penalties upon any person that refused admission to any public school of the State to a pupil on account of “race, color, or previous condition," but the enforcement of this law had been energetically resisted. Gradually, under the direction of William O. Rogers, city superintendent, the schools of New Orleans rose to a high degree of efficiency. The public-school system of the State progressed considerably under the direction of State Superintendents Robert M. Lusher, Edwin H. Fay, Warren Easton, and Joseph A. Breaux, and in 1888 a State Board of Education was established, consisting of the governor, the attorney-general, and the superintendent of education, exofficio, and six citizens to be appointed by the governor, one for each Congressional district. The first board constituted under the law of 1888 was composed of Governor Nicholls, Attorney-General Walter H. Rogers, Superintendent of Education Joseph A. Breaux (since a judge of the State Supreme Court), Franklin Garrett, William H. Jack, William Clegg, C. E. Cate, the Rev. Isaac L. Leucht, and Professor Alcée Fortier.

In October, 1889, indictments were found by the grand jury at New Orleans against ex-Treasurer Edward A. Burke for illegally issuing large amounts of bonds and for negotiating bonds that should have been destroyed. Mr. Burke was then in London, and instead of returning to New Orleans to meet the charges against him, he went to Spanish Honduras, where he has since resided.

On December 6, 1889, Jefferson Davis died in New Orleans at the house of Judge Charles E. Fenner. His body was taken to the City Hall, where it lay in state in

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the Council-chamber and was viewed by a long procession of mourners. On December 11 the remains were conveyed to the tomb of the Army of Northern Virginia at Metairie Cemetery, followed by thousands of persons. The body was accompanied by the State National Guard, and was borne to the grave with booming of cannon, on an artillery caisson drawn by six horses. The funeral services were conducted by Bishop John A. Gallaher, of the Protestant Episcopal Church. The Governors of Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, and Arkansas were present, and the governors of the former Confederate States who could not attend sent representatives. His remains were afterward transferred to Richmond. Virginia.

Jefferson Davis will always be remembered by the Southern people as a sincere patriot. He represented a cause which has disappeared forever, but for which thousands of noble men died. He passed the last years of his life at Beauvoir, Mississippi, on the Gulf Coast, in dignified retirement.

L

CHAPTER VIII

PROGRESS AND PROSPERITY

The anti-lottery campaign-The Mafia in New Orleans-Governor Murphy J. Foster-Celebration of the four-hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America-Death of General G. T. Beauregard-The archdiocese of New Orleans-Dissatisfaction of the sugar-planters with the tariff bill-The Citizens' League in New Orleans-The city charter of 1896-The Constitution of 1898-The war with Spain-Monument erected to John McDonogh by school children-Tax for sewerage and drainage in New Orleans.

HE year 1890 was marked by a campaign conducted by the Anti-Lottery League to prevent the renewal of the charter of the Louisiana State Lottery Company, which was to expire on January 1, 1894. On April 17

John A. Morris, in the name of the

company, offered the State five hundred thousand dollars a year for a renewal of the lottery license for twentyfive years, and on May 12 he increased the offer to one million dollars. Governor Francis T. Nicholls, in his message to the Legislature in May, 1890, opposed with great energy the recognition of lotteries by the State. He said that no proposition for a lottery should be entertained for a single moment. There was a glaring inconsistency between an article of the Constitution which declared gambling to be a vice and commands the General As

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sembly to enact laws for its suppression, and a second article, recognizing and perpetuating a lottery company and also authorizing and granting other lottery privileges and charters. “I think," said the governor, "it was an outrage on other States and a disgrace to ours to make Louisiana the acknowledged headquarters of gambling, and to legalize an institution avowedly based upon certain losses and certain impoverishments to others, and a still greater outrage and a still greater disgrace for the commonwealth to be a partner in such a transaction. Nothing better could have been expected of the Legislature of 1868." He called attention to the influence the Lottery Company would exert on the politics of the State, if its charter were renewed, and to the corruption that would ensue, and he closed his message with the following words:

As the governor of this State and the head of the present administration, and representing the citizens of the commonwealth who believe that the only legitimate end of the government is the enjoyment of life, liberty, and prosperity-all three-I will never consent, so far as I am concerned, that the destinies of this great State shall be placed under the control and dominion of any corporation whatsoever, and especially that it shall pass under the control of a gambling institution, and I shall exercise all the influence of my official position at all times to avert and avoid what I would consider such a disastrous as well as such a disgraceful event, and, in doing so, I expect and invoke the aid and assistance of all good and true sons of Louisiana, both in and out of the General Assembly; and should I fail in my efforts to preserve the good name, the welfare, and the prosperity of the State, no part of the responsibility nor the shame shall rest on me.

On June 25, 1890, the House passed a bill in the form of a constitutional amendment, authorizing John A. Morris to conduct a lottery for twenty-five years by paying to the State one million dollars annually, as follows: three hundred and fifty thousand dollars for levees; three hundred and fifty thousand dollars for public schools; one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for charitable purposes; fifty thousand dollars for pensions to Confederate soldiers; one hundred thousand dollars for drainage of New Orleans. The Senate amended the bill by increasing the price of the franchise to one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, the increase to go to the General Fund of the State. The House passed the amended bill on July 2, and it was sent to the governor, who vetoed it. He concluded his veto message as follows:

So far as a claim for the necessity of the present measure is sought to be predicated upon the assumed condition of the poverty of Louisiana, I, as governor, pronounce it totally without justification or warrant. Some other motive for this measure must be found than that her people are unable honorably to carry out for themselves the duties of statehood. Knowing this contemplated measure as I do, as one dishonoring and degrading Louisiana, it has met, as it will continue to meet, my most determined opposition. At no time, and under no circumstances, will I permit one of my hands to aid in degrading what the other was lost in seeking to uphold the honor of my native State. Were I to affix my signature to the bill, I would indeed be ashamed to let my left hand know what my right hand has done. I place the honor of the State above money, and in expressing that sentiment I sincerely voice that of thousands of brave and true men, of good and devoted women.