near its mouth to the headwaters, and to construct and protect such public works and improvements as may be ordered by Congress under the provisions of said act.

Art. 216. The General Assembly shall have power, with the concurrence of an adjacent State or States, to create levee districts composed of territory partly in this State and partly in such adjacent State or States, and the levee commissioners for such district or districts shall possess all the powers provided by article 214 of this Constitution.

Art. 217. Corporations, companies or associations organized or domiciled out of this State, but doing business herein, may be licensed by a mode different from that provided for home corporations or companies: Provided, Said different mode of license shall be uniform, upon a graduated system, as to all such corporations, companies or associations that transact the same kind of business.

Art. 218. All the articles and provisions of this Constitution regulating and relating to the collection of State taxes and tax sales shall also apply to and regulate the collection of parish, district and municipal taxes.

HOMESTEADS AND EXEMPTIONS.

Art. 219. There shall be exempt from seizure and sale by any process whatever, except as herein provided, the "homesteads" bona fide owned by the debtor and occupied by him, consisting of lands, buildings and appurtenances, whether rural or urban; of every head of a family, or person having a mother or father, a person or persons dependent on him or her for support; also, one work-horse, one wagon or cart, one yoke of oxen, two cows and calves, twenty-five head of hogs, or one thousand pounds of bacon or its equivalent in pork, whether these exempted objects be attached to a homestead or not, and on a farm the necessary quantity of corn and fodder for the current year, and the necessary farming implements to the value of two thousand dollars.

Provided, That in case the homestead exceeds two thousand dollars in value the beneficiary shall be entitled to that amount in case a sale of the homestead under any legal process realizes more than that sum.

No husband shall have the benefit of a homestead whose wife owns and is in the actual enjoyment of property or means to the amount of two thousand dollars.

Such exemptions to be valid shall be set apart and registered as shall be provided by law. The benefit of this provision may be claimed by the surviving spouse or minor child or children of a deceased beneficiary if in indigent circumstances.

Art. 220. Laws shall be passed as early as practicable for the setting apart, valuation and registration of property claimed as a homestead. Rights to homesteads or exemptions under laws or contracts, or for debts existing at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall not be impaired, repealed or affected by any provision of this Constitution or any laws passed in pursuance thereof. No court or ministerial officer of this State shall ever have jurisdiction or authority to enforce any judg ment, execution or decree against the property set apart for a homestead, including such improvements as may be made thereon from time to time: Provided, The property herein declared to be exempt shall not exceed in value two thousand dollars. This exemption shall not apply to the following cases, to wit:

For the purchase-price of said property or any part thereof. 2. For labor and material furnished for building, repairing or improving homesteads.

3. For liabilities incurred by any public officer or fiduciary or any attorney at law for money collected or received on deposit. 4. For lawful claims for taxes or assessments.

Art. 221. The owner of a homestead shall at any time have the right to supplement his exemption by adding to an amount already set apart which is less than the whole amount of exemp tion herein allowed, sufficient to make his homestead and exemp tion equal to the whole amount allowed by this Constitution.

Art. 222. The homestead shall not be susceptible of mortgage, except for the purchase-price, labor and material furnished for the building, repairing or improving homestead; nor shall any renunciation or waiver of homestead rights or exemptions be valid. The right to sell any property which shall be recorded as a homestead shall be preserved, but no sale shall destroy or impair any rights of creditors therein.

Art. 223. Equitable laws shall be passed for the protection of creditors against the fraudulent claims of debtors, for the punishment of fraud and for reaching property and funds of the debtor concealed from the creditor.

PUBLIC EDUCATION.

Art. 224. There shall be free public schools established by the General Assembly throughout the State for the education of all the children of the State between the ages of six and eighteen years; and the General Assembly shall provide for their establishment, maintenance and support by taxation or otherwise. And all moneys so raised, except the poll tax, shall be distributed to each parish in proportion to the number of children between the ages of six and eighteen years.

Art. 225. There shall be elected by the qualified electors of the State a Superintendent of Public Education, who shall hold his office for the term of four years, and until his successor is qualified. His duties shall be prescribed by law, and he shall receive an annual salary of two thousand dollars. The aggregate annual expenses of his office, including his salary, shall not exceed the sum of three thousand dollars. The General Assembly shall provide for the appointment of parish boards of public education for the different parishes.

The parish boards may appoint a parish superintendent of public schools in their respective parishes, who shall be ex officio secretary of the parish board, and whose salary for his double functions shall not exceed two hundred dollars annually, except that in the parish of Orleans the salary of the parish superintendent shall be fixed by the General Assembly, to be paid out of the public school fund accruing to each parish respectively.

Art. 226. The general exercises in the public schools shall be conducted in the English language and the elementary branches taught therein: Provide, That these elementary branches may also be taught in the French language in those parishes in the State or localities in said parishes where the French language predominates, if no additional expense is incurred thereby.

Art. 227. The funds derived from the collection of the polltax shall be applied exclusively to the maintenance of the public schools as organized under this Constitution, and shall be applied exclusively to the support of the public schools in the parish in which the same shall be collected, and shall be accounted for and paid by the collecting officers directly to the competent school authorities of each parish.

Art. 228. No funds raised for the support of the public schools of the State shall be appropriated to or used for the support of any sectarian schools.

Art. 229. The school funds of this State shall consist of:

1. The proceeds of taxation for school purposes, as provided in this Constitution.

2. The interest on the proceeds of all public lands heretofore granted by the United States for the use and support of the public schools.

3. Of lands and other property which may hereafter be bequeathed, granted or donated to the State, or generally for school purposes.

4. All funds or property, other than unimproved lands, bequeathed or granted to the State, not designated for other purposes.

5. The proceeds of vacant estates falling under the law to the State of Louisiana.

The Legislature may appropriate to the same fund the proceeds, in whole or in part, of public lands not designated for any other purpose, and shall provide that every parish may levy a tax for the public schools therein, which shall not exceed the State tax: Provided, That with such tax the whole amount of parish taxes shall not exceed the limits of parish taxation fixed by this Constitution.

CONCERNING A STATE UNIVERSITY.

Art. 230. The University of Louisiana, as at present established and located at New Orleans, is hereby recognized in its three departments, to wit: The law, the medical and the academical departments, to be governed and controlled by appropri ate faculties.

The General Assembly shall, from time to time, make such provision for the proper government, maintenance and support of said State University of Louisiana, and all the departments thereof, as the public necessities and well-being of the people of the State of Louisiana may require, not to exceed ten thousand dollars annually.

The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, now established and located in the city of Baton Rouge, is hereby recognized, and all revenues derived and to be derived from the sales of land or land script, donated by the

United States to the State of Louisiana, for the use of a seminary of learning and mechanical and agricultural college, shall be appropriated exclusively to the maintenance and support of said University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, and the General Assembly shall from time to time make such additional appropriations for the maintenance and support of said Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College as the public necessities and the well-being of the people of the State of Louisiana may require, not to exceed ten thousand dollars annually.

Art. 231. The General Assembly shall also establish in the city of New Orleans a university for the education of persons of color, provide for its proper government, and shall make an annual appropriation of not less than five thousand dollars nor more than ten thousand dollars for its maintenance and support. Art. 232. Women over twenty-one years of age shall be eligible to any office of control or management under the school laws of this State.

The Free School Fund, Seminary Fund and Agricultural and and Mechanical College Fund.

Art. 233. The debt due by the State to the free school fund is hereby declared to be the sum of one million one hundred and thirty thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven and 51-100 dollars in principal, and shall be placed on the books of the Auditor and Treasurer to the credit of the several townships entitled to the same; the said principal being the proceeds of the sales of lands heretofore granted by the United States for the use and support of free public schools, which amount shall be held by the State as a loan and shall be and remain a perpetual fund, on which the State shall pay an annual interest of four per cent from the first day of January, 1880, and that said interest shall be paid to the several townships in the State entitled to the same, in accordance with the act of Congress, No. 68, approved Febru ary 15, 1843; and the bonds of the State heretofore issued, belonging to said fund and sold under act of the General Assembly, No. 81, of 1872, are hereby declared null and void, and the General Assembly shall make no provision for their payment and may cause them to be destroyed.

The debt due by the State to the seminary fund is hereby declared to be one hundred and thirty-six thousand dollars,