LOUISIANA. 



517 



of Louisiana are still in a state of embarrass- 

 ment, and her resources have been greatly 

 diminished. The same conditions exist to a 

 still larger extent in her most important city. 

 Suits against the city of New Orleans, in the 

 United States court, have been decided ad- 

 versely, and the court has compelled the coun- 

 cil, by mandamus, to levy a tax for payment 

 of these judgments. The Constitution of 1879 

 limited the taxing power of the city to ten 

 mills. This was a measure of repudiation, and 

 it was overruled immediately afterward by a 

 decision of the Supreme Court of the State, re- 

 quiring the levy of a tax, over and above the 

 ten mills, of five mills to pay the interest on 

 its premium bonds. The present assessment 

 of taxable property reaches $103,177,249.71. 

 On this there is a tax of fifteen mills, to which 

 will be added a further tax of 16f mills, mak- 

 ing a total tax of 31| mills for 1882. On the 

 31st of December, 1881, the Administrator of 

 Public Accounts of the city computes its total 

 bonded and floating debt at $16,872,220.69. Of 

 this, $14, 473,301. 84 represents the bonded debt. 



The government of the State and of the 

 city, from 1860 to 1876, was in no particular 

 normal or responsible. There was during this 

 period, on the parf of the authorities, an eager 

 and irrepressible desire to borrow money, with- 

 out much reference to the object, and with no 

 care as to the means of payment. The fact 

 that in the civil commotions the accumulated 

 capital of the State, the moneyed and indus- 

 trial corporations, many of the virile popula- 

 tion, had been destroyed, was not estimated. 

 Nor were the conditions of general poverty 

 and distress considered of importance. 



The returns of the census for the last decade 

 show that Louisiana is occupied by two dis- 

 tinct races, which differ in complexion and, in 

 a great measure, in all other conditions that 

 affect men in society, historical traditions, as- 

 sociations, modes of life, habits, aspirations, 

 yet with perfect political equality. Time must 

 be allowed before the race not versed in the 

 art of government, either of self or the nation, 

 can fit itself for these responsibilities. Nor 

 can it be a surprise that important legislative 

 questions of State finance, intimately connected 

 with State honor, should be decided as if the 

 wise and just, for the time being, were in a 

 hopeless minority. 



This. year has been free from any continuance 

 of the exodus. The principal subjects of anx- 

 iety arose out of the vicissitudes of the climate. 

 In January the weather was unusually severe, 

 especially in Southern Louisiana. The pros- 

 pects of the orange-crop were destroyed. The 

 sugar-crop was much injured. It will not prob- 

 ably reach beyond half that of the previous 

 season. During the year ending September 9, 

 1881, 273,000,000 pounds of sugar were raised 

 in Louisiana, of which 174,644 hogsheads and 

 47,435 barrels reached the port of New Or- 

 leans, together with 272,962 barrels of molas- 

 ses. There are 1,144 sugar-houses in the State, 



871 of which employ steam, and 129 vacuum- 

 pans. The rice product to September 1st was 

 22,000 barrels of clean rice, against 31,000 for 

 the preceding year a production of 48,185,000 

 pounds of rice. This is one of the growing in- 

 dustries of a State which has over 70,000,000 

 acres of land fitted for rice-culture. The cotton- 

 crop for 1880-'81 reached 6,589,329 bales, of 

 which 1,586,000 were received in New Orleans. 

 Additional barge transportation on the Mis- 

 sissippi and the elevators at New Orleans have 

 been built to accommodate its growing grain- 

 trade, which has been as follows, in bushels: 



Shipped in 1879-'SO on 166 steamships and 188 sailing-vessels. 

 1S80-'81 on 228 " and 116 " 



The tobacco receipts reached 11,584 hogs- 

 heads, of which 9,527 were exported. The 

 cultivation of a species of tobacco of peculiar- 

 ly fine flavor, known as Perique, is gradually 

 dying out. The Perique tobacco-plant is in- 

 digenous and confined to a small district in St. 

 James Parish, three miles from the Mississippi 

 Eiver and about fifty-five miles above New 

 Orleans. It is a French settlement, wholly 

 given to this one culture. All efforts to pro- 

 duce it elsewhere have failed. The leaves are 

 plucked from the stem and never permitted to 

 dry. After four months of careful manipula- 

 tion it is fitted for market. No foreign sub- 

 stances are used in its preparation ; it owes its 

 flavor to its intrinsic qualities and to that par- 

 ticular soil. The press ued is of the most 

 primitive construction. The tobacco is made 

 up into rolls, or " carrots," of about four pounds 

 each. There are three grades, the finest of 

 which is consumed by the planters themselves ; 

 the next quality is employed by cigarette- 

 makers. The revenue paid on it is sixty-three 

 and a half cents a pound, in lieu of sixteen 

 cents on other tobaccos which are not stemmed 

 like Perique. In consequence of these exac- 

 tions the product is declining. Nineteen plant- 

 ers have abandoned it, and there are only six- 

 teen engaged in what was once a lucrative 

 business. A bill was introduced into Congress 

 permitting the transportation of Perique in 

 bond. It failed, probably from the small influ- 

 ence brought to bear in its favor. Unless some 

 similar measure revive it, Perique will soon be 

 a thing of the past. The last crop only reached 

 10,000 "carrots," or 40,000 pounds. The fos- 

 tering of small industries and the develop- 

 ment of many minor cultures, instead of the 

 absorption of all endeavor in the great staples, 

 would enhance the prosperity of Louisiana. 

 For instance, in the neighborhood of Natchi- 

 toches the truffle is indigenous, and might be- 

 come a source of profit. Madder grows luxu- 

 riantly. Cochineal-culture might well be made 

 profitable where the aloe flourishes as it does 

 in lower Louisiana. The soil is too spongy 



