LOUISIANA. 



LUTHERANS. 



509 



Parish Debts. The total debt of Louisiana 

 parishes in 1890 was $156.915, a decrease of $951,- 

 036 in ten years. The bonded debt is $46,500, 

 and the floating debt $84,136. Of the 59 parishes, 

 all but 16 are without debt. 



Levees. The report of the Board of State 

 Engineers for the two years ending April 20, 

 1890, shows that the levee work done by the 

 State during the period embraces the building 

 of 110 miles of new levees and the raising and 

 strengthening of 126 miles of old ones. The 

 work has been done under 100 contracts at 

 prices ranging from 11 to 19 cents a cubic yard, 

 the average price being 15'6 cents. The 'total 

 cost of the levee work undertaken by the State 

 since April 20, 1888, is estimated at $908,402.55, 

 and involves 5,827,813 cubic yards of earthwork. 

 Some of the work has been interrupted by high 

 water, but not exceeding 5 per cent, of it re- 

 mains incomplete. During the same period the 

 Fifth Levee District has raised and enlarged its , 

 levees and built new works, involving about 834,- 

 335 cubic yards of earthwork at a cost of about 

 $125,180.27. The United States has also built 

 and enlarged levees in the Fifth Louisiana Levee 

 District, amounting to over 750,000 cubic yards 

 at a cost of nearly $145,000, besides doing a 

 large amount of levee work in Desha and Chicot 

 Counties, Ark., on which the State is largely de- 

 pendent for protection. The Tensas Basin Levee 

 District had also done levee work, which is most- 

 ly in Arkansas, amounting altogether to about 

 204,000 cubic yards of earthwork at a cost of 

 nearly $38,000. 



Floods. The latter part of February marked 

 the beginning of a long-continued and disastrous 

 overflow in the lower Mississippi valley. The 

 waters of the Mississippi and Red rivers and a 

 few tributary streams reached a height in some 

 places above any former records, breaking 

 through the levees and flooding the lowlands on 

 either side for miles. Hundreds of people were 

 driven from their homes, their cattle drowned, 

 their crops of sugar-cane ruined, and their sup- 

 plies of food destroyed. Crevasses or breaks in 

 the levees were recorded nearly every day, from 

 Feb. 24 to the middle of May. Among the largest 

 and most destructive of these breaks were those 

 at Nita plantation in St. James Parish, at Raleigh 

 or Pecan Grove in East Carroll, at Myrtle Grove 

 in Plaquemines, atSkipwith's Landings, at Upper 

 Morganza in Pointe Coupee, and at Lobdell in 

 West Baton Rouge. The tracks of the Illinois 

 Central Railroad were submerged, and it was un- 

 able to run its trains into New Orleans for more 

 than a month. The traffic of the Texas Pacific 

 and Southern Pacific Railroads was also seriously 

 interrupted. 



According to a report of the Board of State 

 Engineers, made to the Legislature on May 31, 

 the aggregate width of crevasses caused by the 

 flood was 3.78 miles on the Mississippi and Old 

 rivers, 2'41 miles on the Red river, and 2*46 miles 

 on the Atchafalaya, Lafourche, and Des Glaizes 

 rivers, a total of 8'6 miles. 



During the latter part of May the waters re- 

 ceded, and by June 1 agricultural work could be 

 resumed in most places. The sugar plantations 

 suffered the greatest damage, while the cotton 

 planters, by replanting, were generally able to se- 

 cure the usual crop. 



Political. The only general election held in 

 the State this year was for members of Congress 

 in November. Six Democratic candidates were 

 elected. 



LUTHERANS. The following is a summary 

 of the statistics of the Evangelical Lutheran 

 Church in America for 1890, as they are given 

 in the " Lutheran Church Annual " : The Church 

 numbers 57 synods, 4,774 clergymen, 8,160 con- 

 gregations, 1,188,993 communicant members, 6,- 

 500,000 baptized members, 3,573 Sunday-schools, 

 353,804 pupils, 2,080 parochial schools, 958 teach- 

 ers, and 110.048 pupils. The institutions of 

 learning number 23 theological seminaries, hav- 

 ing property valued at $1,096,778, endowment 

 amounting to $441,894 (11 not reporting), hav- 

 ing 72,505 volumes in their libraries, employing 

 77 professors, and having 955 students; 28 col- 

 leges, having property valued at $1,452,351, en- 

 dowment amounting to $648,500 (13 not report- 

 ing any endowment, being supported by annual 

 gifts), having 95,790 volumes in their libraries, 

 employing 216 professors, having 3,852 students, 

 of whom 800 have the ministry in view ; 37 

 academies, having property valued at $443,500 

 (10 not reporting), 12,930 volumes in their 

 libraries, employing 157 instructors, and having 

 2,743 students; 12 ladies' seminaries, having 

 property valued at $242,500, having 6,425 vol- 

 umes in their libraries, employing 95 instructors, 

 and having 998 pupils. Besides these there are 

 33 orphans' homes, having property valued at 

 $759,070 and having 1,673 inmates; 30 homes 

 for the aged, homes for deaconesses, hospitals, 

 etc., having property valued at $1.241,000 and 

 having 877 inmates. There are published 140 

 church papers, of which 48 are English. 51 Ger- 

 man, 16 Swedish, 15 Norwegian, 4 Danish, 3 Fin- 

 nish, 2 Icelandic, and 2 French. 



The Lutheran Church in America is divided 

 into synods, and these again into four general 

 bodies, each consisting of a number of district 

 synods. The Synodical Conference was the only 

 general body that held a convention during the 

 year. 



The Synodical Conference, organized in 1872, 

 is an almost exclusively German body, and em- 

 braces 4 district synods numbering 1,365 minis- 

 ters, 1,910 congregations, 396,522 communicant 

 members, 178 Sunday-schools, 11,133 pupils, 

 1,306 parochial schools, 757 teachers and 77,353 

 pupils, 4 theological seminaries, 5 colleges, 4 

 academies, and 9 orphans' homes and hospitals. 

 The thirteenth convention was held in St. John's 

 Evangelical Lutheran Church, St. Paul, Minn., 

 Aug. 13-19, 1890. The opening sermon was de- 

 livered by the president, the Rev. John Bading, 

 of Milwaukee, Wis., who was re-elected presi- 

 dent for the fifth time. He has been serving 

 his synod in this official capacity since 1882. 

 There was a full attendance of delegates from 

 the district synods. The General English Con- 

 ference of Missouri and other States was for- 

 mally received as a district synod. The morn- 

 ing sessions of the convention, and parts of the 

 afternoon sessions, were devoted to the discus- 

 sion of theses on the subject of " Government." 

 Much time was also devoted to consideration of 

 the reports of the boards of missions. The mis- 

 sionary operations of this body are confined to 

 the work of home missions in the West, tho 



