USA > Louisiana > A history of Louisiana, revised edition > Part 29
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Boards of Health and State Medicine.
Art. 296. The General Assembly shall create for the State, and for each parish and municipality therein, Boards of Wealth, and shall define their duties, and prescribe the powers thereof. The State Board of Health shall be composed of representative physicians from the various sections of the State. Until otherwise provided by law, both the President and Secretary of the State Board of Health shall be ex-officio members of the Board of Health for the city of New Orleans, the President of the State Board to be the President of the local Board of the city of New Orleans.
Art. 297. The General Assembly shall provide for the interest of State Medicine in all its departments; for the protection of the people from unqualified practitioners of medicine, and dentistry; protecting confidential communications made to medical men by their patients while under professional treatment and for the pur- pose of such treatment; for protecting the people against the sale of injurious or adulterated drugs, foods and drinks, and against any and all adulterations of the general necessaries of life of whatever kinds and character.
Militia.
Art. 29S. The General Assembly shall have anthority to provide by law how the militia of this State shall be organized, officered. trained, armed and equipped, and of whom it shall consist.
Art. 299. The officers and men of the militia and volunteer forces shall receive no pay, rations or emoluments, when not in active service by authority of the State.
Art. 300. The General Assembly may exempt from military service those who belong to religious societies whose tenets forbid them to bear arms; provided, a money equivalent for these services shall be exacted.
Art. 301. The Governor shall have power to call the militia into active service for the preservation of law and order, or when the public service may require it; provided that the police force of any city, town or parish, shall not be organized or used as a part of the State militia.
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Pensions.
Art. 302. The Soldiers' Home of the State of Louisiana, known as Camp Nicholls, shall be maintained by the State, and the General Assembly shall make an appropriation for each year based upon the number of inmates in said home on the first day of April of the year in which said appropriation is made, of one hundred and thirty dollars per capita, for the maintenance and clothing of such inmates, from which one dollar per month shall be allowed to each inmate for his personal use, and shall make such further appropriations for building, repairs and incidentals, as may be absolutely necessary.
Art. 303. A pension not to exceed eight dollars per month shall be allowed each Confederate soldier or sailor veteran, who possesses all of the following qualifications :
1. He shall have served honorably from the date of his enlistment to the close of the late Civil war, or until he was discharged or paroled, in some military organization, regularly mustered into the army or navy of the Confederate States, and shall have remained true to the Confederate States until the surrender.
2. Hle shall be in indigent circumstances, and unable to earn a livelihood by his own labor or skill.
3. Ile shall not be salaried or otherwise provided for by the State of Louisiana or by any other State or Government.
In case he enlisted in any organization mustered into said service as a Louisiana organization, or in case at the date of his enlistment he resided in the State of Louisiana, he shall have resided in this State for at least five years prior to his application for a pension. In case he resided elsewhere than in this State, and enlisted in an organization not mustered in from Louisiana, or in the navy of the Confederate States, he shall have resided in this State for at least fifteen years prior to his application for such pension. A like pension shall be granted to the widow, who shall not have married again, in indigent circumstances, of any soldier or sailor who, having entered the service of the Confederate States during the late Civil War, lost his life prior to June 1, 1865; from wounds received, or disease con- tracted in such service; provided that if her deceased husband served in an organization mustered in from Louisiana, or if he resided in Louisiana at the date of his enlistment, and had so recided for one year prior thereto, then, in order that such widow shall be entitled to the pension as herein provided, she shall have resided in this State for at least five years prior to her application therefor; and if her deceased husband enlisted elsewhere than in Louisiana, and served in an organization not mustered in from Louisiana, such widow shall, in order to entitle her to the pension as herein provided, have resided in this State for not less than fifteen years prior to her application for such pension; provided, further, that pensions, whether to veterans or to widows, shall be allowed only from the date of application under this article, and the total appropriations for all pensions shall not exceed fifty thousand dollars in any one year.
Art. 304. 'The General Assembly shall appropriate not less than twelve hundred dollars per annum for the maintenance in New
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Orleans of a Memorial Hall or repository for the collection and pres- ervation of relies and mementoes of the late Civil War, and of other objeets of interest, and shall be authorized to make suitable appro- priations for the erection of monuments and markers on the battle- fields of the country, commemorative of the services, upon such fields, of Louisiana soldiers and commands.
Agriculture and Immigration.
Art. 305. The existing Bureau of Agriculture and Immigration shall hereafter be known as the Louisiana State Board of Agriculture and Immigration, and shall be recognized as an integral part of the State Government.
Art. 306. The Louisiana State Board of Agriculture and Immigra- tion shall have the control and direction of all State agricultural or- ganizations and State Farmers' Institutes, and shall adopt the need- ful measures for the securement of proper immigration
It shall also encourage State, district and parish fairs and local agricultural organizations, and shall maintain effective control of the manufacture or sale, in this State, of fertilizers and Paris green for the suppression of adulteration and fraud therein. It shall per- form such other duties and shall have such other powers as shall be prescribed by the General Assembly.
Art. 307. The said Board of Agriculture and Immigration shall consist of one member from each Congressional district, appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, from men engaged in the leading agricultural interests of the State : the said members to hold their offlees for six years, or until their successors are appointed. In the first appointment, which shall be made within sixty days after the adjournment of this convention, the members from the first and fourth districts shall be appointed for two years; those from the second and fifth districts for four years; and those from the third and sixth districts for six years. The Gov- ernor of the State, the Commissioner of Agriculture and Immigra- tion, the President of the State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, the Vice-President of the Board of Supervisors of the State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, and the Director of the State experimental stations are and shall be ex-officio members of this Board. The members of said Board sball serve without compensation, except actual expenses incurred in at- tending the meetings.
Art. 308. The paramount importance of our agricultural interests. and the necessity of peopling with a desirable population the vast unoccupied areas of our fertile lands, require an enlargement of the duties and an expansion of the scope of the work of this Board, for which the General Assembly shall enact such laws as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this article,
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City of New Orleans.
Art. 309. There shall be seven Assessors in the city of New Or- leans, who shall together compose the Board of Assessors for the parish of Orleans. One shall be appointed from each municipal district of the city of New Orleans, and they shall be residents of the districts from which they are appointed.
There shall be seven State Tax Collectors for the city of New Or - leans. One shall be appointed from each municipal distriet. They shall be residents of the distriets from which they are appointed, and they shall maintain offices in their respective districts. The said As- sessors and State Tax Collectors shall be appointed by the Gov- ernor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate for the term of four years.
The first appointments under this Constitution of said officers shall be after the general election in 1900.
Art. 310. There shall be one coroner for the parish of Orleans, who shall be elected for four years by the qualified electors of said parish, and whose duties shall be fixed by law. He shall be ex-of- ficio city physician of the city of New Orleans, and shall receive an annual salary of forty-eight hundred dollars. He shall be a practic- ing physician of said city and a graduate of the medical department of some university of recognized standing. lle shall appoint two assistants, having the same qualifications as himself; one at an an - nual salary of twenty-six hundred dollars and one at an annual salary of six hundred dollars.
Art. 311. The assistant whose salary is hereby fixed at six hun- dred dollars shall be a resident of the Fifth district of the parish or city of New Orleans and shall have his office in said district.
'The assistant whose salary is fixed at twenty-six hundred dollars shall be a resident of that portion of the city of New Orleans lying on the left bank of the Mississippi river.
The provision shall take effect from and after the next general election. The salaries of the coroner and his assistants shall be paid by the city of New Orleans.
Art. 312. Any person whose property has been appropriated within twelve months prior to the adoption of this Constitution, or whose property may hereafter be appropriated by the Orleans Levee Board for levee purposes, shall have a right of action against said board in any court of competent jurisdiction for the value of said property, and whatever judgment may be finally rendered against the Board shall be paid ont of the taxes collected by it in the same manner as other disbursements are made; provided, that this shall not apply to batture property. nor to vacant property, where only a part thereof has been taken for levee purposes, and where the effect of the levee building would be to protect the remaining part of the same property ; nor to any property on any part of the river front. the administration and control of which is vested, for the purposes of commerce, either in the State or city anthorities, and on which improvements have been erected under grants from the city of New Orleans, or other authority, nor to the said improvements; pro-
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vided, that said Board shall have power to appropriate property subject to such servitude, for levee buildng, as under existing laws, without making such compensation in advance.
Art. 313. All surplus revenues of the city of New Orleans. from the year 1879 to the year 1895, both inclusive, except the surplus revenue dedicated to permanent publie improvement, and to schools, by Act No. 110 of 1890, derived from the one per cent. tax levied under said aet, shall be turned over by the city to the Board of Liq- uidation of the City Debt. Said Board shall redeem all claims evi- deneed by financial ordinance or judgment against the city of New Orleans for debts arising and incurred between the years 1879 to 1895, both inclusive, payment of which has not heretofore been pro- vided for out of the reserve and permanent publie improvement funds of the city for the years 1893 to 1898, both inclusive, excepting therefrom the claims of school teachers for the years 1880 to 1884, payment of which has been authorized by Act No. 110 of 1890 and is now being provided for by the city, said claims or judgments to be purebased on the most reasonable terms offered by ereditors within the period of eighteen months succeeding the date of the adoption of this Constitution, the said Board to invite proposals by publie advertisements, to be made bi-monthly ; provided, any and all bids may be rejected. For the purpose of such redemption the city of New Orleans, through the Board of Liquidation, is hereby au- thorized to issue bonds to the extent of two hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars, bearing four per cent. per annum interest, payable semi- annually in such denominations as may be by said board determined upon, maturing in fifty years from the date of issue, but subject to redemption by said board in the reverse order of their issue at any time after sixty days' notice.
Said board is hereby authorized in its diseretion to exchange said bonds for said claims against the city, evidenced by financial ordi- nances or judgments, or to sell said bonds, and with the proceeds thereof purchase said claims; provided, that no sale of said bonds shall be made for less than par.
Said Board of Liquidation shall, at any time it may be necessary. sell a sufficient number of the Constitutional Bonds of the city of New Orleans, now unsold, of the issue provided for by Aet 110 of the General Assembly for the year 1890, and by the amendment to the Constitution of the State submitted to the people by said act and adopted at the general election in 1892, to provide for the pay - ment of interest or principal of the bonds hereby authorized to be issued. Whenever the said Board of Liquidation shall have received from the surplus revenues of the city of New Orleans, as provided herein, sufficient funds to meet the issue of bonds hereby authorized in principal and interest, the remainder of the surplus revenues so turned over to the said board shall revert to the city.
Art. 314. The provisions of the amendment embodied in joint resolution of the General Assembly No. 110, approved July 8, 1890, and thereafter ratified by the people and made part of the Constitu - tion, are recognized as of full force and effect ; the authority eon- ferred upon the city of New Orleans and upon the Board of Liquida-
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tion of the City Debt, with respect to the issuance of constitutional bonds of the city of New Orleans, and to the levy and collection of a special ad valorem tax of one per cent. upon all the taxable prop- erty, real, personal and mixed, in said city, for the payment of said bonds, in principal and interest, and with respect to the manner of such payment, is confirmed, as are also all rights vested by said amendment in the present and future holders of said bonds, whether issued or to be issued; and no limitations imposed by other provi- sions of this Constitution upon the authority of the city of New Or- leans, shall be held to include, apply to or affect, the taxing power herein contemplated and confirmed.
Art. 315. The city of New Orleans is hereby authorized and re- quired to examine into and assume payment of the obligations of the Board of Directors of the Public Schools of the parish of Or- leans for unpaid salaries of school teachers and portresses and of other legitimate claims against said School Board, for the years 1882, 1883 and 1884, and for unpaid salaries of school teachers and portresses for the years 1885, 1886 and 1887, now in the hands of the original owners, who have in no wise parted with their rights of ownership, or pledged the same, as may be found by said city to be equitably due by said Board. All claims to be examined into and assumed by the city of New Orleans under this article shall be pre- sented to and filed with the City Council of said city within ninety days after the adoption of this Constitution, and not thereafter.
Art. 316. The City Council shall issue certificates of indebtedness to the owners of said claims, when examined and found to be equitably due, and all such certificates shall be paid by the Board of Liquida- tion. If any of the claims aforesaid be rejected by the said City Council, the decision thereon may be reviewed by any court of com- petent jurisdiction, and the judgment of the court thereon shall, if in favor of the claimant, be likewise paid by the Board of Liquidation.
Art. 317. The funds requisite to pay said claims shall be provided by said Board of Liquidation, by the sale of a sufficient number of the constitutional bonds of the city of New Orleans of the issue pro- vided for by Aet No. 110 of the General Assembly for the year1890, and by the amendment of the Constitution of the State submitted to the people by said aet and adopted at the general election in 1892.
Art. 318. The General Assembly of the State of Louisiana is hereby authorized to amend Act No. 110 of 1890, confirmed by C'on- stitutional amendment of 1892, providing for the refunding of the city debt so far only as to provide that in the further issue of bonds under said act within the limit of ten million dollars, provided for in said aet, the city of New Orleans through the Board of Liquida- tion, shall have authority to issue registered bonds, and to authorize the exchange of registered bonds for equal amounts of out- standing four per cent. coupon bonds of the city of New Orleans, issued under authority of said act, having the same time to run and at the same rate of interest, and provide for their registration and payment of interest. All registered bonds issued by the city of New Orleans under the amended act as herein provided shall have the same guarantees, and the holders of said bonds shall have the
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same privileges, as are now secured by said act to the holders of - coupon bonds. Said registered bonds shall be denominated Regis- tered Constitutional Bonds of the City of New Orleans, Authorized by Act No. 110 of 1890, and amendment thereto.
Art. 319. The electors of the city of New Orleans, and of any political corporation which may be established within the territory now, or which may hereafter be, embraced within the corporate limits of said city, shall have the right to choose the public officers, who shall be charged with the exercise of the police power and with the administration of the affairs of said corporation in whole or in part.
Art. 320. This article shall not apply to the Board of Liquidation of the City Debt, nor shall it be construed as prohibiting the estab- lishment of Boards or Commissions, the members of which are elected by the Conneil or appointed by the Mayor with the consent of the Council. As to all other existing Boards or Commissions affected by it, said article shall take effect from and after the first municipal election which shall be held in the city of New Orleans after the adoption of this Constitution; provided that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent the Legislature from creating Boards or Commissions, whose powers shall extend in and beyond the parish of Orleans, or as affecting present Boards of that character, or the Board of Directors of the public schools; pro- vided, that hereafter, in creating any Board with such powers, or in filling vacancies therein, at least two-thirds of the members thereof shall be from the city of New Orleans, and elected by the people or Commeil thereof, or appointed by the Mayor as hereinabove pro- vided.
AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION.
Art. 321. Propositions for the amendment of this Constitution may be made by the General Assembly at any session thereof, and if two-thirds of all the members elected to each honse shall conenr therein, after such proposed amendments have been read in such respective houses on three separate days, such proposed amendment or amendments, together with the yeas and nays thereon, shall be entered on the Journal, and the Secretary of State shall eanse the same to be published in two newspapers published in the parish of Orleans and in one paper in each other parish of the State in which a newspaper is published, for two months preceding an election for Representatives in the Legislature or in Congress, to be designated bv the Legislature, at which time the said amendment or amend- ments shall be submitted to the electors for their approval or rejce- tion; and if a majority voting on said amendment or amendments shall approve and ratify the same, then sneh amendment or amend- ments so approved and ratified shall become a part of the Constitution. When more than one amendment shall be submitted at the same time, they shall be so submitted as to enable the electors to vote on each amendment separately. The result of said election shall be made known by the proclamation of the Governor.
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CODE OF CRIMINAL LAW, PROCEDURE AND CORRECTION.
Art. 322. It shall be the duty of the Governor to appoint a com- mission to prepare drafts of a Code of Criminal Law, of a Code of Criminal Procedure, and of a Code of Criminal Correction for this State. The drafts of such codes, when prepared, shall be promptly printed, and copies thereof shall be sent to each judge of this State, and to such other persons in or out of this State as the Governor may think proper, with the request from him for suggestions and criticisms. The Governor shall submit to the General Assembly of this State, first convened, after the lapse of one year from the distri- bution of the printed copies of said drafts as above, the said drafts, together with the report of the Commission, and with a message from himself in which he shall embody and condense cach sugges- tion he shall deem of use. And the General Assembly shall have power to adopt said Codes, with such amendments as they may deem advisable, by vote in each House, without complying with the formalities of readings and the other formalities required by the Constitution in the passage of statutes. No promulgation of said code shall be required beyond its publication in book form after same shall have become a law.
Art. 323. All amendments proposed in the General Assembly shall be proposed within the first thirty days after its convening, and no amendment shall be proposed after the lapse of that time. All amendments shall be referred to a joint committee of both Houses, consisting of two members from each House, with the Attorney General as ex-officio chairman. Only such amendments shall be voted on as shall be favorably reported by this committee, and each amendment shall be voted on separately.
Art. 324. The Commission to prepare said drafts shall be com- posed of three lawyers of this State. The compensation of said Commissioners shall be fixed by the General Assembly. Said com- pensation to be payable only when the drafts have been prepared and submitted to the Governor; but the other expenses of the Con- mission shall be promptly paid as incurred, and the Governor is hereby warranted to draw on the General Fund for said compensa- tion, and for all the expenses of printing the said drafts, and for the other expenses incurred under this act.
Schedule.
Art. 325. That no inconvenience may arise from the adoption of this Constitution, and in order to carry this Constitution mto complete operation, it is hereby declared ;
First-That all laws in force in this State. at the time of the adop- tion of this Constitution, not inconsistent therewith, and constitu- tional when enacted, shall remain in full force and effect anti! altered or repealed by the General Assembly. or until they expire by their own Jimitation. All ordinances passed and ratitied by this Convention and appended to the official original draft of the Constitution delivered to the Secretary of State, shall have the
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same force and effect as if included in, and constituting a part of this Constitution.
Second-All writs, actions, causes of action, proceedings, prose- cutions and rights of individuals, or bodies corporate, and of the State, when not inconsistent with this Constitution, shall continue as valid and in full force and effect.
Third-The provisions of all laws, which are inconsistent with this Constitution, shall cease upon its adoption, except that all laws which are inconsistent with such provisions of this Constitution as require legislation to enforce them, shall remain in full force until such legislation is had.
Fourth-All recognizances, obligations and all other instruments entered into or executed before the adoption of this Constitution, to the State, or to any parish, city, municipality, board, or other public corporation therein, and all fines, taxes. penalties, forfeit- nres and rights, due, owing or accruing to the State of Louisiana, or to any parish, city, municipality, board , or other public corpora- tion therein, under the Constitution and laws heretofore in force, and all writs, prosecutions, actions and proceedings except as herein otherwise provided shall continne and remain unaffected by the adoption of this Constitution. All indictments and informations which shall have been found or filed, or may hereafter be found or filed for any crime or offense committed before the adoption of this Constitution, may be prosecuted as if no change had been made, except as herein otherwise provided.
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