736 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (LOUISIANA.) 



nients, 10,171 wage-earners, and products lued 

 at $17,408,513. 



The manufacture of cottonseed oil and cake 

 holds third place among the manufacturing in- 

 dustries of the State. There were 24 establish- 

 ments in 1900, with 1,317 wage-earners and prod- 

 ucts valued at $7,026,452. The refining of cotton- 

 seed oil is a branch of the industry recently es- 

 tablished in New Orleans. 



Lawlessness. Two negroes were lynched in 

 Wot Carroll Parish, in January, for the murder 

 of a police juror who attempted to arrest them 

 for stealing from him. Another negro murderer 

 was lynched in Vidalia, March 19. Near Cocoa, 

 in June, a negro was hanged by a mob for crimi- 

 nal assault, and another for the same crime near 

 Homer, Aug. 7. 



A street-car strike in New Orleans in October 

 was attended with rioting and bloodshed. The 

 ntire National Guard of the State was called to 

 the city. 



Legislative Session. The Legislature was in 

 session from May 12 to July 10. J. Y. Sanders 

 was Speaker of the House. 



The nominations of Justices Provosty and 

 Breaux to succeed themselves were confirmed. 



A reapportionment act divides the State into 

 7 congressional districts, the State being entitled 

 to one more Representative by the last census. 

 The legislative districts also were redivided. 



A revenue bill passed with the following provi- 

 sions: Providing for an attorney of the Board of 

 Assessors in New Orleans; depriving the boards of 

 review of assessments of the power of cutting 

 down assessments; providing for the taxation of 

 standing timber owned by a person other than 

 the landowner; providing for the redistribution 

 of the 6-mill tax, which, on an assessment of 

 $301,000,000, will yield revenues as follow: Gen- 

 eral fund, 1J mill, $451,500; school fund, 1 

 mill, $451,500; interest tax fund, 2 mills, $602,- 

 000; engineer fund, 1 mill, $301,000. There is an 

 additional provision that a sum equal to one- 

 eighth of 1 mill shall be transferred from the sur- 

 plus in the general fund to the school fund, which 

 will bring that fund up to $489,125. 



A " merger " bill was passed, affecting New Or- 

 leans only, but important in its provisions. It 

 gives to the voters in general the management of 

 the fund for the sewerage and water-supply. 

 About 6,000 taxpayers of the city put up this 

 fund, amounting to about $14,000,000, and voted 

 that the handling of the money should be put 

 into the care of the Drainage Commission, to which 

 should be added 7 property taxpayers, to be ap- 

 pointed by the mayor. 



The bills affecting New Orleans were, besides 

 the merger bill, an appropriation of $200,000 for a 

 court-house; an act allowing cities to anticipate 

 their revenues for ten years; changing the date of 

 the city election to November, 1904, and every 

 fourth year thereafter; providing for the succes- 

 sion to the mayoralty in case of vacancy ; creation 

 of a firemen's pension fund, by using as a nucleus 

 1 per cent, of the city licenses collected; and the 

 constitutional amendment elsewhere mentioned, 

 enabling the city to fund $500,000 of certificates 

 invalidated by a court decision. 



Other acts were: 



For an exhibit of Louisiana's resources at the 

 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, making an appro- 

 priation of $100,000. 



Making an appropriation to celebrate the cen- 

 tennial anniversary of the transfer of the terri- 

 tory of Louisiana from France to the United States 

 at New Orleans in December. 



To establish an insane asylum for colored per- 



sons, and making an appropriation of $100,000 

 for it. 



To provide substantial artificial limbs for the 

 citizens of the State who lost a limb or limbs in 

 the military service of the Confederate States. 



Among the larger appropriations were: Ex- 

 penses of the General Assembly, $80,000; State 

 printing, two years, $70,000; public schools, $450,- 

 000; constructing and repairing levees, $300,000; 

 interest consolidated bonds, $435,112; militia, 

 $29,500; and for maintenance of State institu- 

 tions, as follows: Institute for the Blind, $12,- 

 000; for the Deaf-Mutes, $21,600; university, $15,- 

 000; Normal School, $27,200; Industrial Institute, 

 $15,000; South western Industrial Institute, $12,- 

 000; Southern University, $10,000; Asylum for 

 Insane, $140,000; Charity Hospitals, $122,000; 

 Lepers' Home, $10,000; Soldiers' Home, $17,680; 

 pensions, $75,000; support of Penitentiary, $200,- 

 000. The general appropriation bill carries a 

 million dollars a year. The special appropria- 

 tions reached nearly $500,000. 



A bill providing that no history should be used 

 in the schools of the State that did not give credit 

 for the victory at Santiago to Admiral Schley 

 was passed, but was vetoed. A bill to create the 

 office of commissioner of hygiene was vetoed also. 

 A proposal to amend the Constitution so as to al- 

 low the Governor to succeed himself was not 

 pressed, as the Governor disapproved of it. 



Among important bills that failed was an anti- 

 trust bill and an antilynching bill, giving the 

 Governor power to transfer prisoners and grant 

 change of venue where lynchings are threatened. 



A separate street-car law was passed. On a trial 

 for violation of the law it was attacked as uncon- 

 stitutional, and the judge of the Second New Or- 

 leans Criminal Court sustained the demurrer. 



Court Decisions. In June the United States 

 Supreme Court decided that Louisiana or any 

 other State has the right to pass laws excluding 

 bodies of people from going into a city or commu- 

 nity which is quarantined. 



In a case involving the question whether the 

 wages of a locomotive engineer were exempt from 

 seizure for debt under the provision of law exempt- 

 ing " laborers' wages," the State Supreme Court 

 decided that the exemption could not apply to a 

 master mechanic's wages. 



A celebrated case was decided by the State Su- 

 preme Court in April. The owner of an orange- 

 grove in Plaquemines Parish had sold to a buyer 

 by contract, in advance, the crops of the years 

 1899 and 1900 for $8,000, half of which was' paid 

 down and the other half to-be due Dec. 1, 1900. 

 The contract said " Purchaser assumes all risks." 

 Within three months after the execution of this 

 contract, and therefore in the same winter, ami 

 before the trees had had a chance even to put out 

 the blossoms of the crop of 1899, a frost came that 

 killed the trees, root and branch. Cold weal her 

 had been known to destroy the crops of the year, 

 and even to kill the trees half-way down, but 

 never, within the memory of the oldest inhabitant. 

 had the trees been killed entirely, or even so in- 

 jured as not to produce a crop the following year. 

 In the several histories of Louisiana mention is 

 made of such a killing frost having occurred in 

 1748, 1768, and 1830. Nothing shows that the 

 parties when they entered into their contract 

 had any knowledge of these events. The plaintiff, 

 the buyer, claimed the return of the $4,000 he 

 had paid, and the defendant demanded in recon- 

 vention the $4,000 that was payable Dec. 1, 1900. 

 The decision was that the defendant should keep 

 the $4,000 already paid, and the plaintiff should 

 be released from obligation to pay the remaining 



