482 



LOUISIANA. 



grounds are capacious and tastefully laid out. 

 The faculty consist of ten professors, who in- 

 struct in English, mathematics, chemistry, Lat- 

 in and Greek, the modern languages, mechan- 

 ics, agriculture, and military tactics. Attached 

 to the institution is a machine-shop where 70 

 cadets are now learning carpentry, forging, 

 and turning. Under the supervision of Presi- 

 dent Johnston and the university surgeon, Dr. 

 Dupree, a station for the production of vaccine 

 lymph was instituted and the product was dis- 

 tributed gratis within the State. The sales out- 

 side of the State paid all the expenses. The 

 government and discipline of the cadets are well 

 administered, and all the institution needs is a 

 liberal appropriation by the State to make its 

 success certain. It has 150 students in attend- 

 ance, with promise of a large increase. It grants 

 four degrees, namely, Bachelor of Arts, Bache- 

 lor of Science, Graduate in Agriculture, and 

 Graduate in Mechanics. The University of 

 Louisiana, situated in the center of the city of 

 New Orleans, on Baronne, Common, and Dry- 

 ades Streets, is composed of four faculties, viz., 

 one of Law, one of Medicine, one of the Nat- 

 ural Sciences, and one of Letters. The aca- 

 demical department, though of comparatively 

 recent establishment, is advancing rapidly in 

 efficiency and usefulness. The buildings are 

 handsome and commodious, and have been 

 made more capacious by the purchase and ad- 

 dition to them of the building known as the 

 "Mechanics' Institute." During the session 

 1881-'82 there were in the different depart- 

 ments of the university 494 students in the 

 academical department (including the High- 

 School) 250; in the medical department, 217; 

 and in the law department, 27. The univer- 

 sity is under the control of a board of admin- 

 istrators, of which the Governor of the State, 

 the Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court, and 

 the Mayor of New Orleans, are ex-officio 

 members. The other members are appointed 

 by the Governor, with the consent of the 

 Senate. This board, owing to the imper- 

 fect preparation of students seeking en- 

 trance, has been forced to choose between 

 establishing a high-school in the university, 

 and lowering the standard of scholarship 

 in the academical department. They have 

 wisely chosen the former, and thus far it has 

 been very successful. The State Library, of 

 26,000 volumes, is arranged in the wing of the 

 university devoted to the law department. 

 The State appropriates $10,000 annually for 

 the support of the institution. The faculty of 

 the academical department consists of eleven 

 professors and instructors. The university for 

 the education of people of color, which was 

 opened in January, 1881, with a fair prospect 

 for usefulness and a large number of students, 

 was closed in June of that year, and has not 

 been reopened, because the trustees were un- 

 willing to sacrifice the warrants of the State 

 its only assets at the ruinous discount at 

 which they could be sold. It is now hoped 



that under an improved financial system all 

 these embarrassments will be removed, and 

 adequate provision made for the support of 

 the institutions of the State. 



COMMON SCHOOLS. The report of the Super- 

 intendent of Public Education gives an encour- 

 aging account of the progress of education in 

 the State. The total attendance was close to 

 70,000 pupils, which is a large increase over 

 former years. Accurate figures can not be 

 given, as several parishes have failed to re- 

 port. The sum apportioned was $123,500. 



The city of New Orleans has a school sys- 

 tem of her own, with a board of directors and 

 superintendent. The total enrollment of pupils 

 for the session of nine months is estimated at 

 about 25,000, of which number about one fifth 

 are colored. The number of schools in the 

 city is fifty-four. One high-school for boys; 

 one high-school for girls ; twenty-seven gram- 

 mar-schools, with eight years of instruction ; 

 eight grammar-schools, with a seven-years' 

 course; three primary schools, with a four- 

 years' course ; and one special primary, with a 

 Kindergarten system. Of this number thirteen, 

 of mixed grammar and primary grades, are ex- 

 clusively for colored pupils. The total means 

 for the support of the schools assuming, as is 

 supposed, that they will be equal in amount to 

 that of the previous year are $210,000, of 

 which amount upward of nine tenths are de- 

 rived from the city appropriations, the remain- 

 ing tenth from the poll-tax and from the cur- 

 rent school fund of the State. For several 

 years the city government has appropriated 

 $200,000 per annum ; but the expenses of the 

 schools have largely exceeded the income, and 

 the Board of Directors are unable to make in- 

 come and expense balance, by reducing salaries 

 and discharging some of the teachers, because 

 the law requires an unbroken session of nine 

 or ten months, and the payment of all salaries 

 in twelve monthly installments, and forbids 

 the discharge of any teacher once elected, ex- 

 cept upon "written charges of degeneracy, 

 neglect of duty, incompetency, or malfeasance, 

 of which he or she shall be found guilty by a 

 majority of the members of the board at a 

 regular meeting." The improvement of the 

 colored pupils in these schools is represented 

 as very marked and encouraging. The separa- 

 tion of the whites and blacks has ceased to 

 create any friction, and is now acquiesced in 

 as the best arrangement for both. 



THE STATE ASYLTJM FOE THE INSANE, situ- 

 ated at Jackson, La., contained, at the last re- 

 port, two hundred and fifty-two patients, forty- 

 seven of whom were colored. About 60 per 

 cent are able to work, and are engaged in gar- 

 dening, in making bricks, and other manual la- 

 bor. Were it not for this the institution could 

 not be carried on with the means appropriated 

 to it, which are paid in warrants, and have 

 been hitherto sold at a discount of 50 per 

 cent. The death-rate is only 4 per cent per 

 annum. The capacity of the institution is quite 



