LoriSlANA. 



463 



of New Orleans fora mandamus to compel the 

 Treasurer In ohcy the law. 



The case was trii'il. and it WHS decided that 

 the- Hoard of Liquidation has the power ti> order 

 the purchase of State bonds, and the Treasurer 

 must, when so required, pew for tlie bonds out 



<>f the funds dedicated tn that use. The Treas- 

 urer dissented from this judgment. an<l carried 

 an appeal to the Supreme Court of Louisiana, 

 tlie entire case turning on a question of Consti- 

 tutionality. That court aflirmcd the judgment 

 of the lower court. 



Charities. The Confederate Soldiers' Home 

 had 50 inmates, and cost about $8,000. At a 

 meeting of the Army of Tennessee a resolution 

 was adopted calling on all the camps of Confed- 

 erate veterans in the State to appoint a commit- 

 tee of three to go before the Legislature and re- 

 quest a liberal appropriation for the Soldiers' 

 Home in the city of New Orleans. The State 

 has no pensioners of the war. A bill was intro- 

 duced at the last session for the purpose of levy- 

 ing an appropriation, to be applied in the pay- 

 ment of moderate pensions to disabled veterans : 

 but it was found that the Constitution not only 

 made no provision for such an appropriation, 

 but absolutely prohibited it. 



The Institute for Deaf Mutes at Baton Rouge 

 had an enrollment of 70 during the year, and 

 the session closed with 66. An industrial de- 

 partment opened last year has cabinet, carpen- 

 ter, and shoe shops for the boys, and instruction 

 in dressmaking and embroidery for the girls. 

 Diplomas were given for the first time this year 

 to those who had finished the course. 



Education. Disagreements between the pres- 

 ident and tlie faculty of the State University at 

 Raton Rouge led to a request, in July, on the 

 part of three members of the faculty, that the 

 board should make a change in the presidency. 

 They said they believed the school was suffering 

 from the weakness and inefficiency of the presi- 

 dent's administration. After consideration, the 

 board replied that the management appeared to 

 lie satisfactory, and the president must be sus- 

 tained. These three professors and one other 

 thereupon resigned, and two more professors re- 

 signed in September. The July reports of the 

 president of the faculty and the treasurer showed 

 tlie attendance of cadets larger than last year, 

 the health and discipline excellent, and the 

 finances of the institution in fair condition. 

 Four hundred dollars was appropriated for the 

 care and improvement of the grounds. 



The amount of school money apportioned 

 among the school population in June was $49,- 

 1 "',*> 7, giving 13 cents per capita, the total num- 

 ber being 378,099. The State board of educa- 

 tion met to select text-books for the schools. 

 Most of the school superintendents were op- 

 posed to any change unless books of equal merit 

 could be purchased at a materially lower figure 

 than that asked for the books now used. Bids 

 were taken from representatives of the principal 

 school-book publishing houses. 



At the eighth annual commencement of the 

 State Normal School at Natchitoches, in June, 14 

 pupils were graduated. The Peabody Normal 

 Institute opened for a five-days' session at Thi- 

 bodeaux, in June, with about 100 teachers present, 

 and the enrollment reached 200 before the close. 



Another institute opened at Crowley, June 7, 

 with a large attendant-. 



The session of the Ixmisiana Chautauqua, held 

 at I; ust on. in July, was attended by more than 

 2,000 persons, and the meetings were character- 

 ized I iy great enthusiasm and sn 



Crops. The total movement of cotton in No- 

 vember was in excess of any movement for that 

 month except in 1891, taking the records back 

 as far as 1880. The total for the month was 

 u;."i<;,884 bales, against 1,482,928 in November, 

 1892, and 1,919.272 in November, 1891 an in- 

 crease over last year of 173,950, and a decrease 

 under the year before last of 262,388. 



The effect of the sugar bounty has been greatly 

 to stimulate production. The average yield o'f 

 cane per acre has increased two tons, and by im- 

 proved processes more sugar is obtained from the 

 cane. The introduction of the central factory 

 system has proved of great advantage, enabling 

 men of small means to engage in the sugar busi- 

 ness, whereas heretofore, as it takes from $250,- 

 000 to $500,000 to equip a plantation for making 

 sugar, only large capitalists could engage in it. 

 The influence of the bounty on the price to 

 consumers is explained as follows: During the 

 several months in which the Louisiana sugar 

 crop is being marketed the price of sugar is 

 greatly cheapened to consumers. That this is a 

 fact is well known to all interested in the sugar 

 trade. The cause of this cheapening is the fact 

 that during that period the domestic producers, 

 to the number of many hundred, put upon the 

 market good grades of sugar, which can enter 

 directly into consumption without the interven- 

 tion of the refiners. Such sugar thus competes 

 actively with refined sugars, hence the prices of 

 the latter are reduced in order to compete with 

 the Louisiana product. 



The rice-growers have unanimously reached 

 the conclusion that in order to cheapen the cost 

 of handling rice the present system of shipping 

 in sacks must be abandoned and shipments in 

 bulk substituted. For some years past the per- 

 centage of the crop grown along the river has 

 grown smaller, until now fully two thirds of the 

 crop is grown in what is known as the Calcasieu 

 section. All this Calcasieu rice, as well as a good 

 portion of the river rice, comes to market by rail. 

 It is therefore proposed to bring the rice in bulk, 

 and for that purpose it will be necessary not only 

 to erect elevators in New Orleans, but along the 

 lines of railroad traversing the rice belt. 



The stock-taking of April 1 showed that there 

 were held in New Orleans 369,527 sacks of rough 

 rice. There was a shortage of the crop this year, 

 which led to a material advance in price. 



Lnmber. A report issued by the Southern 

 Lumber Manufacturers' Association, covering 

 stocks on hand Aug. 20, and sales for the first 

 six months of the year, gives the number of mills 

 in Louisiana as 12; the daily capacity. 615.000 

 feet; the stocks, 20.150,000 feet; and "the ship- 

 ments, 45,294,389 feet. The report is not com- 

 plete, as only 94 answers were received to the 400 

 requests sent out through seven States. But t hosr 

 replying were judged to cover a large majority of 

 the l>est plants in the yellow pine districts. 



Bananas. Statistics of receipts at the leading 

 ports show that New Orleans has become the great 

 banana market in the country. In 1892 the re- 



