LOUISIANA. 



485, 



vious training, to receive the benefits of a more ad- 

 vanced degree of educational culture. 



Intellectual advancement should be unfettered by 

 sectarianism, but the profound reverence I entertain 

 for the holy Scriptures leads me to express here the 

 hope that the educational development intended by 

 this gift should never antagonize : but be in harmony 

 with, the great fundamental principles of Christian 

 truth contained in them. 



As to the details of the administration of 

 the property and the application of its reve- 

 nues, he gives carte blanche to the trustees. 

 He makes the following suggestions : 



The plan and details of any organization, corpo- 

 rate or otherwise, must of necessity be ^left to your 

 own judgment, but I desire to communicate to you 

 my wishes in such manner as to enable you more 

 fully to enter into the motives which impel me, there- 

 by enabling you completely to enter into my thoughts 

 and purposes. Of course, whatever I may determine 

 to donate to you, should you conclude to organize, 

 will be (while leaving you the absolute owners of the 

 property), with the object of enabling you, in your 

 discretion, to use the revenues for the purposes al- 

 ready by me mentioned. I suggest and recommend : 



1. That in your organization, whatever form it may 

 assume, that my friend General Randall Lee Gibson 

 be your chairman, or President, and that Judge 

 Charles E. Fenner and James McConnell, Esq., be 

 vice-presidents, or vice-chairmen. 



2. That you provide for the filling of any vacancies 

 in your number, by death, resignation, or otherwise, 

 by election. 



3. That while my desire is that you shall continue 

 my purpose for more than fitly years, nevertheless, I 

 would consider it no violation of these wishes should 

 you, when organized, determine after fifty years no 

 longer to perform the duties incident to the ownership 

 of this property, which I may donate, and the income 

 of which I have expressed the desire that you ad- 

 minister as aforesaid: in that event, I suggest that 

 you distribute the property, or the proceeds from the 

 sale thereof^ amon<j such educational or literary insti- 

 tutionsj or tor such educational purposes as you may 

 determine, in the city of New Orleans, as are contem- 

 plated in this donation. 



4. In order that there shall be no doubt in regard 

 to my intentions, I will say it is not my desire to bind 

 you to distribute the incomes or benefits of the fund 

 or property to any particular school, college, or insti- 

 tution of learning, or to create any claim on the part 

 of any school, college, or institution of learning to 

 any distributive share, nor do I design to subject you 

 collectively or individually to any responsibility to 

 those intended to be benefited, or to any individual 

 responsibility of any sort, for the management of the 

 property and fund which may be by me donated. 



Steps are being taken hy General Gibson 

 and his associates, as rapidly as the nature of 

 the case will permit, to perfect the organiza- 

 tion of the contemplated institution of learn- 

 ing. 



SUGAR is pre-eminently the staple product 

 of Louisiana. No other State, except Texas, 

 cultivates the cane to any extent ; and as yet, 

 in Texas, the production is far behind that of 

 Louisiana. Notwithstanding the damage done 

 by the inundation, the total crop of this year 

 is estimated to be 227,000 hogsheads, worth 

 $25,000,000; molasses, 14,000,000 gallons, 

 worth $5,000,000. The number of sugar- 

 houses in operation is upward of 1,200. There 

 are in New Orleans five sugar-refining estab- 

 lishments, in which the low grades of Louisi- 



ana sugars and a large quantity of foreign prod- 

 ucts are worked into bright sugars and sirups. 

 The productive capacity of these refineries is 

 360,000 pounds of sugar daily, besides sirups 

 and soft sugars. The adulteration of sugar, 

 with glucose and other deleterious substances, 

 had become so common that the interference 

 of the Legislature was invoked, and an act 

 passed this year making it a misdemeanor, 

 punishable with heavy fine and imprisonment, 

 " to sell, ship, or offer for sale, by sample, hogs- 

 head, or barrel, any sugar or molasses, adul- 

 terated with glucose or other foreign substance, 

 without branding or stamping it as such in 

 clear and legible letters." 



The rice-crop of this year has been very 

 abundant, the acreage larger and the grain 

 heavier and better filled than last year. 



JUTE. The cultivation of jute as one of the 

 staple crops of Louisiana, and, indeed, of all 

 the Gulf States, is destined in the not distant 

 future to be a very important and extensive 

 industry, especially on the lowland plantations 

 and in the extensive sea-marshes. It has been 

 long known that jute can be successfully grown 

 to any extent in the Gulf States ; but the ab- 

 sence of machinery to separate the fiber from 

 the wood, and thus prepare it for market, at a 

 cost to allow competition with that imported 

 from India, has prevented its production on 

 any extended scale. It has now been demon- 

 strated by Mr. C. Menelas, of New Orleans, 

 that Mr. Albee Smith, of St. Louis, has in- 

 vented a machine by which the difficulty may 

 be overcome, and jute prepared for market at 

 a cost of from two to two and a half cents per 

 pound, the ruling price of imported jute being 

 four and a half cents. It is estimated that on 

 the rich bottom-lands from one to two tons of 

 fiber per acre can be raised. The United States 

 are now paying $10,000,000 annually for import- 

 ed jute and jute goods. The demand is increas- 

 ing every year, and if it can be proved, as is 

 stated, that this material can be supplied at home 

 at half the cost of the imported article, it is not 

 unreasonable to expect that it will soon become 

 a staple product of the South. The inventor 

 of the machine states that, with a small mill, 

 with one man to feed and a boy to remove 

 refuse matter, 15,000 pounds of green jute can 

 be produced in one day. After the fiber has 

 been separated, it is placed in vats for rotting, 

 and in from ten to fifteen days it is ready for 

 market. It is said that jute, planted in belts 

 in and around cotton-fields, is a perfect pro- 

 tection against all caterpillars and other insect- 

 enemies of cotton. It certainly has no such 

 enemies of its own, and it is not injuriously 

 affected by drought. 



Careful soundings, taken by order of the 

 Mississippi River Investigating Committee, both 

 between the Eads jetties and outside the jetties 

 seaward, indicate that the channel is through- 

 out of the depth and width required by the 

 Government. The advocates of what is called 

 the " outlet-system " have denied this, and are 



