LOUISIANA. 



483 



The succeeding table shows the comparative 

 value of receipts : 



This is the share of Louisiana in handling the 

 crop of 1879-'80, which reached in the aggre- 

 gate 5,761,252 bales. 



The rice-crop has decreased from 154,518 

 barrels in 1878-79 to 100,169 barrels in 1879- 

 '80. Low water and storms alike proved dis- 

 astrous. There is growing opposition to this 

 culture. The rice-flumes too often prove the 

 little rift which ends in the breakage of the 

 levee and ensuing crevasses. Besides, the irri- 

 gation of the rice-fields is unwholesome. The 

 malarial fever, not fatal but painful, which 

 afflicted lower Louisiana during the autumn of 

 1880, is popularly attributed to this cause. The 

 record of the foreign commerce of New Orleans 

 shows that imports and exports have expanded 

 nearly fifty per cent. 



The value of the coffee imported was $3,- 

 991,308, with an increase of 30,666,469 pounds. 



The progress of the grain-trade movement 

 by the Mississippi route, in spite of low water 

 and insufficient tonnage, proves the natural 

 advantages of river transportation for the sur- 

 plus products of the West. The exports of 

 grain were as follows : 



The barge system is found to be the most 

 economical method of transportation. The ca- 

 pacity of a barge varies from 18,000 bushels to 

 100,000. The hull of the steamer Great Re- 

 public^ has been transformed into a barge of 

 that dimension. From five to ten barges are 

 towed at once. The run from St. Louis to 

 New Orleans occupies about nine days. The 

 average cost of transportation is about seven 

 and one half cents a bushel. A stationary ele- 

 vator was erected in New Orleans in 1868, with 

 a capacity to transfer 30,000 bushels daily. 

 There are five floating elevators, with a com- 



bined capacity of 25,000 bushels daily. Be- 

 sides these, there are others in process of con- 

 struction. The floating elevators have proved 

 very successful. The ships anchor in the stream, 

 thus avoiding all wharfage dues, while an ele- 

 vator on each side empties the contents of the 

 barges into her hold, thus economizing storage 

 dues. The charge for transferring is one half 

 cent a bushel. The freight to Liverpool is 

 about eight pence. The insurance is low. 

 Four companies in New Orleans formed them- 

 selves into a syndicate for the purpose of in- 

 suring entire cargoes, dividing risks and profits. 

 During the year the syndicate has not lost a 



Besides the barge system, other projects are 

 begun in regard to this trade. The Illinois 

 Central Railroad Company are constructing an 

 elevator and warehouse at Cairo, with a capa- 

 city of 600,000 bushels. Another elevator is 

 being built at Belmont. These erections will 

 allow easier transport down the Mississippi, as 

 the barges will escape the numerous obstruc- 

 tions to navigation between St. Louis and Cairo. 

 It has been demonstrated that no damage re- 

 sults to grain conveyed to Europe through 

 Southern waters. On the contrary, it is the 

 easier, cheaper, and safer route. During this 

 year 135 sailing-vessels and 183 steamers, 318 

 vessels in all, cleared from the port of New 

 Orleans, loaded wholly or chiefly with grain. 



It has been contemplated to employ the 

 Great Eastern in this trade. There is no ob- 

 stacle to prevent her safe entrance to the har- 

 bor of New Orleans at any time. The jetties 

 are an assured and permanent success. The 

 walls extend about two and one eighth miles 

 into the Gulf, one thousand feet apart. They 

 are strongly built, and capped with a concrete 

 as hard as stone. The action of the waves has 

 thrown in sand and sediment outside the walls, 

 forming a natural and permanent embankment, 

 protecting them completely from injury by the 

 water. An official report at the close of De- 

 cember shows that the condition of the jetties 

 is excellent. No bar is forming in front, or any- 

 where in the vicinity. As required by law, 

 there is a channel two hundred feet wide at the 

 bottom, whose least depth is twenty-six feet, 

 while its central depth is over thirty feet. 



What is specially needed in Louisiana is small 

 industries, which will give remunerative em- 

 ployment the year round. There has been some 

 progress in manufactures. The census reports 

 a capital of $4,261,790 employed in boot and 

 shoe manufacture, exclusive of custom- work : 



Foundries and machinery $1,005,200 



Moss-factories 153,000 



Cotton-seed oil-factories 2,742,000 



Saddlery 356,651 



Slaughtering animals 1,793.560 



Refining sugars 1,400,000 



Tobacco 432,085 



Eice-mills 1,505.000 



Planing and lumber mills 267,280 



Flour and grist mills 830,500 



Cigars 512,862 



Car-building 250,000 



Artificial ice 158,000 



Box-factories 151,128 



