ITS ADVANTAGES! ITS CONDITIONS ! ITS PROSPECTS I 



49 



JncUson. The Catliolies hsxve uinlc col- 

 U'^es in St . J;iui(?s and St Landry par- 

 i<li(.*s. Feiualc <'oiloj:*'s or ((iiuents exist 

 ill St. .huucs. I'.Mioii lioiiLic, Aloxandri;!, 

 Slirevei)()rt, < )in'l()Ut>as and Monroe. There 

 .-ire several Catholic collejies for botli 

 boys and gii-ls in iN'ew Orleans. 



("Million has a flourishiiiff female collefre 

 (Ilie Silliman Instilute) and a fine mil - 

 tary academy. Shreveport has also a 

 flourishing female college and military 

 academy, bi-sides an excellent system of 

 irraded oublic schools. 



Arcadia, lliiston, Minden and Homer 

 have excellent private colleges. 



The Methodists maintain an excellent 

 female college ;it Manstield. and the liap- 

 tist at Keatchie and the Masons at Fort 

 Jessnp. 



Monroe, I^ake Charles. Iberia, and other 

 rorrus maintain excellent graded schools 



Tnlane University, siuiated in New Or- 

 leans, established by the munificence of 

 Paul Tulane, lias recently fitted out iu 

 tiandsome style all of its colleges. Its 

 colleges of arts and sci(>nce, letters, en- 

 gineering, law and medicine are numer- 

 ously attended and enjoy high rank. Its 

 female department, the Sojihie Newcomb 

 College, stands in the front rank of fe- 

 male colleges, and its graduates are noted 

 for tlieir tliorough scholaisiiip. The 

 above are for the education of the whites. 

 The negroes have been provided for with 

 separate public schools and an institution 

 of liigh grade, the .Sonihern University, 

 located in New Orleans, all (Supported by 

 the state. There are also about a half- 

 dozen colleges or universities supported 

 by private or missiondry contributions, 

 which are well managed and attended. 



I _ ._ . 



^ixnxmjxxxxnxiixnxxxiixr: 



Th? eiTO icons impression prevails 

 ihroughoiit the i-onutry that Louisiana i3 

 a low-lying swamp, i'ull of deadly ma- 

 laria, the implacable mosquito and tht 

 slothful alligator, uninhabited and unin- 

 habitable save by the negroes. This ini- 

 l)ression is furtlier accentuated by publi- 

 cations emanating from pnb!i(.> "officers, 

 who are credited by the [)nblic with a 

 full knowledge of the facts which they 

 record, when really they know no more 

 about Louisiana than a "l2-year-old pujiil 

 in the public schools of the country, in 

 the compendium of tlie eloventh census. 

 IN'.tO. iiatt 1. population, Roliert P.. Por- 

 ter, suiierintendent, page 5S. a descrip- 

 tion (if the alluvial region of the Missis- 

 sippi is given. At the close of the .sec- 

 tion, the following language is used: 

 "The soil is of the highest degree of fer- 

 tility, hut the climate- is hostile to tlie 

 white race, and by far the larger propor- 

 tion of the inhabitants is of the colored 

 race." This fact!!! is announced in 

 sevei-al other places in the same vclnme. 

 What would the numerous planters 

 who reside in this valley respond to such 

 ;m unjust aspersion upon their homes? 

 New Orleans, situated in this region, 

 with its 300,000 inhabitants, three-fourths 

 (.f whom are white, and of the white, 7r> 

 per cent are permanent dwellers there 

 winter and summer, would refute such a 

 slander, if the writer would visit and see 

 the number of rosy-faced children, robust 

 men and iiretty women filling her streets 

 and her homes. Of course, when men 

 high in official circles will promulgate as 

 an official fact, collected like other cen- 

 sus data, by reliable agents, at govern- 

 ment expense, such untrue aspersions 

 upon a large section of the country, lav 



readers must accept them as truths be- 

 yond cavil. But the writer, with a 

 large corps of assistants gathered from 

 a dozen states and countries, himself 

 coming from a high country free from 

 malaria, has been a dweller upon the 

 banks of the Mississippi river for nine 

 years, and can state that in that time all 

 have enjoyed excellent health, without 

 a serious illness; nor have a single one 

 been forced to leave this fertile conntrv 

 because "the climate was hostile to th"e 

 white race." In fact, with proper care 

 and diet, nowhere can a white person 

 live with .greater immunity from diseases 

 of all kinds than on the banks of the 

 Mississippi river in this state. 



But facts are worth more than opin- 

 ions and here are some taken from a re- 

 cent address by tna president of the 

 board of health of this state: 



The average mortality for the whole 

 United States is 14.70 per 1000 for the 

 whites and 17.29 for the blacks. 



For the white, Oregon is first, with a 

 mortality of 11.04 per 1000. with Minne- 

 sota, an excellent second at 11.51 and 

 Arkansas brings up the foot of the list 

 with a mortality of 19.11, very closely 

 pushed by educated and scientific Massa- 

 chusetts with a mortality of 1S..56. 



For the blacks, the negro enjoys the 

 greatest exemption in Florida, laving a 

 rate of mortality in that state of 11..3t; 

 per 1000. He has a very hard time in 

 Rhode Island, where his mcrtality is 

 27.10, and he is very much worse, "and 

 the very worst off, under the very eve 

 of his particular guardian, the general 

 government, for his mortality in the dis- 

 trict of Columbia is 35.62 per 1000. 



Now as to the position which Louisiana 

 occupies in the white list. I am very 



