tty one cases of brothers occupying seats in Segrees at the same time. There are quite IS number of instances of families represent . 9 conIsttuencies in Congress for several sheratton.. Edgar C. Wilson, for instance, toaoeeded hisfather, Thomas Wilson, and was iollctwed by the grandson Eugene M. Three snera*tions of Adamses, of Archers, of Bay ".rda of Hrrlson, of Laws, of Middletons, of Ogles and of Stocktons have followed each -otear a presentativee. Among the fam i es especially productive of statesmen may h e metitioned the Heisters, who have given us ive Cor.gressnm, the KiURs, who have given ,s four te Morriseseseven, the ebu and the Marshalls, Washburnes and Vbom four. TWO VIEWS OF THE DEBT. It is very generally conceded now that the holders of the State securities will have to look to the Convention for a recognition of their claims, and a just and adequate provi sion to secure the interest thereon as it falls due, and for their final payment. We hear nothing latterly, even from lawyers inter ested in encouraging litigation for their por sonal aggrandisement, of the absurd doo trine that the amendment of 1874, and thTe funding act passed thereunder, constitute a contract and have the effect of rendering the State debt exigible in the Federal courts. This pernicious doctrine, so fatal to State sovereignty, found but a transient prosperity in our midst, and those who used it at first as a threat, discovering its futility, have entirely abandoned it. This conclusion is best for all parties concerned. The position of the DREocEAT upon this point, supported as it has been by repeated decisions of the Supreme Court and the highest political au thority, has been accepted and will control the action of the convention. There cannot be a doubt in regard to'the course of the convention. It will cer tainly assume the right to adjust the debt of the State and to determine all questions incidental thereto. It will refuse to re cognize any divestiture or abridgment of the sovereign right of taxation, or the validity of any contract rights that will serve to interest the Federal courts with jurisdiction over the debt of the State. Without discussing the intricate and abstract question of sovereignty, which has stag gered the intellect of the Times after a man ner suggestive of Mr. Dick and Charles the the First, or the little gentleman, Owemlot, and the Veneering friendship, it may be assumed that the convention will as sert the right, the inalienable and indefeasible right, of the people of the State to consult their own convenience in the adjustment of the public debt, and that it will resent any and all attempts of the Federal judiciary to usurp the jurisdiction expressly denied In the eleventh amendment. This granted, and the legal question is settled. The bondholders must look to the convention, to the sover eignty of the State, for a recognition and ad justment of their claims. Here the moral question arises: What shall be done to secure justice to all parties concerned ? In the settlement of this ques tion there are but two inquiries to be made: First, what can the people pay ? what taxa tlion can they stand and avoid bankruptcy ? Secondly, what are the bondholders honestly entitled to receive ? These two queries, we maintain, compre hend all the morality involved in this discus sion. What can we pay-and what ought we to pay? This is all there is of it. We insist that the convention has the absolute and con clusive right todetermine both questions, and this is the law. Neither of them will be hard to settle. We insist, that on a fair cash assessment of prop erty, the amount of the present interest tax is the utmost that the people can stand, for all purposes. We further insist that no special tax, for interest or other purposes, can be fixed in the constitution. We believe that, under the plain restrictions of the Fed eral constitution, the utmost the convention can do is to limit the rate of taxation, and this we think it should do. This opinion is not given unadvisedly, but after a thorough and conscientious study of the fundamental law. It cannot be denied that the purpose of the amendment of 1874 and the funding act was to create contract rights against the State, which, had they been valid, would have invested the Federal courts with complete jurisdiction over our State debt. But that purpose was an unlaw ful and prohibited one. The State, and the people of the State, could not have consum mated it, and whatsoever manifestation of their will they may have made, the Federal courts would have been obliged to decline the jurisdiction sought to be conferred. And why? Simply because it is expressly forbid den in the Federal constitution. It has been repeatedly held that a private person cannot, by a waiver of his rights, even as to the mere accidental fact of residence, confer jurisdic tion on a court which does not possess it in law. How much more absurd, then, is it to contend that a single State, despite the pro cess of amendment to the constitution pre scribed in that instrument, can confer a power, forbidden in express terms, upon the general government. How much more absurd still is it to say that such extraordinary pow ers have been inferentially conferred by the terms of a mere legislativeact. If the convention is without authority to perpetuate the 55'-mlls tax, it is equally powerless to pledge to the bondholders a smaller tax, which they shall have tue right to enforce in the courts, or to compel the State officials to collect and dispense in a purely ministerial capacity. The convention cannot fix a special tax for the benefit of the bondholders; in fact, it can enter into no compromises or bargains with them. The State creditors must submit themselves and their claims'to the simple sense of justice and honor of the people of Louisiana. We believe, if they will accept this fact, that full justice will be done them; but if they refuse to meet the convention in this spirit, and choose rather to assume a truculent and de flant attitude, they may expect nothing else than repudiation and a square fight to the hilt, with sword bare ana scabbard thrown away. Congresulonal Weaknesses. [Washington Correspondence N. Y. Graphic.] Through the kindness of that veteran bi ographer and journalist, Ben Perley Poore, your correspondent- has been favored with advance sheets of the "Congressional Direc tory," which, as usual, contains biographical sketches of the members of the present Con gress and much else that is of interest and value. Each Senator and member prepares the sketch of his own life, which is confined by the order of the Committee on Printing to a general formula, as follows: "Full name, place and date of birth; education; profes sion or business; public offices held; vote on last election to Congress; name of opponent and politics." But a great many members manage to work in other Interesting informa tion than that called for by this formula. For instance, we learn that George Augustus Bicknell, of Indiana, "was elected fence viewer in 1847;" that the Rev. G. De la Matyr "has been an itinerant elder of the Methodist Episcopal Church;" he gives his politics as "National and Democrat;" that George D. Tillman, of South Carolina, is a lawyer by profession, but has never practiced, "except to give counsel and do conveyancing gratis among his neighbors." Congressman Mor rison, of Illinois, omits in his biography the fact that he was a Union soldier. Twelve Congressmen from the South announce that they were in the legislatures of their respec tive States at the opening of the rebellion, and voted for the ordinance of secession. To Par in thLe Rear. The [Chioago Tribun*.l The editorof the Okolona States is a good ighter but he is too far In the rear. Let him go to Washington. WAGONS I CAPNE CARTS! SPO ESI H. N. SORIA, I$ and 0 Unioten and I and ll PerIldo reetr.. ole Ag~ nt for the elebrated "STUDEBAKEBR" o1 WAONS. CARTS and SPRING WORK of all kinds and sizes. Dealer in Philadelphiaand Western Cane War ons. Carte and Drays; Timber Wheels; Whleel barrows of all deseri ttons; Spokes. Fellows. Hubs. hafts. etc;Wheelwright Material. Orders promptly filed. All work warranted. de ly DR. C. BEARD, OCULIST AND AURIST, 142------...... Canal Street ......----142 New Orlean L. Lo Lekl Box 111. Office hours-From 9:80 to 8:so. jR4 gdt tf PROPOSALS FOR 'DRAWN PREMIUM BONDS. OFFIOc OF TE COOMMIssIONEws oF THE Consolidated Debt. New Orleans. April 5. 1879. Sealed proposals will be received at this de partment until SATURDAY, April 12.1879, at 12 m., for the exchange of 2200oo drawn Premium Bonds ($44.ooo), at their face value and interest, for old bonds of the city of New Orleans. and of the late cities of Jefferson and Carrollton, also for Premium Bonds or for cash. Bids for Coupon Bonds must state the first coupon due on the bonds offered. Proposals must be directed to the Commis sioners of the Consolidated Debt, and indorsed "Proposals for Drawn Premium Bonds." The city reserves the right to reject any or all bids. and answers will be given the following Monday at la m. ALP. H. ISAACSON. ape td Administrator of Pinnrnn. CITY LICENSES FOR 1879. D ,srSTxmr a r FmAwcs, orrr HALL,. New Orleans. April S, 1878. To accommodate the public and save them expensive costs and inconvenience license in spectors clothed with authority to collect will call upon those who have not paid and furnish them the appropriate license under ordinance No. 4789, Administration Series, and those re fusing will be enjoined at once, arlo ALF H. IRAACRO'. Armtnaltr'qtor. PROPOSALS FOR FLLINGt BATTURE HOLES. DEPARTMENT OF IMPBOVEMENTs. CITY HALL, I New Orleans. Aprli 5.1879. Sealed proposals will be received at this office until MONDAY, April 14. 1879. at 12 m., for filling twenty-four batture holes on the levee, between Thalla street and Ncn street, according to plan and speclfloations on file in the office of the City Surveyor. The city reserves the right to accept or reject any and all bids, said bids to be so much per cubic yard of filling. Parties making proposals for the work are required to deposit with the Administrator of Finance, as evidence of their intention to abide by the adjadication, the amount of two hundred dollars ($2oo) in cash, which shall be forfeited to the city in case of failure to sign the con tract. Bidders to whom the contract is not awarded shall have their deposits returned to them on the day adjudication is made. Proposals to be endorsed "Proposals for fill ing batture holes." J. D. HOUSTON, apD lot Administrator of Improvements. We are just in receipt of a choice and complete stock of SPRING SILKS -IN FANCY AND SOLID COLORS, Black and Colored GRENADINES, LINEN CAMBRIC", WHITE GOODS, ORJLANDIES, HOSIERY, ETC. D. H. HOLMES, dels tf 155 CANAL STREET. 356,432 GENUINE SINGER SEWING MACHINES Sold in 1878. BEWARE of partles offering bogus and done over ma chines as the IMPROVED SING R. Companies have sprung up Mi every part of the Union for making an "imitation Singer Machine." Why are not similar companies formed for making imitations of other SBwing Machines ? The public will draw its own inference. Gold is continually counterfeited; brass and tin never. Waste We Money on Interior Counterteits. PRICES GREATLY REDUCED. SEND FOB CIRCULAR. THE SINGER MAIIF' COPAllY, 8. E. RBUNLE, Agent, 86 Canal street--615 Magazine street. AGENT Butterick & Co.'s Patterns. Imhi9 3m d&w Taxes and Licenses FOB CURRENT AND BACK YEABR (City and State) Paid at a Liberal Discount. ALFRED JARDET Stock and Bond Broker. fel' tf .d No. 1 i Carore let street. SOAPIlYNA Is acknowledged to be the AmT AND CHEAPEUT OF ALL SOAPS. It Is manufactured with BOBAX. free of ans ADULTERATIONS. Patented and manufactured by 1W Gravier street. THE DEMOCRAT JOB PUGNID D2A7W has just purchased from a low market an ez. eellent assortment of STATIONERY For Jobbing Purposes, Which we are prepared to offer our eustomer at drioes to suit. Ledger Papers. We keep a full line of SOUTHWOBTWI eel. ebrated Ledger Papers. These papers were awarded the Gold Medal at the Centennial for "unsurpassed excellence." their superiority consisting in GREAT STRENGTH. FINI FINISH, and PEBFECT SIZING. BLANK BOOKS Manufactured to order, on short notice, from these excellent papers. IMPEBIAL LEDGER PAPER. SUPER ROYAL LEDGER PAPER, ROYAL LEDGER PAPER. MEDIUM LEDGER PAPER. DEMY LEDGER PAPER FLAT PAPERS. Of all weights and sizes used in this market for general jobbing purposes. BLOTTING PAPER. We have a superior lot of TREASURY BLOT. TING PAPER which we can sell at a low figure Lithographed. Printed or Plain. VISITING CARDS. We have in stock the finest assortment of VISITING CARDS in this city,. which we fur nish to our customers at the low rate of 60 cents per packj Printed. VISITING CARDS--The finest super Q, Bris tol, white and all the fashionable tints. GOLD EDGE VISITING CARDS. SILVER EDGE VISITING CARDS. RED EDGE VISITING CARDS. BLUE EDGE VISITING 04RDS. BEVEL EDGE VISITING CARDSB. With square or round corners, GOLD DUST VISITING CARDS. SNOWFLAKE VISITING CARDS. (Eight different tints.) DAMASK VISITING CARDS. BEP VISITING CARBDB. ARABEQUE VISITING CARDS. MORNING GLORY VIBITING CARDB PHANTOM VISITING CARBDB. OBRIENTAL VISITING OCRBDS. PROGRAMME CARDS, The very latest and most attractive styles. CARD BOARDS. of every description in great variety. -ron BUSINESS CARDS. ADMIT CARDS. DIAMOND CARDS. SHOW CARDS, WEDDING CARDS and WEDDING ENVELOPES. JAPANESE CARDS and JAPANESE ENVELOPES •Somethine new. LADIES' IN'Y TATIONS and INVITATION .i·VELOPES, LETTER HEADS, NOTE HEADS, BILL HEADS, In stock or ruled to order on best HOLYOKE Daper, laid or wove, lithographed or printed in the best style. JOB PRINTING. Our office being all NEW, bought with especial reference to the wants of this city. we are en. abled to turn out SUPERIOB WORK in a most expeditious manner. Estimates furnished on all classes of work when required. Call and see samples and get our figures be. ore ordering rour work. DEMOCRAT PUBLISHING CO., PROPRIETORS, 109.....Gravier street.....109 NEW YORI LI FE INSURANCE COMPANY,} ASSETS, $37,000,000. PURELY MUTUAL.' LIFE POLICIES OF ALL KINDS ISSUED. 1. S. COPES, General Agent for the State of Louisiana, 40 CARONDELET STREET, NEW ORLI4AR LOCAL BOARD: AUG. BOHN. SIGMUND KATZ. C E RLACK. FRED'CK CA JO H. OGLERBY. J.A. DUFILHO. FREDERICK WINTZ. I. H. BROWN THOMAS A. ADAMS. E. EIBRKPATRICK. WM. FLASH. J. HA8,ING1B, . WM. O. BLtCK. TRO8. J. hEMIIES J.B. SOLAR L.B. L. B. CAIN. :' PAUL FOURCOY. A. OBIAPELLA. T. LYTT LYON. . OS. i F. FREDERIC~KON. MEDICAL EXAMINERS: D. C. HOLLIDAY, M. D. JOSEPH JONESB, M. D. CHARLES TURPIN, g ABSTRACT OF THE THIRTY-FOUBTH ANNUAL BEPORT, January 1, NET CASH ASSETSB January 1, 1878.... 8........................ .$4,455 REVENUE fro January 1. 1878 to January 1.1879 ............,,74,231 91 DISBUBRSEMENTS from January 1.1878. to January 1. 1879.. 5,913,6O9 59 NET REVENUE from January 1, 1878, to January 1, 1879 ............. .... . 1, EXCFSS of market value of securities over cost ......................... ..... $ CASH ASSETS. January 1.i 9 .................. . ........ ........... s Surplus, estimated byr the New York State standard, at 4% per cent, over. .... Divisible surplus, at 4 per cent............. ...... ....................... . .. .. 8A 114 ' From the undivided surplus of m 811,48 er the Board of Trustees has declared a dividend to participating policies in proportion to their contribution to surplus, a settlement of next annual premium. .. Duset in em the ear aosn polole have been issued. Insuring $15,949.986. TRUSTEES: Morris Franklin. John Mairs, William A. Booth, Fdw. A. Whittewa.ft, Robert B. Collins. David Dows, Win. H. A pleton. H. B. Clafli Chas. Wright, M. D.. Henry Bowers, Edward Martin. Loomis L. Whits J. F. Seymour, John M Fnrman S N. Fisher George A. Os.a William Barton, Henry Tuck. M. bD. William H.BIer FRANKLIN. r WILLIAM H. BEERS, Vice President and Actuary. FOR THE VERY BEST AND NEVER FADING PHOTOG-RAPH SO TO - P12 1 C A N A L S t r e e t s 1 2 1 C A N A L Toare uialldjn. Teur ai 5os4 iv SAVE YOUR EY SBY USING MY GENUINE Stone-Pebble SPECTACLE . I. HILL, OPTICIAN, 86....-ST, CHARTLE STREET-- CORNER COIMERCIAL PLACE, N. 0. Beint made of Stone, no amount of rubbing or with dust sand or the finest tempered steel-file wi them in the least. They receive and retain a much flne1 than glass, and are therefore clearer. The constant and rubbing, which the lenses require to free them from scratches and dims the finest Glass Spectacles. When this condition the eve is overtasked, becomes weaker. sort is had to another pair of stronger meagnifying Then, shortly, the same process is repeated. The only is to get the STONE-PEBBLE, WHICH WILL NOT WEAR OUT. STONE-PEBBLE LENS Inserted in any eye glass or spnctnele frame at an hour's n Skeleton, Shell and all kinds of SPECTACLES EYE-GLA SSES REPAIRED. A FULL STOCK OF THE FINEST GRADES OF GOLD AND STEEL GOODS CONSTANTLY ON HAND. AT iAeA%1aTr, PiR NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY SHIRTS. Reduction in prices, but quality, workman ship and perfect shape maintained, securing always a faultless fit. In stock, all sizes and styles, !ncluding the NEW HEMSTITCH BOSOM, Prices $1, $1 26. $1 60 to $2 26 each. The stock of seasonable UIDER GB~RINTS AND HOSIERY Is very large and PRICES ARE MODERATE. New Style Collars at $1 50 a dozen. NEW STYLE CUFFS at $8 a dmen. NEW SILK NECK WEAR. NEW KID GLOVES, New Perfumery and Toilet Articles. NEW BRUSHES AND COMBS. Call or send orders to B. T. WALSHE, No. 110 Canial street. Country orders will have prompt attention. Goods sent C. O. D., subject to approval. no22 dp THE LOAN OFFICE, OTTO SCHWANER, 17.........Barone street...........17 Between Canal and Common. ODposft% Granewald Hnll Advances maode on PIANOS, for which special accommodations are made. j .11 CARPET WAREHOUSE, 1..-..-......Cartes atretas........1. A. BROUSSEAU & SON Have the largest and finest assortment of CARPETSB. OIL CLOTHS, COCOA AND CHINA MATTINGS. WINDOW SHADES, oLACE CURTAINS, CURTAIN MATERIALS. Outside of New York, and are Selling at Prices Lower Than Ever Before Known in New Orleans. Call and see. oce 2dp y1 FILE NEW LOUISIANA ItE Greatest Cough Sirup of the age, if any age. Product of our swamps. $ did for children. NO poison. TI EN pages of names of HOME ENCES, and increasing) Sold by gists. Depot No. 106 Camp street, L inje m 2dr HARTS LOAN OFFICE 48 ..........B&AOWNIE STREBT.......... OPPOSITE GAS OFFICE. Money loaned on Diamonds. Jewelry. ture. Pianos. Mirrors. etc fee J. Levois, 126 (CaMal Stree9 Has just opened a choice selection of NOUVEAUTES in FRENCH COTELINE, MUMMY CI.TLOik Printed Armures and Satins, PRINTED JACONETS AND OBGANDIE, PRINTED UNION AND IIEN LAWINS. Also, a choice assortment of BROCHE SILK GRENADINES, Woolen and Silk Mixed Dress GoodS. PEKIN STRIPES, ETO. osI Washington Avenue Drug Staorf Corner Mamain and Washinsm s. NEW ORLEANS. onstaMnt receiving fresh supplies Ofp . Drug. Medcne, hemicals Patent M Oombs of all kinds, Brushes, oaps. Toilet and Fancy Articles. etc., sold at margin. Coral Tooth Paste. recommen all who use it as a very superior dentriflos beautiflee the teeth to a fne pearl-like ment and ravisbing beauty. Glycerine Cream for chabped lip. faoe and hands erts' Pectoral Oogh Syrup, for catarrh, bronchi: is and pneumonia. Prescrltqs up night andday. B.J.MAINEG Druggist. Phazeaoertjstandlrmn oCssly idp