336 



LOUISIANA. 



WILLIAM WRIGHT HEARD, 

 GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA. 



Acadia, 23,483; Ascension, 24,142; Assumption, 

 21.620: Avoyelles, 29,701; Bienville, 17,588: Bos- 

 sier, 24,153; Caddo, 44,499; Calcasieu, 30,428; 

 Caldwell, 6,917; Cameron, 3,952; Catahoula, 

 16,351; Claiborne, 23,029; Concordia, 13,559; De 

 Soto, 25,063; East Baton Rouge, 31,153; East Car- 

 roll, 11,373; East Feliciana, 20.4-13: Franklin, 

 8,890; Grant, 12,902; Iberia, 29,015; Iberville, 

 27,006; Jackson, 9,119; Jefferson, 15,321; Lafay- 

 ette, 22,825; Lafourche, 28,882: Lincoln, 15,898; 

 Livingston, 8,100; Madison, 12.322: Morehouse, 



16,634 ; Natchito- 

 ches, 33,216; Or- 

 leans, 287,104; 

 Ouachita, 20,947 ; 

 Plaquemines, 13,- 

 039 ; Pointe Cou- 

 ple, 25,777 ; Ra- 

 pides, 39,578; Red 

 River, 11,548; 

 Richland, 11,116; 

 Sabine, 15,421; St. 

 Bernard, 5,031; St. 

 Charles, 9,072; St. 

 Helena, 8,479; St. 

 James, 20,197; St. 

 John the Baptist, 

 12,330; St.Landry, 

 V2.906; St. Martin, 

 18,940; St. Mary, 

 34,145; St. Tam- 

 many, 13,335; Tan- 

 gipahoa, 17,625; 

 Tensas, 19,070; 

 Terrebonne, 24,464; Union, 18,520; Vermilion, 

 20,705; Vernon, 10,327; Washington, 9,628; Web- 

 ster, 15,125; West Baton Rouge, 10,285; West 

 Carroll, 3,685; West Feliciana, 15,944; Winn, 

 9,648. 



New Orleans has 287,104 inhabitants; in 1890 

 it had 242,039. Shreveport has 16,013; Baton 

 Rouge, 11,269; New Iberia, 6,815; Lake Charles, 

 6,680; Monroe, 5,428; Alexandria, 4,760; Crowley, 

 4,214; Donaldsonville, 4,105; Plaquemine, 3,590; 

 Lafayette, 3,314; Thibodaux, 3,253 ; Houma, 3,212; 

 Opelousas, 2,951; Franklin, 2,692; Natchitoches, 

 2,388; Morgan City, 2,332; Jackson, 2,012. 



Finances. From a statement of the Auditor 

 it appears that from April 1, 1894, to April 1, 

 1900, State obligations to the amount of $2,649,206 

 have been retired at a cost of $1,393,382, some 

 of the bonds having been retired before maturity. 

 The Governor said in his message in May: "The 

 4-per-cent. bonds command a premium of 9 to 10 

 per cent., while the bonds of the various levee 

 boards, which, a few years ago, were very diffi- 

 cult to place, are likewise above par. Not a dollar 

 of the floating indebtedness created since 1880 is 

 left outstanding, and all transactions, both of 

 State and district boards, are absolutely upon a 

 cash basis." 



The total revenues derived from all privilege 

 tax turned in by the sheriffs is $329,157.62, against 

 $307,517.09 in 1899. The privilege license fees paid 

 direct to the State treasury are not embraced 

 in this statement, and will amount to about 

 $70,000. The privilege tax report gives also the 

 State revenue from salmm-. There are now 13 

 counties that license the liquor business. Taxes 

 amounting to $131,100 were paid by the 146 

 liquor saloons. The municipalities are empowered 

 to levy a tax on dram shops not to exceed 50 

 per cent, of the amount collected by the State, 

 and in some of tli<> Imvns and cities the maximum 

 penalty is denounced against them. 



Valuations. The total assessment of the State 

 is $276,568,507, an increase in one year of 



$8,845,004. Following are valuations reported in 

 December by the State Board of Appraisers: Rail- 

 roads, $24,865,275; telegraphs, $338,634; tele- 

 phones, $774,210; sleeping cars, $96,752: express 

 companies, $62,610; aggregate, $26,137,481. 



Charities and Corrections. The number of 

 inmates of the State Asylum for the Insane, at 

 Jackson, this year was 1,195, with a total under 

 treatment of 1,653. 



There were 140 at the Soldiers' Home, which 

 has an income of about $18,000. On the roll of 

 pensioners were 240, with 248 applications under 

 consideration. With the $50,000 available, the 

 board was able to give only small amounts, divided 

 into three grades $4.50, $3.50, and $2.50. 



The Institute for the Blind graduated a class of 

 5 in May. Its appropriation in 1899 was $10,000. 



Appropriations for the year to other charitable 

 institutions were: Institute for the Deaf and 

 Dumb, $18,000; Charity Hospital, New Orleans. 

 $90,000; Charity Hospital, Shreveport, $18.000; 

 Lepers' Home, $7,000; Insane Asylum, $100,000. 



There are about 840 convicts in the State Peni- 

 tentiary. Under the new management most of 

 them will probably be placed on convict farms. 



Education. The biennial report of the public 

 schools was rendered in June. The school popu- 

 lationchildren between six and eighteen years 

 was 404,757 in 1899. The enrollment was 196,169, 

 of whom 74,233 were negroes. The average at- 

 tendance was 90,187 whites and 56,136 negroes. 

 The number reported as in attendance at private 

 schools was 11,896 whites and 2,798 negroes, 

 though this is not complete; the Superintendent 

 says about 10,000 should be added. The number 

 of teachers in the public schools was : White males. 

 1,455; white females, 1,617; total whites, 3,072. 

 Colored males, 536; colored females, 549; total 

 colored, 1,085. Total teachers, 4,157. 



The schools have several sources of revenue, 

 chiefly the current school fund, which is a tax 

 of 1 mill on the taxable property in the State. 

 Then there are the poll tax and other special taxes 

 and allowances. The poll tax, the payment of 

 which is required of every registered voter sixty 

 years of age or under, as a condition of casting 

 his ballot, amounted in 1899 to $115,475, with 

 several parishes to hear from. The amount of 

 revenue for the public schools in 1899 was $1,- 

 242..026. 



At the State Normal School, at Natchitoches. 

 17 were graduated in January and 30 in May. 

 The board arranged in July 'for establishing a 

 model school ; a building will be erected for the 

 accommodation of 480 pupils. The attendance for 

 the fall term had reached 492 on Oct. 10. 



The State University and Agricultural and 

 Mechanical College is at Baton Rouge. An appro- 

 priation of $20,000 by the Legislature furnished 

 means for a new building, which will have dormi- 

 tories for 150 students and dining-room acconi 

 modations for 500. 



A State industrial school is to be built at Lafay- 

 ette, to be called the Southwestern Loui-iun; 

 Industrial Institute. Efforts were made in tin- 

 Legislature to provide for a textile school, which 

 is deemed desirable in view of the prospects of the 

 cotton manufacturing industry. 



The Louisiana Chautauqua, at Ruston, opened 

 July 1 with a large attendance. Summer normal 

 schools at Mansfield and Franklin enrolled largo 

 classes of teachers. 



St. Charles College, at Grand Cotcan. was com- 

 pletely destroyed by fire, Feb. 17. The libra r\. 

 of 5,000 volumes, contained some single books of 

 great value that can not be replaced. There wa-i 

 insurance of $8,000 on the burned property, which 



