LOUISIANA. 



443 



rice. In 1889 there were over 1,000 cars of rice 

 carried. In 1890 there were 2,000 cars ; in 1891, 

 5,000 cars ; in 1893, 10,000 cars of rice." 



The Levees. The growing efficiency of the 

 levee system* is shown by the statistics of cre- 

 vasses in 1898, compared with those in former 

 years when the river was not so high. The Gov- 

 ernor's message says : " The floods of the great 

 river during 1892 and 1893 below the Arkansas 

 at certain points were higher than ever known. 

 During the year 1892 6 crevasses occurred in 

 Arkansas, on the Mississippi river, and 28 in 

 Louisiana, 23 of which were promptly closed. 

 The aggregate length of lines destroyed on the 

 Mississippi, including the levees in Arkansas, 

 was 2- t % miles. During the flood of 1893 there 

 were 3 crevasses in Arkansas on the Mississippi 

 river, and 7 in Louisiana, 5 of which were closed. 

 The total length of line in this State and Arkan- 

 sas destroyed during that flood was 1-fa miles." 



In May a convention was held in Shreveport 

 of citizens opposed to the building of levees 

 along the Red river, in Louisiana. They adopted 

 resolutions denouncing levees as the cause of all 

 the floods in the region represented, and de- 

 manding that all the outlets closed be reopened. 

 The resolutions petition the Legislature to take 

 measures to carry out the proposed abolition of 

 the embankments. On the other hand, it is af- 

 firmed that the levees have afforded all the pro- 

 tection there has been against floods, and fail- 

 ures are due to imperfections and old work 

 which is not up to the modern standard. 



Labor Riot. The Screwmen's Benevolent 

 Association having ruled that its members 

 should no longer work with colored screwmen, 

 and declared a boycott against those who em- 

 ployed them, a riot took place on the levee, Oct. 

 27, where negroes were loading the vessels of a 

 steamship company. They were violently driven 

 from their work, and suffered not only bodily 

 injuries, but also the loss of their tools, which 

 were thrown overboard. The riot operated 

 greatly to the damage of the commerce of the 

 port. An injunction was served against the 

 association to prevent it from interfering with 

 the business of the company. 



Water Ways. A water-ways convention was 

 held in New Orleans, beginning Jan. 9. Con- 

 gress was memorialized for funds to improve 

 the harbor and develop the internal water 

 courses of the State, especially Old and Red 

 rivers, Bayou Plaquemine, Atchafalaya, Oua- 

 chita, Teche, Lafourche, Courtableau, BcBuf, and 

 Grand Lake, with its connections. Congress was 

 also urged to " take prompt action to the end 

 that navigation of the Monongahela may be 

 freed from private control and placed where it 

 belongs with the General Government" in 

 order that consumers of coal and other products 

 going down by way of that river may no longer 

 be subject to the heavy tolls now exacted by the 

 private corporation that is enjoying facilities 

 provided by the extensive improvements made 

 by the General Government at both ends of the 

 Monongahela. 



Another memorial to Congress, asking for im- 

 provement of the harbor, was prepared by the 

 council and various commercial bodies of New 

 Orleans. An appropriation was made by Con- 

 gress for improvement of Bayou Lafourche. 



Legislative Session. The General Assembly 

 was in session from May (5 to July 12. 



The appointment of Senator E. D. White to the 

 bench of the United States Supreme Court, in 

 February, left a vacancy to be filled by the ap- 

 pointment of the Governor, who named Newton 

 C. Blanchard. Donelson Caffery, who had been 

 appointed to fill the unexpired term of Senator 

 Gibson, was elected in joint session of the Legis- 

 lature for the following term by a vote of 97 out 

 of 125. 



A report was submitted by the constitutional 

 commission appointed by the General Assembly 

 of 1892 to prepare proposed amendments to the 

 Constitution. Amendments relating to the fol- 

 lowing subjects were recommended : 



A radical change in the qualifications of the 

 voter, making the property or educational quali- 

 fication the alternative; the voter to be able to 

 read the Constitution in his mother tongue, or to 

 be possessed of $200 worth of taxable property, 

 and to have paid his poll tax. 



Provision for an increase in the amount of 

 money devoted to public schools, with removal 

 of the restrictions on the appropriation for sala- 

 ries of State and parish superintendents and sup- 

 port of the office of the former ; also provision 

 for local taxation for school purposes ; and for 

 payment of the interest of the seminary fund out 

 of the general instead of the public education 

 fund. 



Revision of the law that requires six courts of 

 appeals with 12 judges, holding two annual terms 

 in each parish, so that there should be two cir- 

 cuits in the State with 3 judges each these 6 

 judges to be elected by the people in 1900, and 

 meantime those 6 of the present judges whose 

 terms do not expire till that date to preside over 

 the reorganized courts. The maximum limit of 

 these courts to be $3,000. 



Another amendment proposed would vest in 

 the Supreme Court jurisdiction over " all cases 

 arising under the Constitution, treaties, and laws 

 of the United States, or under the Constitution 

 of the State, or in which the legality of costs, 

 fees, charges, or allowances shall be in dispute, 

 whatsoever may be the amount thereof," and 

 also vesting in that court original jurisdiction of 

 proceeding to disbar attorneys for unprofessional 

 conduct. By the present law, attorneys can be 

 disbarred only on conviction of crime or misde- 

 meanor. In the matter of district courts, the 

 amendments would leave the number and terms 

 to be fixed by law, and prohibit more than 1 

 judge to each district: the General Assembly to 

 fix the qualifications of justices of the peace, and 

 extend their jurisdiction to cases of $200 exclu- 

 sive of interest. 



Amendment to make it mandatory on the 

 General Assembly to provide for the trial of of- 

 fenses below the grade of felony before a jury of 

 6 in number, or by the court at any regular or 

 special term, and also to permit the General As- 

 sembly to provide in both criminal and civil 

 cases that a verdict be rendered by a less num- 

 ber than the whole. Criminal jurisdiction not 

 being vested in justices of the peace in this State, 

 there were only two alternatives, in order to pro- 

 vide speedy trial for minor offenses creating a 

 special criminal court in every parish for the trial 

 of misdemeanor, and amending the Constitution 



