5TO 



LOUISIANA. 



No qualification of any kind for suffrage or office, nor 

 any restraint upon the same, on account of race, color, 

 or previous condition, shall be made by law. 



The General Assembly shall establish in the city of 

 New Orleans a university for the education of persons 

 of color, provide for its proper government, and make 

 an annual appropriation of not less than five thousand 

 dollars for its maintenance and support, nor more than 

 ten thousand dollars. 



Women twenty-one years of age and upward shall 

 be eligible to any office of control or management un- 

 der the school laws of this State. 



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 desig- 

 nated 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 : provi- 

 ded, that with such tax the whole amount of parish 

 taxes shall not exceed the limits of parish taxation 

 fixed by this Constitution. 



The General Assembly may provide for the organi- 

 zation or establishment of a State Board of Education, 

 and of Parish Boards of Education ; provided, that 

 the members of said Boards shall serve without com- 

 pensation. 



The general exercises in the public schools shall be 

 conducted in the English language and the elementary 

 branches taught therein : providedj that these elemen- 

 tary branches may also be taught in the French lan- 

 guage in those parishes in the State or localities in 

 said parishes wnere the French language predomi- 

 nates, without incurring additional expense. 



The term of the State offices is four years. 

 The State capital is to be removed to Baton 

 Eouge. 



The general features of this Constitution 

 are similar to those of others. It was provi- 

 ded that the election should be held on the 

 first Tuesday in December, and at the same 

 time there should be chosen all the State 

 officers and members of the General Assem- 

 bly. The term of all such officers shall com- 

 mence on the second Monday in January, 

 1880. The final adjournment took place on 

 July 23d, it being the eighty-first day of the 

 session. 



The subject of the resources of the State 

 was alluded to in the Convention. Although 

 the amount of the staples produced is large, 

 they are subject to a very serious discount for 

 the expense of the necessaries of life, which 

 are largely imported for consumption. Thus 

 it may prove that a free State in which the 

 agriculture is devoted to such staples as cot- 

 ton, sugar, and tobacco is not so rich as one in 

 which the cereals and kindred crops are culti- 

 vated. From a statement made in the Con- 

 vention it appears that the State assessment 

 in 1877-78 was about $177,000,000, of which 

 the parish of Orleans represents $109,000,000, 



sugar parishes (sixteen in number) $26,700,- 

 000, thirty-six cotton parishes $33,400,000, and 

 five parishes (part cotton and part sugar) $8,- 

 250,000. The cotton parishes represent a pro- 

 duction of about $29,000,000; sugar parishes, 

 $19,000,000. The position of the State in 1860 

 was: Assessed values, $420,000,000; liabili- 

 ties, outside of property banks, $4,700,000. 

 After the war, December 31, 1865 : Assessed 

 values reduced to $200,000,000 ; liabilities, 

 outside of property banks, $5,780,000. Le- 

 vees all destroyed, plantations wrecked, every- 

 thing to be replaced and repaired. There is 

 no record of the cotton crop prior to 1872-'73 ; 

 but estimating on the basis of the total cotton 

 crop of the country, the pro rata of Louisiana 

 can not be put down in the year 1867-'68 at 

 over 300,000 bales ; crop of sugar same year, 

 37,645 hogsheads. Beginning in 1872-73, the 

 records show the following productions : Cot- 

 ton, 434,000 bales; sugar, 108,520 hogsheads; 

 gradually increasing year by year until in 

 1877-78 Louisiana occupied the third rank as 

 a cotton-producing State, the crop of cotton 

 being 645,000 bales ; sugar, 208,841 hogsheads 

 within 50,000 hogsheads of her average crop 

 before the war, and only surpassed by ten 

 crops in all her history as a sugar-producer. 

 During the same period her rice productions 

 increased from 52,206 barrels in 1872-'73 to 

 140,785 in 1877-78, and 157,770 in 1878-79. 

 Of the fruit crop, which has become an impor- 

 tant item in the exports, 30,000 barrels of 

 oranges passed over one route alone. In 1865 

 there were two small oil factories ; now there 

 are six, consuming 100,000 tons of seed, ex- 

 porting in 1877-'78 3,280,650 gallons of oil 

 and about 60,000 tons of cake, representing a 

 value, together, of over $3,000,000. There 

 are now two cotton factories, five sugar re- 

 fineries, soap and ice factories, representing 

 $2,000,000 all sprung up since the war. The 

 imports from the interior in 1877-78 were 

 $143,000,000, against $135,000,000 in 1876- 

 77. The exports during the same period were 

 $69,000,000 in 1876-77, against $84,000,000 

 in 1877-78. In 1877-78 Louisiana produced 

 quite $50,000,000 in cotton, sugar, molasses, 

 rice, and manufactures. 



The following summary shows the relative 

 proportion of direct taxes on real and personal 

 estate from the levy of 1877 (collected in 1878) 

 paid by the city of New Orleans, and that paid 

 by the country during 1878 and the first quar- 

 ter of 1879, as shown by the Auditor's re- 

 port: 



Parish of Orleans In 1878 $908,660 TO 



Parish of Orleans, first quarter of 1879 106,876 28 



Total parish of Orleans f 1,015.425 96 



Country parishes in 1878 189,72010 



Country parishes, first quarter of 1879 454,822 85 



Total country parishes $594,043 00 



Total for the' State 1,609,468 83 



In addition to the above, the licenses paid in 

 during 1878 were: 



