458 



LOUISIANA. 



amendment removes the ineligibility for a 

 second term that was imposed by the consti- 

 tution, upon any incumbent of the guberna- 

 torial office, and leaves the reelection of a 

 Governor to the good judgment of the 

 people. 



The finances of Louisiana are not in a pros- 

 perous condition, the State being burdened 

 with a heavy debt. The receipts into the 

 Treasury from all sources for the fiscal year 

 ending November 30, 1870, were $6,537,959; 

 while the total expenditures for the same 

 period amounted to $7,050,636. The probable 

 expenditures for the year 1871 are estimated 

 at $4,349,036. The amount of the State debt 

 is disputed. The following is an estimate by 

 the State Auditor : 



Bonds actually issued $22,560.233 22 



Miscellaneous indebtedness 867,533 96 



Outstanding warrants 1,300,311 81 



Outstanding certificates of indebtedness.. 293,655 62 

 Obligations of the State to issue bonds 



(about) 15,000,000 00 



Grand total $40,021,734 61 



In the State Penitentiary there are 354 con- 

 victs, of whom 342 are males, and 12 females. 

 In the department of convict-labor there are 

 200 looms, with the necessary machinery for 

 manufacturing cotton and woollen fabrics, and 

 the industry of the convicts has been attended 

 with the most encouraging results. The erec- 

 tion of a building in the court of the prison 

 has been recommended, the lower story of 

 which shall be used for bathing purposes, and 

 the upper story as a chapel. 



During no year since the late war have 

 greater efforts been made by the planters in 

 this State, or with more encouraging results, 

 in the cultivation of cotton, rice, sugar, etc. 

 Especially has there been a marked increase 

 in the production of rice during the past ten 

 years, which is shown in the following un- 

 official statement : 



The last rice crop was the largest ever grown 

 in the State ; and, should the cultivation of 

 rice continue to increase at the same rate it 

 has for the past few years, Louisiana will soon 

 surpass Georgia and the Carolinas in the pro- 

 duction of this most valuable article. The vast 

 extent of reclaimed marsh-lands that exist with- 

 iu. her borders can be successfully converted into 

 rice-fields, and thus give employment and sup- 

 port to her middling and poorer classes. The 

 varieties which are the most common are the 

 white Creole rice, which is probably the same 

 kind introduced in 1718 by the Company of 

 the "West ; the gold rice, planted in the parish 



of Plaquemines for the first time about the year 

 1857; and the white-bearded rice introduced 

 into this State a few years ago from South 

 Carolina. The gold seed has been cultivated 

 in South Carolina with success for nearly a 

 century, while the white-bearded rice was first 

 introduced into this country in the year 1842. 

 Another variety, obtained from Honduras, was 

 experimented upon the past season by a num- 

 ber of planters, which promises to equal in 

 quality the best Carolina rice. There are now 

 seven steam rice-mills in the rice-growing por- 

 tions of the State, and two in New Orleans, 

 which have been provided with the latest im- 

 provements requisite for the thorough cleaning 

 and polishing of rough rice. The past season 

 was also a highly-successful one in the result 

 of the sugar crops. Many of the old planta- 

 tions, which were ravaged during the war, have 

 been restored and are again highly productive. 

 There is still, however, a need of capital to 

 rebuild burned sugar-houses, and provide ma- 

 chinery and other necessaries for large crops. 

 The average produce of sugar is estimated at 

 about 1,350 pounds per acre, and of molasses 

 about 70 pounds. The increase in the produc- 

 tion of sugar of the past year over that of the 

 preceding was 4,401,719 pounds; while there 

 was a decrease of 357,651 gallons in the pro- 

 duction of molasses, the latter deficiency in- 

 dicating a greater richness in the cane. The 

 following is an exhibit of the crops of sugar by 

 hogsheads for twenty years : 



Years. Crops. 



1850-'51 241,303 



1851-'52 238,541 



1852-'53 381,931 



ia r >3-'54 449,324 



1854-'55 318,635 



1855-'56 231,497 



1856-'57 70,970 



1857-'58 279,697 



1858-'59 262,296 



1859-'60 221,840 



Years. Crops. 



1860-'61 228,753 



1861-'62 459,410 



1862-'63 87,231 



1863-'64 76,800 



1884-'65 9,800 



1865-'66 17,895 



1866-'67 39,000 



1867-'68 38,522 



1868-'69 84,256 



1869-'70 87,090 



Complete returns of the cotton crop had not 

 been made at the close of the year, but the 

 total yield in Louisiana for the past year was 

 estimated by the United States Commissioner of 

 Agriculture to be 495,000 bales. In every de- 

 partment of agriculture an urgent need of labor 

 has been felt, which want is increasing the 

 interest manifested in the question'- of the 

 importation of Chinese labor and immigra- 

 tion. 



The receipts of cotton at the port of New 

 Orleans for the year ending September 1, 1870, 

 were 1,208,000 bales, valued at $120,000,000, 

 against 841,216 bales for 1869, valued at $98,- 

 826,055 ; the receipts of rice amounted to 57,956 

 barrels. The gross receipts of produce from the 

 interior exceeded $200,000,000 in value, while 

 the receipts of manufactured articles from the 

 North amounted to $50,000,000. The exports 

 to foreign ports for the fiscal year ending June 

 30, 1870, amounted to $107,657,042, against 

 $75,883,790 for the previous year ; the imports 

 were valued at $14,993,754, against $11,775,553 

 for the previous year. The entire value of the 



