706 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (LOUISIANA.) 



committee offered resolutions declaring that " no 

 histories or other school-books which may treat 

 of questions involving the respective merits or de- 

 merits of the North or South should be taught 

 in Southern schools unless written by one in thor- 

 ough sympathy and affiliation with the South 

 and its people, and unless intended to be used 

 solely in Southern schools." 



Banks. The condition of the national banks 

 of Louisiana, outside of New Orleans, on July 15 

 was as follows: Loans and discounts, $4,926,132.78; 

 overdrafts, $992,755.40; stock securities, etc., $1,- 

 075,010.39; 5-per-cent. redemption fund with 

 Treasurer, $585,713.50; total resources, $9,361,780.- 

 85; capital stock paid in, $1,147,500; surplus 

 fund, $448,200; undivided profits, less expenses, 

 $575,859.03; dividends unpaid, $5,519; individual 

 deposits, $5,588,029.37; United States deposits, 

 $50,000; bills payable, $150,000; average reserve 

 held, 29.11 per cent. 



The Convict System. By the Constitution of 

 1898 the system of leasing convicts was done 

 away with, and at the expiration of existing con- 

 tracts they came wholly under the care of the 

 State. The Board of Penitentiary Commissioners 

 bought lands and erected buildings for the housing 

 and care of those convicts who work outside the 

 prison walls, and numbers of the able-bodied pris- 

 oners were set to work at raising cotton, food- 

 crops, beef-cattle, and hogs for the support of 

 the persons now undergoing confinement and hard 

 labor. The Legislature placed at the orders of 

 the board $200,000 for the inauguration of the 

 new system of State control. The total cash in- 

 come from the State's two plantations this first 

 year was $180,000. The board will also have 

 several thousand tons of hay, 40,000 bushels of 

 corn, and enough peas and potatoes to carry the 

 stock and men through the next crop year. The 

 mortality among Louisiana's convicts has been 

 reduced 50 per cent. 



Railroads. Authority to reduce rates has 

 been granted the roads in many instances, and 

 the conditions in transportation matters gener- 

 ally have been greatly improved. The work of 

 the commission has been effective, and after three 

 years of existence it finds itself comparatively 

 free from litigation and its orders are promptly 

 obeyed. 



The number of . formal questions heard and 

 decided by the board since its organization is 

 196. Every road in Louisiana has been inspected 

 and improvements suggested. There has been a 

 marked improvement in the cleanliness and com- 

 fort of local accommodation trains. 



In two years and five months the commission 

 ordered 1,050 changes in rates, the majority of 

 these changes being reductions. 



Products and Industries. By the report of 

 Secretary Hester it is seen that the consumption 

 of cotton in the mills of the State during the year 

 amounted to 16,527 bales, an increase of 107 bales. 

 The statistics of the Department of Agriculture 

 estimate the production of Louisiana at 260 

 pounds of lint-cotton to the acre. By an estimate 

 made in November by Latham, Alexander & Co., 

 from data received from correspondents in the 

 State, the total crop of Louisiana was placed at 

 755,000 bales, an increase over that of the year 

 preceding. 



The Rice Association of America was formed 

 at Crowley, Dec. 11. The objects are declared 

 to be to foster and promote the rice industry, also 

 " to find and secure markets for the sale of all 

 such rice products, to the best advantage of the 

 rice-grower and manufacturer, to encourage the 

 investment of capital in all rice enterprises." 



An oyster commission has been appointed, to 

 examine conditions and propose legislation for the 

 encouragement of the industry. When the bound- 

 ary-line of Mississippi is definitely fixed it ia 

 designed to afford such protection that the oyster 

 acreage will be increased and the facilities for 

 handling multiplied. A correspondent says: 

 " The lower coast ships annually 700,000 barrels 

 of oysters to New Orleans and other markets and, 

 with proper amendments to the existing restrict- 

 ive laws, this annual production of oysters could 

 be increased to 5,000,000 barrels, as the average 

 yield is 300 barrels to the acre." 



The preliminary census bulletin on manufac- 

 turing industries gives the following figures for 

 Louisiana: Number of establishments, 4,349; 

 capital, $113,039,564; wage-earners, 42,360; total 

 wages, $15,359,208; miscellaneous expenses, $7,- 

 996,692; cost of materials used, $83,161,444; value 

 of products, including custom work and repairing, 

 $121,099,924. 



For New Orleans the figures are: Number of 

 establishments, 1,524; capital, wage-earners, $46.- 

 035,331; average number, 19,663; total wages, 

 $7,541,710; miscellaneous expenses, $4,762,093; 

 cost of material used, $44,248,231 ; value of prod- 

 ucts, including custom work and repairing, $63,- 

 492,629. 



Southwestern Louisiana shares with southeast- 

 ern Texas the recently discovered oil-fields. A 

 despatch of Oct. 19 says: "Nearly all the opera- 

 tions in Calcasieu Parish have brought oil to 

 light, most of them at a depth of 250 or 500 feet,- 

 but the wells proved to be mere pockets that 

 spouted out what little oil they held in a few 

 hours. The real oil-vein has been struck at a 

 depth of 1,200 feet. The oil itself is somewhat 

 different from the Texan product, being browner 

 and containing more asphaltum. It is more like 

 the oil' from southern California. While these 

 facts are convincing, the old Louisiana trouble of 

 quicksands remains. 



New Orleans. By a decision of the Supreme 

 Court in November, the franchise of the Water- 

 works corporation was declared forfeited. In 

 1877 the water-supply franchise was owned by 

 the municipality; but the work had been so mis- 

 managed that the franchise was sold to a private 

 corporation for fifty years for what is said to 

 have been a grossly inadequate sum. The ground 

 on which the decision rests is the failure of the 

 company to comply with the conditions, in regard 

 to both the quality and quantity of water sup- 

 plied, and especially in the rates charged, which 

 since 1883 have been greatly in excess of the 

 franchise limit, the stipulation being that no more 

 should be charged than was paid to the city 

 March 31, 1877. 



Statistics of New Orleans of the Department of 

 Labor, September, 1900, show among many others 

 the following: 



Debt: Bonded, $14,293,490; floating, $263,225; 

 total, $14,556,715; net debt, $14,556,715. Legal 

 borrowing limit controlled by legislation. As- 

 sessed valuation of property: Real, $103,000,000; 

 personal, $38,000,000. Tax rate per $1,000: State, 

 $7; city, $22. 



The great floating steel dock, built near Balti- 

 more for the United States naval station at New 

 Orleans, was started on its journey to its destina- 

 tion about Oct. 1 15, in tow of several tugs, and 

 reached its place about Nov. 6. It will be used 

 to dock the great war-ships of the navy. The 

 cost of the dock was more than $800,000. It has 

 a lifting capacity of 20,000 tons. 



Lake Borgne Canal. The canal connecting 

 the Mississippi river with Lake Borgne was 



